Have a look at the title page. This page was written on the last leaf of the plates themselves and was not written by Joseph Smith. Rather, as with the record beginning with the Nephi and ending with Moroni, Joseph translated it to English from an ancient language.
The title page states that this book is an abridgment. It's not the comprehensive history of the people it talks about. The timeline it treats is between 600 BC and 420 AD. Instead, it is a comparatively brief summary of the high and low points and the main spiritual themes and issues of its day.
The author of this title page, Mormon, writes also that the purpose of this book is "the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations" (italics added).
From this, we learn that the purpose of the Book of Mormon and the purpose of the Bible are one and the same. Therefore, as we read, we should not be surprised that the teachings about Christ are also one and the same. In some cases, the words Christ spoke to teach the people of the Americas are verbatim with the Bible's account. (And why shouldn't they be? The Gospel is the same universally, regardless of who hears it, when, and where.)
Monday, December 17, 2007
4 comments:
We are happy to discuss any and every topic and question. We will give wide berth to a variety of opinions and ideas. The only thing we ask is that you return the favor by respecting our right to believe as we do and by not issuing lengthy, inflammatory diatribes meant to shock and confuse anyone not familiar with LDS teachings. They can certainly get that elsewhere. :)
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In the Book of Mormon, please turn to 3 Nephi 13:25-27. Here is a direct quote:
ReplyDelete“(halfway down verse 25) Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”
The same EXACT passage is in the Bible, in the book of Matthew 6:25-27:
“25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”
Yes, the Bible and the Book of Mormon are identical because, according to Joseph’s transaltion fo the Book of Mormon, Jesus said the same thing to the people of the Americas. Remember that they are identical in each book.
Now, I wish to look in the LDS issued KJV Bible to the Joseph Smith Translation in the back of the book on page 802.
For Matthew 6:25-27 it says:
“25. And, again, I say unto you, go ye into the world, and care not for the world: for the world will hate you, and will persecute you, and will turn you out of their synagogues. 26. Nevertheless, ye shall go forth from house to house, teaching the people; and I will go before you. 27. And your heavenly Father will provide for you whatsoever things ye need for food, what ye shall eat; and for raiment, what ye shall wear or put on.”
According to Joseph Smith, he corrected the Bible.
In doing so he corrected the Book of Mormon.
Remember that Joseph Smith stated that The Book of Mormon is the most correct book. He translated it on one decade before his Translation of the Bible.
The Book of Mormon was not corrupted over time.
Remember that The Book of Mormon has the same scriptural errors that the Bible has, and it was only written 10 years before the JST.
Where was God in that process of translating the gold plates, and why didn’t he correct Joseph the first time, when he was “translating” the plates?
Why didn’t God take that opportunity to make the necessary changes to the Book of Mormon that he inspired JS to make to the Bible?
If the Bible is incorrect, and needed changes, why does the Book of Mormon get to stand as the most correct book on Earth if it still contains THE SAME MISTAKES?
Please check out this write-up by John Walsh. He's already provided a very good analysis on this subject.
ReplyDeleteHere are even more sources of good information on this subject:
ReplyDeleteSimilarities in the Sermons
Which variant is correct?
Discrepancies Between Translations: Book of Mormon, King James Verson, Joseph Smith Translation
See also:
Answers to 50 Anti-Mormon Questions
Hello all. I have a few friendly criticisms in relation to this post. First, all the criticisms I gave in response to the "Getting Started" post where never really addressed satisfactorily so they still stand.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, the Book of Mormon is said to be an abridgement. No problem here. But it does remind me of some interesting problems. We are told, within the Book of Mormon itself, that there is not enough room on the original plates to say very much. Yet much of the book, as we now have it, is overly wordy. One example of this is the very frequent use of "And it came to pass,..." The next problem is that the translation itself was purportedly inspired by God, yet much of the wording is identicle to the King James Version. The KJV was not written until AD 1611. The Book of Mormon plates were written allegedly by AD 400 in Reformed Egyptian. Remember, the translation itself is said to come directly from God. What are the odds the ancient Nephites knew the KJV English? Zero. And then, how many writings do we know of from history that are written on metal plates besides the Book of Mormon? I don't mean an inscription on a placard but an entire book. I know of none. And the plates are normally pictured as bound together in a codex format (as opposed to a scroll). The problem with this is that the codex format was an invention of Rome, if memory serves, in about AD 200. Next, the plates would have apparently been too heavy for Joseph to have easily carried. Yet we are to believe he was running through the woods with them. Finally, over 100 pages of the alleged translation were lost then it was conveniently revealed that Joseph did not need to translate those pages after all-after they were already translate once under direct inspiration of God, mind you-and was instructed to just do the "more religious part".
The purpose of the Bible is to reveal God to man. The purpose of the Book of Mormon is to trick gullible Christians-new (or nominal) Christians who are still ignorant of the Bible, in to apostatising into the heretical cult of Mormonism. The gospel of Mormonism is a different gospel that Paul warned us not to accept (Galatians 1:6-9 explicitly metions an angel, say, named Moroni).
In addition to all this, Suspicious Minds makes a good prima facie point in the comments to this post. We probably ought to take his comments seriously unless Rob or Steve can give a good rebuttal. But all we have on that score are links to articles by FAIR and others. I personally could care less what Hugh Nibley or Danibal Lecter has to say. What I want to know what Rob Watson has to say on the topic. In any case, I looked at some of the links and what the various people had to say there, defending Mormonism, made the comments of Suspicious Minds seem even more plausible than they already are!
In conclusion, one can only accept the Book of Mormon (including its introductory title page) as the true and inspired word of God, it seems to me, if they first check their brain at the door. With due respect to its apologists, and all men are certainly due respect, the claims of Rob Watson, Steve Smoot, and many others, with respect to the Book of Mormon are simply incrdulous so far as I can see. We have good reason to reject the book and little (if any) reason to accept it. I, for one, have no choice but to reject it, title page and all.