Book of Mormon: Things that make you go hmmm…
In this essay, I don’t intend to provide any hard
hitting scientific, historical, philosophical, or logical argument against the
Book of Mormon. Instead, I want to take a look at some of the overlooked and
perhaps simpler red flags things found in its pages—things that are often
missed when read with a less critical eye, but upon a closer read, might give
the critical reader pause.
If, for the sake of argument, the Book of Mormon was
not the ancient record it purports to be, but is a construction of Joseph Smith
and his collaborators, one might expect to find items in its pages that offer
clues as to how it was put together. The Church is quite fond of claiming that
the BoM was translated in a matter of 60-90 days.[i]
Things that, when considered, might lead the reader to
wonder if the Book of Mormon was constructed hurriedly, without much time for
editorial revision; constructed in such a manner that some silliness,
absurdities, and implausibilities might have crept in. We might discover that
there are things found in the Book of Mormon that we ought not find if the Book
was the historical compilation it claims itself to be.
When I first thought of putting this list together, I
intended to make a top 10 list. But the more I thought about the items that
needed to be on the list, the more I realized that there was no way on God’s
green Earth that I could limit the list to only 10 items.
As I start to construct this list, there are 25 items
on it, but the number may change as I add or delete—most probably add (!) more
as I go.
Interesting observation: if you try to google any of
these questions related to any of these points, most of the results that you
get are sponsored by the Church. Official Church sites, apologetic sites,
church friendly blogs…The Church is putting a lot of effort (though I’m sure
not spending sacred tithing money) into search engine optimization, ensuring
that people cannot obtain non-LDS approved information about the Book of Mormon
specifically or the Church in general.
In no particular order…
1. “I, Abinadi…”
Book of Mormon
caricature King Noah is ruling during a period of prosperity. As there is
nothing to keep him or his people humble, they have descended into
abominations, wickedness, and whoredoms (Mosiah 11: 20). So, the Lord sends
Abinadi to call them all to repentance, lest they be visited by His anger, and
conquered by their enemies.
As one might imagine,
King Noah does not take kindly to Abinadi’s words of warning:
…Who is Abinadi, that I
and my people should be judged of him, or who is the Lord, that shall bring
upon my people such great affliction? I command you to bring Abinadi hither,
that I may slay him, for he has said these things that he might stir up my people
to anger one with another, and to raise contentions among my people; therefore
I will slay him.” (Mosiah 11: 27, 28. Unnecessary repetition in the original,
would likely not be found in a Book being compiled and edited into a “Reader’s
Digest” version by Mormon.)
Fearing for his life,
Abinadi goes into hiding for two years, after which he is ready to cry
repentance to the people once more. But there’s a problem. King Noah still wants
him dead, so if he were to start preaching, he would be instantly arrested.
That is, unless he has a cunning plan.
If he were to put
on a disguise, he’d be able to speak to the people without anybody
realizing that he is in fact Abinadi. Let’s see how that worked out for him…
And it came to pass that
after the space of two years that Abinadi came among them in disguise, that
they knew him not, and began to prophesy among them, saying: Thus has the Lord
commanded me, saying—Abinadi… (Mosiah
12: 1)
Did you catch the
silliness? To avoid arrest, he hides for two years. Then when he’s ready to
preach again, to avoid arrest, he puts on a disguise. Then, while in disguise,
the first words out of his mouth announce his name.
In my head, when I read that, someone shouts out “Hey everybody! It’s Abinadi! Get him!” and Abinadi mumbles “D’oh!”
2. Building a new Temple.
Upon arriving in
their new home in the Americas, Nephi and his brothers separate into the two
communities (2nd Nephi 5, 1- 6) that will grow (faster than any
population in human history) to become the Nephites and the Lamanites.
The newly formed
Nephite community consisted of a little more than three families. Nephi and his
family, his older brother Sam and his family, his younger brothers Jacob and
Joseph, and his sisters (no mention of how many, and they remain unnamed—like
virtually every other woman mentioned in the Book of Mormon), plus Zoram and
his family.
And once the Nephites
and Lamanites diverge (in 2nd Nephi 5: 5-7), one of the first things
the righteous Nephites do is build themselves a Temple (between 588 and 570
BCE), modeled generally after the Temple of Solomon (2nd Nephi 5:
15) they knew in Jerusalem.
The Biblical account
suggests that it took as many as 180,000 workers (1st Kings
5:13-16) seven years (1st Kings 6: 37-38) to build Solomon’s Temple.
Yet three Nephite families were able to construct a new temple “…like
unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine.”
(2nd Nephi 5:15).
One possibility is that the construction of the Temple
was carried out by the original families, plus the natives that they converted
into the Nephite fold. However, there is literally not a single mention of
meeting any indigenous populations, or even individuals. The
Book of Mormon narrative says that Lehi and his expedition arrived at an empty
continent (2nd Nephi 1:5-11; Ether 2:7). LDS apologists have
suggested that, contrary to the text of the BoM, Lehi and company arrived at an
already populated land,[ii] and that the actual text of the Book of
Mormon (1st Nephi 13:30) states that the Lamanites and Nephites
would intermarry other immigrants.[iii] I think that this is interpolating
something into 1St Nephi 13:30 that isn’t there, but I will leave
that to the judgment of the reader.
3. Speaking of building the new Temple…
In 2nd Nephi 5:15, we discover that the
Temple was constructed of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and
of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in
great abundance.”
Then the very next verse (16) informs the reader that
although they “did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon,” it
wasn’t quite as nice because “it [was] not built of so many precious things;
for they were not to be found upon the land…”
4. Polygamy? Who are they marrying?
Reminder, the Book of
Mormon narrative says that Lehi and his expedition arrived at an empty
continent (2nd Nephi 1:5-11; Ether 2:7). LDS apologists have suggested that,
contrary to the text of the BoM, Lehi and company arrived at an already
populated land.
With that in mind
recall that Moroni said that the purpose of the Book of Mormon is “the
convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ…”[iv]
The purpose of the
Book of Mormon is to convince people that Jesus is the Christ. And the Book has
numerous examples of the missionary efforts between the righteous and
unrighteous. If the numbers of Lehites was being bolstered by intermarriage
with the locals, one would expect the Book of Mormon to be replete with stories
of successful missions and conversion stories. Yet there is not a single mention of converting an
outsider. Not one mention of bumping into the locals and converting them to the
beliefs of the Lehites. Not one. I would
suggest that since the text says the land was saved for the righteous and there
is not a single mention of the indigenous population, the Book of Mormon tells
a story of settlers arriving in an unpopulated land.
Why then Jacob
(2:23-35) berating his people for plural marriage? A maximum of 50 settlers[v] arrived in the Americas, and almost
immediately separated into two groups, the Nephites and the Lamanites (2nd
Nephi 2:5). Jacob is calling the Nephites to repentance for polygamy less than
80 years after they arrive in the Americas. Assuming that the Nephites had half
the population, how many people can the original 25 grow to in 80 years?
Double? Triple? How was polygamy even a question? Who were the Nephite men
marrying as their plural wives?
5. Korihor the Anti-Christ is struck dumb.
In Alma 30, we come
across Korihor, the 3rd “Anti-Christ” of the Book of Mormon (the
others are Sherem, found in Jacob 7, and Nehor, found in Alma 1). Although
there was no law forbidding believing the wrong things (Alma 30, 7, 11), after
preaching that there would be no Christ and need for atonement,“he
[Korihor] was taken and bound and carried before the high priest and also the
chief judge over the land…” (29) (I don’t know, sorta sounds like he was
arrested for his beliefs…). When brought before Alma the chief judge, Korihor
says that if he were to receive a sign, he would believe (43).
Alma gives Korihor a sign. He has God strike him dumb.
Dumb. Not deaf. Dumb. To be clear, to be struck “dumb” means that one would
lose the ability to speak. It has no effect on hearing, it just means that one
cannot speak (Alma 30: 47-50). Although Korihor was not struck deaf, Alma “…put
forth his hand and wrote unto Korihor, saying: Art thou convinced of the
power of God? In whom did ye desire that Alma should show forth his sign?”
So Korihor was dumb, not deaf, yet Alma communicates
to him in writing.
Furthermore, although believing the wrong things was
not a crime, Alma (the Chief Judge) threatened the entire
population with the same punishment from God if they didn’t repent of
believing what Korihor told them (Alma 30:57).
6. Finding the plates containing the Jaredite record…
The Book of Ether is a translation of a small part of
the plates that contain the history of the Jaredites up to the point that the
civilization collapsed in the largest battle in human history. The sealed
portion of the Book of Mormon is also contained in these plates. An expedition
of 43 explorers were very (exceedingly?) lucky to stumble across the Jaredite plates,
because in that final battle, one side alone suffered 2 million losses, plus
their wives, plus their children (Ether 15:2). And that is only one side, so
double that. What’s that? 6 million deaths in that final battle. This is the
largest battle in the history of the world. Yet an expedition of 43 explorers
(Mosiah 8:7) luckily stumbled on the plates. In a battlefield with 6 million
dead. How? They were hidden “in a manner that the people of Limhi did find them.” (Ether15:33).
They were hidden? From whom? Why would they hide them
if, as far as they knew, the entire continent was unpopulated.
But ok. They were hidden. “[I]n a manner in a manner
that the people of Limhi did find them.” What does that even mean? Yes, they
were hidden, but not in a very clever way? If so, how would Moroni even know
they were hidden? Or were they hidden in such a way as to make them easily
findable for somebody who might come along in the future? That doesn’t quite
qualify as hidden, does it.
7. Jacob 5: Was the metaphor grapes or olives…?
In Jacob 5, the author is quoting or paraphrasing a
metaphor from an apparent Old-World Prophet named Zenos. The issue is that halfway
through, the author forgets the metaphor that he is using and switches to
another.
The first half, which is quite similar to a metaphor
used by St. Paul (in Romans 11), starts by drawing a comparison between the
House of Israel and an olive tree in a vineyard. Just the tree. An olive tree:
“For behold, thus saith the Lord, I will liken thee, O
house of Israel, like unto a tame olive tree, which a man took and nourished in
his vineyard; and it grew, and waxed old, and began to decay.” (Jacob 5:3)
About halfway through the chapter, Zenos abruptly
forgets the metaphor he started with (the one similar to St. Paul), and
switches to another, similar to one found in Isaiah (Chapter 5).
Compare:
What could have been done
more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it. (Isaiah 5:4)
With
And it came to pass that
the Lord of the vineyard wept, and said unto the servant: What could I have
done more for my vineyard? (Jacob 5:41)
It is at the point at which Zenos paraphrases Isaiah
that he switches metaphors; instead of the Pauline metaphor of the tree, he
switches to Isaiah’s metaphor of the entire vineyard. For the rest of the
chapter, the metaphor is about the vineyard.
In and of itself this is a little on the amateurish
side. But this effect is compounded when one remembers that the metaphor
started out being about an olive tree being planted in a vineyard. Yes,
vineyards grow grapes, but it is also true that olive trees have traditionally
been planted in vineyards. But by switching the metaphor from an olive tree in
the vineyard to the vineyard as a whole, the metaphor also switches from olives
to grapes without the author even acknowledging it.
It might be that the authors were grafting Paul’s
metaphor onto Isaiah’s metaphor without even realizing that they had completely
changed the subject?
8. Alma 46 and the cause of religious and political *freedom*.
Moroni is opposed to the efforts of Amalickiah to have
himself crowned King, and becomes alarmed when a large number of people start
to follow this upstart King.
Moroni makes a flag from his coat, and writes on it:
“In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and
our children,” Inspiring, right? This is Moroni’s “Title of Liberty,” and he
uses it to muster opposition to Amalickiah: “Behold, whosoever will maintain
this title upon the land, let them come forth in the strength of the Lord, and
enter into a covenant that they will maintain their rights, and their religion,
that the Lord God may bless them.” Gripping stuff.
What are they fighting to defend?
13. “…he prayed mightily unto his God for the
blessings of liberty…”
16. “…Moroni prayed that the cause of the Christians,
and the freedom of the land might be favored.”
17. “…when he had poured out his soul to God, he named
all the land which was south of the land Desolation, yea, and in fine, all the
land, both on the north and on the south—A chosen land, and the land of
liberty.”
20. “…and enter into a covenant that they will
maintain their rights, and their religion…”
24. “…let us preserve our liberty…”
With no ambiguity whatsoever, Moroni’s intentions are
to preserve political and religious freedoms (for the Christians at least—Hello
America!), and he raises an army to do so.
28. “…when Moroni had said these words he went forth,
and also sent forth in all the parts of the land where there were dissensions,
and gathered together all the people who were desirous to maintain their
liberty, to stand against Amalickiah and those who had dissented…”
Moroni takes his army and captures the supporters of
Amalickiah. Considering that his efforts are about religious and political
freedom, he does the right and noble thing. He gives them the opportunity (v.
35) to “enter into a covenant to support the cause of freedom, that they might
maintain a free government…”
And those who rejected the offer? “[H]e caused to be
put to death.”
Here’s your options. We are on the side of political
liberty, of freedom. If you disagree, we are going to kill you; You can choose
execution, or you can choose [snicker] political and religious freedom.”
If you are wondering (v. 35) “…there were but few who
denied the covenant of freedom.”
9. Alma 46:40. So, did they die with fevers or…
This one requires no commentary, except maybe to set
the context. In the years following Moroni’s enforced political and religious liberty,
there is a period of prosperity, during which
…there were some who
died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent
in the land—but not so much so with fevers, because of the excellent
qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the
cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of the climate…
Please note the lack of ellipsis in the above passage.
This was not edited for comedic effect. That is how it appears in the BoM.
10. It always seems to happen at the first of the month.
There are only 8 events mentioned in the BoM in which
the day of the month of the event is listed. All but two fall within the first
week of the month.
What is the probability that this many dates fall
within the first week? That these are actual historical dates rather than a
habit in the writing style of the author(s)? About 1/2000.[vi] Or possibly, considerably
worse than that.[vii]
11. Revealing the name Christ 2nd Nephi 10:3 sounds suspiciously like an “oops” moment.
The first mention of the name “Christ” sounds
suspiciously like it was included accidentally.
Remember, the first mention is in 2nd
Nephi, in passages written by Jacob (brother of Nephi, son of Lehi). And
according to the Book of Mormon, Jacob was writing more than 5 centuries BCE. He
was writing on golden metal plates which would have taken tremendous time and
effort to construct. Space on the plates would have been used very
carefully. Furthermore, consider how the information would have been recorded
onto the plates—perhaps with a heavy pointed object to inscribe into the metal.
Or a hammer and chisel, painstakingly creating each marking one by one.
Considering the limited space and difficulty of
transcription, one would presume that when Jacob is writing on the plates, he
is not, so to speak, winging it. Were this an actual transcription on actual
metal plates, it would have well thought out, planned in every detail. Jacob
would have known precisely what he was going to say before committing it to the
plates. He would not be saying stuff, then adding provisos as he went.
With that in mind, consider the first mention of the
name “Christ.” To this point in the BoM (nor in the Bible either, for that
matter) there is no indication that the name Jesus, Christ, or Jesus Christ has
ever been or will ever be revealed prior to His birth, or to His visit to the
Americas (in 3rd Nephi). The passage in question:
“Wherefore, as I said unto you, it must needs be
expedient that Christ—for in the last night the angel spake unto me that
this should be his name—should come among the Jews…” (2nd Nephi 10:3)
This adding of a proviso, of an afterthought, would
not be expected if an actual historical person were writing on actual metal
plates. But it might be expected if Joseph Smith was making it up as he went along,
dictating to his scribe, and accidentally said the name “Christ.” But because
he didn’t want his scribe to realize he was making it up, he couldn’t very well
backtrack and say “oops, I didn’t mean to say “Christ,” so he had to add the
curious afterthought to make it make sense. That is what the passage sounds
like. Not like the meticulous planning that would be required for writing on
actual metal plates.
12. The name Jesus Christ is the wrong language (2nd Nephi 25:19, 26:12, Mormon 5:14, Moroni 7:44)
In the above passage, Jacob reveals that the “name” of
the forthcoming redeemer will be “Christ.” Although we use “Christ” habitually
like it is Jesus’ surname, it is not a name. Christ is a title, meaning
something like “anointed one.” Keep in mind that the Jacob (the author of the
passage) and his fellow Nephites spoke Hebrew. They had a word “the anointed
one,” it was “Messiah.” The word Christ comes from the Greek word for the
anointed one. Although the writers of the Book of Mormon were Hebrew speakers,
the Greek “Christ” appears in the Book of Mormon over 300 times, while the
Hebrew Messiah appears less than 30.
A few passages later, one verse uses both Messiah and
Christ. 2nd Nephi 25:19 reveals that “…the Messiah
cometh…his name shall be Jesus Christ [reminder, not a name]” Christ
is the Greek and Messiah is the Hebrew for the same word. What this
passage says is that the name of the anointed one shall be the anointed one.
As a point of interest, the Prophet Joseph Smith said
that “[t]here was no Greek or Latin upon the plates
from which I, through the grace of the Lord, translated the Book of Mormon.”[viii]
13. Glass windows in Jaredite Submarines (Ether 2:23-24).
The story of the brother of Jared and the Jaredites
fleeing the chaos of the Tower of Babel and settling the promised land happens
around the year 2200 BC. Of note is that in the Book of Mormon, the Tower of
Babel as the origin of linguistic diversity, and this event is only accepted as
literal by young earth creationists. But that is not the feature of interest in
this case.
Rather, I would like to highlight Ether 2:23. After Jared
and his family and friends build their barges, the brother of Jared realizes
that that they are going to be totally in the dark inside.
First point. Recall that these submarines
barges are the second set that they have built. They have already built one set
of barges to cross many waters (Ether 2:2,6), and this second set are just like
the first set (Ether 2:16). But it only after finishing the 2nd
set of barges (including the interiors—apparently constructed in the dark?
Eight of them. In the dark. Nobody said “…wait a minute…”) that the brother of
Jared has his aha moment: “And behold, O Lord, in them there is no light;
whither shall we steer?” [because you need light inside the craft to steer…?] “And
also we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which
is in them; therefore we shall perish.”
It never occurred to Jared and his brother that they
need light and air inside their vessels in their first set of barges. Maybe
they found their first experiences unpleasant, so thought they should modify it
for their second, presumably longer, voyage? Yet nobody thought to make
modifications, nor even to ask about modifications until after construction was
completed?
To paraphrase the Lord’s reply… “well what do you want
me to do about it, you can’t have windows, the glass will smash in the storms,
and you can’t have fire because you can’t have fire.” To be fair, the good Lord
didn’t say the word “glass”, but did He not imply it by saying that the windows
would be dashed by the storms?
23: “And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What
will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels? For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in
pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall
not go by the light of fire.”
In this verse, there is not a doubt that “they,” the
things that would be dashed, are windows. You may wish to infer from this that
the Jaredites wanted to put wooden openings into their barges, even though the
Lord had specifically told them that their crafts were to
be tight like unto a dish. Not be too redundant, but the bottom had to be
tight like unto a dish, and the sides had to be tight like unto a dish, and the
top had to be tight like unto a dish, and the door had to be tight like unto a
dish (verse 17). If you are going to infer that upon following these
directions, the Jaredites wanted wooden openings to let the light in, I think
you may be not reading clearly enough. Let me reiterate the words of the Lord:
“ye cannot have
windows, for they will be dashed in pieces.”
The more probable explanation is that the authorship
of the Book of Ether is modern, and that the author did not realize that that
the use of glass windows to let in light did not emerge until, at the earliest,
the Roman Empire. Virtually every non-Mormon source that you will come across
puts the invention of glass windows in the Roman Empire, about 2000 years after
the story of the brother of Jared, or depending on how you define glass
windows, they may not occur until the 11th century.[ix]
14. Jaredite Navigational Techniques
The Jaredites set sail from (presumably) the Middle
East for the Americas in their submarines barges. How did they navigate?
They didn’t. That’s how. What was their means of propulsion? Nothing. That’s
what.
The boats were designed to flip over. Full of
livestock, water and food supplies. That’s implausible in and of itself.
But the reason the boats flip over is that their means
of navigation and propulsion is that they are going to be driven by storms. “And
it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land
while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind...
three
hundred and forty and four days upon the water.” (Ether 6: 8,11).
Nonstop wind for 344 days? No chance to stop to
replenish water and food supplies for themselves and their “flocks and herds”
(Ether 6:4) (you’d think they might need to after the boat flips, and the
animals are injured, and the water supply is sullied with the excrement of the
passengers and livestock… As many have pointed out before, there is not enough
room in the barges for sufficient food and water (or air).
But my main point has to do with the lack of ability
to navigate. They were driven by 344 days worth of wind. Pop out to nearest
pond or lake on a windy day, pop down 8 toy boats or paper barges, and watch
how the wind drives them. After one minute, are they all on the same
trajectory? If you follow them across the pond, are they going to land at the
same location on the other side? Yet these Jaredite barges were driven by 344
days of storms, with no means of navigation, and landed at the same time and
place on the other side of the world?
15. Moroni (in Mormon 8:5): I’ll be brief—I’ve run out of space to write…
Moroni claims that he has run out of space on his
plates to write, and that he doesn’t have the materials to make more plates.
And then he repeats a bunch of stuff covered previously, and just keeps on
writing and writing and writing. Including The Book of Ether, which contains
the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon—which is 2/3 the total volume of the
Book, and the Book of Moroni. After running out of space and ore, Moroni writes
about twice the material contained in the rest of the Book of Mormon combined.
16. The date of the Nephite apostasy just happens to be the same as the date of the Nicene Creed.
In what might
be quite the coincidence, the apostasy amongst the people of the Book of
Mormon, specifically the Nephite people, happened in the same year as the
formulation of the Nicene Creed.
Before we discuss reasons as to why this is a curious
coincidence, let’s first address how one would arrive at the date of the
Nephite apostasy.
3rd Nephi 2: 7-8 informs us that in or
before the year 9CE, the Nephites started counting their years from the time
that the signs had been given that Christ had been born—indicating that from
that time forward, the counting of years in the world of the BoM corresponded
to the chronology of the old world.
Mormon tells us that in 326CE he is in his 16th
year (Mormon 2:2). In the BoM narrative, he was born about 310CE.
At the age of 16, Mormon begins an on again/off again
role as leader of the Nephite armies (Mormon 2, 1-2), lasting until 384CE
(Mormon 2-6: 5). Under Mormon’s leadership, the entire Nephite nation is wiped
out in a war with the Lamanites (Mormon 6: 1-5), after which, survivors are hunted
and killed (Mormon 8: 2, 3, 7). According to his son Moroni, Mormon is killed,
presumably in either one of the final battles or in the ensuing hunt (Mormon 8:
3).
And why were the Nephites wiped out? The BoM is clear
that it was the judgments of God (Mormon 4: 5) due to their unwillingness to
repent (Mormon 3: 14-15). In other words, the good Lord destroyed an entire
race of His children for apostasy.
A few decades ago, a young gung-ho missionary version
of myself was struck by the fact that, due to the careful dating included in
Mormon, it is possible to pinpoint,
to within about a year, when the Nephite
apostasy happened.
First, here is the description of the apostasy as
found in Mormon, Chapter 1.
13 But
wickedness did prevail upon the face of the whole land, insomuch that the Lord
did take away his beloved disciples, and the work of miracles and of healing
did cease because of the iniquity of the people.
14 And
there were no gifts from the Lord, and the Holy Ghost did not come upon any,
because of their wickedness and unbelief.
16 And
I [Mormon] did endeavor to preach unto this people, but my mouth was shut, and
I was forbidden that I should preach unto them; for behold they had wilfully [sic]
rebelled against their God; and the beloved disciples were taken away out of
the land, because of their iniquity.
17 But
I did remain among them, but I was forbidden to preach unto them, because of
the hardness of their hearts; and because of the hardness of their hearts the
land was cursed for their sake.
Of course “apostasy” is a process, but if miracles and
healings cease, the land becomes cursed, the Holy Ghost and gifts of the spirit
are withdrawn, God shuts the mouths of the righteous forbidding them to preach,
and the disciples[x]
are taken away, and it all happens at the
same time, never to return,
it appears to be a bit of a tipping point, a point of no return in the apostasy
process.
The dating of this point of no return is found in the
middle of the above verses, in Mormon 1: 15.
15 And
I, being fifteen years of age and being somewhat of a sober mind, therefore I
was visited of the Lord, and tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus. (Grammar
in original)
Mormon was born around 310CE and took lead of the
military at 16 in 326CE (Mormon 2:2); the apostasy occurred when Mormon was 15
(Mormon 1:15). The year before he took lead of the Nephite armies would have
been about 325CE.
In the verses cited there is a small amount of
potentially unclear language (“the 326th year had passed away” as
opposed to “the year 326; “in my 16th year,” instead of “I was
16.”), but even if the muddy language adds or subtracts a year here or there,
the time frame for the Nephite apostasy is still within, at most, about a year
of 325CE.
Anyone with even a passing familiarity with Christian
history will recognize that the year 325CE is the year of the formulation and
adoption of the Nicene Creed.
The early LDS Church was rather anti-creed: In the
final and authoritative (1838) reconstruction of The First Vision, after young
Joseph asks the Lord what Church he should join, virtually the first thing
Jesus does is reject the Creeds:
I was answered that I
must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who
addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight;
that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their
lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the
commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power
thereof.”[xi]
Alexander Campbell
was a restorationist at around the same time as Joseph Smith. He was a Baptist
Minister during what came to be known as the Second Great Awakening, and taught
that New Testament Christianity needed to be restored, that dogmas and Creeds
were unnecessary and divisive, and as such ought to be avoided.[xii]
Early LDS leader Sidney Rigdon was linked Campbell’s movement[xiii]
for about a decade, from meeting him in 1821, through Rigdon’s becoming a
minister at the First Baptist Church in Pittsburgh (with Campbell’s help), to
being driven out of Pittsburgh for being a follower of Campbell.[xiv]
He was linked to the Campbellite movement until the spring of 1830[xv],
just months before his alleged introduction to Mormonism.
As a
restorationist influenced by Alexander Campbell, if Rigdon were the (co?) creator
of the BoM, we would expect to find elements of Campbell’s theology in the BoM,
or at minimum, the theological ideas that were in the air at the time. One of
the major themes amongst the restorationists was the return to the original
Apostolic Christianity, partially accomplished by discarding of the uninspired
and divisive Creeds,[xvi]
the first of which, The Nicene Creed, was formulated in 325CE, the same year as
the Book of Mormon Nephite apostasy. It may be a coincidence, or Rigdon, a
restorationist who rejected the Creeds, may have inserted the date into the BoM
as a subtle commentary. Because, perhaps, he considered the formulation of the
Nicene Creed a point of no return in the process of the Great Apostasy, or. it
might be a coincidence, or it might add weight to the Spalding Rigdon theory of
the origin of the Book of Mormon.
17. Zombie King Benjamin?
King Benjamin passed away in Mosiah 6:5. Yet in the 1830
version of the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin was still apparently active after
his death, translating languages (Mosiah 21:28), and keeping the sealed portion
of the BoM safe (Ether 4:1). Once the glitch was discovered, editions published
1837 or later changed the name of Benjamin was changed to that of his son, King
Mosiah (who was, according to the narrative, still alive). Occam’s razor would
suggest that Joseph simply lost track of the narrative he was constructing…
18. Why are there no specifics in the first six books of the Book of Mormon?
Note to readers—it is a common mistake to think that
the lost portion of the Book of Mormon is the same thing as the sealed portion
of the Book of Mormon. These are two separate items. The lost portion is the 116-page
manuscript discussed here, whereas the sealed portion is vision by the brother
of Jared that fits into the Book of Ether (2nd Nephi 27: 10-11;
Ether 4: 4,5)
In 1828, the production of the Book of Mormon was
making headway. Joseph Smith had dictated to his scribe, Martin Harris, 116
pages of what was intended to be a new book of scripture. Lucy Harris, somewhat
more skeptical than her husband, was not pleased with the amount of time Martin
was spending with Smith in producing the Book of Mormon.
To keep the Mrs. happy, Martin convinced Joseph to let
him borrow the manuscript to show his wife what they were doing, and to
convince her that it was real. While the manuscript was out of Smith’s safe
keeping, it disappeared. According to accounts at the time, Mrs. Harris
probably threw it on the fire.
The general belief was
that she [Mrs. Harris] burned it [i.e., the manuscript]. But the prophet Joseph
evidently was afraid she had not, but had secretly hid it, for the purpose of
entrapping him, should he ever attempt to reproduce the pages. If the work was
really of God, the manuscript could be reproduced word for word without a
mistake. If, however, Joseph inspired it himself, his memory would hardly be
adequate to such a task, without numberless changes or verbal differences—and
thus “give himself away,” since he loudly professed to be all the time aided
“by the gift and power of God.” (The Golden Bible, page 119)[xvii]
What was Joseph to do?
As luck would have it, the Lord had commanded Nephi to
make a second history of the people (referred to as the small plates of Nephi),
which constitute the first 6 books of the Book of Mormon, and just happen to
correspond perfectly with the time period covered by the lost manuscript. “Wherefore,
the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a wise purpose in him,
which purpose I know not.” (1st Nephi 9: 5). Talk about your lucky
breaks…
The good Lord was under the impression that, instead
of the manuscript being burned, it had fallen into the hands the wicked, who
intended to change the words, so that when the pages were retranslated the
original could be produced, and the wicked could say “look, the new translation
is different than the original,” thus undermining the credibility of the Book
of Mormon. Consequently, the Lord told Joseph not to retranslate, but to
translate the small plates of Nephi instead. (D&C 10)
But surely…if the original manuscript turned up with
alterations, it could still be compared to the first books of the Book of
Mormon to compare and contrast for inconsistencies. Luck strikes again. The
small plates of Nephi contain very few specifics in the way of names of the
Kings, dates and details and wars and contentions.
If, hypothetically, just if, Joseph Smith was making
the thing up on the fly, then the loss of the original manuscript would have
been a horrific setback. If he were fabricating the Book of Mormon, he would be
afraid of being found out, and so would need to manufacture a reason to not
“translate” the same material a second time. It just so happens that as soon as
he starts translating again there is second version of the missing story, but
conveniently leaving out any details that could be fact-checked if the original
were to turn up. I’m not saying it didn’t happen, but boy howdy, that is
really, really lucky!
Important note. When I noticed this lack of specifics,
I thought that I had made a major discovery…only to learn the Gerald and Sandra
Tanner had already made the same argument, and in far greater detail than I
have included here. I point the interested reader in the direction of the
Tanners (72saltlakecitymessenger.pdf
(utlm.org))
19. The Mechanics of Beheading Laban. 1st Nephi 4: 6-18
Nephi wants Laban’s brass plates. Laban refuses. Nephi
comes upon a drunk and passed out Laban in the night, and “…I was constrained by the Spirit that I should kill Laban…” (10).
So how did he do
it? “…I did obey the voice of the Spirit, and took Laban by
the hair of the head, and I smote off his head with his own sword.” (18)
Sure you did
Nephi. Sure you did.
If one person holds up another person by the hair it
would be mechanically impossible to swing a sword with the other arm with the
force necessary to “smote” the victim’s head off. Mime the actions for
yourself, you will see what I mean.
And it presumably goes without saying, but after
smoting off his head, the victim’s clothes would be soaked in blood; when Nephi
stole Laban’s clothes to impersonate him and steal the brass plates (19, 20,
24), Zoram (Laban’s servant) would have been suspicious.
20. The brass plates and the Law of Moses?
Why was so important to Nephi to obtain the brass
plates—important enough to behead a drunk guy? Because, speaking of his
descendants colonizing the Americas, Nephi said that “[i]nasmuch as thy seed
shall keep my commandments, they shall prosper in the land of promise. Yea, and
I also thought that they could not keep the commandments of the Lord according
to the law of Moses, save they should have the law. And I also knew that the
law was engraven upon the plates of brass.” (1st Nephi 4: 14-16). He needed the
brass plates from Laban so that his descendants could live the Law of Moses.
Fair enough. But consider how in the Bible, the Law of
Moses is central to every aspect of life. Even in the New Testament, after the
death of Jesus we find the fledgling Christians debating as to whether to keep
aspects of the Law of Moses in their new movement (Acts 15). Now consider how
much discussion of the law of Moses there is in the Book of Mormon. Virtually
nothing.
In Mosiah 12 and 13, Abinadi teaches the 10
Commandments to King Noah. Nephi (2nd Nephi 25: 24,25) says the Law is
dead to them, but they keep it anyway because of commandments. Jacob (4: 4,5) mentions that the people are
keeping the Law of Moses because it points their souls in the direction of
Christ (also 2nd Nephi 11:4). Mormon (Helaman 13:1) mentions that for
a period the Lamanites were keeping the law of Moses, that the purpose of the
Law of Moses is to point to that” great
and last sacrifice…[of] the son of God” (Alma 34:13,14), and that if you
teach the Law of Moses, also teach that it is a shadow of things to come
(Mosiah 16: 14). That’s pretty much it. No discussion of the observances, offerings,
rituals, sacrifices, holy days. Just a handful of passing mentions that they
follow the Law.
21. Alma 32 and the “experiment.”
The entirety of Alma 32 is a challenge to perform an
experiment. My question is—would the concepts or language of the scientific
method have existed in the Americas in 74BCE? To exist in Nephite culture it
would, presumably, needed to have existed in Jerusalem circa 600 BCE when Lehi
and family left.
When I teach on the history of the scientific method,
I trace its development through some of the important foundational thinkers
like Galileo and his emphasis on observation and mathematical descriptions of
phenomena (natural laws), Descartes and his emphasis on skepticism, and Bacon
and his emphasis on creative inductive reasoning to propose testable
hypotheses.[xviii]
So although there was the odd attempt at something like a scientific method in
the ancient world[xix],
I would place the origin of the scientific method right around Bacon. Right
around the 16th and 17th centuries CE.
So, I reiterate, how likely is it that the concept of
the experiment would have been carried from Israel to the Americas, and exist
in the Americas in the first century BCE?
22. And would Alma’s “experiment” even have any validity?
Human Psychology includes a mechanism called Cognitive
Dissonance.[xx]
The experiment as described by Alma requires the experimenter/subject to act
as though they believe (Alma
32: 28-34) while at the same time, to borrow a phrase from
President Uchtdorf[xxi], doubting their doubts
(28). I put it to you, gentle reader, that is fact of human psychology that if
the experimenter/subject acts as though they believe for long enough, Cognitive
Dissonance will kick in, and they will believe. This new belief will have
nothing to do with the truth of the belief, but will result from the basic
mechanism of Cognitive Dissonance.[xxii] If the same method (act
as though you believe, don’t not believe) were to be applied to any other holy
book, because of the human psychology that God created, the result would be the
same.
Surely if an infinite being is trying to offer proof a
sorts that the Book of Mormon is true, He would not come up with a method that makes
it impossible to adjudicate between competing holy books.
See also: A testimony is found in the bearing of it.[xxiii]
23. How does Lucifer end up in the Book of Mormon?
In 2nd Nephi 24:12, Lucifer gets a shout
out. Why? And why is this problematic?
Here Nephi is quoting Isaiah (entire chapters of
Isaiah). However, the inclusion of the word Lucifer might indicate that instead
of Nephi quoting Isaiah, what is happening is that Joseph Smith is copying
Isaiah out of his Old Testament.
One issue is that Lucifer is a Latin word, and as we
have already discovered “[t]here was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from
which [Joseph Smith], through the grace of the Lord, translated the Book of
Mormon.”[xxiv]
The term comes from a translation by St. Jerome in the 3rd
century CE, the Latin Vulgate. It is widely considered a translation error[xxv], or at minimum, a unique
translation of a title of a Babylonian King (not Satan as asserted in D&C
76:26).
24. There are italics in the Book of Mormon that appear to copied directly from the Bible
In the King James version of the Bible, the
translators would, from time to time, find words or phrases that did not have a
clear English equivalent.
[T]he words in italics in
the King James Bible are words that were added by the translators to help the
reader. This is usually necessary when translating from one language to another
because a word in one language may not have a corollary word in English and
idiomatic expressions often do not easily move from one language to another.
Hence, the words in italics are words which do not have any equivalence in the
Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek text.[xxvi]
The King James Bible was published in 1611.
In 2nd Nephi, Nephi is transcribing parts
of the Book of Isaiah onto his plates (circa 550 BCE). Even though he is
transcribing the Hebrew Language into the Reformed Egyptian written language,
when Joseph Smith translates this Hebrew-->Reformed Egyptian into English, he translates
it virtually word for word as was translated in the King James version of the
Bible (which was, dare I remind you, constructed from multiple translations of
Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin).
This is suspicious enough as is, but in addition to
the Isaiah passages being a virtually word for word, some of the passages
allegedly translated by Smith also include the italics that are included in the
King James Bible.
Compare Isaiah 9:1 and 2 Nephi 19:1. (which also, by
the way, inserts “Red” into the “Red Sea” in the 2nd Nephi, which
would not have been included in the original written by the author(s) of
Isaiah). Italics are identical.
Compare Malachi 3:10 (about 550BCE, about 5 decades
after Lehi and co. leave Jerusalem) and 3 Nephi 24:10 (Jesus mentioning and
quoting Malachi, as if His listeners know who Malachi is, in the new world,
about 34 CE). Italics are identical.
Although apologists have attempted their ad hoc
magic to try to make it make sense, applying Occam’s razor again would indicate
that the more probable explanation is that Joseph Smith was simply copying
passages out of his King James Bible rather than translating ancient Reformed
Egyptian into English.
Conclusion.
As a young man I had read the Book of Mormon more than
20 times before I lost count. I believed in it’s truth, power, and mission as
sincerely as anybody could. I have since come to conclusion that it is not what
it claims itself to be. Amongst the reasons for that change in heart are the
amateurish implausibilities listed above.
As I said, what is listed above is not intended to be
a decisive knock out punch for the Book of Mormon. But if the Book was a
carefully curated history, painstakingly recorded by ancient prophets, meticulously summarized by Mormon, and translated by the gift and power of God, one should
not expect to find items like those included in this post.
[ii] Populations
in the Book of Mormon - By Study and Faith: Book of Mormon
Population Statistics | Meridian Magazine (latterdaysaintmag.com)
[vi] Statistical
Analysis of Month-dates in the Book of Mormon – About The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) (lds-mormon.com)
[vii] How The Book of
Mormon's Dates Were Chosen: A Statistical Approach To BOM Origins | PDF |
Randomness | Statistics (scribd.com)
[viii] Times and
Seasons, Vol.4, No.13, May 15, 1843, p.194,
History
of the Church Vol. 5, p.399,
[ix]
http://www.glassonline.com/infoserv/history.html
[x] BTW, if the
disciples were called at 30 years old, they would have been 355 years old at
this point.
[xii] Ron Rhodes, The
Complete Guide to Christian Denominations, Harvest House Publishers, 2005
https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/alexander-campbell.html
https://www.therestorationmovement.com/_states/wv/acampbell.htm
Campbell,
“Millennium, No. 1,” Millennial Harbinger 1, no. 2 (1 February 1830): 58.
[xvi] Encyclopedia of
the Stone-Campbell Movement, ed. Foster et al., s.v. “Eschatology,” 304
[xx] Festinger, L
(1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Evanston, IL.; Row, Peterson.;
Festinger, L.,
& Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance. Journal
of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 38, 203-210.
[xxiv] Times and
Seasons, Vol.4, No.13, May 15, 1843, p.194,
also History of the Church Vol. 5, p.399,
Found this from the exmormon subreddit. Amazing work and is as entertaining as it is frustrating that I never caught most of these as a member.
ReplyDeleteOne nitpick - under #6, the reference to Ether 15:33 has a typo, it repeats “in a manner” an extra time.