One thing that always got me about the BOM is the absolute dulge of filler words. Like starting every sentence with "it came to pass that" or "yea".

Or placing the word "the" just unnecessarily in the middle of a sentence.

Or "hither and thither", other than old hicks in the US said that?

Or a whole damn paragraph to say what could have been said in one sentence.

And why the old english? Supposedly, they came straight out of the middle east and into America. Why is anyone saying "thine" or "verily" or "thou".

I don't get why the church would hold onto this style for the BOM. It makes it almost unreadable. Do they not really want their members to read it? Do they want it so cluttered up with filler words and trash that no one can stand hearing it for too long?

speaking of unreadable, excuse my typos.

Mark Twain famously wisecracked about how much shorter it would be if "And it came to pass..." was eliminated.

Not to mention readable!

In writing there's something called "purple prose." This is when the writing becomes too flowery, ornate, and goes on too long. So instead of being about the story or subject, it becomes all about the prose. Skimming the physical book, fast-forwarding the audio book, and wanting to be lobotomized instead of enduring another five pages of filler are common reactions to it.

I haven't done enough research to rank works with the most purple prose, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Book of Mormon made the top ten.

And you might be right about the Morg wanting the prose that purple so folks can let their brains switch off.

Well, I can say that when I tried to study it. The glut of unnecessary words made it very hard to concentrate.

I feel that if I were to say this to a TBM, they would tell me that I didn't have the right spirit. They would say that as soon as I got rid of my doubts or sin it would read like the most awesome perfect book ever.

It was a dark and rainy night in Jerusalem.

Now cut that out ! *LOL*

Or head will roll.

Hope this helps, best regards, esias


The Dodo the other day [2015] declared dolorously the Book of Mormon was uncontestable, of divine origin, crafted without fault, and a construct without equal. They make the same claims for the Koran of course. But we may ask - where do Mormons keep their literary critical faculty? The Book of Mormon is an insipid dreadful doleful dollop of donkey-doo-doos crammed with cliches, full of loose ends, improbabilities, stories with a remarkable similarity to those in the Bible, whole chapters of Isaias ripped, needless repetition on seemingly gold plates where space is at a premium, and fails the first hurdle of a test of the English language - Joseph Smith and the golden bible company - are limited by their sense of the English language disguising the faults in mock-seventeenth century cliches. We know more or less what books were loaded in the local library, to which manuscripts they had access, who influenced to a high degree of probability which sections. I would call brothers and sisters from this Board to appear for the prosecution and the evidence for the prosecution would go on for weeks. So let's play the dodo-deterrent guide to randomly spotting the plagiarism, the oddism, the anachronism, tautology, repetition, or just plain insanity when Brother Joseph loses it. Uncontestable? You're having a Turking bath. Here's verses at random awash with tautology, plagiarism ... For the most perfect course read a cluster-frack of the English language.

1. I Nephi 1:1 I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.

See I Corinthians 4:1 - The mysteries of God

· Why does Nephi feel the need to boast of goodly parents? How does Nephi know he is highly favoured of the Lord? Who instructed Nephi in the mysteries of God? 'Therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days' is circumlocution and a waste of gold plate CIRCUMLOCUTION PLAGIARISM IMPROBABILITY

2. I Nephi 1:14 And it came to pass that when my father had read and seen many great and marvelous things, he did exclaim many things unto the Lord; such as: Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high in the heavens, and thy power, and goodness, and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth, and, because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish!

See Revelation 15:3 – Great and Marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty CIRCUMLOCUTION PLAGIARISM TAUTOLOGY

3. I Nephi 2:24 And if it so be that they rebel against me, they shall be a scourge unto thy seed, to stir them up in the ways of remembrance.

See 2 Peter 1:13 A Facist intergallactic empire-building God does away with free agency and can't resist a damned good cursing. CIRCUMLOCUTION PLAGIARISM FASCIST GOD

4. I Nephi 4:13 Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.

See John 11:50 – It is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.

·God's first advice to Nephi is that Nephi should lop the dude's head off, and Nephi raid the pad for its gold loot. God does a nice line in murder for 'righteous purposes' CIRCUMLOCUTION PLAGIARISM FASCIST GOD - Is God a scrap-metal merchant with a panchant for murder?

5. I Nephi 15:15 And then at that day will they not rejoice and give praise unto their everlasting God, their rock and their salvation? Yea, at that day, will they not receive the strength and nourishment from the true vine? Yea, will they not come unto the true fold of God?

·See John 15:1
·God is mixing his metaphors!

6. I Nephi 20:1 Hearken and hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, or out of the waters of baptism, who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, yet they swear not in truth nor in righteousness.

·Joseph Smith lifts two chapters from Isaiah – 48 & 49. Baptism, eh? Kinky.

7. II Nephi 1:14 Awake! and arise from the dust, and hear the words of a trembling parent, whose limbs ye must soon lay down in the cold and silent grave, from whence no traveler can return; a few more days and I go the way of all the earth.

- See Hamlet III i: The undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns - multiple plaigarisms

8. II Nephi 9:18 But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever.

·See Hebrews 12:2 & Matthew 25:34 & John 15:11

9. II Nephi 31:18 And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive.

·See Matthew 7:14 PLAGIARISM NEW TESTAMENT NOT YET WRITTEN

10. Helaman 14:25 And many graves shall be opened, and shall yield up many of their dead; and many saints shall appear unto many.

See Matthew 27:52-53 Michael Jackson's Thriller video foreseen by Joseph Smith

11. Jarom 1:8 And we multiplied exceedingly, and spread upon the face of the land, and became exceedingly rich in gold, and in silver, and in precious things, and in fine workmanship of wood, in buildings, and in machinery, and also in iron and copper, and brass and steel, making all manner of tools of every kind to till the ground, and weapons of war - yea, the sharp pointed arrow, and the quiver, and the dart, and the javelin, and all preparations for war.

·No evidence of these civilisations

12. Mosiah 4:4 And king Benjamin again opened his mouth and began to speak unto them, saying: My friends and my brethren, my kindred and my people, I would again call your attention, that ye may hear and understand the remainder of my words which I shall speak unto you.

This is a terrible tautology!

13. Ether 9:19 And they also had horses, and asses, and there were elephants, and cureloms, and cumoms; all of which were useful unto man, and more especially the elephants, and cureloms, and cumoms.

No horses, elephants, cureloms and cumoms found! ANACHRONISMS

14. Yea, they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell, and the devil, and all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of God, and be judged according to their works, from whence they must go into the place prepared for them, even a lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment. II Nephi 28:23

There goes that Fascist God again!

15. And it came to pass that the Lord told me whither I should go to find ore, that I might make tools.

·How did Nephi extract the ore without tools?

16. I Nephi 18:13 Wherefore, they knew not whither they should steer the ship, insomuch that there arose a great storm, yea, a great and terrible tempest, and we were driven back upon the waters for the space of three days; and they began to be frightened exceedingly lest they should be drowned in the sea; nevertheless they did not loose me.

·Smith recreates Shakespeare’s The Tempest!

17. I Nephi 22:20 And the Lord will surely prepare a way for his people, unto the fulfilling of the words of Moses, which he spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that all those who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people.

·See Acts 3:22-23. This verse quotes Peter’s paraphrase of Deuteronomy rather than the original Old Testament verses!

18. II Nephi 5:16 And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon's temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine.

·Half a dozen men build a temple like unto Solomon! Respect!

19. II Nephi 10:10 But behold, this land, said God, shall be a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land.

·God favours one country over the others! What does 'blessed' mean? That doesn't sound much like a God. The Book of Mormon assumes the Bible theme of a God playing the old game of fascists and favourites.

20. Mosiah 10:20 And it came to pass that we did drive them again out of our land; and we slew them with a great slaughter, even so many that we did not number them.

Silly hyperbole and tautology

21. Alma 18:43 And it came to pass that his servants took him and carried him in unto his wife, and laid him upon a bed; and he lay as if he were dead for the space of two days and two nights; and his wife, and his sons, and his daughters mourned over him, after the manner of the Lamanites, greatly lamenting his loss.

Laid low as if dead is a terrible cliche!

22. Alma 47:30 And the army which pursued after them returned, having pursued after them in vain; and thus Amalickiah, by his fraud, gained the hearts of the people.

'Pursue after' is a rotten tautology!

23. III Nephi 10:4 O ye people of these great cities which have fallen, who are descendants of Jacob, yea, who are of the house of Israel, how oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you.

Repetition: the hen gathers her chickens four times!

24. III Nephi 17:15 And when he had said these words, he himself also knelt upon the earth; and behold he prayed unto the Father, and the things which he prayed cannot be written, and the multitude did bear record who heard him.

How convenient that Jesus' prayer wasn't recorded!

25. Mormon 2:14 And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die. Nevertheless they would struggle with the sword for their lives.

As close as Joseph Smith comes to humour.

[Repost 15th June 2015]

Thanks Esias. I always find your posts interesting. There really is some impressive padding and circumlocution at every turn in the BOM. And wars.

thanks for this reminder

Tom in Paris

The BOM allegedly covers more than 1000 years of history. It claims to be an abridged record. Two-thirds of it were sealed and never “translated.” If any of those claims were true, there would be absolutely no room for “filler” words.

Well, you take out the repetitive, unnecessary, contradictory, and utterly ridiculous, and all you have left is the Pamphlet of Mormon.

Just try starting a church with that.

The unsophisticated are often impressed by a "Word Salad" and the BoM is the original bowl full. Throw in a lot of fancy words and many will be impressed. Make them 16th Century fancy words and you can take them all the way to the bank.

"...many things that could not be repeated..." A vague and open ended reference to things that might yet be revealed and added by some future "prophet" like Smith













"...many things that could not be repoeated,.

Many moons ago I got as far as page 3...and have never read any further.

I read that book a couple of times and could never find where it supposedly contained 'the fullness of the gospel'. Temple marriage? Work for the dead? Polygamy? Tithing? Etc?

The BOM is yet another of the cult's control tactics.

They tell you it'd the most correct book and it will change your life if you read it everyday.

Then, when it inevitably fails to live up to its promises, it is YOUR fault. YOU didn't have the spirit, or YOU aren't worthy of the "deeper meaning".
They also know you will not discuss your doubts with others, as that would show that you lack faith.

So, you become a good mormon and fawn over the emperor's new clothes; pretending this eighth grade bible fan fiction is profound scripture.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2020 11:13AM by oxymormon.

Jesus was speaking Klingon.

I'm pretty sure it was actually Old Entish.

Wonderful comments on this page!

The Book of Mormon is a tool, they say to convert, but really just mesmerizes mormon folks. It took me awhile to be able to get over its awkward verbosity and after reading it several times there is no fulness of the gospel contained in it.

Just go point by point what the church claims is the fulness and see if its in there, like campbell's soup. The church pretends it hints at or alludes to the fulness of the gospel, but it's not.

If it was they would be using the Book of Mormon exclusively and wouldn't need the D&C, PoGP or even modern prophets for that matter - because it would all be in the book. It is only a talisman to get you to believe you don't know everything and therefore should trust them in everything to be "blessed" - after all they are the prophet, who God speaks to instead of you. (Your prayers are only to affirm what the prophet says.)

As far as literary quality, the Book of Mormon is a shoddy effort at trying to resemble the bible combined with a Boy's Life take on plot and character development (scouting magazine for younger folks.) It tries to sound knowledgeable by making up mysterious sounding names which was generally Joseph Smith's attempt at wisdom but it fails the same.

Mormons should just redo the title page (also who has a title page for God's word? just more egregious self promotion on what to think) anyways it should have said: for the Fleecing of both Gullible Gentile and Christian as that is what it is most aptly used for.

If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS. No wonder JS is considered a religious genius.

Yes.

The more UNREADABLE it is the more they can torment the youth for not picking it up... or for putting it down.

It's all right there in 5 Nephi, Chapter 2 and the Words of Other Helaman. Turn the book upside down and start reading from the back cover to the front, like playing old vinyl records backward. You'll have to use your own seerstone to translate, but that's not hard once you get the hang of it.

I'll excerpt the most important part:

"1 And it came to pass that Anti-Moriantoncumr-ha did write upon the plates many plain and precious things, concerning the future inhabitants of the land northward and the land southward, yea, of all the lands that encompassed the land roundabout between the great seas, and the cities thereof, and he did inscribe many things upon the plates, the least part of which cannot be written here, for they were many and troubling for the children of men to hear, even because of the wickedness of their hearts and stiffedness of their necks, yea to the mourning of their wives and children, and asses, and sheep, even to the mourning of all their offspring, and all the inhabitants of all the lands encompassing the land roundabout."

Wait, that wasn't the correct verse. Oh right, here it is--

"14 And Anti-Moriantoncumr-ha did write upon the plates, and these were the words which he wrote, and did cause to be written, writing,

15 Behold! It shall come to pass in those days, when wars and murmurs of wars shall cover the face of the earth, that one shall rise up from among the gentiles, and to him shall power be given, yea even the power of God to translate these things.

16 And he shall wax profuse, and shall write many words, yea and even shall invent new passages, to the convincing of many of the truth of these things.

17 And there shall rise up others among the gentiles, crying, Lord, Lord, why dost thou give unto us so many words? We have not ears to hear, and they do strain our eyes.

18 And the Lord will say unto them, Depart from me, ye wicked ones! Verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath ears, let him hear, and he that hath eyes, let him see, and he that falleth asleep, let him take herbs, and medicines,

19 That he may no longer fall asleep, but hearken unto every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of my servant."

So you see that God knew all along that you would ask why the Book of Mormon is so verbose. Imagine that!

There was a great (and when I say great, I mean laughably sad) apologist article last year that defended the archaic BoM style, stating that not only does it have King James Version old-timey 17th Century language, but also elements of 14th through 16th.

In other words, the apologist said that what critics call poor writing or mistakes by JS were actually genius because of all the other old style elements without realizing what a flawed argumant that is: that would be like "translating" something and including words like "Forsooth", "dude", "verily", "gobsmacked", "groovy", and so forth all the same thing.

There's a book called "Mormon's Book" that tried to rewrite the book of mormon into modern english.