Recovery Board  : RfM
Recovery from Mormonism (RfM) discussion forum. 
Go to Topic: PreviousNext
Go to: Forum ListMessage ListNew TopicSearchLog In
Posted by: New meat ( )
Date: July 08, 2024 01:56PM

I'm aware of this being done several times before although Salt Lake itself forbids it... except in the case of children's books. There is another vernacular English version of the Book of Mormon the "Easy-to-read Book of Mormon". This was not produced by any group or church but by a professional editor Lynn Matthews Anderson. It was intended for people who were learning English or have difficulty reading

A new version just rolled out, and it's not calling itself the Book of Mormon:

https://www.covenantofchrist.org/

Apparently in the modern English version, Nephi does not decapitate Laban, that “smite off the head” is misinterpreted. He explains somewhere in the video. I know we're so used to reading that Nephi cut Laban's head off, as many of us have wondered the mechanics of how Nephi got the clothes of Laban off that wouldn't be blood soaked!!! Likewise, it is made to read so Shiz isn't fully decapitated. (A lot of exmos will be familiar with this passage in Ether where a headless man pulls his body up.)

What I really want is for Mark Twain to be channeled, thus reducing the Book of Mormon to pamphlet size by removing all the “And it came to pass” wording. :)

From what I've heard, there are several things that are way different. I'm not sure what to make of it. No wonder it has a different name than "Book of Mormon". It's kind of surreal to have this thing.

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: anybody ( )
Date: July 08, 2024 02:25PM


Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: dagny ( )
Date: July 08, 2024 05:42PM

That sounds like what a lot of Christians do with the Bible to keep kids from what it actually says.

I wonder if Mormons are trying to get a version for kids that people can't try to ban.
If people are going to call out books about gay families "grooming," then they should expect people to complain that the Bible should be banned (talk about creepy crap and grooming!). Maybe Mormons are thinking ahead?

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: bradley ( )
Date: July 08, 2024 08:03PM

"Nephi does not decapitate Laban, that “smite off the head” is misinterpreted."

Nephi was taught the Vulcan Nerve Pinch after contact with Mr Spock during a time travel mishap. It was removed from the temple ceremony for obvious reasons.

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: Nightingale ( )
Date: July 08, 2024 08:37PM

The Amazon site that's advertising the book contains the “top review from Canada” here:

https://www.amazon.ca/Easy-Read-Lynn-Matthews-Anderson/dp/0964495708

It’s long but it’s a fun read. I conclude the writer of this review is not a fan of the BoM.

Excerpt:

"One can read an abridgement of Joseph Smith Junior's tiresome narratives and pseudo-prophetical speeches and get through the unwelcome chore with welcome rapidity! There have been a few such abridgements over the years. Currently available is Lynn Matthews Anderson's simplified version of the BoM. Shortening it and putting Smith's contorted archaisms into modern and highly readable English, the reader can breeze his way through this piece of religious fiction in very short order. The BoM really does not merit any closer attention than what Anderson (who, be it noted, is a "true believer" and a member of the L.D.S. cult) makes of it, anyway, unless one addresses the BoM as a dutiful scholar or has to make use of it in apologetic endeavours, debate, and close analysis.

"Stripped of its pretentious aspirations, the BoM's narratives seem more trifling and foolish than inspiring. Anderson's prose is lean and straightforward, stripping the nonessentials of wording and detail away to leave the bare (even bald!) and unadorned accounts as the rather silly and arbitrary tales that they are. The many visions and speeches recounted in the BoM more obviously reveal themselves to the reader as the uncouth (but rudimentarily clever) confections from Biblical models, and gauchely awkward ones at that, which they are.

"Anderson makes her abridgement of the BoM from the accepted L.D.S. text of the work. There are many corruptions in the L.D.S. text, especially when compared to the more faithful R.L.D.S. editions of it, or, certainly, to the critical texts of the BoM which have been undertaken. However, such matters are of little import in using and commending a welcome abridgement such as Anderson's is. Get it, read it, and mostly forget about it, having done your reader's duty to history and to this bit of Americana lore!"

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: elderolddog ( )
Date: July 08, 2024 09:19PM

    Does this simpler, tidier version mention what color I am?

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: Lot's Wife ( )
Date: July 08, 2024 09:59PM

I looked it up. You are on the books as Probationary White, Second Class. But on the delightsomeness scale you're off the charts!

Congratulations; keep up the good work; and remember, all are equal in the eyes of God!

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: elderolddog ( )
Date: July 08, 2024 10:30PM

    Yeah, but how equal?  Equal equal, or sorta equal, kinda equal?

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: CrispingPin ( )
Date: July 08, 2024 11:28PM

Depends-did SWK ever comment about your particular skin shade, and whether or not it’s becoming more delightsome?

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: Lot's Wife ( )
Date: July 10, 2024 12:23AM

Equal is an artificial sweetener. It makes bitter things more tolerable.

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: Lawnmower Man ( )
Date: July 11, 2024 05:56AM

Lot's Wife Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Equal is an artificial sweetener. It makes bitter
> things more tolerable.

And poisons the surrounding environment:
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-reveals-environmental-impact-artificial-sweeteners.html

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: Lot's Wife ( )
Date: July 11, 2024 06:04AM

Hi Mom!

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: anonynon ( )
Date: July 09, 2024 08:23PM

Well this post is disappointing. I was hoping to find news about the scriptures set to the tune of "I Melt With You"

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: Wasatch affronted ( )
Date: July 14, 2024 03:25AM

I can see how this kind of "translation" could be done really well, or really badly. A bad translation would lose the flavor of the book.

If it can be translated into other languages why not modern forms of English.

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: GNPE ( )
Date: July 14, 2024 11:59AM

Rusty can fix the whole, entire mess by completing the JST ‘inspired version’, I hear that has editions - revisions of the book that are Correctly Translated!!

If that doesn’t satisfy eod & LW, nothing will…

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: Lot's Wife ( )
Date: July 14, 2024 06:24PM

We're good--unless you whoosh me again!

Options: ReplyQuote
Posted by: JacksonCo ( )
Date: July 18, 2024 08:36AM

GNPE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rusty can fix the whole, entire mess by completing
> the JST ‘inspired version’, I hear that has
> editions - revisions of the book that are
> Correctly Translated!!
>
> If that doesn’t satisfy eod & LW, nothing
> will…

I thought Denver Snuffer was doing this too?

Options: ReplyQuote
Go to Topic: PreviousNext
Go to: Forum ListMessage ListNew TopicSearchLog In


Screen Name: 
Your Email (optional): 
Subject: 
Spam prevention:
Please, enter the code that you see below in the input field. This is for blocking bots that try to post this form automatically.
 **     **  **    **  ********   **      **  ******** 
 **     **  **   **   **     **  **  **  **  **       
 **     **  **  **    **     **  **  **  **  **       
 **     **  *****     ********   **  **  **  ******   
 **     **  **  **    **         **  **  **  **       
 **     **  **   **   **         **  **  **  **       
  *******   **    **  **          ***  ***   ********