1st. Go read the original version. Sounds like an uneducated hillbilly wrote it when he wasn't ripping stuff right out of the bible.
2nd. The stuff that was ripped off from the bible is stright from the KJV, translation errors and all. Along with all of the stuff that was changed during the time period of 600 B.C. Isaiah has been changed quite a bit since then.
3rd. Anachronisms. Jews in America with horses, steel, barely etc.
If the book weren't made up, it would be accurate historically.
4th. The idea that Native Americans were a lost tribe of Isreal was a ripped off idea too. No evidence for it, just an idea that was semi popular. JS and friends just made a crappy story about it.
5th. Go read about how much god hates the Native Americans and constantly calls them filthy, lazy, loathsesome.
It wasn't all just made up. Much of it was plagiarized from the Bible, with a few stories or sermons actually thrown in by JS, like the parts that conveniently explain how there were two sets of of the Plates of Nephi (after the 116 pages were lost), and the postscript chapters of Moroni where he wasn't quite dead yet, so he had some more to say on contemporary colonial-American topics.
The stories that were made up talk of steel swords, wheat, cattle, windows, and a lot of other 19th century things that didn't exist in ancient America. In other words, the stuff he did make up wasn't very well thought out.
OK, to the author of this thread, I'll try to be nice and tell you why it is very likely not true...
1. As mentioned, there was no steel, horses,etc., in this hemisphere during the times of the alleged BOM peoples. 2. The DNA testing performed on indiginous peoples from the top of North America to the tip of South America show that they came from N.E. Asia in two migrations, thousands of years before the Nephites or Jaredites. There are NO "Hebrew" or "Jewish" DNA markers. None. 3. At the time of Joseph Smith there were at least two books written discussing the idea that the Indians were "lost tribes of Israel". In fact one of them was written by the pastor of Oliver Cowdery's church (Ethan Smith, no relation to Joseph Smith). 4. The book of Mormon is a very simple minded read. In it (I've read it about 19 times) good people are blessed, wicked people are punished and the reversal time from good to bad and being blessed/punished is about 2 years. Over and over again. Real life doesn't work that way.
There is much more, some was mentioned earlier.
If you want to believe in it, that is fine.
I think there are good teachings in the book, but they are essentially also found in the New Testament, so there is nothing terribly original or vital to the book's content.
Dear OP, please enlighten us: why should any of us believe that Joseph Smith actually translated the Book of Mormon by the gift and power of God? What proof does the Book of Mormon offer as to its authenticity?
Also, just googling Book of Mormon 1830 version online, you'll see several other places.
Know that you don't need to read the whole thing to get the feel of the voices of the book.
It's pretty clear to me that there were several contributors to the book.
But if you look closely, the writing styles change mid book and jump back and fourth as if a few people were working on it but not writing it seperately and then compiling it.
The most consistent voice is the stuff that's ripped right out of the bible.
Especially the first 1/3rd of the Book up to “Words of Mormon”.
It is obviously made up.
The author has to keep doubling back on himself to keep the story on track.
i. e. (paraphrased by ziller) - “Hurry! Leave Jerusalem cuz it is fixin’ to get destroyed!
“But wait! Go back and get the brass plates. Ok, now leave.”
“Wait. Hold it. Hold it. Now go back and get some wimin. Ok. Now go.”
The author spends page after page of precious golden-plate-space telling us that he is not telling us THIS, and not telling us THAT, and he is not going to write about THIS, and THAT is in another set of plates and so on.
And, oh yeah, his dad had these really weird dreams and visions, but he doesn’t say much about them either.
Except the infamous Hold-to-the Iron-Rod dream which doesn’t really mean anything to anybody – except to say “OBEY the Profit”.
Then the author ladles in whole chapters of erroneously KJV translated Isaiah as filler material.
And then….
Oh, nevermind. OP prolly “knows” that the BoM is twue.
"Joseph Smith Begins His Work" Vol 1, 2 by Wilford C Wood
Contains the original: The Book of Mormon,The Book of Commandments, The Doctrine and Covenants, The Lectures on Faith , the Fourteen Articles of Faith (I own this set)
This is the original Book of Mormon before correcting the spelling, adding punctuation and verses. This is an eye opener!
OOPS..almost forgot. I bought these from utlm.org
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2011 04:20PM by SusieQ#1.
Anyone who believes that horse shit about a bunch of folks travelling in their wooden submarine and all the crap about chariots and swords and stuff...is just dumb or has on blinders. Or both. Dumb people with blinders. The crutch loves em when they mindlessly fork over their money. Really!!!
Raptor Jesus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I may have even said it at one point because I was > stupid. > > They fail to see that it is a piece of a much > larger picture. > > And the picture is that the BoM is complete and > utter fiction. > > I now find it laughable that TBMs will admit that > the most convincing evidence that the BoM is true > is the rock with NHM on it. > > > That's it! That's all they've got!!!
I heard someone sum it up like this recently: These are people living in 2011 who believe a treasure hunting fraud used a magic rock and a black hat to translate golden plates written in Reformed Egyptian into the world's most perfect book that has over 3000 corrections.
I guess I should have read the BOM years ago when I joined the church. But that's not why I joined, or why I left. Now I understand why I could never bring myself to get into it. Maybe my psyche was trying to tell me something.
Now I'm angry that an organization such as the church can and does continue to spread the lie of this book and all that it entails.
I feel spiritually raped. Why was I so damn gullible! Guess I'm not the only one... 14 million?
Ok, it wasn't all bad. I made some really good friends within this organization.
Joseph Smith has no credibility, and we already know the Book of Abraham is fake, so if that's fake, the rest of the Book of Mormon is most likely fake as well.
@I2...welcome to the board...there are plenty here who will provide resources and a pat on the back at times as you learn how a church masquerades as an institution of integrity while in fact it is just a business corporation of compliance professionals...sucks to be in this situation.