Tuesday, November 13, 2007

The Book of Mormon.

The Intro to the Book of Mormon says,

THE
BOOK OF MORMON
AN ACCOUNT WRITTEN BY

THE HAND OF MORMON

UPON PLATES

TAKEN FROM THE PLATES OF NEPHI
Wherefore, it is an abridgment of the record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites—Written to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel; and also to Jew and Gentile—Written by way of commandment, and also by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation—Written and sealed up, and hid up unto the Lord, that they might not be destroyed—To come forth by the gift and power of God unto the interpretation thereof—Sealed by the hand of Moroni, and hid up unto the Lord, to come forth in due time by way of the Gentile—The interpretation thereof by the gift of God.
An abridgment taken from the Book of Ether also, which is a record of the people of Jared, who were scattered at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, when they were building a tower to get to heaven—Which is to show unto the remnant of the House of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL God, manifesting himself unto all nations—And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ.
TRANSLATED BY JOSEPH SMITH, Jun.
First English edition published in 1830


I want to focus on the part that I highlighted in black.

And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ.



Here is my thinking, if we so called Anti's say there are any problems in the BoM, it must be that man was behind it. Since the LDS say the BoM is true and the word of God, any mistakes found are not God's fault. We can blame men, not Satan trying to deceive us.

If that statement is true, here is another problem. Read this:

"The details of this miraculous method of translation are still not fully known. Yet we do have a few precious insights. David Whitmer wrote:
“Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man.” (David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, Richmond, Mo.: n.p., 1887, p. 12.)"




If that is true, and Joseph Smith translated the BoM from the golden plates with his head in a hat, then it would be impossible for there to be one single mistake, ever. Then, why do we have over 4,000 changes to the BoM? Are they all faults of men?

I have a copy of both volumes of Joseph Smith begins his work. They state that these are taken from the original uncut sheets and were first printed by the Mormon Church with the LDS president signing them off in the book saying they are good. So how come if the BoM has over 4,000 changes, and they are from "Evil" men, do you guys not go back to passing out copies of the original that are free from human error?

And if you do not, why keep the A of F 8 about the BoM? If there are changes from Evil men, then A of F 8 can no longer be true. How can it be trustworthy if there are 4,000 changes?


Here are some Major Doctrinal Changes from the original 1830 edition to the newest one.

First Book of Nephi, p.25 (1830): "Behold, the virgin which thou seest, is the mother of God, after the manner of the flesh."

Today: 1 Nephi 11:18: "...is the mother of the Son of God."

First Book of Nephi, p.25 (1830):."...behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Eternal Father!"

Today: 1 Nephi 11:21: "yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!"

First Book of Nephi, p.26 (1830): "And I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that he was taken by the people; yea, the Everlasting God was judged of the the world..."

Today: 1 Nephi 11:32: "...yea, the Son of the Everlasting God was judged of the world..."

First Book of Nephi, p.32; (1830): "...that the Lamb of God is the Eternal Father and the Saviour of the world."

Today: "..the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father and the Savior of the world."

Those are Major changes, So which version do we trust?
Rick b