You are describing a common hang-up with the BoM, which is not much of a hang-up since it is simply based upon the presumption that when JS translated the plates, he did so word for word
According to some of the EYEWITNESSES, Joe dropped a magical seer stone into his hat, then buried his face in the hat and proceeding to dictate the Book of Mormon. The actual words and letters appeared like MAGIC. As far as the plates they were not PRESENT as a number of LDS Eyewitnesses professed!
Emma the first scribe said: "In writing for your father I frequently wrote day after day, often sitting at the table close by him, he sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it, and dictating hour after hour with nothing between us." History of the RLDS Church, 8 vols. (Independence, Missouri: Herald House, 1951), "Last Testimony of Sister Emma," 3:356
Whitmer one of the THREE Witnesses said : "I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. 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, Missouri: n.p., 1887, p. 12
"I, as well as all of my father's family, Smith's wife, Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris, were present during the translation. . . . He did not use the plates in translation"
Whitmer, Interview given to Kansas City Journal, June 5, 1881, reprinted in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Journal of History, vol. 8, (1910), pp. 299-300
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Blainerb: You are describing a common hang-up with the BoM, which is not much of a hang-up since it is simply based upon the presumption that when JS translated the plates, he did so word for word--which may have been OK for most of the passages, but when he came to passages he was familiar with, he did the normal thing which I myself would have done--he just went to the Bible and copied that part, since it translated the same anyway. There are a few minor differences, however--thus far, the Quamran scrolls have verified the differences, or so I have read. Unfortunately, in my last move, I lost track of the reading material to refer you to on that, but if I run across it, I will definitely post it.The Lehi group (you are familiar with this group) had all of the first five books of Moses, plus some of the prophets, Isaiah apparently included, on brass plates. Nephi had to kill Laban, as the story goes, to obtain these plates, with the reasoning being that it was better for one wicked man to die than for a whole nation to dwindle and perish in unbelief. Sounds like a genuine conversation between Nephi and the Spirit of the Lord to me!!! There are many such "genuine" passages in the BoM--may I suggest next time you read it (if ever), you do so with a mind set looking for the "genuineness" of the book. It sincerely is what it says it is.In a message dated 7/24/2005 6:14:38 A.M. Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:Why would you think that the King James quote below are the words of God? I read the B of M many moons ago. As I remember, I read a passage in that book that was taken from chapters 1-13 of Isaiah of the KJV, italicized words included. Not a positive for this young investigator.JD
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