Why was the Book of Mormon revised so many times - just like their 'sacred' temple ceremony?

Question

If it's correct the first time, why the changes? Major changes in names were made from the first edition to the current edition. Not just places or acts... but major characters. The US Library of Congress has the first original version - and the editions after it... there are major differences between the two. Mormons seem to make things up as they go,... anyone notice that?

Answer 1

Critics of the Church often claim that there have been significant doctrinal changes to the Book of Mormon since the first printing. They make these false claims to discredit our assertion that the Book of Mormon was translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith through the gift and power of God.

First, while we claim that the Book of Mormon is true scripture, we do not claim that the entire process for bringing the translation to the world was free from error. It is important to remember that the Church claims that only Jesus Christ was perfect and did not make mistakes.

Some minor errors, mainly spelling and grammatical, in the text have been perpetuated in past editions of the Book of Mormon. The current edition contains corrections that seem appropriate to bring the material in conformity with pre-production manuscripts and early editions edited by the Prophet Joseph Smith.

At first, the 3,913 changes you cite sound rather significant. But if you recheck your source you will find that even the anti-Mormons Jerald and Sandra Tanner admit that the 3,913 changes were not really significant at all:

"As we stated earlier, most of the 3,913 changes which we found were related to the correction of grammatical and spelling errors and do not really change the basic meaning of the text." (Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism, Chicago: Moody Pres., 1980, p 131, emphasis added)

When the Prophet Joseph dictated the translation from the plates, a scribe copied down his words. Since only Jesus Christ was perfect, it is not surprising that the scribes made some minor errors. In addition, the non-Mormon typesetter that the Church hired to take the handwritten manuscript to book form was forced to decipher the scribe’s handwriting to set the type. Also, consider that the printing process in 1830 was much more manual and cumbersome than the ones we use today. With all the intervention by fallible mortals required to bring forth the printing of the Book of Mormon, it is surprising that more grammatical and spelling errors were not made. It is important to note that the changes in the Book of Mormon text are actually insignificant to the number of changes that have been made in the Bible throughout the centuries.

Answer 2

I would agree comletely with the explanation provided by notorious.

In addition to what he has already stated however, I would like to clarify a doctrine that seems to be misunderstood by many.

As members of the church, we follow Jesus Christ and his teachings. We believe that God has always provided a way for mankind to understand his will. In the old testament, we find several hundred accounts of prophets--men called of God to speak his word. The pattern of the calling of prophets continued all the way until the time of Jesus Christ, through the origination of the church, and the apostleship. After the death of Christ and many of the apostles, the authority posessed by them to receive direct revelation from God disappeared from the earth. Now, it would be completely ridiculous to say that people weren't inspired anymore. It would be even more ridiculous to claim that they could no longer receive answers to prayer. What is not ridiculous however, is that after the Apostasy of the original church, no one on earth possessed the authority to perform ordinances necessary to salvation, or speak for God. It only stands to reason that God would follow the same pattern he had in the past, and call another prophet.

It is for this reason that many people think that the church was created by Joseph Smith, and that we follow him. We don't. We are members of the original church of Christ, and possess the same organization as existed in the original church, with a living prophet to receive revelation from God and be his mouthpiece on earth, 12 apostles, and all the ordinances necessary to the salvation of man--as they were performed in the original church of Christ.

I hope that this helps clarify a bit...and please feel free to fire off any other legitimate questions about the church.

Answer 3

If you have specific examples of what you are talking about, and can back it up with documented evidence, we would all like to see it. In the meantime, I'd like to ask if anyone noticed that the anti-Mormon critics seem to make things up as they go?

Answer 4

Simply because it was written by man, and man makes mistakes. The bible was written by God, through man, so it has no mistakes. Every man-made belief will change, because someone will notice a flaw, and that flaw must be corrected.

Answer 5

Oh and catholics don't? Please, they are all like that..Religions have to change with the times so that they don't lose members..Didn't you know that? It's written in the bi-laws of Church Organization...Mormons used to not allow black members, catholics used to excommunicate divorcees....Gotta stay current! Can't always rely on the writings of Bronze Age tribesmen, sometimes ya gotta compromise!

Answer 6

I've seen lots of flaws in the bible. Some have been changed when it was translated to English. And some were added.

Answer 7

because it is a false religion.