Are there any Mormons out there who will answer my questions?

Question

(1) If the Book of Mormon is true then, considering the way it was "translated" why have there been any changes made to it?

(2) If The Book of Mormon is true then why does it seem to copy the KJV of the Bible? Even so far as to copy the words that were added by the translators, and errors in the Hebrew?

(3) Why is there no archeological evidence of the Book of Mormon's claims? And why does the evidence seem to contradict it? E.g. the animals, crops, and metalworking.

(4) If Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, then why did some of his prophecies fail to come to pass?

(5) if the other scriptures are true why do they seem to contradict each other?

(6) And how do you explain that the Book of Abraham does not read as Joseph Smith claimed it did?

I'm not just trying to attack mormons, I am reseaching Mormonism (a copy of the Book of Mormon is in the mail) and I would like to give Mormons a chance to answer my questions

source: www.allaboutjoshua.com

Brawl,

Thank you very much for your answer, I would be very interested in disscussing this with you, I can't seem to find the "contact brawl" button...but please email me @ [e-mail]

Thanks

Answer 1

1) Any changes made actually reflect the original translation and were made with lots of prayer on the part of the Church's leaders. For the most part these changes were small lingual things, and nothing that actually changed the meaning of the scripture.

2) The bible copies the the bible in some places. The passages of the bible found in the BoM are quotations and are attributed as such by the writers. We also believe that errors resulted in the scholarly translation of the bible, and we don't know how early those errors ended up in the text.

3) There's tons of archeological evidences! Ever heard of the archeological digs in Central America? ;-) Look up the organisation called FARMS (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, I believe) centered at BYU. They've got tons of information on evidence pointing to the Book of Mormon.

4) Which ones? That's a pretty vague question. More than likely you heard about statements he made rather than prophesies. Despite being inspired, he was still a man, and was fallible. As was once said though- "There are no errors in the phophesies I have given."

5) Again, which contradictions? If you study the bible closely, it contradicts itself many times. In my study of the scriptures, they don't actually contradict, even though some passages may seem to.

6) Once again, I'd like to see your source there. I don't remember there ever being a statement about that.

I'd be more than willing to talk with you about these questions. I love talking to those interested in the LDS faith. It's an amazing faith, that I know is true. You can use my Yahoo ID to reach me in email and instant messaging.

Answer 2

well i am mormon and first off...

There have been NO changes made in the book of mormon from joseph smith's translation to present day. The message is the same. We have translated it into different languages if that is what you mean.

What specific prophesys are you talking about? because some prophesys he made have yet to come, like ones dealing with the second coming of Christ.

An excellent help in answering those questions is to look up the LDS church in your area and ask for the missionarys to come over to answer your questions. They can explain it to you in more detail than I can.

And about the evidence, I believe a total of 27 people all have written testimonys of seeing the gold plate records (B.O.M.). Their record is in the title pages at the beggining of the book.


good luck and pray about it.

Answer 3

I have a feeling no mormons will be online...therefore no answers will be forthcoming from them.
I suggest you get Kingdom of the Cults...it is a fascinating book that will explain to you the various "religions" in nauseating detail.
both the morman church and LDS, as well as jehovah's witness are cults in my opinion...they are led or started by men who dictate a set number will go to heaven and the rest will have a heaven on earth scenario...or something. I got bored reading it so I stopped, and have not picked it up again.
I am a Christian, and I read the real Bible KJ version. I do use a concordance and check 3 versions when there is a verse in question, so I can explain it to my kids if need be. NIV is the most clear in my opinion.

Answer 4

Good luck with that,, Most Mormons hate answering questions they do not know the answer to.

The church will teach that you are "supposed" to ask, learn and study. But you will find the CULTURE just wants you to sit down, shut up, dress nice and blindly obey ANYTHING you are told even if it makes no sense.
And NEVER EVER ask those hard questions,,it makes them very uncomfortable.
Also, as you study you will encounter many more of these questions from big to small. Try to throw this one at them if coffee is against the word of wisdom (D&C sec 79 verse 9) why do you serve HOT chocolate at ward functions?
That is a hot button topic,, you are sure to get alot of silly responses.

Answer 5

They can not explain it in any way that would satisfy you (or me)

Answer 6

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/BOM/index.htm

Answer 7

You seem to be asking the same questions over and over again. What ARE you really looking for?
lisabug7777

lisabug7777
Level 3

Okay, I know a lot about Mormonism. So I will respond to your "seeking for a sign" and "lacking faith" and "going to wrong places seeking for truth that cannot be found there" person:

1- What changes are you talking about? Typos? Those would be the only changes to have been made since the translation. I have seen an original copy and it is the same as what we have now, minus the introduction and chapter headings, footnotes, etc., that have since been added to help others with references, etc. But the content that Joseph Smith translated is the exact same.

2- The KJV Bible is the most correctly translated copy of the Bible that we have in English. Most of it's content was written BEFORE the prophets of the Book of Mormon wrote their part. They had a copy of the "brass plates", which was pretty much most of the Old Testament and a history of their forefathers/genealogy, and the word of God. There are no errors in the Book of Mormon. It is the most correct of any book on earth. Prophet's speak for God and thus recieve revelation from him and so of course what they write in their records will be very close, or verbatim, to what's in the bible, because it came from the very exact same source: God.

3- Scientists are not perfect, and they do not know all things, and actually are quite ridiculous with their supposed dates of certain events and such. This planet has not been around for billions or even millions of years. This we know because of the Bible and what it teaches about the creation. Pretty simple there. So, of course most or all of the stuff left by the Lamanites and Nephites and Jarodites will not be found because they have since decayed and turned back into "dust", as it is literally mentioned in the bible that we all shall return to. It is REAL.
And, they actually HAVE found significant proof of the physical evidence of a people who have lived here before the "white men" came. Also, it is where the Native Americans come from. They are the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon.

4- They all came to pass. I don't know where you've gotten all your info, but it's quite inaccurate.
Some prophecies were actually WARNINGS, from God, to his people, if they did not repent. If they did repent, those warnings did not have to come to pass. Pretty simple.

5- They do not. The scriptures (there are MANY of them, and lots that we have yet to discover) have been handed down for hundreds of years and gone through many men's hands. Different versions of the Bible came from groups of men of high standing in the original catholic church meeting together and deciding what was important to keep in the book and what was not and what should be changed, etc. This happened many different times, in different religions and sects as each person split away from that church, or the teachings of the church of Christ (none had the power of God so none were correct) and thus today we have several, hundreds, even thousands of different versions of the Bible. The Book of Mormon? Only one version because it was kept preserved and held until "our day" to be brought to light, untouched and unscathed by wicked and idolotrous men who would've done the same thing to it that they did to the Bible.
As a matter of fact, I have a brother that can speak Latin and some other language and got a hold of an original Bible in this language or whatever (it's not available in English) and read it cover to cover, comparing it to other versions of the Bible that he had, and found that it was most correct and had more info in it than all the others, including people mentioned in the Book of Mormon that our KJV doesn't have. It was quite a remarkable find, but unfortunately it is owned by the Lutherans in one of their churches in Germany and he could not purchase it or take it. He just copied some of it for proof.
The true word of God is not in it's LITERAL WORDING that matters, but in the overall message it is trying to get out. WITNESS OF THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. If it does that, and that alone, then you KNOW it is of God and that it is God's word, not matter how it's WORDED or who translates it or where it comes from. What is good comes from God. What is bad comes from Satan. Satan won't try to get people to come unto Christ and be perfected in him. He won't try to get people to be baptized, or repent, or follow the commandments, or have charity or faith or hope. He won't teach all of these things, if any. The Book of Mormon teaches the exact same message that all other sacred script teaches. Including the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and any other sacred scripture that speaks and testifies of Christ. THIS, sir, is the MOST important message of all.

6- I don't have a clue what you're talking about with Abraham and Joseph and who said what and whatever. Again, I believe you have been mislead by something or someone. Check your sources.

I have met many many people who will fight with any Mormon they come in contact with, just to "prove" them wrong. These people are of the spirit of contention and only seek to tear down the Kingdom of God, not build it up. Anybody who attacks another religion that believes in God, follows his commandments, and much more, is not of God, but of the devil. I feel that you are attacking the Mormon's and that you are LOOKING for reasons to not believe them because you don't want to. I will bet my life on it that you know already that it is true, but you do not want to accept this. It seems too easy and simple to just FEEL it's right in your mind and heart, so you are trying to explain your way out of it. It's too "hard" to follow the faith of God. He has required much of us, but very little in comparison to what he has given us. He tries out faith. Do you really think that he'd have a church here that didn't require very much of you to prove your "faithfulness" to return to him? I very much doubt it. Too easy. How can we grow? How can we show our faith and testimony and endurance to him?
When the times get tough, and persecution arises, only the trully faithful will rise out of it.

There are many people out there (I have many friends like this) who will not accept a "feeling" as being an absolute proof of a truth. They have to have everything explained to them, in MAN'S terms, not in God's terms. They have to have "signs" and "wonders" and "proof" and all that other worthless stuff to prove to them of a truth.
Why do you believe in God?
Have you seen him?
Have you felt him?
Have you physically heard him speak to you?
How do you KNOW he's real? Do you have PHYSICAL proof of his divinity and life and mere existance?
I very much doubt it.
So why doubt the Book of Mormon?

You know what I used to say to people like you? If God came down, right now, and stood right in front of you with the Book of Mormon in his very hands and told you that it was His word written by his prophets, and that the Mormon church was His church, I bet you would not believe it and you would tell him to get lost.
Jesus was on this earth in the flesh. He was perfect here. He did God's work. He established his church. He taught truths and performed miracles. And the ultimate and greatest: he suffered and died for us and was resurrected. Yet, there were those who were in HIS VERY PRESENCE and saw his miracles, even had some done to them, YET THEY STILL DID NOT BELIEVE HE WAS THE SON OF GOD!!!!!!!

The ONLY way that a person can have a testimony of Christ; of the TRUTH of God and his teachings, etc., is through the power of the Holy Ghost which speaks to a man's heart and mind the truth of all things. It's with this spirit that we FEEL and KNOW something to be true. Just like you claim to know God is real. You FEEL it. You didn't go out researching the existence of God, did you? Asking athiests what they thought, Budhists what they thought, and so on. That would not make sense. You already knew because you felt it. It didn't matter what every other person said on this earth or what contradicting "evidence" they could've had to "prove" that he did not exist because you KNEW the truth in your mind and in your heart because THE HOLY SPIRIT BORE WITNESS TO YOU OF THE TRUTH OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
Back to the "intelectuals". They won't even accept the Spirit of truth of the acceptance of God. Know why? Because if they admitted God did exist it would mean that they were just a little person in the whole scheme of things, that they had to OBEY him, that there really is sin and the need to repent, that there is life after death to meet our maker and be judged for our works. They do not want to have to face this, admit it, or live up to it. They'd rather live out their days doing whatsoever they will without any guilt, pain, heartache, regret or doubt. Some can go so far as to not feel anything at all if they work at it enough.

No matter amount of reasoning, arguing, perserverance, evidence, proof, or anything else could make someone believe something they did not want to believe. The only way possible to believe anything that could be true and from God is ONLY THROUGH HIS HOLY SPIRIT CONFIRMING IT IN YOUR MIND AND HEART. You cannot argue it away. You know you've felt it. Deny it all you want, it doesn't change the truth.

Truth is law. Law is Fact. It is irreversible, unmoveable, permanant. It all comes from God. God is truth. God is fact. God knows all truth and will never lead us astray because he loves us so much.
He has one truth. One baptism. One faith. An imperfect God would have many faiths and many baptisms and ideas because it would cause confusion and is imperfect and doesn't give you the full truth. Our God would not do this. He is perfect and wants his children to have all the truth and know the only way back to him.

It takes real humility and faith for one to accept the Spirit of God when it is testifying of the truth. It takes courage and faith and humility to follow through those impressions after one recieves them.

Here's one more thought:
If the Book of Mormon is true as Joseph Smith claims it is, then that would mean that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God, since he was the one who translated it. If Joseph Smith was the true Prophet of God in this dispensation, then that would make the church he organized/restored to be the only true and correct church on earth and the only true church that God himself is at the head of, and if this were true, that would mean that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church, the very one that Jesus Christ established when he was here on the earth, the very one that was given to Adam and Eve, the very truth to which we may turn to know the truth of all things through the power of His Holy Spirit, and that also means that this church would be the only church to have the Power to act in God's name here on the earth, because why would he give it out everywhere and anywhere when he has his one truth right here?
So, your job is to find out if the Book of Mormon, is, in fact, the word of God. Read Moroni 10:3-5, ponder it, pray for the Spirit of God to be with you, then PRAY TO KNOW IF IT IS TRUE OR NOT. Don't think that you have to pray to be TOLD it IS true. Pray to know IF it is true. People seem to get that confused. God wouldn't FORCE it on us!
If you don't get an answer right away, no fretting. The truth will come.
Also, the Holy Spirit speaks to us in many different ways. To each person it is slightly different.
For me I feel goose bumps and a huge "swelling" feeling inside of me. I feel empowered, and I feel like I have knowledge. I feel and think "truth. I know it".
To others it's like a "burning" sensation in their chests or hearts. To others it's simply a KNOWLEDGE in their heart and mind, like "duh! Of course I know it's true! I knew it already!". To others it's very tender and sweet. Peaceful and tear-jerking. To others it's a shocking and "scary" and very powerful feeling. One that makes your hair prickle or your heart stop or just a feeling of "huge" or "big" or "shocking" or something like that.

The most important feeling of all is if you feel any peace. Peace is the only feeling Satan cannot duplicate.
But you can feel peace and extreme amounts of excitedness/anxiety/joy/happin...

Anyway, I could go on. Feel free to contact me for more information or questions if you'd like. I know many will try to argue with me, but truth is truth and you cannot argue with truth. You can try to explain it away, or rationalize it, or hide it, or bully it, or pretend it's not there, but you cannot get rid of it.

Source(s):

extreme studying and pondering and praying and searching, AND, sacred spiritual experiences (added bonus). :)
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(15 hours ago )