Joseph Smith claimed that the BOM was word for word, letter for letter written by god. Could god not spell, or form correct sentences back then? Why has the Mormon Church made all these corrections?
2007-01-27 10:36:17 · 9 answers · asked by atheist jesus 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Because Joseph Smith was uneducated and dictated the book to a friend who wrote it down. The Book of Mormon is not inspired.
2007-01-27 10:42:29 · answer #1 · answered by Blessed 5 · 2⤊ 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.
2016-05-24 06:41:18 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Asker: What is your source to this declaration? Do you believe everything coming across the pike that denigrates the Mormon Church just so your appetite for condemnation is filled?
On the subject of errors in the Book of Mormon, I quote a paragraph found on "A Brief Explanation About The Book of Mormon":
"Some minor errors in the text have been perpetuated in past editions of the Book of Mormon. This edition contains corrections that seem appropriate to bring the material into conformity with prepublication manuscripts and early editions edited by the Prophet Joseph Smith."
Note the word 'some' and the phrase, 'into conformity with prepublication manuscripts and early editions edited by the Prophet Joseph Smith.' We're talking conformity to the earlier manuscripts transcribed by Joseph Smith.
'The translation done by Joseph Smith was through the power of God and the ancient device called the Urim and Thummin.
Before trusting in the words of the anti-Mormon crowd consider reading the Book of Mormon and pray to the Father if it is correct. If your prayers are sincere enough you will get the answer.
But no, there were no 3,000 spelling and grammatical changes since it was written. The only modifications that came later was to place the text in two columns and provide footnotes and verse explanations.
The poster Dog Sneeze had it wrong too. It was not "in Jerusalem," but "at Jerusalem." The word 'at' makes all the difference in the world because it closes in on an area that includes Bethlehem.
2007-01-27 10:53:00 · answer #3 · answered by Guitarpicker 7 · 5⤊ 3⤋
Light! is right on; besides that it was inspired. It was still written by man, dictated by man, and written down by man. The Book of Mormon was never claimed to be “perfect”, only that it was the “most correct”. In fact, with in the Book of Mormon itself there’s a passage the essentially says that if any errors are found within this book it is because of fallible men; because men wrote it and delivered it. It is not because God just made a mistake. But many people do have a good point that the Book of Mormon is no more true then the Bible. So, if the Bible is true, then the Book of Mormon must be to. Simple logic.
2007-01-28 04:42:41 · answer #4 · answered by Coool 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
You forgot the whole sections plagarized from the KJV 1611, including publishing errors that were later changed. Or why it says Jesus was born in Jerusalem.
2007-01-27 10:46:34 · answer #5 · answered by Aspurtaime Dog Sneeze 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Because the Mormon Church changes it's doctrines for the sake of convenience. Joseph Smith claimed by "divine revelation" that polygamy was essential for reaching the highest level of heaven, which they call the Celestial Kingdom. When Utah wanted to become a state, their god conveniently changed his mind. Hmmm, something sounds fishy about that.
2007-01-27 11:07:41 · answer #6 · answered by Hunter 3 · 3⤊ 5⤋
That's nothing compared to the errors, mistranslations, and contradictions in the regular bible.
2007-01-27 10:42:48 · answer #7 · answered by Huddy 6 · 5⤊ 2⤋
Lies are hard to cover up
2007-01-27 10:41:15 · answer #8 · answered by white dove 5 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Coz they don't use spellcheck.
2007-01-27 10:41:14 · answer #9 · answered by Screamin' Banshee 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋