Are There Any Evidence For The Existence Of The Book Of Mormon?

Question

According to one Mormon apologist, "I'm not sure - they were taken from Joseph by the same angelic being that showed him their original location. We await their return for the translation of the remaining 2/3 of the Book when the time is right.... " It is easy for Joseph Smith, Jr. to say "The angel took the gold plates away." The Mormon's will even reason, "If you need to see the plates to believe the Book of Mormon, do you need to see the ark to believe the Old Testament or the missing documents of Paul and Luke to believe the New Testament? I hope your faith is not that weak. (sic)" Wow. They really do not understand that the Old and New Testament has numerous manuscripts evidence written by not just one person but several people. Unlike the Book of Mormon which is written by Joseph Smith, Jr. alone. Are you really serious in banking your soul on the subjective opinion of this man who claimed he is the so-called "prophet" of God?

Answer 1

There's plenty of evidence against it:
1. The only "witnesses" to the golden plates were Smith's family and other close associates of Smith's. No one outside this circle ever claimed to have seen the paltes.
2. If a civilization existed in the (now) United States at the time of Christ, there should be ruins. None exist.
3. The Native Americans, according to the Book of Mormon, are descendants of Jews who came over to the New World and were cursed by God. The Native Americans are both genetically and linguistically linked to the peoples of East Asia, not the Middle East.

Answer 2

Ummm...just for the record, Martin Harris did not "see" the plates with his "natural eyes" but rather "spiritual eyes" according to his own account. You do have to read the testimony of the three and eight witnesses with a grain of salt with this knowledge in mind. It doesn't sound like Joseph just said, "Hey! Come in here and feast your eyes on these babies!" Joseph's account talks about intense prayer by the four men for some time before Martin despaired over keeping the others from seeing them and left. Oliver and David "saw" them without Martin being present. Later Joseph went to Martin who was praying alone elsewhere and together they got Martin to "see" them as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Harris_(Latter_Day_Saints)


If Joseph had the plates, why the crap didn't he just show them to the threesome without all the angelic visitors, holding the plates before them so they could get a divine glimpse of what Joseph had been handling for months without the oversight of God's angelic sentries.

Answer 3

Mr. Justyn. Neither the original nor the printers copy of the Book of Mormon has Joseph Smith's handwriting.
There were three witnesses who saw an angel holding the plates and showing it to them. None of the three witnesses ever denied during their entire lives, all 3 left the church and were gone from it for at least 10 years, 2 came back and 1 never came back to the church. Not one of them denied that their vision of the angel and the plates and what they saw that day.

There 8 other witnesses who saw plates and lifted them in their hands and felt them. Not one of them denied ever that the plates they touched with their own hands weren't real.
Plus some of them left the church but never denied they held the plates.

Horses, Elephants (mastadons) and other animals written about in the Book of Mormon were around in ancient america.
Evidences of them are found in the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, Ca. Joseph Smith never knew that horses and mastadons were in the americas in the past. He never knew of the fossils that would be found after his death.

Answer 4

I was just thinking about this subject. THere are many things with which to pick the book of Mormon apart with, and they are not hard to find, if you really want to debate them. There are tons of historical and archeological issues that brought to light when people peruse the book of Mormon with a purpose besides trying to absorb it's message. There were elephants in the new world? Swords made of steel before there were forges and smiths? Where exactly is this "narrow neck of land" that is referred to as a geographical marker, if the Golden plates were alleged to be found in upstate New York?

There are a lot of interesting choices of words that were used in translating the text. One, that I think is peculiar, is when Jacob the brother of Nephi is dying and says goodbye to his audience. Joseph Smith uses the French word "Adieu" to quote Jacob. After a little debate with my daughter, we both agreed that JS translated, somewhat, by using words that were the easiest for the reader to understand. (Lol, I have a BoM in Korean, I have to check what that says b/c I haven't read that part in it yet.)

A lot of naysayers choose to focus only on these points and say "Aha! The Book of Mormon is not true because of such and such!"

I think it's really unfortunate that these little things distract the critic from taking away the true message: That Christ is the son of the one true God, that he loves us, his brothers and sisters. He stands as a mediator between us and the justice we should rightly be served b/c of our sins. He has atoned and redeemed us, not only a select few, but he has come for all the world, if they accept him.

Those little questions about the BoM I find intriguing, I don't put them away, and I do ponder them, but I don't let them overshadow the wonderful message that the BoM brings.

Answer 5

There is just *slightly* more evidence for the bible than there is for the book of Mormon. Basically the bible is fairly accurate on locations of cities and on existing cultures, but the rest is lacking in any evidence.

Answer 6

"Are There Any Evidence For The Existence Of The Book Of Mormon?"

I saw one in the library, so I know it exists.

Answer 7

Doesn't sound any more idiotic than the slew of other Christian hypocracies. At least they are willing to try to look at it with an open mind and a different perspective.

Answer 8

Joseph Smith was a false prophet. When you read the BOM, you see that it says Jesus was born "near Jerusalem" and not in Bethlehem (in accordance with real Biblical prophecy). Ergo, throw the entire BOM out into the trash.

When you read the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price, you find many of Smith's unfulfilled prophecies.

The Old Testament standard for a "prophet" is that ALL of his prophecies come to pass when he says they will. So, Smith's dated prophecies that did not come to pass move him into the category of false prophet.

Would you really want to trust your eternal destiny to a false prophet that can't even plagiarize the Bible accurately?

You do not have to believe me, read them for yourself and decide.

Answer 9

Nope. But plenty of evidence to disprove it. You can't just rely on faith alone to believe something is true. Actually research and find the truth that is right under your nose.

UPDATE: You know what really interesting? The leaders of the church have just edited the introduction to the BOM. Needing to cover up the DNA proof of there being no Lamanites. What kind of truth is it, when it needs to be changed?

Answer 10

No, there isn't. Look for a movie called "The Bible vs. The Book of Mormon". It's probably at your local Christian book store.