American Exceptionalism, perhaps a hold over from the British-Israelite movement, was the scene in which not only the Book of Mormon developed, but the entire Mormon religion as well. Joseph Smith took the political theories of the day (Manifest Destiny) as termed them into religious practices, such as the idea that Missouri is Eden/Zion. The BoM paints a picture of ‘America’ as the Promised Land while seeing significant events in American History as preludes to Mormonism.
The Book of Mormon describes a vast pre-Columbian culture that supposedly existed for centuries in North and South America. It goes into amazingly specific detail describing the civilizations erected by the “Nephites” and “Lamanites,” who were Jews that fled Palestine in three installments, built massive cities in the New World, farmed the land, produced works of art, and fought large-scale wars which culminated in the utter destruction of the Nephites in A.D. 421. The Mormons revere the BoM as the divinely-inspired record of those people and of Christ’s appearance to them shortly after his crucifixion in Jerusalem, a belief itself that denies the angel’s decree as Christ ascended. There is also the total lack of historical and archaeological evidence to support the Book of Mormon, unlike the Bible (One may differ over the inerrancy of the Bible, but the historical peoples have been verified as well as many of the ancient battles. Megiddo’s history comes to mind, as well as Hezekiah’s seige). For example, when the cataclysmic last battle fought between the Nephites and Lamanites was over, it supposedly destroyed the entire civilization, leaving on Moroni to clean it up. Hundreds of thousands of men and beasts allegedly perished in that battle, and the ground was strewn with weapons and armor. 421 is just yesterday in archaeological terms. It should be easy to locate and retrieve copious evidence of such a battle, and there hasn’t been enough time for the weapons and armor to turn to dust. The Bible tells of similar battles which took place long before 421, and these battles have been well documented by archeological evidence. (Faith without reason is fantasy)
The BoM does have other errors as well:
- The lack of any correlation between locations described in the Book of Mormon and American archaeological sites.
- References to animals, plants and technologies in the Book or Mormon that did not exist in pre-Columbian America.
- The lack of any linguistic connection between any Native American language or language family and any Near Eastern language or language family.
- The absence of any DNA evidence linking Native Americans with descendants of Israel.
From Wikipedia,
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the churches in the Latter Day Saint movement. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr. as The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi.[1] According to Smith, the book was originally written in an otherwise unknown language called Reformed Egyptian on what appeared to be golden plates that he discovered in 1823 and then translated. The plates, Smith said, had been buried in a hill near his home in Manchester, New York, where he found them by the guidance of an angel named Moroni.
Summary of theories on the origin of the Book of Mormon
There are differing views on the origin of the Book of Mormon.
- Joseph Smith’s own account that he translated an ancient record compiled and abridged by Mormon, a pre-Columbian resident of the Western Hemisphere who recorded the spiritual history of generations of his people, and the teachings of their ancestors, the Hebrews.
- Joseph Smith as the sole author, without external assistance. These theories assume that Smith was educated and intelligent enough to have produced the work on his own. One line of thinking proposed by several authors is that the Book of Mormon is a “primary source” reflecting events in Smith’s own life.[1]
- Joseph Smith as a plagiarist of contemporaries. There are two main theories representing this point-of-view: the View of the Hebrews theory,[2] and the Spalding-Rigdon theory.[3]
- One of Smith’s associates as the author, who then allowed Smith to take the credit.
- The work is a divinely inspired narrative regardless of its historicity (i.e. “inspired fiction”).[4]
- The work is not a divinely inspired narrative. This view has been held by many Christian churches since the appearance of the Book of Mormon.
- The book was written by Joseph Smith through a process known as “automatic writing.”[5]
I found this on an old PDF file that I have.
The Book of Mormon – Brief Overview
First wave of immigrants to America in 2,250 BC when a group of Jaredites left the area of the Tower of Babel. But great civil war ensued here in America, and all but one of them died. Second wave of immigrants: Lehi, a Jewish prophet and his son Nephi arrived in 600 BC in South America. Nephi and his brother Laman had family members that rebelled against God and God cursed them with black skin [II Nephi 5:21]. The Book of Mormon therefore claims that American natives were descended from the Jews. The other descendents of Nephi built large civilizations and were visited by Jesus in AD 34. A large battle in AD 385 killed everyone of these people except Moroni, the son of Mormon. This battle occurred near hill Cumorah where Joseph apparently found the golden plates.
“The Golden Plates”
Sept 21, 1823, Moroni visits 17 year old Joseph Smith and tells him where a set of Golden plates
delivered by Jesus during the three days between His death and resurrection, and shortly thereafter. He
apparently delivered them to the ancient inhabitants of America. Smith found the plates the next day, but was forbidden by Moroni for exactly 4 years from taking them.
Shortly after marrying Emma Hale, he began work on translating these large Golden plates with two
magic stones, The Urim and the Thummim. Also, very large spectacles were found with the plates. One lense was apparently about the size of his head. The plates were fashioned together, according to Smith, like a book with golden wires.
Smith undertook the translation in private, behind a curtain, and for some time apparently no one saw
the plates [Mormons now claim that 11 men saw the plates] A New York farmer named Martin Harris planned to pay for the publishing of the book. But he first took copies of some of Smith’s translations to Professor Charles Anthon of Columbia University. Smith claimed that Anthon give kudos to the translation of the “reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics”, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic letters. But Professor Anthon wrote a lengthy letter calling the entire thing a hoax. Upon hearing of the entire story, he deemed it a scheme by Smith to cheat the farmer of his money. The Professor gave his opinion in writing to the farmer. The farmer still supported Smith and mortgaged his farm to cover the expenses.
Mormons today claim that the Professor at first gave a certificate “authenticating” the characters, but
when he learned that they came from an angel, he took it back and destroyed it. The Reformed Church of Jesus Christ of LDS maintains that they own the paper that Smith copied the characters from the plates onto. Mormons today claim that Professor Anthon was not able to read the characters in fulfillment of Isaiah 29:11-12.
The “witnesses” to the plates
- Oliver Cowdery—left the Mormon church
- David Whitmer—left the Mormon church
- Martin Harris—admitted that he never saw the plates physically
- Mormons also claim an additional 8 witnesses.
Answers to the “Plates”:
1) It does not matter what the Professor said about the characters. The fact remains that the characters do not constitute any known language either past or present. Therefore the LDS church claims that God essentially gave an entire volume of Scripture to one man…Joseph Smith.
2) It also does not matter even if the plates existed at all. For their existence would not in and of itself prove that they came from God. If they did exist, it also does not matter if a million people saw the plates, because the “letters” are still unknown to everyone except Smith, and we are still left with an entire volume of Scripture given to one man in a totally “foreign to the entire world” tongue.
3) The giving of Scripture to man has always been through Inspiration and written in a commonly known
language. Before Christ these languages were Hebrew and Aramaic. After Christ, the language was Koine
Greek. Koine Greek was the common language of nearly the entire world of the time. For God to give
Scripture not through Inspiration, but rather through the excavation of ancient plates inscribed with foreign characters is totally out of step with how God gave Scripture in the past. Furthermore:
4) Hebrews 1:12 says, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and
in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…” For God to speak through
prophets, and then through His Son, and then to go back to a prophet is also totally out of step, for this would not leave Christ as the final prophet, but just “a” prophet.
