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From the article: The church reports 4,000 edits since its first 1830 edition...

Listen, with the Bible you have Hebrew & Greek and distinct interpretations of phrasing and even meaning on some things (though not major doctrinal issues)...with the Book of Mormon, they have no original gold-plated text -- therefore they have no excuses for doing any editing -- especially any editing when you don't know who the editors are and why they have changed something.

The BIGGEST impact all of these edits have had is that they clearly help erase the obviousness of the original text that a portion of the Book of Mormon was written by an uneducated, grammar-challenged bumpkin -- in which suddenly phrases stolen word-for-word out of the King James Bible stand out in major contrast.

The obviousness of this contrast is greatly diluted by the perhaps hundreds of Book of Mormon editors of what Joseph Smith called "the most correct book on earth."

From the article: Critics contend that changes to The Book of Mormon's text cast doubt on Joseph Smith's claim that he translated the book through divine revelation. If the words truly came from God, they argue, why would they need correcting?

Exactly. And then note what Jan Shipps & the article portion following this excerpt does...it blames it all on the person recording the dictation -- with no evidence either that he heard wrong -- or no sifting of the evidence indicating that of course Joseph Smith reviewed the dictation before it was published.

I mean, imagine you're "recording" dictation by God's direction. A painstaking process. And then you're going to let that painstaking process go for naught just cause you don't want to proofread what was dictated? Nonsense. If Joseph Smith could re-edit the King James Bible and proofread it to the point of changing words, adding words, erasing words -- all which he did in the mid-1830s, then he could to the same 5-6 years earlier by proofreading the Book of Mormon.

From the article: Perhaps one of the most controversial changes came in describing what would happen to dark-skinned people who followed Jesus Christ. The printer's manuscript suggests in 2 Nephi 30:6 they would become "a white and delightsome people." Later editions state that they would become "a pure and delightsome people."

Well, who was the Book of Mormon editor who thought up this change? Did he revelational seer authority to make changes in Lds "scripture?" And what about the other 4,000+ changes? Same question of authority?

Also, Skousen claims no doctrinal texts were authored...but if Mormons believe the Son of God and God are two totally separate beings, then why was "the Son of" added to several verses post-original? (1 Nephi 11:18; 13:40). In the original text, 1 Nephi 11:18, 21 said "the virgin whom thous seest is the mother of God"

1 posted on 09/14/2009 7:44:18 PM PDT by Colofornian
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To: Colofornian

Cult update.


2 posted on 09/14/2009 7:45:53 PM PDT by Patrick1 (I'm not calling in sick; I'm calling in gone!)
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To: Colofornian

let us know when you find the elephants, horses, iron weapons, oh, and of course that Blacks are cursed....that’s until the civil rights movement got hold of that moroni.....

This belongs right next to that other great book of faith...Dianetics!

Sad, so very sad.


3 posted on 09/14/2009 7:52:06 PM PDT by panzerkampfwagen
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To: Colofornian

Well, one thing I can think of which happened in the 19th century was the Protestant movement as a whole trended away from reverence towards Mary, which they had retained for centuries after the split from the Catholic Church. In Protestant America, so long divorced from the culture of Europe, the reverence towards Mary began to feel alien to the fundamentals of the faith, and so the reverence of Mary became “Mariolatry” in the rhetoric of hot-headed preachers.

Surely, the original Protestant leaders excised much about Mary from their doctrines, but yet they did honor her as the Mother of God, eternal virgin and exemplar of the Christian faith.


4 posted on 09/14/2009 7:55:50 PM PDT by dangus (I am JimThompson)
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To: Colofornian

“Without modern-day recording equipment, “it makes perfect sense that a book that was taken down by dictation would get spelling wrong or words out of place.”

Or, like just make stuff up...

It simply doesn’t matter. It isn’t about anything objective.
It’s about the burning of moroni macaroni in the bosomi.


5 posted on 09/14/2009 7:59:03 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: Colofornian

If he only found faith promoting material, he obviously didn’t read the well named Book of Ether.


6 posted on 09/14/2009 8:01:28 PM PDT by donmeaker (Invicto)
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To: Colofornian
Can't speak for the rest of you but my God, the one and only, true and living God created all that is and all the complexities that go along with that. Keeping this in mind I have no problems knowing that He also has the power to make sure that when the scriptures He dictated to His original Apostles were written the were written correctly the first time. My God's written word is confirmed by the Holy Spirit; not some egghead that spent years mulling over the ramblings of some strung out opium smoking womanizer from the 1800's.
Alice in Wonderland was conjured up much the same way as the book of mormon.

To bad most of the rest of you can't see this reality.

DNA results challenge core Mormon beliefs

13 posted on 09/14/2009 8:22:26 PM PDT by The Anti-One (So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.)
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To: Colofornian
While The Book of Mormon's language has evolved since the dictation of Smith's original manuscript, Skousen says he has found no changes or errors within its pages that challenge fundamental LDS doctrines.

That is because the bom did not contain fundamental mormon doctrines to begin with -

Church organization
Plurality of Gods
Plurality of wives doctrine
Word of Wisdom
God is an exalted man
Celestial marriage
Men may become Gods
Three degrees of glory
Baptism for the dead
Eternal progression
The Aaronic & Melchizedek Priesthoods
Temple works of washings, anointing, endowments, sealing.

15 posted on 09/14/2009 8:25:14 PM PDT by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: Colofornian

What is it about Mormonism that makes you all feel so threatened?


17 posted on 09/14/2009 8:34:38 PM PDT by mbs6
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To: Colofornian
While some may view The Book of Mormon's textual imperfections as destructive to the faith, Peterson doesn't see it that way. To the contrary, the mistakes made in the earliest transcript confirm Smith's story that he dictated the narrative to a scribe. Why? Because the errors in that first manuscript were mistakes of hearing. Later errors in the printing process were mistakes of seeing.

Not according to the witnesses

David Whitmer was one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. The majority of the translation work took place in the Whitmer home.
"I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man." (David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, Richmond, Missouri: n.p., 1887, p. 12.)

Martin Harris, also one of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon
By aid of the seer stone, sentences would appear and were read by the Prophet and written by Martin and when finished he would say "Written," and if correctly written that sentence would disappear and another appear in its place, but if not written correctly it remained until corrected, so that the translation was just as it was engraven on the plates, precisely in the language then used.(Edward Stevenson, "One of the Three Witnesses," reprinted from Deseret News, 30 Nov. 1881 in Millennial Star, 44 (6 Feb. 1882): 86-87.)

I doubt the esteemed scholar reviewed these historic sources either.

18 posted on 09/14/2009 8:46:30 PM PDT by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: Colofornian

The only truth in the BOM are those parts lifted from the Bible ....


20 posted on 09/14/2009 9:00:39 PM PDT by SkyDancer ('Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not..' ~ Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Colofornian

It really makes me sad. I have a few people very near to me who are faithful to the church. I don’t want to destroy their faith, because it would destroy them, so I shut my mouth, but I still feel bad.


23 posted on 09/14/2009 9:34:14 PM PDT by conservative cat (America, you have been PWNED!)
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To: Colofornian
"-- which tells the story of ancient American inhabitants who sailed from the Holy Land --"

I'm still waiting for the immense trove of archeological evidence on this part......still waiting....
24 posted on 09/14/2009 10:03:38 PM PDT by Tainan (Cogito, ergo conservatus)
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To: Colofornian
"If someone has the view that nobody has made a mistake, they are going to be gravely disappointed," Skousen says. "You see the fingerprints of human beings all over this text from its original dictation from Joseph Smith."

What a startling admission!

It seems the LDS church is definitely trying the "misery loves company" approach and is attempting to say we all make mistakes.

The problem with that line of reasoning is that God does NOT make mistakes, and the Bible, by contrast to the Book of Mormon and its other texts, is inerrant and without flaw. It's books were inspired by God.

The Bible has withstood the test of time. There are entire textbooks written to this subject. Every attack on the Bible falls flat. Every "mistake" is proven false.

Joey Smith's tall tale, on the other hand..........................................

25 posted on 09/15/2009 3:10:49 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: Colofornian
...therefore they have no excuses for doing any editing..

And this is only the ENGLISH version!

GOD only knows what all those NON-English BoMs say!

31 posted on 09/15/2009 7:06:19 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Colofornian

Just another example of, “HEY! Look over there!”

The BoM is useless to mormonism.

NONE of the ordinances, doctrines or covenants are even FOUND in it!


32 posted on 09/15/2009 7:08:53 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Colofornian
BYU prof finds truth and error(s) in Book of Mormon

Photobucket

Jesus sighted in Missouri...film at eight!

40 posted on 09/15/2009 11:49:01 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (Obama, the cow patty version of Midas. Everything he says is bull, everything he touches is crap.)
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