How to Book of Mormon is Not Like the Bible

Meridian Magazine ^ | Grant Hardy

[Colofornian]

Quite reasonably, the current “Introduction” to the Book of Mormon begins, “The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible.”...

Yet...we are likely to point out some significant differences as well...

...The Bible is more of a library than a single book, and there are tremendous differences in genre...

At first glance, the contents of the Book of Mormon appear to be similarly diverse...On closer inspection... the Book of Mormon turns to be entirely narrative. The whole book takes the form of a story told by narrators...but we know who is responsible for every word in the Book of Mormon. It’s either Nephi, Jacob, Mormon, or Moroni (plus a few minor authors...). This means that the Book of Mormon, as a whole, is a much more integrated and deliberately constructed volume than the Bible.

...the Book of Mormon operates by very different literary principles than the Bible. Consider the characteristics of Old Testament narrators as described by Shimon Bar-Efrat, formerly of Hebrew University at Jerusalem:

“The narrator in most biblical narratives appears to be omniscient”

“Biblical narrators do not usually mention themselves”

“Biblical narrators [generally] make no reference to their activity in writing the narratives”

“The narrators do not...address their audience directly”

“Outside the books of Kings there are very few instances in which the narrator passes judgment”

How many of these statements are true of the Book of Mormon? None of them.

Nephi, Jacob, Mormon, and Moroni are...often...participants in the stories...They interrupt their narratives regularly to tell us about their lives, their testimonies, and their desires. They worry about their “weakness in writing” (Eth. 12:23, 40; cf. 2 Ne. 33:1, 4). And they do not hesitate to address readers directly to explain their intentions,...editorial techniques,...emotional responses to...events...

[T Minus Four]

go to www.lds.org and I think there is a place you can ask and they’ll send you one for free.

[Vendome]

LOL

[T Minus Four]

Hmph! I guess we’re just lowly gentile women.

[Tennessee Nana]

I wanna see the submarine...

[Elsie]

(Didn't feel like doing all the HTML to preserve the formatting)

Oh Grasshoipper!

Just merely COPY the formatted stuff you want; and then PASTE it into your e-mail.

Then you select the SOURCE tab and cut out the HTML code between the {BODY} and the {/BODY} commands.

Paste/post it to FR and yer good to go!

[Vendome]

OMG! LOL

Bada Bing!

[T Minus Four]

It’s “reformed French” :-)

[reaganaut]

Yikes! King Solomon is in big trouble.

- - - - -
So is Joe Smith!

[T Minus Four]

I got that up to, but not including “source tab”. Learn me more :-)

[Elsie]

...GOD himself directed him to RE-TRANSLATE the KJV...

 

 

AUTHORITY TO TRANSLATE.

 

The Prophet Joseph Smith claimed a divine appointment to make an inspired rendition or, as he termed it, a "new translation" of the Bible. This appointment can be illustrated by excerpts from his writings. After laboring off and on for ten months on the early chapters of Genesis, Joseph Smith received a revelation from the Lord on March 7, 1831, directing him to begin work on the New Testament: "It shall not be given unto you to know any further concerning this chapter, until the New Testament be translated, and in it all these things shall be made known; wherefore I give unto you that ye may now translate it" (D&C 45:60-61).

 

The manuscript of the JST shows that Joseph Smith began the translation of Matthew the next day. On December 1, 1831, the Prophet entered the following in his journal: "I resumed the translation of the Scriptures, and continued to labor in this branch of my calling with Elder Sidney Rigdon as my scribe" (HC 1:238-39). On February 16, 1832, he reported a revelation concerning the resurrection of the dead that includes the following reference to his divine commission to translate: "For while we [Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon] were doing the work of translation, which the Lord had appointed unto us, we came to the twenty-ninth verse of the fifth chapter of John" (D&C 76:15). On March 8, 1833, he reported the word of the Lord to him as follows: "And when you have finished the translation of the [Old Testament] prophets, you shall from thenceforth preside over the affairs of the church" (D&C 90:13). On May 6, 1833, Joseph Smith reported the following revelation: "It is my will that you should hasten to translate my scriptures" (D&C 93:53). Although not a complete list, the foregoing items illustrate Joseph Smith's claim to a divine appointment to translate the Old and New Testaments.

[reaganaut]

With God or Christ there is only perfect good.

- - - -
Worth a repost, and blows the “God was once a man (and thus a sinner)” out of the water.

[T Minus Four]

And where exactly did he get the manuscripts from which to translate?

[svcw]

So far (what I can remember) you are former anti Mormon, Baptist, Pentecostal, non-denominational, YWAM missionary...what else? (butcher, baker and candlestick maker).

Given what you say you were and how you say they just didn't get it or you felt (breast burning) they were wrong and that's why you converted to lds........is just not passing the smell test any longer.

Do I think you are an idiot, no.

Do I think you misrepresent yourself and history - you betcha.

[Elsie]

 

When you've opened your new e-mail for input, notice up on the top (?) menu bar.

 

There is...    FILE   EDIT   VIEW   INSERT   FORMAT  TOOLS  MESSAGE   HELP

 

 

 

Click the VIEW button.  A little menu pops up that has SOURCE EDIT down at the bottom.  Make sure it is checked.

 

Then you should see, on your new E-MAIL border, at the lower left, 3 buttons: EDIT   SOURCE   PREVEIW.

 

You do your normal e-mail functions with the EDIT button activated; press the SOURCE one to get to the code, or use PREVEIW to see how it SHOULD look in FR.

 

(There are a few HTML code things that will not work on FR, but I've never seen much of a need for them any way.

 

We can't embed an audio file to start authmatically, and I've not figgered out how to include FLASH media; but for 99% of the time, I really don't need those commands.

[Elsie]

And where exactly did he get the manuscripts from which to translate?

From the sample I posted; it appears that a BLENDER was used!

[Elsie]

 

Worth a repost, and blows the “God was once a man (and thus a sinner)” out of the water.

Joseph Smith taught:

"It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God...
He was once a man like us; ...
God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did"

(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 345-46)

[svcw]

Since you didn't want to answer, thought I would for you:

Joseph Smith taught:

"It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God...

He was once a man like us; ...

God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did"

(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 345-46)

[T Minus Four]

From Wikipedia:

The translation was intended to restore what Smith described as “many important points touching the salvation of men, [that] had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled.”[1] But the work was not a literal translation from ancient documents, as the term translation is commonly used by scholars. Neither was it an automatic and infallible process where "correct" words and phrases simply were revealed to Smith in final form. As with Joseph Smith's other translations, he reported that he was forced to "study it out in [his] mind"[2] as part of the revelatory process

[reaganaut]

That’s a dangerous road to travel, FReeper.

I think it’s weird that you said what you said to me. Very weird . . . and makes me feel sad for you.

- - - - -
It isn’t dangerous when it is the truth. The Holy Ghost will NOT confirm things that are contrary to the Bible. the BoM is contrary to the Bible (that has been proven over and over again here), so therefore if it is not of God, it must be of Satan.

And don’t feel sad for me, I have the truth of Christ. I am blood washed, redeemed and made pure by the Sacrifice of my Savior on the Cross. I don’t need a ‘church’ to tell me I am worthy, I have Christ. I don’t need ‘religion’, I have Christ. Christ is my all, I have been rescued from the chains of Mormonism.

I weep for you and the lies you claim to believe. THAT is a path to Hell and your time is running out.

[reaganaut]

Katana,

Don’t let that post fool you. The Articles of Faith are a whitewashed version of LDS doctrine there are many many teachings and doctrines that are not mentioned and many layers beneath them.

If you are interested in some well documented links, let me know. I was LDS for several years before Christ rescued me from Mormonism.