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...

[Godzilla]

The lost brass plate of unobtainum, son of jester, son of beef jerky.

[colorcountry]

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.

Ditto!!!

[svcw]

As I have said before, your professions of former Christian churches is just not passing the smell test any longer.

[Hoodat]

Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Mormon, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed,[a] he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Luke 10 : 30-37

[Vendome]

Try this:

http://www.languageguide.org/french/vocabulary/bathroom/

just roll over the characters.

Don’t know why, I think it’s funny.

Then again it is frenchy.

[Vendome]

Well I guess the point being is that God has not the capability for evil whereas Evil has the capability for good, in the end it is still corrupt.

[T Minus Four]

Well, mine refuses to cooperate, but it seems that after I highlight text from a website, I can go to VIEW, then click SOURCE and it will show me the stuff in full HTML regalia. I can just copy that and paste it into my post.

Thanks! That could save me tons of HTMLing.

[T Minus Four]

LOL! La douche! (/3rd grade humor)

[T Minus Four]

Evil has the capability for good

Or at least the appearance of good. Think of some people who've won the lottery. They thought their every prayer had been answered and it ruined their lives.

That would NOT happen to me, however :-)

[T Minus Four]

John 4:1 placemarker

[Vendome]

How could there be an Earth? God is a pretty amazing God and since he has created everything with its own uniqueness, wouldn’t this some other place be called, Uhm, help me out here...

...S-O-M-E other place?

[Vendome]

Sacre Coure’!

(that is what I imagine heaven would look like)

[Vendome]

Didn’t it sound funny when your mouse rolled over it?

[Vendome]

That’s because you are perfect, just the way you are.

[svcw]

THX1138

[reaganaut]

So you think Mormons have the market cornered on compassion???

You HAVE to be kidding, the LDS are the LEAST compassionate people I know. Seriously, I know athiests who are more compassionate than any Mormon I know.

think having people give up their gold fillings to pay for a temple. Not to mention the whole Haiti fiasco.

[reaganaut]

You are right, it is not.

[Hoodat]

So you think Mormons have the market cornered on compassion???

Nope. I never said any such thing. And from reading the rest of your post, I can see that my point was totally lost on you. However, I now know how you feel about Samaritans.

[ejonesie22]

Ok, it's bad enough the LDS slander and degrade Jesus Christ, misrepresent his sacrifice and demean its meaning, it is bad enough they try and twist Christianity into some polytheistic concoction of fantasy and blasphemy, it is bad enough that Joe Smith "edited" the Holy Word of the One and Only God, but to inject Mormonism into the word of God in an effort to perpetuate the fraud is a tick much for me.

Besides, we have seen LDS "compassion" and what price comes with it...

http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/portoalegre/

BTW Hoodat, hows your dental work?

[ejonesie22]

You took the fillings right out of my mouth...