Posted on 06/29/2010 8:28:07 AM PDT by 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...
(Excerpt) Read more at ldsmag.com ...
re-read them CAREFULLY. My husband thought they sounded very “Christian” until he started to discover how the LDS redefine terms (I think elsie has a list of that) and started peeling back the layers.
FWIW, I used to be LDS. God rescued me from Mormonism and brought me to His Son. I fight Mormonism because I do not want to see other ‘lied into’ the LDS church like I was only to discover that it is all build upon lies from the pit of Hell.
I have a Christian duty to warn others about false gospels and Mormonism is one.
http://www.ils.unc.edu/~unsworth/mormon/nazi.html
The LDS supported the Nazi’s in order to avoid persecution.
Also, the LDS consider Jews to be ‘gentiles’ and call them such. Furthermore, they do teach that America (and particularly Mormons) have replaced Israel as God’s chosen people.
They also believe that Zion is in Missouri.
Want sources for those as well?
I think some of the rhetoric used in the religious slug fests that occasionally break out here at FR just get peoples’ backs up and lead nowhere.
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There are at least TWO ex-mormons who would disagree with you. They both came out of Mormonism and into Christianity because of these ‘slugfests’.
Just sayin...
Welcome. I see you have done your research. Kudos!
A couple of years ago when the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit was in San Diego, we drove there. A scroll was found that mentioned “Alma son of Judah” which is the first time the man’s name “Alma” appears in ancient writings. Furthermore, we saw a brass plate on which were written letters. It was very well preserved.
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Sandy, I have TOLD you over and over again that not only is this NOT proof of the BoM, the curator of the exhibit Risa Levitt Kohn (a personal friend) HATES that you and other LDS use this to support LDS doctrine. It is an insult to her work. So knock it off!
And BYU “scholars”, esp in the fields of Religion, History, Archeology, and Biblical Studies are NOT widely accepted at large in the fields. Sigh.
And regarding the KJV, it isn’t EXACTLY the same, you have the JST footnotes because the LDS do not accept the Bible as being CORRECT and they don’t own the copyright to the JST in full (the RLDS do). And don’t give me the ‘it wasn’t finished’ excuse because Smith himself said he completed it.
We don’t go by feelings but it’s nice to have a confirmation.
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HOGWASH. The LDS put feelings above everything else, including common sense.
People are told to pray about the BoM, pray for confirmation of what the prophets teach, and it always gets back to a ‘burning in the bosom’. Even “Moroni’s promise” is circular and brings the lack of feeling back to a weakness on the person praying’s part. Do you really need me to dissect that for you?!?!
I get them worked up and smile when they try to defend an undefendable position.
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ROFL. That would be a lot funnier if you didn’t acutally believe it.
Typical LDS arrogance. We can defend our position, it is the LDS that can’t defend their faith.
So, bring it on, troll boy.
One time an anti on this site said that Mormons do not believe in serving in the military
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Most don’t. They are told to serve missions instead. How many got draft deferments during WWII, Korea, and ‘Nam? We know Romney certainly did.
And how many waited to serve their mission AFTER they fought in the war? A lot fewer.
So don’t give me that malarkey.
Do you have to butter coat the truth all the time?
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Yes they do. As my Mission prep professor said...”if we told the truth, no one would join”.
Is that the story where the decapitated head keeps talking?
Looks like it is time to dig out my quad again.
i never met a Samaritan.
But it is telling that you substituted Mormon for Samaritan in the story.
I was comparing the prejudice of the Jews against the Samaritans with the prejudice of some posters here against the Mormons.
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What predjudice? I have many LDS friends, it is their religion i detest, because it insults my Lord.
I detest their lying and their obfuscation.
I used to BE LDS, I know a whole lot more about them than you apparently do.
And my heart breaks for them. They are headed for Hell and I won’t let them go without a fight.
Adopting a ‘live and let live attitude’ would be hating them.
It would be interesting to have a mormon distinguish ‘their feelings’ between the presence of the Holy Spirit and that of an unholy spirit.
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That is easy. To the LDS ‘good feelings’ are the HS, ‘bad’
feelings (confusion, questioning Mormonism, being uncomfortable) is not the HS.
Stupid but true.
Thank you, I am a revert to the Catholic Church, I actually have a shelf next to our entrance door of our house that I store my apologetics material for when the Mormons, Jw's, SDA's etc... come calling. When they tell me what group they belong to I can just grab the correct notebook. The longest any of them have stayed is about 2 hours, most leave after an hour to an hour and a half. I am always polite, but i know exactly what quetions to ask.
And, as always;
an unemployed jester is nobodys fool.
One when over the picture itself and one when over the red circle.
Oh boo....
I’m gonna copy the page and look at the code involved!
Ah....
It’s JAVAscript stuff.
FR don’t play dat!
Yup; that works too, but then you might grab some stuff that isn’t what you wanted.
Putting that code in Outlook Express e-mail gives you a chance to EDIT it...
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