But resty - smittie did fall within the prohibition of Revelation when he modified it as apart of the (proto-canonized) JST (aka IV). As such, he is properly condemned by God.
***
Really the Book of Mormon is older than the Revelation, the Lehi family was around 600AD.
As I recall when I first encounter the Book of Mormon I was I was bewildered because it made no since to me and I did not recognized the names or places.
The book was given to me by a friend who I was doing busy with and he just told me to read it.
Well there were a couple attempts of me trying to read that book or try to find out what it was about.
Because it was so strange to me and was not introduce to the Book like others were.
I keep trying to connect the dots from what I knew and it was not working.
So it was like a closed book to me and I would just set it on the shelf.
I had a fall out with my friend so I would not talk to him.
He tried to be cordial to me but I felt hurt we were vie for the same customer and his charm persuade it her.
I was immature in business you could say!:)
Anyway that book kept falling on the floor and getting in the way and I could not relate to it as you do with other books.
My friend and I lived in the same building so we did cross paths.
I also work there at the front desk.
I was continuing my quest for spiritual path.
This book kept getting in the way and I was about to throw it out and I got this prompt to read area marked in the back and I did read it.
Moroni 10
3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
So I kneel over the wastepaper basket and did the prayer I truly wanted to know if the Book was true.
It was the most powerful feeling of joy I ever felt and I knew than the book was true and I had to find out more about that book, but I did not want my friend to know.
The next day the missionaries came to visit him and I was working at the desk so I started to ask them questions and the rest is history.
When I was baptized that was another powerful experience.
When I was younger I was baptized into the Presbyterian Church and it was like a holiday experience meaning earth celebration.
When I was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for me it was powerful I could feel the tingle from the top of my head to the tip of my feet it was unexpected but that was with my confirmation.
The next day and for a few weeks my eyes were really open and my discernment sharpen of things offensive to the soul and thing that were pleasing.
Later on when I read the account of the Kirtland Temple I could relate with what took place I did have that advance experience but enough to appreciate what many in the community experienced.
Now I would expect the prophet and his counsel would have those experiences but I am talking about what occurred in the community I could relate because on my level I too was having my discernment sharpen or made clear beyond doubt.
So when I read accounts about the Kirtland Temple aglow at night and angels dancing on the roof I could bond with that knowledge this took place for a few weeks as many wrote in their diaries.
I say this in the name of Jesus Christ amen!
Resty – I was speaking about the Joseph Smith Translation (aka Inspiried Version) of the KJV. You know, the source of those footnotes in the mormon KJV, owned and published by that other mormon church.
However, since you brought it up, lets discuss the age of the bom. This book and its author – JS – states that it documents the history of America some 2000 years ago or so. Normally one would have the manuscript this was alleged to be translated from – that is gone and unavailable for evaluation (to be looked at below). The bom does state that cities with millions and millions were spread from sea to sea across America. With the relatively recent age and the purportedly vast civilization that existed, there should be a wealth of archaeological findings. However, so non-existent is the archaeological support for the bom that the Smithsonian and National Geographic Societies have gone on record to state that the history said to be documented in the bom is not there. Consider these items:
1. No bom cities have been found
2. No horses and elephants in America during the bom times
3. No steel, armor, chariots, etc that were reported in abundance in the bom have been found.
4. No archaeological finding from the middle east / Israel have been found to support the bom, such as reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics, etc.
5. The story surrounding its translation are highly questioned.
Much more could be said and we could explore those other areas later. However, if you know where these cities and their artifacts have been found, I would be glad to review that evidence.
If Smith was a truly inspired translator, are there any other evidences that we could look at to see if God worked through him? Yes there are two other sources. The first is the Egyptian scroll Smith obtained and translated to produce the Book of Abraham. Once thought lost, it was rediscovered, returned to and accepted as authentic by the mormon leadership. Did Smith properly translate this document? Although facsimile 1 was mostly intact and all the characters Smith referenced in his handwritten manuscript were intact and the proper order, mormon scholars (as well as MANY others) deduced that the scroll was really a pagan prayer commonly known as the Book of Breathings who’s translation did not resemble in the least that which was written down by Smith.
The second evidence for Smith’s translation skills relate to brass plates found near Kinderhook IL. According to the History of the Church, Joseph Smith did accept these plates as authentic and even claimed that he had translated a portion of them:
Monday, May, 1.—. . . I insert fac-similes of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook, . . .
I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth. (History of the Church, vol. 5, page 372)
On January 15, 1844, this statement appeared in the Mormon publication Times and Seasons:
Why does the circumstance of the plates recently found in a mound in Pike county, Ill., by Mr. Wiley, together with ethmology and a thousand other things, go to prove the Book of Mormon true?—Ans. Because it is true! (Times and Seasons, vol. 5, page 406)
Lost and refound, these plates were accepted as real by the mormon prophets, mormon John A. Wittorf tried to come to grips with what would happen if the Kinderhook plates were proven to be forgeries:
Accepting the find as genuine, Joseph had facsimile drawings of the plates made, presumably for future study. The brevity of his translation of "a portion of the plates" precludes the possibility that—if the plates are ultimately demonstrated to be fraudulent—his abilities as a translator of ancient scripts and languages can be called into question. (Newsletter and Proceedings of the Society for Early Historic Archaeology, BYU. Oct. 1970, p. 7)
It has been shown that the plates were a hoax, both by the hoaxers confession but by chemical analysis showing the brass to be from the 19th century.
Only a hoaxer would translate fake metal plates. Only a fraud would translate papyri containing a pagan prayer into a book thousands of words long – saying something very much not what the true translation said. Since Smith cannot be trusted with these translations how well do you think he did with the gold plates, if those plates ever existed at all? But wait! There is a third evidence we can look at. Although the original gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was supposed to have been translated were reported to have been taken away by an angel, Joseph Smith did make copies of some of the characters from the plates. According to the account given in the Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith claimed that Martin Harris
came to our place, got the characters which I had drawn off the plates, and started with them to the city of New York. . . . I refer to his own account of the circumstances, as he related them tome after his return, which was as follows:
I went to the city of New York, and presented the characters which had been translated, with the translation thereof, to Professor Charles Anthon, a gentleman celebrated for his literary attainments. Professor Anthon stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian. (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith, 2:63-64)
Although Book of Mormon witness David Whitmer preserved a paper which contained Book of Mormon characters, it did not match the description given by Professor Anthon in a letter dated Feb. 17, 1834:
This paper was in fact a singular scrawl. It consisted of all kinds of crooked characters . . . arranged in perpendicular columns, and the whole ended in a rude delineation of a circle divided into various compartments decked with various strange marks, . . . I . . . well remember that the paper contained any thing else but "Egyptian Hieroglyphics.". . . (Letter written by Charles Anthon, as published in Mormonism Unvailed, 1834, pages 271-72)
On May 3, 1980, the Church Section of the Mormon Church's newspaper, Deseret News, made the startling announcement that Mark William Hofmann had discovered the original document that Harris took to Professor Anthon. According to another newspaper report, Dr. Richard L. Anderson, of Brigham Young University, claimed that
"This new discovery is sort of a Dead Sea School [sic] Equivalent of the Book of Mormon,". . . (The Herald, Provo, Utah, May 1, 1980)
Acknowledged mormon expert Dr. Hugh Nibley was quoted in the same article as saying,
"This offers as good a test as we'll ever get as to the authenticity of the Book of Mormon,". . . (Ibid.)
Is this your ultimate proof for the bom? To settle the matter a photograph of the original document was sent to Klaus Baer, Professor of Egyptology at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute. Dr. Baer replied:
What is it? Probably not Egyptian, even if here and there signs appear that could be interpreted as more or less awkwardly copied hieroglyphs or hieratic signs, . . . I suspect that one would have about the same batting average in comparing this with Chinese or Japanese or other systems that arrange signs in columns. (Letter dated May 10, 1980)
When the Mormon apologist Dr. Hugh Nibley was asked about the document just after its discovery, he proclaimed: "Of course it's translatable." (The Herald, Provo, Utah, May 1, 1980) However, it is now nearly 28 year later and no translation has been published. It appears that Mormon scholars have found it impossible to vindicate Joseph Smith's claims concerning the bom. With all this said, why should I believe the bom is authentic let alone 600 years old? These items were all accepted by the prophets of mormonism at that time – so where was the activity of the spirit of prophecy in all of this?
Moroni ….snip……
So I kneel over the wastepaper basket and did the prayer I truly wanted to know if the Book was true.
This doe not tell anyone what salvation is as defined by mormonism, this tells me how you became a mormon – see the difference.
The bom makes big claims, as does its author. Nowhere in the Bible are we to pray about a book to see if it is valid. We are to study the scriptures as the Bereans did to see if this new thing is real. One could apply the same to the Koran, or any other religious writing and get the same result you did, and would have similar subjective witness like you. Are subjective experiences the standard for belief, especially regarding a book that encourages you to pray about IT and not seek the scripture.
I can say an event in the bible is X- years old in most cases because of archaeological evidence and findings. The same cannot be said for the bom, therefore it is the peak of foolishness to pray to an document allegedly translated by a documented hoaxer. 2 Cor 11: 13-15 is very applicable here :
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light.
15 It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
Think about it, is this the highly questionable (at the very best) something I want to place my eternal security in?
Strange that NOWHERE in Scripture is THAT sensation ever mentioned.