The Book of Mormon And It Came To Pass
From the book by Mark Twain, “Roughing It”, chapter sixteen;
“All men have heard of the Mormon Bible, but few, except the elect have seen it or at least taken the trouble to read it. I brought away a copy from Salt Lake. The book is a curiosity to me. It is such a pretentious affair and yet so slow, so sleepy, such an insipid mess of inspiration. It is chloroform in print.
If Joseph Smith composed this book, the act was a miracle. Keeping awake while he did it, was at any rate. If he, according to tradition, merely translated it from certain ancient and mysteriously engraved plates of copper, which he declares he found under a stone, in an out of the way locality, the work of translating it was equally a miracle for the same reason.
The book seems to be merely a prosy detail of imaginary history with the Old Testament for a model followed by a tedious plagiarism of the New Testament. The author labored to give his words and phrases the quaint old fashioned sound and structure of our King James translation of the scriptures. The result is a mongrel, half modern glibness and half ancient simplicity and gravity. The latter is awkward and constrained, the former natural, but grotesque by the contrast. Whenever he found his speech growing too modern, which was about every sentence or two, he ladeled in a few such scriptural phrases as, “exceeding sore,” “and it came to pass,” etc. and made things satisfactory again. “And it came to pass,” was his pet. If he had left that out, his bible would have been only a pamphlet.”
From the Book of Mormon:
2 Nephi 4:14; “…for a more history part are written upon mine other plates.”
Mormon 9:35; “And these things are written that we may rid our garments of the blood of our brethren, who have dwindled in unbelief.”
The above Mormon “scriptures” are a classic example of what you’ll encounter when you read the Book of Mormon. It makes for a difficult reading session doesn’t it?
I had a pastor ask me to provide him with a synopsis of the Book of Mormon and I have to admit that it took a few days to fulfill his request. It’d be easier to tell you the number of times I’ve dozed off while reading it (100% of the time) than it would be to give a quick analysis. And as I write this I have an incessant memory of a visit with my mother in Utah. She was sitting on her couch reading her Book of Mormon and after a half hour or so of not turning a single page I asked her what truths she had gleaned from her experience.
She said that she liked the warm feeling it gave her because it reminded her of when my grandfather would read to her as a child. Sigh…my heart literally aches for her and the thousands of Mormons just like her.
Over all I’d have to say the Book of Mormon is a compilation of incomplete stories of fictional wars filled with fictional names of people and places. Whoever wrote it had horrible grammar and didn’t know how to spell correctly. The only reliable timeframe with real people in a real situation is at the beginning when Jerusalem was under siege c. 600 BC.
Sadly, this is a story of a god who only provides based on conditions and his conditional, short lived love is evidence he has no patience.
The Book of Mormon habitually gives the reader a quick thrill of hope for the good guy only to be let down by the end of the chapter that their faith and works were all for naught. It seems no one knows how to keep a promise. The “Jesus” of the Book of Mormon promises that his church will always survive. This is obviously a lie since it died out in 421 AD.
The authors (Joseph Smith and friends) seem obsessed by giving repetitive, simplistic accounts of murderous bloodshed and venomous hatred between two sets of people groups who can’t seem to behave more than a half dozen verses. Each war is more violent than the previous one and the promise of the Holy Spirit being with them vanishes into thin air on several occasions.
Just when you think you might gain further insight into one of the wars or travels by the Nephites or Lamanites, you’re met with the overused phrase “And it came to pass”; meaning no further light will be shed on that subject.
One of Mormonism’s biggest lies is taught in the second book of Nephi with the proclamation of the damnable heresy the fall of man was a necessary step in the life of mankind.
One of their prophets had to remind God how to build a ship properly so they could sail here to the promised land of America for the Jews. This supposedly took place c. 2240 BC, the same timeframe as the Tower of Babel before the Israelites were in existence.
There are times when the authors give you cryptic insights as to their location without divulging any geographical clues. Bodies were dumped “into the sea” more than once.
Many times one of the “authors” of a book will tell the reader what God has shared with them is too holy or sacred to share with others, or they’ll let us know that someday maybe someone will be able to share the great things of their god with everyone.
On numerous occasions one of the “prophets” from the Book of Mormon will tell everyone it is through his own insight or the insight of his father he is writing the story he’s about to share. Obviously if it’s the idea of the author it is not God-inspired. Sometimes they’ll explain they don’t have the space to write what they should or they can’t write everything because they’ve changed the language – I’m serious. How is this inspired?
Unlike many bibles, no reputable concordance or dictionary is provided that could shed light on the meaning of names or places. There are no stories of Jewish traditions of feasts or festivals in the Book of Mormon. There are no detailed accounts of how the priests performed sacrifices in any of the synagogues or temples. Passover is nowhere to be found in the Book of Mormon.
There is nothing to suggest anyone was keeping an orthodox covenant relationship with the One True God of the Bible. You will not read of one single account where the righteous Nephites were offering an animal sacrifice to God to cover for anyone’s sins.
Most of the fictional names for its cast of characters are not Hebrew. One has a Yankee name of Sam, at least two have Greek names (Timothy and John) and the rest are the product of Joseph Smith’s wild imagination.
Words and phrases are used inappropriately for the timeframe they’re supposedly living in or they’re used excessively. An example of the latter is the word “exceedingly” being used 329 times and the Greek word Christ being used in the BC era 191 times.
I would have to say the demeanor of the god of Mormonism can be safely portrayed in Helaman 12:3;
“And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.”
That verse my friend, is a reflection of the kind of god they are worshipping. He’s a vindictive, malcontent, legalistic, brute of a god. The longer I’m out of Mormonism the more grateful I am for the One True God who saved me! I can’t see where any Mormon could find hope for themselves in any of the books, nor am I convinced they could stay awake while reading it.
The Church will tell you this is not a book about historical accuracy or figures. They’ll tell you it is a book that points more to the message of believing in Christ. If you can’t trust or believe in the historical aspect of this writing, how in the world could anyone believe in its message of redemption from the sinless, perfect God of the Bible?
Below you’ll find a list of each time the phrase “and it came to pass” occurs. We found it was used 1,428 times in 1,370 verses. And in case you’re wondering…there are 6,604 verses in the Book of Mormon*. Yeah, that means twenty percent of the verses in the Book of Mormon contains the phrase “and it came to pass”. Maybe Mark Twain was on to something…
For more interesting facts on the words used in the Book of Mormon, see our articles on Greek and Latin words in the Book of Mormon here:
http://lifeafterministry.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/greek-in-the-book-of-mormon-pt-4/
http://lifeafterministry.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/book-of-mormon-greek-latin-word-chart/
With Love in Christ;
Michelle Grim
1 Cor. 1:18
1 Nephi has 618 verses
1:4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 14, 17, 19 – 9 verses
2:1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 14, 16, 19 – 10 verses
3:1, 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 – 15 verses
4:1, 10, 12, 28, 29, 30, 32, 35, 37, 38 – 10 verses
5:1, 4, 9, 14, 20 – 5 verses
7:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 16 (2x), 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 (2x), 22 – 16x, 13 verses
8:1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 32, 36 – 17 verses
10:2, 11, 17 – 3 verses
11:1, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 19, 25, 29, 30, 32, 36 – 12 verses
12:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13, 15, 20, 23 – 9 verses
13:1, 4, 6, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 20, 34, 38 – 11 verses
14:1, 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18 – 9 verses
15:1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 17, 19, 20, 21, 32 – 10 verses
16:1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32 (2x), 33, 34, 35, 39 – 31x, 30 verses
17:1, 6, 7 (2x), 8, 10, 11, 16, 19, 23, 31, 48, 49, 52, 53, 54 – 16x, 15 verses
18:1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 15, 21 (2x), 22, 23, 24 (2x), 25 – 15x, 13 verses
19:1, 22 (2x) – 3x, 2 verses
20:5 – 1 verse
22:1 (2x), 20 – 3x, 2 verses
205x/193 verses
2 Nephi has 779 verses
1:1 – 1 verse
3:20 – 1 verse
4:8, 10, 12 (2x), 13 – 5x, 4 verses
5:1, 5, 6, 13, 17, 18, 26, 27, 30 – 9 verses
9:15 – 1 verse
10:8 – 1 verse
12:2, 11 – 2 verses
13:24 – 1 verse
14:3 – 1 verse
17:1, 7, 18, 21, 22, 23 – 6 verses
18:21 – 1 verse
20:12, 20, 27 – 3 verses
21:11 – 1 verse
24:3, 4 – 2 verses
25:6, 7, 14 – 3 verses
26:10, 19 – 2 verses
27:6, 15, 19, 24 – 4 verses
28:1, 3 – 2 verses
29:13 – 1 verse
30:7, 8 – 2 verses
31:1 – 1 verse
50x/49 verses
Jacob has 203 verses
1:1, 12, 15 – 3 verses
4:1 – 1 verse
5:4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 14, 15, 16 (2x), 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 35, 38, 39 (2x), 40, 48, 49, 55, 70, 72, 75 – 31x, 29 verses
6:1 – 1 verse
7:1, 2, 6, 13, 15 (2x), 16, 17, 20, 23, 24, 26 – 12x, 11 verses
49x/46 verses
Enos has 27 verses
1:1, 9, 12, 19, 21, 25 – 6 verses
6x/6 verses
Jarom has 15 verses
1:7, 10, 12, 13 – 4 verses
4x/4 verses
Omni has 30 verses
1:1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 13, 15, 18 (2x), 19, 20, 25, 29 – 12 verses
13x/12 verses
Words of Mormon has 18 verses
1:10, 13, 14, 15, 16 – 5 verses
5x/5 verses
Mosiah has 785 verses
1:2, 9, 15, 18 – 4 verses
2:1, 5, 8 – 3 verses
4:1, 3 – 2 verses
5:1, 9, 10 – 3 verses
6:2, 3, 6 – 3 verses
7:1, 2, 3, 8, 14, 17, 18 – 7 verses
8:1, 4 – 2 verses
9:5, 11, 13, 15, 16 – 5 verses
10:1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10(2x), 20, 21 – 9x, 8 verses
11:1, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26 – 13 verses
12:1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 17, 18, 20, 31 – 11 verses
13:5, 25 – 2 verses
16:1 – 1 verse
17:1, 5, 13, 15, 16 – 5 verses
18:1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 30, 32, 34 – 11 verses
19:1, 5, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18 (2x), 22, 24, 25, 27 – 12x, 11 verses
20:2, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 24, 25 (2x) – 9x, 8 verses
21:1, 2, 6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 33 – 8 verses
22:1, 2, 3, 9, 11, 14, 15 – 7 verses
23:17, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 29, 33, 36 – 9 verses
24:1, 8, 10, 13, 15, 16, 18, 24 – 8 verses
25:5, 12, 14, 17, 19, 23 – 6 verses
26:1, 6, 7, 9, 14, 25, 33, 34, 37 – 9 verses
27:1, 2, 10, 17, 23, 32 – 6 verses
28:1, 5, 8 – 3 verses
29:2, 37, 39, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46 – 8 verses
157x/154 verses
Alma has 1,975 verses
1:1, 2, 5, 7, 11, 15, 19, 33 – 8 verses
2:1, 5, 7, 9, 14, 15, 19, 20, 23, 26, 29, 30, 35, 38 – 14 verses
3:1, 9, 11, 20, 21 – 5 verses
4:1, 5, 6, 11, 15 – 5 verses
5:1 – 1 verse
6:1, 2, 3, 7 – 4 verses
8:1, 3, 5, 8, 14 (2x), 18, 21, 22, 28, 32 – 11x, 10 verses
9:1, 31, 33, 34 – 4 verses
10:8, 16, 17, 24 – 4 verses
12:19 – 1 verse
13:21 – 1 verse
14:1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 14, 17, 19, 20, 23, 25, 27 – 12 verses
15:1, 5, 6, 14, 16 – 5 verses
16:1, 3, 4, 6, 7 – 5 verses
17:1, 9, 10, 12, 13, 24, 25, 31, 32 – 9 verses
18:1, 8, 12, 15, 16, 40, 43 – 7 verses
19:1, 3, 11, 12, 16, 24, 25, 29, 33, 35 – 10 verses
20:1, 3, 8, 11, 28 – 5 verses
21:4, 10, 12, 17, 18, 23 – 6 verses
22:2, 12, 15, 17, 19, 26, 27, 33 – 8 verses
23:1, 4, 16, 17 – 4 verses
24:1, 17, 20, 25, 26 – 5 verses
25:1, 7, 13 – 3 verses
26:10 – 1 verse
27:1, 2, 11, 13, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26 – 11 verses
30:1, 2, 5, 6, 21, 22, 30, 46, 56, 58, 59 – 11 verses
31:1, 19, 36 – 3 verses
32:1, 2 – 2 verses
34:1 – 1 verse
35:1, 3, 5, 7 – 4 verses
36:10, 17 – 2 verses
38:8 – 1 verse
40:12, 13 – 2 verses
43:1, 4, 5, 15, 18, 22, 23, 24, 27, 34, 36, 39, 41, 48, 49 – 15 verses
44:1, 8, 13, 16, 17, 20, 22 – 7 verses
45:1, 2, 15, 18, 20, 22, 23 – 7 verses
46:1, 11, 12, 17, 21, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 39 – 13 verses
47:2 (2x), 3, 7, 9, 10, 11 (3x), 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 34, 35 – 24x, 22 verses
48:1, 6, 7 – 3 verses
49:1, 9, 17, 21, 25 (2x), 26, 28 – 8x, 7 verses
50:1, 7, 9, 13, 24, 25, 28, 31, 34, 35, 37, 39 – 12 verses
51:1, 5, 7 (2x), 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23 (2x), 25, 28, 29, 30, 32 (2x), 33, 34 – 22x,
19 verses
52:1, 3, 4, 7, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 27, 31, 33, 35, 38 – 17 verses
53:1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 13, 16, 22 – 8 verses
54:1, 2, 15 – 3 verses
55:1, 4, 5, 13, 14, 25, 26, 27, 28, 33 – 10 verses
56:1, 18, 22, 27, 32, 33, 35, 36, 39, 41, 42, 49, 52, 54, 55 – 15 verses
57:1, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 17, 18, 24, 25, 28, 30, 32, 33 (2x), 36 – 16x, 15 verses
58:1, 4 (2x), 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23 (2x), 26, 28, 29, 30 – 18x, 16 verses
59:1, 3, 4, 5, 13 – 5 verses
60:1 – 1 verse
61:1 – 1 verse
62:1, 3, 5, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18 (2x), 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 42, 46, 52 – 26x, 25 verses
63:1, 3, 4, 5, 8 (2x), 9, 10, 14 – 9x, 8 verses
415x/403 verses
Helaman has 497 verses
1:1, 5, 6, 8, 14, 18, 19, 21 (2x), 30, 33 – 11x, 10 verses
2:1, 2, 6, 7, 10 – 5 verses
3:1, 3, 8, 10, 12, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 32, 36, 37 (2x) – 15x, 14 verses
4:1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 15, 18, 20 – 8 verses
5:1, 4, 13, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 34, 36, 37, 40, 42, 43, 46, 50, 52 – 22 verses
6:1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 15 (2x), 18, 20, 22, 32, 37, 38, 41 – 14x, 13 verses
7:1, 10, 11, 13 – 4 verses
8:1, 7 – 2 verses
9:1, 3, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18, 37 – 9 verses
10:1, 2, 3 (2x), 10, 12, 15, 17, 18 – 9x, 8 verses
11:1, 3, 7, 9 (2x), 17 (2x), 20, 21, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 32, 37 – 16x, 14 verses
13:1, 2 (2x), 4, 18 – 5x, 4 verses
14:1, 7, 8, 28 – 4 verses
16:1, 13, 16, 20 – 4 verses
129x/121 verses
3 Nephi also has 785 verses
1:1, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 19 (2x), 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28 – 18x, 17 verses
2:1, 3, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17 – 7 verses
3:1, 11, 17, 22 – 4 verses
4:1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15 (2x), 20, 23, 31 – 12x, 11 verses
5: 2 (2x), 4 – 3x, 2 verses
6:1, 2, 7, 10, 26, 27 – 6 verses
7:11, 14, 15, 18, 20 – 5 verses
8:1, 2, 5, 19, 20, 23 – 6 verses
9:1 – 1 verse
10:1, 3, 8, 9, 18 – 5 verses
11:1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 18 – 9 verses
12:1 – 1 verse
13:25 – 1 verse
14:1 – 1 verse
15:1, 4, 11 – 3 verses
17:1, 5, 9, 11, 13, 14, 18, 19 – 8 verses
18:1, 8, 9, 17, 26, 30, 38 – 7 verses
19:1, 4 (2x), 7, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19 (2x), 24, 25 (2x), 31, 35 – 16x, 13 verses
20:1, 3, 10, 20, 21, 23, 30, 36 – 8 verses
21:7, 8, 11, 14, 19, 20 – 6 verses
22:1 – 1 verse
23:6, 7, 12, 13, 14 – 5 verses
24:1 (2x) – 2x
26:1, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20 – 6 verses
27:1 (2x), 16, 33 – 4x, 3 verses
28:1, 12, 16, 23, 29 – 5 verses
147x/140 verses
4 Nephi has 49 verses
1:1, 2, 4, 10, 13, 14, 15, 19, 21, 22, 27, 35, 36, 38, 40, 42, 45, 46, 47, 48 – 20 verses
20x/20 verses
Mormon has 227 verses
1:6, 8, 10, 11 (2x), 12, 19 – 7x, 6 verses
2:1, 2, 3, 4 (2x), 7, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20 (2x), 21, 22, 23, 25 (2x), 26 – 19x, 16 verses
3:1, 2, 4, 5, 7 (2x), 11, 16 – 8x, 7 verses
4:1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 15, 19, 22 – 10 verses
5:1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 20 – 7 verses
6:1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15 – 9 verses
8:2 – 1 verse
62x/57 verses
Ether has 433 verses
1:35. 37, 38, 39, 40 – 5 verses
2:1, 4, 5 (2x), 6, 13, 14, 16, 18, 21 – 10x, 9 verses
3:1, 6, 21, 28 – 4 verses
6:2, 4 (2x), 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 18, 21, 22, 25 (2x), 26, 27, 29, 30 – 17x, 15 verses
7:1, 3 (2x), 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 24 (2x), 26 – 15x, 13 verses
8:1, 2, 4, 5, 6 (2x), 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 18, 25 – 13x, 12 verses
9:1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, 23 (2x), 24 (2x), 25, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 – 21x, 19 verses
10:1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 29, 30, 32 – 15 verses
11:2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 (2x), 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23 – 15x, 14 verses
12:1, 5, 36, 37 – 4 verses
13:15, 18, 19, 22, 23, 27, 28 (2x), 29 – 9x, 8 verses
14:4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 26, 29 (2x), 30 – 16x, 15 verses
15:1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 – 23 verses
167x/156 verses
Moroni has 163 verses
None, ironic isn’t it?
Totals:
1,428x used in 1,370 verses
47 Chapters without the phrase “and it came to pass”. There are 239 chapters in the Book of Mormon.
*http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_verses_in_the_book_of_Mormon
*http://www.chacha.com/question/how-many-chapters-are-there-in-the-book-of-mormon
Read Full Post »
On April 6, 1830 the LDS Church officially came into being. According to claims made by Joseph Smith, Jr. the Christian church had become the whore of Babylon and God had to intervene with a gospel contradicting all previous testaments. In the aftermath of the Christian church’s riotous behavior we now have the Book of Mormon.
