Alma 37:35; “O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God.”
Matthew 7:6; “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you”.
Today we’re looking at one of the hundreds of claims made by the Church that the BoM is true. One of those claims is the ‘discovery’ of chiasmus in the text.
First, let’s look at what this word means. The dictionary defines chiasmus as “A reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases”. Our example from the Bible is considered to be a chiasmus.
There are a few things to look at with the Mormon claim so let’s begin!
1.Of course there will be chiasmus in the BoM! Why wouldn’t there be when they’ve plagiarized the Bible?
2.Chiasmus can be found everywhere and it doesn’t prove the authenticity or truth of anything. I can write a chiasmus in this sentence and prove the Mormons are wrong by showing their tactics don’t provide truth in their writings.
3.You can find chiasmus in nursery rhymes. (Hickory-Dickory-Dock)
4.D&C 76:2-4 was written in a chiastic style and it wasn’t claimed to be translated from ancient writings.
D&C 762-4; “Great is his wisdom, marvelous are his ways, and the extent of his doings none can find out. 3 His purposes fail not, neither are there any who can stay his hand. 4 From eternity to eternity he is the same, and his years never fail.”
5.Chiastic style or a chiasmus is simply a poetic form of a writing style. Smith did this in the BoM, the D&C, the Pearl of Great Price, as well as his own journals. I’ve pointed out for years now that Smith liked to use Jacobean English to make himself sound holy and godlike. These examples are proof of that!
Many times Mormons will use ‘faith-promoting rumors’ to advance their agenda and today we’ve seen one of those in action. Sadly, writing in poetic form doesn’t prove inspiration of God, yet Mormons will hold onto what straw they can to alienate themselves from the Lord.
We’ve listed a couple of other Mormon resources as examples of how fond they are of this theory. The internet is loaded with websites, talks from LDS authorities, etc. Ask your Mormon friends and loved ones what they think of this theory!
Leave a Reply