Studying the Book of Mormon 10
http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/NE/miscne01.htm
Boston Courier.
Vol. VI. Boston, Ma., Thursday, March 17, 1831. No. 545.
DELUSION. There is no end to trickery and imposture in our land. “Fools are the game which knaves pursue,” and until the people in some sections of the country become more enlightened, there will be plenty of game.
The newspaper headline above provides insight to what most people thought of Joseph Smith and his shenanigans. This edition of the Boston Courier was fascinating. We are able to see how the early Mormon Church was able to grow and to what extent the surrounding townsfolk tolerated this movement. Most didn’t put up with it, while others were able to be tricked into their schemes. At one point a Methodist church had Rigdon and a few others come in and actually preach at the pulpit – the entire congregation left God and signed up to become Mormon.
Mormon 9:32-33; “And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech. 33 And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record.”
The passage above is a good example of how the Church makes excuses for the way they believe. Does it make sense they’ve altered the Hebrew or Reformed Egyptian? His explanation reminds me of what the con artist tries to pull off at carnivals. He puts the prize under the shell and mixes them around; if you find it, you win.
Tragically, the unfound prize in this game is the salvation in Jesus that Mormons are so desperately seeking. The Mormon god keeps changing the rules; the people writing the story changed the language and the members won’t change their minds about whom they hold allegiance to.
The entire Book of Mormon (not just this particular book) is difficult to follow or assign a central theme to because of the miserable way it’s been written. The writing of Moroni in the Book of Mormon is no exception to this finding. They purposely introduce off topic items in order to confuse. Because of this, I’ve chosen to list several items of interest that actually hurts the storyline instead of adding to the message it was originally intended to convey. If it’s to be a cohesive piece of work why is there so much garbage in its text?
I’ve not written my analysis this way to confuse, but to spark an objective thinking process about Joseph Smith and his claim about the characters in this book.
If you’re LDS, know that we pray for you each and every day. We so want for you to know the Jesus in the Bible and dedicate your passion to Him who holds the truth.
With Love in Christ;
Michelle Grim
1 Cor. 1:18
There are 227 verses in the Book of Mormon
Verses with the phrase “And it Came to Pass”: 61x in 57 verses
Mormon 1:6; “And it came to pass that I, being eleven years old…”
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, 26 – 18x, 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
Verses describing years that have passed: 18
2:3, 9, 16, 22, 28
3:1, 4, 7, 8
4:1, 7, 10, 15, 16
5:5, 6
6:5
8:6
Verses with False Prophecies: 9
1:17
5:8
7: intro
8:1, 32
9:6, 9, 32, 33
Verses with grammar problems: 4
4:21
6:10, 11, 16
Verses with No Contentions/Peace: 2
1:12
4:16
Verses with Wars: 11
1:8, 13
2:1, 15
4:10, 18
5:6
6:2, 15
8:2, 8
Verses with partial sentences/phrases from the Bible: 30
2:14
3:2, 15 (2x), 20, 22
5:14, 16, 18
6:21 (2x)
7:5 (2x), 7, 8 (2x), 9, 10
8:17, 20, 29, 30, 31
9:2, 7, 9 (2x), 13 (2x), 14, 22, 23, 24 (2x), 27, 28 (2x), 29 (2x)
Main Events in Mormon
1:7; “The whole face of the land had become covered with buildings, and the people were as numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea.”
30,000+ Nephites gathered to fight – Mormon 1:11
Hidden treasures become slippery – Mormon 1:18
Why did Jesus die if the “Day of grace is gone”? – Mormon 2:15, 26
Bodies piled up like dung on earth – 2:15
Lamanites sent epistle to warn of battle – Mormon 3:4
Mormon refuses to lead in battle – Mormon 3:11
Strange – “…Without calling upon that Being who created them…” – Mormon 5:2
Invitation to fight at Cumorah – Mormon 6:2
100,000 die in battles – Mormon 6:14
110,000 die in battles – Mormon 6:15
Trinity teaching – Mormon 7:7
If you’ll believe this story, you’ll believe the Bible – Mormon 7:9
Scriptures not inspired; Moroni commanded by his father to write scripture – Mormon 8:1
Scriptures not inspired; Moroni would write but he’s run out of materials – Mormon 8:5
Those 3 disciples disappear – 8:10
Pardon all the mistakes in the sacred cannon – Mormon 8:12
Person who discovers the hidden books is blessed, yeah, that means Joe Smith – Mormon 8:14-16
If you doubt the book you are damned – Mormon 8:17-20
Saints could remove mountains – Mormon 8:24
Modern day Mormon theology – Mormon 8:32
“…happy to dwell with that holy Being…” – Mormon 9:3
The righteous are pure, fair and white – Mormon 9:6
God doesn’t change – Mormon 9:9, 10, 19
Jesus doesn’t do miracles anymore because everyone stopped believing – Mormon 9:20
Explanation of reformed Egyptian – Mormon 9:32-33
Events Worth Questioning
1:7; “The whole face of the land had become covered with buildings, and the people were as numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea.”
Think about the above scenario for a moment. The entire face of the land was covered with buildings – and they still haven’t found even one piece of archaeological evidence…
If there were almost as many people on the face of the land as there were grains of sand, how did they all fit? As a side note, there are approximately 10,000 grains of medium-coarse sand per cubic inch…
God wouldn’t let Mormon preach
When has God ever told people not to speak about Him?
Mormon 1:17; “But I did remain among them, but I was forbidden to preach unto them, because of the hardness of their hearts…”
Fighting for Democracy and Liberty
Modern democracy like America knows it didn’t come about until the Declaration of Independence in 1776. While forms of living in a “free world” made half hearted attempts and brief appearances as early as the Greco-Roman Empire and again in 1215 with the advent of the Magna Carta, this thought process and governmental system wasn’t in existence until centuries after the Book of Mormon was supposed to have taken place.
Mormon 2:23; “And it came to pass that I did speak unto my people, and did urge them with great energy, that they would stand boldly before the Lamanites and fight for their wives, and their children, and their houses, and their homes.”
If you believe in God why are you without hope?
Mormon 5:2; “But behold, I was without hope, for I knew the judgments of the Lord which should come upon them; for they repented not of their iniquities, but did struggle for their lives without calling upon that Being who created them.”
Were the Nephites evil?
Mormon 6:7; “And it came to pass that my people, with their wives and their children, did now behold the armies of the Lamanites marching towards them; and with that awful fear of death which fills the breasts of all the wicked, did they await to receive them.”
If you believe in God, why are you using the terminology of witches?
Mormon 6:15; “…and blood lay upon the face of the earth, being left by the hands of those who slew them to molder upon the land, and to crumble and to return to their mother earth.”
Why is the destruction of the Nephites “great and marvelous”?
Mormon 8:7; “And behold, the Lamanites have hunted my people, the Nephites, down from city to city and from place to place, even until they are no more; and great has been their fall; yea, great and marvelous is the destruction of my people, the Nephites.”
Modern day Mormon theology
In order to receive a full and true salvation members of the LDS Church must subject themselves to a bishop’s interview. It is there the bishop will ask the member if their spiritual lives are in order and that means paying a full 10% tithe of your gross income. You turn in your W-2 and if you don’t comply, you don’t receive the coveted Mormon temple recommend. The end of each year brings with it a “tithing settlement” you make with the ward (congregation) you belong to.
Mormon 8:32; “Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins.”
Incorrect teaching in Mormon
The Mormon teaching below is disingenuous. Yes, we can be resurrected because Jesus was resurrected after His death. However, Jesus’ death brought about forgiveness of our sins, alas, that is something the Mormons don’t like to talk about.
Romans 4:25; “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”
Mormon 9:13; “…because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection…”
Not enough room to tell whole story because they’ve changed the languages
I’ve often wondered why they didn’t just write in Hebrew to begin with. Where did this “Reformed Egyptian” stuff come from anyway? Who told them to write in this manner? Who taught the Nephites this language if they didn’t go into Egypt in their exodus from Jerusalem? Why did the author(s) waste so much space on their plates with nonsensical information like the examples above? (Number of years passed, bad grammar, “and it came to pass” phrases used repetitively, plagiarisms from the Bible, et al.)
Mormon 9:32-33; “And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech. 33 And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record.”
No one but Smith knows Reformed Egyptian
How convenient…
Mormon 9:34; “But the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also that none other people knoweth our language; and because that none other people knoweth our language, therefore he hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof.”
How do you rid your clothes of the blood of unbelievers?
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.”
And finally – if there were so many Nephites in this army of 42,000 and 30,000, etc., what in the world happened to all of them? Where are they, how did they die, where are their families….where is the archaeological evidence of these people?
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August 25 – Isaiah 45:22; “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”
