Inspired Scripture; Man Makes Gold?

21 June

bom

Ether 10:23; “And they did work in all manner of ore, and they did make gold, and silver, and iron, and brass, and all manner of metals; and they did dig it out of the earth; wherefore, they did cast up mighty heaps of earth to get ore, of gold, and of silver, and of iron, and of copper. And they did work all manner of fine work.”

I just love this God I worship! He is the Only God there is and I am humbled beyond description of who He is, what He does and by the things He says to me (and you too!) through His word.  I don’t feel like I’m ever going to learn as much as I can about Him and this is what’s led me to be concerned over the Book of Mormon verse I’ve listed above.

At my church we’re nearing the end of a series on Jonah and it never occurred to me that Jonah could be so interesting!  For instance did you know that Nineveh is modern day Mosul, Iraq? Historical evidences like this one make the story of Jonah more real and believable if you will. And if knowing where Nineveh wasn’t enough, did you know that Jesus referred to Jonah in Matthew 12:39-40?

For those skeptics who think Jonah’s story is nothing but an allegory why did Jesus refer to him as a person and why was he referred to as a prophet by King Jeroboam II in 2 Kings 14:25?

Matthew 12:39-40; “But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

2 Kings 14:25; “He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher.”

My pastor titled this series “A Glorious Mess” and what I’ve learned is that God is always a God of second chances. Just like Jonah I can still go to the Lord, repent and know He hears my voice even though I’ve rejected His. I was reminded that when I mess up I can take solace and find refuge in His word through verses like Psalm 69:1-2, Ps. 30:2-3;

“Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.”

“O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. 3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.”

I can relate to Jonah’s problems as God rescued me from the pit of Mormonism as well as the sinful nature I found myself locked in. Thankfully He owns the salvation He offered to me and gratefully I wasn’t responsible for trying to figure it out.

God came in and supernaturally changed me because He loves me and this is true for every one of us when we accept Him as God and open our hearts for Him to reside inside of us. When you read verses like John 3:16 I pray you insert your name into that verse.

“For God so loved your name here, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Me should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

God is a God of comfort and not a God of confusion (2 Cor. 1:3, 1 Cor. 14:33) and He’s the God that won’t ever leave or forsake you (Heb. 13:5). He promises us that His word will be here forever and is trustworthy (Isaiah 40:8, Matt. 5:18, 2 Tim. 3:16).

When you read the Bible you learn about God and the way He operates and unfortunately as a Mormon I didn’t know this simple truth. Verses from the Bible can be researched and relied upon. You can know with certainty there won’t be biblical verses like the ones I’ve listed above from the Book of Mormon unless of course they’ve been plagiarized.

Does the Book of Mormon verse sound like an inspired work of God to you? Let’s look at it again and examine it so we can determine what there is to learn.

Ether 10:23; “And they did work in all manner of ore, and they did make gold, and silver, and iron, and brass, and all manner of metals; and they did dig it out of the earth; wherefore, they did cast up mighty heaps of earth to get ore, of gold, and of silver, and of iron, and of copper. And they did work all manner of fine work.”

Goodness where do we begin? I discovered there are five points of interest in this verse so let’s just start with ore.

1. According to the Department of Anthropology from the Smithsonian and Lisa Walker from the National Geographic none of the items listed in the Book of Mormon have been found to be used by any civilizations in the manner Smith claims. To date neither the anthropological center from the Smithsonian, nor the National Geographic have substantiated the Book of Mormon. In fact they both commented to me that while Smith’s book is seen as an inspirational work for people, it has no historical value at all.

2. I pray our next topic has been caught by the countless members who’ve read this passage and wondered why this would be in their beloved Book of Mormon.

Since when has man ever “made” parts of the earth such as gold, silver or iron? Technically they could have made brass, but given they’ve already made a false claim about the previous items; their story has cast a shadow of doubt just in this one verse. This reminds me of the comment Brigham Young made when he said that gold and silver grow. (Journal of Discourses 1:219-220)*

3. The last part of their sentence “and they did dig it out of the earth…” obviously contradicts what they said previously about making gold, silver, etc. And their grammar…yikes.

4. The grammar in this verse is awful. Is this how you envision God speaking to people? I find it hard to believe God spoke the words we find in this last sentence. (And they did work all manner of fine work.)

5. Where is the place they “made” or “dug” this gold out of the earth; it’s bereft of details and far-fetched.

When we have His word that we know is reliable there’s no reason for our hearts to go searching for additional words or works from Him. Studying the historical aspects of ancient times is interesting that adds further insight into our study and something I highly recommend. However, spiritually embracing outside resources should never take the place of what God has already given to us.

If you’re LDS please know we pray for you each and every day here at the  ministry and want nothing more than for you to know this Jesus we’re always talking about here at LAM!

If you have any questions or comments don’t hesitate to contact us via e-mail or phone.

With Love in Christ;

Michelle

*Journal of Discourses 1:219-220;“Gold and silver grow, and so does every other kind of metal, the same as the hair upon my head, or the wheat in the field; they do not grow as fast, but they are all the time composing or decomposing.” – Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, October 9, 1852

Tags: , , , ,

2 Responses to “Inspired Scripture; Man Makes Gold?”

  1. the reading Scripture team August 13, 2012 at 1:20 pm #

    As a Bible-believing Christian with a heart for evangelizing Mormons, I’m glad I came across this web site! The theme verse on your site’s logo was one of the Scriptures that the Lord used to bring me to Himself. I made sure to bookmark this great post on my Delicious account shortly after I began reading it.

    In keeping with the topic of the true word of God (as opposed to the false Scriptures of Mormonism), I’ve summarized the biblical view of the inspiration of the Bible in a video I’ve uploaded to my readingscripture.org web site, and it’s also available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHZ0YYC5k_E. I hope you find it helpful. Thanks!

  2. camdenc August 13, 2012 at 9:59 pm #

    “reading Scripture”

    Just watched your video on youtube and I really enjoyed it. Very simple and to the point (much like the Gospel)… “all scripture is God breathed”. Thanks be to our Great God and Savior that He gave us that beautiful love letter we call “The Bible”. If you would like to read my testimony, send me an e-mail at

    camden@lifeafter.org

    Grace and Peace to you…

    Gal. 5:1-14

Leave a Reply