8 Lies in the Book of Mormon

27 January

Galatians 5:22-23; “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

joseph smith 3Today we’re looking at claims the Book of Mormon makes about itself, and if you know anything about Mormonism, you probably have an opinion about it as well! Outside opinions can be helpful, but what does the book itself say about its own content?

As we all know, trustworthiness is paramount when it comes to relationships in life. Whether it’s marriage, business dealings, or of even greater import, the Bible. If we can’t trust something or someone, the time and energy spent is rendered useless. Thankfully, we know we can believe what God has said in His word because it’s been proven trustworthy time and time again.

Dictionary.com defines trustworthy this way –

 ‘deserving of trust or confidence; dependable; reliable’

Giving this word an even broader scope of how much weight it carries, you can find no less than 44 synonyms for it at Thesaurus.com. Here’s a few of them –

accurate

authentic

authoritative

believable

convincing

credible

dependable

ethical

honest

honorable

mature

principled

realistic

responsible

sensible

truthful

upright

The words in this list remind me of Galatians 5:22-23. With the fruits of the Spirit, the first one (love) leads to the second (joy), which produces peace, and so on. In our list above, it only stands to reason that if something is accurate, it’s obviously authentic, and authoritative by nature, etc.

With that in mind, here are a few questions we have today. As you read over them, ask yourself the questions we’ve listed below –

Based on its own summation, is the BoM trustworthy?

Is it truthful?

Is it accurate?

Is it credible?

Is it realistic?

Let’s take a look at a few of its claims and you decide!

Most Correct Book on Earth

Book of Mormon Introduction; “Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

Any Mistakes are the Mistakes of Men

Title Page; “…And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God…”

Personal Weakness Caused Errors, but Others Erred Too!

1 Nephi 19:6; “Nevertheless, I do not write anything upon plates save it be that I think it be sacred. And now, if I do err, even did they err of old; not that I would excuse myself because of other men, but because of the weakness which is in me, according to the flesh, I would excuse myself.”

Mankind Decided what was Most Precious

Jacob 1:2, 7:26; “And he gave me, Jacob, a commandment that I should write upon these plates a few of the things which I considered to be most precious; that I should not touch, save it were lightly, concerning the history of this people which are called the people of Nephi. 26 And it came to pass that I, Jacob, began to be old; and the record of this people being kept on the other plates of Nephi, wherefore, I conclude this record, declaring that I have written according to the best of my knowledge, by saying that the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream, we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our brethren, which caused wars and contentions; wherefore, we did mourn out our days.”

Don’t Condemn Our Imperfections

Mormon 8:17, 9:31-33; “And if there be faults they be the faults of a man. But behold, we know no fault; nevertheless God knoweth all things; therefore, he that condemneth, let him be aware lest he shall be in danger of hell fire. 31  Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been.  32 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.”

True Record with No Mistakes

3 Nephi 8:1-2; “And now it came to pass that according to our record, and we know our record to be true, for behold, it was a just man who did keep the record—for he truly did many miracles in the name of Jesus; and there was not any man who could do a miracle in the name of Jesus save he were cleansed every whit from his iniquity— 2 And now it came to pass, if there was no mistake made by this man in the reckoning of our time, the thirty and third year had passed away”.

Moroni Writes from Memory

Ether 5:1; “And now I, Moroni, have written the words which were commanded me, according to my memory; and I have told you the things which I have sealed up; therefore touch them not in order that ye may translate; for that thing is forbidden you, except by and by it shall be wisdom in God.”

Don’t Mock Our Bad Grammar

Ether 12:23-25; “And I said unto him: Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing; for Lord thou hast made us mighty in word by faith, but thou hast not made us mighty in writing; for thou hast made all this people that they could speak much, because of the Holy Ghost which thou hast given them; 24 And thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands. Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared, for thou madest him that the things which he wrote were mighty even as thou art, unto the overpowering of man to read them. 25 Thou hast also made our words powerful and great, even that we cannot write them; wherefore, when we write we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words; and I fear lest the Gentiles shall mock at our words.”

Now dear friends – I ask in all sincerity if the BoM should be trusted. Is it worthy of your time and trust? It has to stand up to your expectations, not the other way around!

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