There are two possible explanations for the origin of the book of mormon. Book of mormon translation response to mormonthink. The book of mormon is a sacred text of the latter day saint movement, which adherents. While not strictly a translation problem, it can be shown that where the king james version differs from the minority text of the greek new testament, the book of mormon usually follows. Word forword translations sometimes yield nonsense or even humorous results. Translation of the book of mormon book of mormon central. But it turns out that elder cunningham is just holding it at arms length to get a good look at the pages. Book of mormon difficulties, contradictions and explanations. Translation errors in the king james bible appearing in the book of mormon. The book of mormon title page, which was translated by joseph smith, 1 ends with a rather intruiging disclaimer for a book of scripture. Parker and stone were best known for creating the animated comedy south park. From that humble beginning, today the church prints over 3 million copies a year on large web presses.
A number of questions, from their correspondents, have been submitted to the writer, by the editors of the era, respecting the senior manual for 19056. The following letters on the subject are, therefore, both timely and engagingeditors. Debunking fairmormon letter to a ces director book of mormon. And it came to pass that coriantumr did smite him against the wall, insomuch that he died.
What are 1769 kjv edition errors doing in book of mormon. I will prepare unto my servant gazelem, a stone, which shall shine. Joseph smith claimed to have translated the book of mormon from a. The book of mormon is a musical comedy with music, lyrics and book by trey parker, robert lopez, and matt stone first staged in 2011, the play is a satirical examination of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints beliefs and practices that ultimately endorses the positive power of love and service. Answers to questions respecting the theory in the senior manual, 19056.
Is the book of mormon like any other nineteenth century book. The above donut chart shows percentages of the book of mormon translation section of letter to a ces director that fairmormon is in agreement, disagreement, and neutral on. Id say this was highly improbable, and creates additional problems see the note below. Despite these errors, manmade decisions, and complications, mormons revere the bible as the word of god. Book of mormon also believe that the bible is the perfect, errorfree. Mormon is allegedly a prophethistorian who was the native american believed by mormons to have written the book of mormon the main religious text of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints mormonism.
Joseph smith translated an ancient text by the gift and power of god to produce the book of mormon. Translation of the book of mormon chinese simplified characters joseph smith on. Why thousands of errors in the original 1830 the book of mormon. Before i get flamed i would like to point out three of the more glaring anachronistic errors. It also raises the strange question, what in the world are the plates for. Divining rods were believed to have power to help farmers locate where to dig to find water. The book of mormon musical notsofunny to mormons 89.
Those skeptical of joseph smiths claims sometimes insist that his account of the coming forth of the book is simply too. Above all, were these words given by the gift and power of god. And now if there be fault, it be the mistake of men. Interesting correspondence on the subject of the manual theory. This is an annotated version of the article book of mormon translation at. Another thing that has bothered me is the claim that there are 1769 king james version edition errors in the book of mormon, errors that are unique to the 1769 edition. Sometimes in context, sometimes out of it, and sometimes just odd or poor word choices in translations. Ces letter presents 14 examples of supposed mistranslations, and each.
The quotations from jesus christ in the new testament given by jesus christ himself in the book of mormon would not be plagarism because he originated them. It is claimed that each sentence and word in the 1830 book of mormon had supposedly come directly from god. The book of mormon includes mistranslated biblical passages that were later. Church records before 1833 do not mention the urim and thummim in connection with the translation of the book of mormon.
April 06, 1829 to june 16, 1829 translation of the book of mormon at this point we move to a daily analysis of the translation of the book of mormon. Is the book of mormon really inspired like the bible. It would contain summaries of his treasure digging, when he tried to become a methodist, when he eloped with emma, gold plate claims, the book of mormon translation, kirtland bank scam, book of abraham, kinderhook plates, all of his bogus claims moroni, first vision, priesthood restoration, polygamy teenage. The resulting translation was published in 1830 as the book of mormon. While the timetable of the translation is not known with certainty, analysis of the manuscript suggests that js translated the portion from the first book of nephi through words of mormonwhat became the first part of the book of mormonat the whitmer home during june. Book of mormontranslation errors from the kjv fairmormon. If the book of mormon is an accurate translation, some claim that it shouldnt contain. Kjv isaiah, bom 2nd nephi, correct translation, kjv bom translation. The book of mormon is published in 112 languages, and many of them are available in multiple formats online in march 1830, 5,000 copies of the book of mormon were printed in the e.
The story of the divine origin of the book of mormon as taught by the church of jesus christ of latterday saints is undercut by several keys facts about joseph smith, his supporters, the translation process, potential contemporary sources, and the content of the book itself. Smith copied the kjv blindly, not showing awareness of translation problems and errors in the kjv. The annotations are not part of the original article. Why did joseph smith translate the book of mormon into jacobean english, not in use in 1830. Top 10 embarrassments of the mormon religion listverse. Welchs excellent article entitled the miraculous translation of the book of mormon, from opening the heavens, accounts of divine manifestations 18201844, p. While reading the scriptures, ive occasionally come across verses that seem funny or odd. Errors of mormonism by keith piper but though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. A related issue is that many isaiah chapters in the book of mormon contain the same translation errors that were in the 1769 kjv bibleindicating that even though many have assumed or claimed that these isaiah chapters reflect a more ancient and more accurate version of isaiah, they were actually just a modern reworking of the 1769 kjv chapters.
The book of momorn frequently reproduces translation errors that. Joseph, or someone else involved in the translation, heard or remembered or read the phrase. Again, it is the rate of translation, approximately 6. Joseph smith said that the book of mormon translation was performed by the gift and power of god the lost 116 pages of the book of mormon manuscript. The book of mormon is silent on the urim and thummim. April 2015 book of mormon translation challenge the book of mormon translation challenge invites people to read the entire book of mormon during the same time period that it took joseph smith and oliver cowdery to translate it. In it, joseph is receiving revelation from god telling oliver he is blessed with a gift of a divining rod.
The writer has an obsession with warfare and killing, with killings starting from chapter 4. The book of mormon text informs us they made records, some of which would become our current book of mormon on a metallic, durable, substance. The genius of the book of mormon is that it pokes fun at every sacred cow in sight, while maintaining its sunny spirit, and manages to send you home thinking about. Any mistakes and changes are the mistakes of mortals. To display the annotation, click on the note numbers at the end of a paragraph note 1, note 2, etc. A selection of changes to correct errors in the book of mormon. More insight into the book of mormon translation process might come from the original book of commandments. These pages, which had not been copied, were lost by smiths scribe, martin harris, during the summer of 1828 and are presumed to have been destroyed.
Being a latterday saint, or mormon, many of these versus will come from the book of mormon. According to most adherents of the latter day saint movement, the book of mormon is a 19thcentury translation of a record of ancient inhabitants of the american continent, which was written in a script which the book refers to as reformed egyptian. Translation of the book of mormon chinese simplified characters. I dont agree with this because of the other texts stated here and other reasons stated elsewhere. Thats the origin of the book of mormon, with all of its 4,000 errors, its anachronistic phrases and events, misquotes of 17th century scribes and completely misguided assertions about the civilizations in ancient america. Strange, indeed, that it would be translated from a word on an an cient plate dating over 1,000 years earlier.
The book of mormon cannot be exempted from such textual criticism by emphasizing that translation inevitably introduces elements from the translators. The translation of the book of mormon, from dan vogel, ed. If this is true, then the book of mormon should be full of errors. Funniest scripture in the book of mormon 21 and it came to pass that pacumeni, who was the chief judge, did flee before coriantumr, even to the walls of the city. Book of mormon translation lds church is true blog. This theology of translation may feel foreign and a bit strange to some latterday.
Weapons used from 544 bc to 52 bc p107359 are listed as bows and arrows, steel swords, axes. This claim, as well as all claims to historical authenticity of the book of mormon, are rejected by nonlatter day saint historians and scientists. The book of mormon contains 258,198 words that are not from passages found in the bible. It tells of the jaredites, people from the tower of babel who came to central america but perished because of their own immorality. If one assumes that fairmormons undisputed silence is acceptance of the facts, fairmormon agrees with 100% of the ces letters book of mormon translation section.
It is mostly a book of wars, oppression, slavery, treachery, bloodshed. When i see the word translate, it means to me that a scribe read a manuscript written in one language e. The book of mormon has been criticized for its lack of significant female characters in the narrative. We need a high quality 30 minute video that summarizes joseph smiths life. Of course if these researchers you refer to in your post had seen that the book of mormon differed from the bible in these passages they would still have cried. Whats hilarious about this is that joseph smith gave explicit. They teach that as it was first written, it was perfect. Book of mormon manuscript excerpt, circa june 1829 1. For the first 150 years of mormonisms existence, everyone thought it was a story about a people who left the middle east and came to south or central america, and who fought wars clear up into new york state where. Kjv translation errors as found in the book of mormon. So what were they doing in the book of mormon if it is supposedly an ancient text. It is either of divine or human origin, and if it is of human origin that means that joseph smith concocted the book. The book of mormon is supposed to be a history of real people living in a real place.
If, as the critics claim, that smith or associates wrote the book of mormon, then most of the sources are still given in the context of the book of mormon as above. If the book of mormon is an accurate translation, some claim that it shouldnt contain these translational errors. Errors in grammar there are literally thousands of grammatical errors in the original edition of the book of mormon errors that gradually have been changed in later editions. We then see elder cunningham doing the same gesture with the book of mormon. His early work on the translation, with emma smith and martin harris serving as the main scribes, was lost in 1828. The same goes for oliver cowderys use of the terms in his description of the translation process. These take the form of such things as double negatives, incorrect adverbs and adjectives, and incorrect tenses. Below is the modern map of the area of smiths youth. The book of mormon is supposed to be the account of people who came from the middleeast to the americas. So joseph smith must have had a team of researchers in order to put together the book of mormon.
The lost 116 pages were the original manuscript pages of what joseph smith, founder of the latter day saint movement, said was the translation of the book of lehi, the first portion of the golden plates revealed to him by an angel in 1827. Why new testament words and phrases are in the book of mormon part 9. In the old testament, male pronouns he and his are mentioned 6. Interest in the manner of the translation of the book of mormon is still alive among many thoughtful students. Why were the plates present during the translation of the book of mormon. These errors totally undermine the claim that joseph translated the book of.
The book of mormon account of jesuss sermon in 3 nephi 1214 originated in the nineteenth century, derived from unacknowledged plagiarism of the kjv. Mormonism is a religion less than two centuries old, but in this short time it has managed to accrue a long list of embarrassments which the church leaders would prefer were kept. The book of mormon and the king james version 1999. He moved in with the smiths in the winter of 1828 to act as scribe for joseph smith. There are basically three forms of translation errors that need to be considered. The book of mormon incorporates text which seems to be taken from the king james version, including passages which are now considered to be mistranslations in the king james version. The book of mormon is set in north america in the first century. Book of mormon translation challenge home facebook.
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