Defending the Book of Mormon
Hi, for those of you who don't know me - my family and I moved into the ward last September.
If you were to ask me what makes me different/unusual or what hobbies and interests I have I would say:
- I'm a computer programmer by trade - and my hobbies are doing things with my family, gaining knowledge about everything, aerial photography by drone, and I'm an avid cyclist
- I love my family - and when I was a young man, and newly a father I was confronted with some difficult questions about my religion
- I answered them - through study/prayer and patience but then I wondered what if my children have this same experience
- Will I be able to help them do the same?
- Thus I began with earnest the desire to gain the gifts of the spirit that would help me - the Gift of Knowledge, and the Gift of Wisdom, and the Gift of Teaching
- I have now become an Apologist a defender of the faith and one who daily engages with those who are not, and are attempting to convince others to leave it.
- I am one of those odd people who actually enjoy giving talks in church, teaching lessons, and in fact it is one of my favorite things to do.
For it gives me an opportunity to testify of Jesus Christ - the Son of the Living God -and to bear witness of his life, mission, and the effect it has had on my life.
When I was given the opportunity to give this talk about this topic - I was excited. I mean how often are we asked to do so in sacrament meeting? For me it's a first...
The first question is should we Defend the Book of Mormon?
I believe that we should...
1 Peter 3:15-17
15 But the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give to every man that asketh you a reason of the that is in you with and :
16 Having a good ; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good in Christ.
17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye for well doing, than for evil doing.
Yet should we enter into arguments and debates?
Should we put ourselves out there as an authority - and as a basis of Church Doctrine - independent of the Apostles and Prophets? No
Rather we should be in support and orthodox in our defense of the faith, and the Book of Mormon - teaching what the scriptures explicitly say, and not adding to them.
Have you ever?
Have you ever been confronted with someone challenging your beliefs?
Have you ever felt confounded by individuals who ask about why you believe the Book of Mormon is true?
Have you ever been told that it has been scientifically proven that the Book of Mormon is "False" and that the evidence against it is conclusive?
Have you ever been confronted by a religious paradox, or doctrine that seems to be taught differently in the Book of Mormon than we teach today? How do we approach this concern?
If so... this talk is for you, and for you specifically.
Where is the Burden of Proof for the Book of Mormon?
Sometimes people will state - "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence!"(Carl Sagan) before we should believe them!
Is this true? I would say that the answer is a RESOUNDING YES - it does require extraordinary evidence to believe an extraordinary claim.
Who has the Burden of Proof to demonstrate that the Book of Mormon is TRUE? Why the Book of Mormon does. You don't. I don't. No one does. The Book itself must and indeed does provide this extraordinary evidence concerning "It's Claims".
Thus it is our privilege and blessing to with clarity, and purpose, demonstrate these claims to others. You don't have to do the explaining - the Word of God and the Book of Mormon can and will do so for you.
However, in order to do so you must KNOW and UNDERSTAND what it contains. There is no other way than reading it.
If you have questions about the Book of Mormon - READ IT!
If you have doubts about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon - READ IT!
By the way - I also take questions directly :). I do so daily... and would be glad to answer/respond to any question about absolutely any topic. There is no Taboo with me.... NONE.
The Book of Mormon has a special power within it - it will change you, it will influence your mind, your heart, and your soul, it will bring the Holy Ghost into your life and you will learn as I have that it is true.
This we also must encourage others to do. If they have questions about the Book of Mormon - READ IT TO THEM, Let it answer their questions, let it give it's evidence to them, let it confound them. For it surely can, and will.
What are the Claims the Book of Mormon makes about itself - and also provides evidence for?
#1 - It is another testimony of Jesus Christ -
#2 - It's purpose is to persuade all men to come unto the God of Abraham and be saved, that he will support - empower and perfect them, and that he does not support the wicked 1 Nephi 6:4, 1 Nephi 1:20
#3 - It is a translation of a Religious text that was written by prophets and men of God - starting around 600 B.C.
#4 - There was a family of individuals who were led by God to cross the ocean and establish themselves in the American Continent - the land of promise
#5 - The land of promise is blessed to those who obey God, and cursed to those who do not
#6 - It contains a translation of another autograph of the book of Isaiah in part
#7 - It contains the fullness of the preparatory gospel of repentance
#8 - Although it contains faults, errors and mistakes - we should not deny that it is the word of God
... and many others...
What claims are made about it that it doesn't make about itself?
#1 - That it is a History of the people of the American people - all of them
#2 - That this group of individuals were the only people in the Americas, and that there was no one else here before them
#3 - That we know the exact specific location of geography of the Book of Mormon Lands - nor does it correlate specifically to a specific place
#4 - That it contains The fullness of all of the doctrines of God, and everything about his kingdom upon the earth.
#5 - That it proves the Bible false, and that it is the only correct scripture on the earth.
#6 - That there were only two groups on the American Continent - Nephites and Lamanites - and that these two groups fought and only the Lamanites were left.
... and many others
Do not get caught up attempting to defend claims it doesn't make... why should we?
Remember that we are not required to defend, or expound, or even explain claims about the Book of Mormon that it never makes about itself. This is a BAD IDEA - and will lead to you being confounded and left alone...
Use the Book of Mormon to defend itself - use additional evidence to coroborate what IT SAYS about itself, and the doctrine it teaches.
Don't make up your own claims - you will be sorely pressed to defend them :)
Here are my steps on defending the Book of Mormon, and really any religious doctrine.
#1 - Make sure you fully understand the claim and the Question.
#2 - If about the Book of Mormon explicitly - does the Book of Mormon directly answer the claim (it often does)
#3 - If the claim isn't in the specific scripture text itself - is the answer in another scripture text
#4 - Avoid Logical fallacies when coming to a conclusion about the answer that you plan on providing.
#5 - Create a wall of truth - using the Book of Mormon - to demonstrate how their claim is either a misrepresentation, or a misunderstanding of the truth.
#6 - Tell them why you yourself believe this answer to their question/claim.
#7 - Listen to their response - take it seriously - don't just tell them "Because" but rather follow the same steps as above with the response as you did with the original claim.
Let's follow this pattern in defense of the Book of Mormon concerning a common claim...
The Book of Mormon includes Information plagiarized from the KJV of the Bible - specifically the Isaiah portions
#1 Make sure you fully understand the claim
There are many chapters of text that are in the Book of Mormon that are the prophecies of Isaiah. From a cursory view they seem to be EXACTLY the same as the KJV even the italicized texts.
How is it possible that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon if it contains Translational errors that are unique to the 1769 KJV of the Bible?
#2 Does the Book of Mormon explicitly answer this claim? In fact it does...
The Book of Mormon explicitly states that the Isaiah portion of the text comes from a variant of the Old Testament taken from Jerusalem around 600 B.C. 1 Nephi 4:16-17
This variant is different from the variant used for the translation of the Masoretic from Hebrew - and the Masoretic is the source of the Septuagint, and the Masoretic versions of the Bible. The KJV is a translation of the Masoretic for the Old Testament.
Thus there are 3 autographs for comparison.
The Brass Plates - Taken from Jerusalem around 600 B.C.
The Qumran text - Isaiah Scroll.
The Masoretic Text - Hebrew Aramaic Text translated from Hebrew
KJV - Translated from the Masoretic for the Old Testament
The Septuagint - Greek Translation of the Hebrew
What if we compared all of these versions - would we find information demonstrating that the Brass Plates were a different original autograph of the Old Testament? In fact we DO
Carol F. Ellertson in her Thesis in 2001 explains nicely concerning supposed KJV plagiarism, and italics words in the following document:
2001 - Thesis - The Isaiah Passages in the Book of Mormon
1 In the KJV of Isiah there are occasions where the Masoretic Text was not correct when compared to the original Hebrew it was translated from whereas the Book of Mormon translation when compared to the original Hebrew matched!
26 cases the Book of Mormon although different from the KJV supported the Hebrew version even though the KJV it is supposed copied from was wrong in it's translation.
2 There are also many examples where the Book of Mormon verses contain variants that are supported by the Septuagint but not by the Masoretic text.
3 What about Italics?
We find that the Italics in many cases vary from the KJV by omitting or inserting other dissimilar words that change the meaning but in fact restore the poetic form of the Original Hebrew text!
Thus demonstrating that no - this is not any form of plagiarism at all... but rather translation.
In fact 78 variants in the book of Mormon were found to be supported by the Masoretic where as the KJV was not correct with it's italics...
What about Other Language features of the Translation - as corroborative evidence that it is a translation of an ancient work.
4 What about the idea of Reformed Egyptian - is this a new thing? Mormon 9:32
MANY Egyptologists agree that the Egyptian language has been modified through the ages. There are in fact many versions of Egyptian and scripted writing systems, Demotic and Hieratic scripts of the time were more guidelines than actual scripts they diverged greatly from each other and varied over time.
What the Book of Mormon writers did was nothing new or unusual at all - rather it was a common thing to do...
There was ample opportunity for the Book of Mormon people to know and create a reformed Egyptian.
There was in existence at that time reformed Egyptian - some call this Demotic.
The Book of Mormon people knew of this - they lived after it's creation by over 100 years.
They took this knowledge with them. They then wrote books.
5 Hebraic poetic forms evidence within the bible
The Language of his father - with the learning of the Jews
I have been taught how to write the Hebrew way: Look for this in this book!
a yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God,
b therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.
c Yea, I make a record in the language of my father
d which consists of the leaning of the Jews
c and the language of the Egyptians
b And I know that the record which I make is true: and I make it with mine own hand:
a and I make it according to my knowledge.
This basic poem shows that Nephi desired the knowledge of God, that his father could be considered an Egyptian in that his language was Egyptian, but that Nephi had also learned from the Jews and would use that in his writing. As shown in the very first couplet in the book.
This is prevalent throughout the whole Book...
6 What about Stylometry
This is the practice of determining the authorship of documents through the use of the style of writing authors have when writing documents. It was not know of during Joseph Smith's time and has been used to CONCLUSIVELY demonstrate he isn't the author of the Book.
In fact Stylometric analysis even by those not members of the LDS faith ALL AGREE with those who are. The Book of Mormon was not written by one man, by one voice, and that there are at least 4-5 different contributing authors. Their interpretation of who those authors is the only difference. One claims what the Book of Mormon claims... and it matches. The other makes up their own interpretation based upon desired outcome. The reader get's to choose who to believe. But that this scientific analysis does not disprove the Book of Mormon is itself evidence to be considered. I like this conclusion written by a non LDS individual: "One author didn’t write the Book of Mormon. Two didn’t, either. And we don’t have anything else written by the people who did. For me, this is fact. Explain it how you will."
https://rationalfaiths.com/book-of-mormon-stylometry-in-pictures-and-tables/
#6 Tell them why you yourself believe
I hope you can see that with these valid concerns we also have valid answers for them. The Book of Mormon is demonstrated to be an ancient document that has been translated and provides another root autograph for the contents of the Bible.
Yet even in all this You should not believe, or think that you can CONVINCE someone of the truth no matter the evidence that you present to a person.
Belief is a choice, it is based upon the receipt of revelation, and an interpretation of that evidence to believe.
You can't prove to someone something they don't WANT TO BELIEVE - you will fail in every attempt to do so.
I was having a nice interesting discussion with my daughter Alexis once...
She told me "Dad truth isn't black or white it's GREEN"
I... being who am I asked... well then justify your claim :).
She then said you can take two principles - you know things you know are true and that seem to contradict you know BLUE AND YELLOW.
Then you learn additional information and wala - you find out that the truth is actually GREEN - the information you now have reconciles both and they are both true.
Should we thus DEFEND the Book of Mormon when confronted by those who seek to cause us to loose our faith.
Yes... the scriptures are clear on the matter:
1 Peter 3:15-17
15 But the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give to every man that asketh you a reason of the that is in you with and :
16 Having a good ; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good in Christ.
17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye for well doing, than for evil doing.
Can Evidence Prove the Book of Mormon?