Book Of Mormon

[Cure of Ars]

How to Use

If you have a book of Mormon here are some quotes to tape into it. I have found that this is helpful when talking with Mormons. After you’re done talking about the truth of the Catholic faith you can ask them to read the quotes that you have taped into the Book of Mormon. I also like to highlight all the places were the Book of Mormon plagiarizes the Bible. There are a lot of them. In some cases whole pages are taken from straight from the Bible. I did not write any of these quotes but only complied them from the Internet.

The only Bible that Joseph Smith relied on was the King James Version. This translation was based on a good but imperfect set of Greek and Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible.

Scholars now know the Textus Receptus contains errors, which means the King James Version contains errors. The problem for Mormons is that these exact same errors show up in the Book of Mormon.

It seems reasonable to assume that since Smith was a prophet of God and was translating the Book of Mormon under divine inspiration, he would have known about the errors found in the King James Version and would have corrected them for when passages from the King James Version appeared in the Book of Mormon. But the errors went in. (First Page)

The "Fullness" of the Gospel?

According to a standard Mormon theological work, Doctrines of Salvation, one finds this definition: "By fullness of the gospel is meant all the ordinances and principles that pertain to the exaltation of the celestial kingdom" (vol. 1, p. 160). That’s an official Mormon statement on the subject. But there’s a problem.

If the Book of Mormon contains all the ordinances and principles that pertain to the gospel, why don’t Mormonism’s esoteric doctrines show up in it? The doctrine that God is nothing more than an "exalted man with a body of flesh and bones" appears nowhere in the Book of Mormon. Nor does the doctrine of Jesus Christ being the "spirit brother" of Lucifer. Nor do the doctrines that men can become gods and that God the Father has a god above him, who has a god above him, ad infinitum. Also 1 Neph 13:26 it says that the things have been taken out of the Bible. If this is the case how can the Bible have the “fullness of the gospel?”(Introduction)

(Alma 7:10). But Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not Jerusalem (Matt. 2:1). If you mention this to a Mormon missionary, he might say Jerusalem and Bethlehem are only a few miles apart and that Alma could have been referring to the general area around Jerusalem. But Bethany is even closer to Jerusalem than is Bethlehem, yet the Gospels make frequent reference to Bethany as a separate town.

Another problem: Scientists have demonstrated that honey bees were first brought to the New World by Spanish explorers in the fifteenth century, but the Book of Mormon, in Ether 2:3, claims they were introduced around 2000 B.C.

The indigenous race inhabiting the Americas when Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492 is portrayed by the Book of Mormon to be the cousins of that white race, cursed with a dark skin for having rejected God (2 Nephi 5:21; 4:33-35).

It teaches that the American Indians are actually Israelites of the tribes of Judah, Ephraim and Manasseh.3 Their skin curse is to be removed within a few generations after being converted to Jesus Christ through the Book of Mormon (2 Nephi 30:6'versions before 1981; 12:84).4 This change in skin color from black to white has supposedly taken place several times in the past, whenever they turned to the Lord (Alma 23:18; 14:20; 3 Nephi 2:14-16; 1:52-53).

4. Sometimes, the author forgets to change the tense from the past to the future tense when attempting to prophesy about the things to come: "the Lamb of God did fulfill all righteousness in being baptized by water?...after he was baptized with water the Holy Ghost descended upon him...he having set the example" (2 Ne. 31:5-10; 13:8-11).57 In Mosiah 16:6; 8:79, which was supposed to have been written about 148 B.C., such an error is made but then caught later: "now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they have already come..."58

5. Old Testament Book of Mormon characters were modeled after New Testament persons. Note the following comparison between Alma and Paul:59

1) Both tried to "destroy the Church" before their conversions.

2) -were on a "mission of persecution" the day they were converted.

3) In both cases, those "present fell to the earth."

4) In both cases, a voice spoke which others could not understand.

5) Both were asked by the voice why they were fighting against the work of God.

6) -were helpless and "had to be helped by their friends."

7) -fasted as a result.

8) -preached after being converted.

9) -worked with their hands to support their ministries.

10) -healed a crippled man.

11) -"were put into prison."

12) -prayed in prison.

13) -experienced an earthquake while in prison.

14) -In both cases, "the prisoners' bonds were loosed."

15) -Both taught the same doctrines.

Examples of how the teachings and even the words of Alma and St. Paul closely resemble each other are as follows:60

faith, hope and charity - Alma 7:24; 5:41/I Cor. 13:13

the power of God unto salvation - Alma 15:6; 10:95/Rom.1:16

While the doctrinal and archaeological errors remain in their totality in present editions, literally hundreds of grammatical errors and misuses of the English language which appear in the original 1830 edition have been edited out. Examples are: "as I was a journeying" (249; Alma 10:7; 8:10); "Lamanitish servants a going forth" (271; Alma 17:26; 12:38), "a preaching" (284; Alma 21:11; 13:15), "a begging" (309; Alma 30:56; 6:72),

When confronted by the fact that their own leaders have been editing the Book of Mormon, Mormons generally try to excuse them by saying that the changes are only superficial. Some of these changes go far beyond grammar. For example, the 1830 Book of Mormon tells of translating by King Benjamin which subsequent editions changed from King Benjamin to King Mosiah (200; Mosiah 21:28; 9:170). Why this change? Because closer examination of the text shows that King Benjamin had died by then and Mosiah was king.68

Mormons also defend editing by their church leaders on the grounds that they are led by the Holy Spirit in whatever corrections they may make.69 However, upon close examination of the changes, it becomes obvious that some of the editing is worse than the original text. An example of this in the 1830 edition is found on page 87; (2 Ne. 12:8-9; 8:24-25). This is a passage of Isaiah and corresponds to Is. 2:8-9 in the Bible. The primary change in this verse is the addition of the word "not" in verse 9; 25. The 1830 edition added it once, causing confusion. Subsequent editing, apparently by Joseph Smith himself, added another "not" which compounded the confusion. The result is that this passage, which in Isaiah condemns idolatry, becomes, in the Book of Mormon, a command to commit idolatry:

The Book of Mormon teaches that the gospel has been known by holy men throughout the ages. The New Testament, however, teaches that knowledge of the complete plan of salvation through Christ was a mystery which was not revealed to anyone before it was made known to the apostles after Christ's resurrection:73 by revelation he made known unto me the mystery;...which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles by the Spirit; (Eph. 3:3-5)

...the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest...(Rom.16:25-26) Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:...which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.(Col.1:26-27) And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.(Eph.3:8-10)

As far back as 9,000 B.C., bone was the material used for cutting. Identical bone pins and awls have been found in Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky, showing that trade was widespread by 5000 B.C.82 As early as 4,000 B.C., the Indians in America learned that by heating chert, it became hardened enough to provide a sharp cutting edge. While gold, silver and copper were used to make ornaments, the use of other metals was nearly unknown before Columbus. The highest level of civilization achieved in the Americas was the "polished stone" age.83

"I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. Neither Paul, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day-Saints never ran away from me yet."

-LDS History of the Church, vol. 6, pp. 408-409, italics added

The Book of Mormon Jesus told the Nephites that because they had more faith than his disciples in Palestine, he was able to do greater miracles among them. He allegedly said, “So great faith have I never seen among all the Jews; wherefore I could not shew unto them so great miracles, because of their unbelief” (3 Nephi 9:35).

The miracles that Jesus performed while with his disciples in Palestine include: changing water into wine, raising the dead, feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish, opening deaf ears and blind eyes, causing the dumb to speak, healing every kind of disease, walking on water, casting out demons, retrieving money from the mouth of a fish, and walking out of his own tomb alive. What Book of Mormon miracles can top these!?

The Book of Mormon tells of a temple that was built by the Nephites after the manner of the temple of Solomon. “And I Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon, save it were not built of so many precious things for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon’s temple.” (2 Nephi 4:22-24). Verse twenty-one, just previous to the above verse, reads,

“And I did teach my people to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores which were in great abundance.”

In one verse the precious ores were in great abundance, yet in the next verse they were not to be found in the land! To construct a temple like Solomon’s would have been a monumental task for just a handful of people. It had been approximately thirty-one years since two families, and a man named Zoram, left Jerusalem, and during that time they had split into two groups. The smaller of the two groups called the Nephites, (possibly five couples and their children) built the temple. In contrast, Solomon used 30,000 laborers, 70,000 carriers, 80,000 stone cutters (highly skilled craftsman) and 3,300 foremen (I Kings 5:13-18).

The Book of Mormon uses the French word adieu (Jacob 5:48). However, the French language wasn’t developed from Latin until approximately 700 AD, 300 years after the Book of Mormon records were supposedly completed and buried.

The meaning of names was very important to the Jewish people. One has to wonder then, why a prominent male character in the Book of Mormon was named Alma, which in Hebrew means a “betrothed virgin maiden.”

I have more to add but this is enough for now. If you have some that you know please post them.

Edited August 14, 2003 by Cure of Ars

[Kilroy the Ninja]

This is great! I don't actually have a Book of Moron, but I know some who do and I'll print it for them too...

Thanks Cure!

[Cure of Ars]

I am just getting started. I have a lot of quotes that I have hand written. It is going to take a little time for me to type these up. Here is a good one.

Mosiah 15:1-2 clearly teaches that Jesus is God. Then why do they deny that Jesus is God?

Mosiah 15

[1] And now Abinadi said unto them: I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people.

[2] And because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be called the Son of God, and having subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son --

[Cure of Ars]

The name "Nephi" was taken from II Maccabees 1:36.

Nephi is the first book in the book of Mormon.

[Cure of Ars]

In both 1 Nephi 11:18, and 1 Nephi 11:21 the works "Son of the" where added. These words are not in the 1830 ed. p.25 of the Book of Mormon. This was done because without this it is calling Jesus God.

In 1 Nephi 13:40, the words"the Son of" were add. It is not in the 1830 ed. p. 32.

Edited August 14, 2003 by Cure of Ars

[Cure of Ars]

In 1 Nephi 13:26-28 it calls the Catholic Church the “great and abominable church” and that we took things out of the bible. If this is the case then why in the introduction of the book of Mormon it says that the book of Mormon “contains as does the Bible the fullness of the everlasting gospel”. How can the bible have the fullnes of the gospel when the book of Mormon says, “they have taken away from the gospel of the lamb many parts which are plain and most precious?”

[Cure of Ars]

In 1 Nephi 18:25 it has cows, ox, ass, and a horse. No pigs, cattle, horses, donkeys or chickens existed in the Americas prior to 1492.

Edited August 14, 2003 by Cure of Ars

[Brother Adam]

The book of Mormon is BORING

[Cure of Ars]

The book of Mormon is BORING

I don't disagree.

[cmotherofpirl]

THe book of Mormon is a bad copy of the OT

[Norseman82]

I'm going by raw memory here, but I browsed through the Book of Mormon many years ago and found it interesting that the "future prophesies" were all of events that occurred before the 1800s, which is when Joseph Smith received his tablets.

Edited August 14, 2003 by Norseman82

[Cure of Ars]

2 Nephi 2:21 teaches original sin which Mormons don’t believe in.

"For he gave commandment that all men must repent; for he showed unto all men that they were lost, because of the transgression of their parents."

[Cure of Ars]

2 Nephi 5:15 talks about iron, brass, and steel. But historically they were never used by pre-columbian Native American cultures.

Edited August 14, 2003 by Cure of Ars

[Cure of Ars]

2 Nephi 6:7 is really Isaiah 49:23.

2 Nephi 6:16- 2Nephi 8:25 is really Isaiah 49:24- Isaiah 52:2.

That is over 2 chapters in 2 Nephi that is lifted from the Old Testament.

[Cure of Ars]

II Nephi 19:1 adds the phrase ‘red sea’ to Isaiah 8:23 which makes no sense in the geographical context. In several cases, the Book of Mormon follows King James Versions translation errors. In the verse just cited, for example, Isaiah 9:1 (or Isaiah 8:23) should read ‘honor’ in the place of ‘grievously afflict’. The Book of Mormon makes the same mistake.