Book of Mormon Difficulties, Contradictions and Explanations. LDS Church members are taught that the Book of Mormon (BOM) is scripture, as well as a true record of the inhabitants of the Americas from about 2. BC to 4. 20 AD. Although it serves primarily as a religious text, it is to be interpreted literally as being an actual, historical record of the inhabitants of the ancient Americas. Critics cite numerous problems with the text that indicate it is of more modern origin such as anachronisms, DNA evidence, lack of archaeological evidence, linguistic problems, etc. Overview of LDS position. From the introduction to the BOM: . Book of Mormon because such efforts would prove . Ephedra is a medicinal preparation from the plant Ephedra sinica. Several additional species belonging to the genus Ephedra have traditionally been used for a variety of medicinal purposes, and are a possible candidate for the. 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Prophets are intermediaries between God and humanity. All revealed religions build on a foundation of their prophet's credibility and trustworthiness as intercessors with the divine. Critics do not accept that the BOM relates an actual history of real people who came to the Americas and were steel- smelting, chariot- driving, Christ- worshipping, temple- building people multiplying into millions, yet left absolutely no trace of their existence. No archaeological, linguistic, genetic or any other evidence of Hebrew culture in the Americas has ever been found to support the existence of such a people portrayed in the BOM. The book also contains numerous anachronisms like horses, elephants, wheat, barley, steel, silk, etc., that scientists say didn't exist in the Americas during BOM times. References. The introduction to the Book of Mormon used to say, concerning the Lamanites, . Detailed Summary of Approved Adjustments for the 2. Edition of the Scriptures. LDS website (has now been removed) Archived copy available - large PDF file. It is not primarily a history, although much of what it contains is historical. An obsession with secular knowledge rather than spiritual understanding will make its pages difficult to unlock. Link is here. Contents for this page. Introduction. LDS member beliefs. Anachronisms. Knowledge of the Wheel? Archaeology. Scientific community. Non- LDS archaeologists. Nahom. Linguistics. Hill Cumorah. DNAPopulation problems. Impossible events. King James Bible. Nature of God. Most correct book? Racism. BOM lacks doctrine. The Anthon visit. Literary value. More BOM difficulties. Six sources used. Response by the Church. Ending summary by critics. Editor's comments. Sunstone BOM debates. Links. LDS member beliefs. The Book of Mormon is a true record of the inhabitants of the Americas from about 2. BC to 4. 20 AD. Although it serves primarily as a religious text, it is to be interpreted literally as being an actual, historical record of the inhabitants of the ancient Americas. The Book of Mormon may have undergone some minor changes but these consist primarily of spelling or grammatical alterations and don't affect the overall meaning of the text. Links recording official church version: Book of Mormon title page: . One came from Jerusalem in 6. B. C., and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are the principal ancestors of the American Indians. LDS website Link is here. Deseret News article. Faust, Quorum of the 1. Apostles - October 1. General Conference. The Historicity of the Book of Mormon by Dallin H. Oaks, Quorum of the 1. Apostles. Critics' Arguments. Latter- day Saints are repeatedly encouraged to rely on a witness of the spirit (i. Holy Ghost) to personally authenticate the truthfulness of the origins and content of the Book of Mormon. Given constant encouragement from general and local leaders of reliance on supernatural manifestations (a testimony) over testable claims, it is not surprising that many faithful Latter- Day Saints seem unfazed by empirical evidence (or the lack of it) contradicting Book of Mormon claims, whether the research is conducted by Mormon or non- Mormon archaeologists and historians. Of even greater concern is that many faithful LDS members, by virtue of the admonition of their leaders (mentioned above), are not even aware of the perplexing problems contained in the Book of Mormon text. As a result, they are usually unable to effectively dialogue with critics without resorting to faith- based claims in a testimony which carry no authoritative weight for the many dedicated experts in the fields of archaeology, history, linguistics, genetics, etc. This page details some problems that arise by accepting the Church- sanctioned teachings of the origin and content of the BOM as well as responses to those problems from the LDS Church, apologists and devout members. Anachronisms. An anachronism is when writing contains something from a future time period which couldn't realistically be in the time period they've written it into. For example, William Shakespeare wrote in his play, ! Shakespeare took something familiar to him, a clock that strikes the hours, and placed it in his story before such clocks existed. Because the play is fictional, it is seen as simply an error on Shakespeare's part. If, however, someone were to claim that they had found an ancient writing from 4. BC that had the play written on it, it would clearly be seen as a forgery because of the clock anachronism. If the play ? If it would require more than one anachronism for you to disbelieve, how many such anachronisms would be needed for you to realize the writing was not what it claimed to be? For many apologists, if something is possible, no matter how implausible, that is enough to assuage their concerns. For critics, the idea is not what is possible, but what is probable. What is the probability of a reference to a clock that strikes hours realistically appearing in a document from 4. BC? A . The critic would try to prove the clock was an anachronism, thereby proving its fraudulent provenance. The apologist may say that what the original document was referring to was simply a sundial, but the person translating it knew that it was some sort of timepiece and chose a timepiece they were familiar with, a clock. The critic would point out that the phrase . So, although the apologist's explanation seemed to make sense, on further examination it crumbles. The apologist cannot leave it there, she must do whatever twisting and turning it takes to maintain her belief in the . This will lead to ever more absurd explanations and possibly outright lies to protect her belief about the historicity of the document at all costs. Anachronisms in the Book of Mormon present a problem for the truthfulness of Joseph Smith's statements that a) the gold plates existed and b) they contained a historical account from the time period it claims. It might be easy to brush off an anachronism or two, but how many anachronisms need to be found in the Book of Mormon for someone to say that the book was not what Joseph claimed it to be? Both critics and apologists understand that for each verifiable anachronistic item appearing in the Book of Mormon the odds increase significantly that the book's origins and content are not what they are claimed to be. Not only does an increase in the frequency of anachronisms increase the probability that a work is not historically accurate, but the nature in which the anachronistic word is used can do so as well. In the clock example above, if . But when the idea within which the anachronistic word is embedded relies on a specific meaning for that word, such as the idea that the clock must . When one looks at the frequency and context of Book of Mormon anachronisms (. This is not to say that some answers and reasons can't be more complex, but when the preponderance of reasons and answers explaining a theory are complex, it might be time to give up trying to support that theory. Besides simply chronological anachronisms, the Book of Mormon contains items that might not be simply out of time, but they are geographically out of place for the time period the Book of Mormon covers. The Church teaches that the first inhabitants of the Americas were the Jaredites, arriving in the New World and beginning their historical records . The same is true for many animals, such as horses, elephants, goats, donkeys, etc.—they lived elsewhere in the world, just not in the Americas. Below are some of the contradictory and often anachronistic items in the Book of Mormon text. We list the critics' arguments and LDS responses. Book of Mormon Animals. Some of the anachronistic animals found in the Book of Mormon include horses, cattle, oxen, donkeys, goats, wild goats, sheep, swine and elephants (see 1 Nephi 1. Ether 9: 1. 8- 1. Notice the horse in this LDS depiction of the Stripling Warriors from the Book of Mormon. Scientists say that the modern- day horse did not exist in the Americas during BOM times. It is universally accepted among mainstream archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians that there is no evidence of the existence of a pre- Columbian horse, excepting the long- extinct species. The following is taken from wikipedia - Book of Mormon anachronisms (as of May 2. Horses are mentioned fourteen times in the Book of Mormon, and are portrayed as an integral part of the cultures described. Horses did not reappear in the Americas until the Spaniards brought them from Europe. Such as Alma 1. 8: 9, Alma 1. Alma 2. 0: 6, 3 Ne. Long, Mammal evolution, an illustrated guide (1. Facts on File, pg. Retrieved 2. 00. 6- 1. Baker, Barry W.; Collins, Michael B., Bousman, C. Dale Guthrie, New carbon dates link climatic change with human colonization and Pleistocene extinctions, Nature 4. May 2. 00. 6), 2. Kirkpatrick, Jay F.; Fazio, Patricia M. Retrieved 2. 00. 6- 1. Canadian Geographic Magazine. Retrieved 2. 00. 9- 1. LDS Church Response: We could not find this issue answered by the LDS church in any official church publication or website. However, we found two basic responses from LDS apologists. References are provided so readers can review the apologetic responses in detail. Scientists just haven't found the evidence yet.
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