Facts on the BOM

On the subject of scripture, Mormons are quick to ensure the "investigator" that the Book of Mormon (BOM) is an account of the early inhabitants of this continent, and that it gives weighty evidence to the fact that Joseph Smith was a true profit; after all, how could he pen such a work as the incredibly complex BOM if it wasn't all true. Joseph Smith couldn't just make it up, could he? Well, if he did make it up, what kinds of things would indicate that? Due to the fact that the BOM contains bad grammar, an over abundance of plagiarism, rambling sentences, vagueness, and components that are inconsistent with reality, I propose that it was penned and created by Joseph Smith.

I have been told many times by LDS that Joseph Smith couldn't have created the book at his young age of 14, especially since he was poorly educated. A correction here, he would have been more like 24. So if he did make it up, perhaps he would have written it with bad grammar that might have been characteristic for his age and level of education. Such as:

All references according to the original 1830 version, and are grouped with like-kind errors.
Page 15: ...Adam and Eve, which was our first parents
Page 192...Alma and Helam was buried in the water...
Page 220...that they was expressly repugnant to...
Page 248...they was angry with me...
Page 156-157... have not sought gold nor silver, nor no manner of riches...
Page 173... lest he should look for that he had not ought, and he should perish.
Page 196...the Lamanites did gather themselves together for to sing...
Page 451...for we depend upon them for to teach us the word...
page 560...cast up mighty heaps of earth for to get ore...
Page 204...and they had began to possess the land...and had began to till the ground.
Page 225...and this he done that he might subject them to him.
Page 249 As I was a journeying...
Page 403...Moroni was a coming against them...
Page 270...when they had arriven in the borders...
Page 280...that they did not fight against God no more...
Page 347...which was wrote upon the plates...

Have you ever had to write a paper that had a minimum page requirement? I think Joseph Smith was under pressure to fill as many pages as he could to make it appear as though he was recording hundreds of years of history. Despite the "authors" desires to keep the records as concise as possible, since they were writing on metal plates, there seemed to be some rather lengthy, unnecessary verbiage. This seems especially odd since they plainly expressed they were writing in "Reformed Egyptian" to save space. Red flag? These are only a few examples.

Omni 1:9-11 says, "Now I, Chemish, write what few things I write, in the same book with my brother; for behold, I saw the last which he wrote, that he wrote it with his own hand; and he wrote it in the day that he delivered them unto me. And after this manner we keep the records, for it is according to the commandments of our fathers. And I make an end. Behold, I, Abinadom, am the son of Chemish. Behold, it came to pass that I saw much war and contention between my people, the Nephites, and the Lamanites; and I, with my own sword, have taken the lives of many of the Lamanites in the defense of my brethren. And behold, the record of this people is engraven upon plates which is had by the kings, according to the generations; and I know of no revelation save that which has been written, neither prophecy; wherefore, that which is sufficient is written. And I make an end.

See also 2 Nephi 31:1-2, Jacob 4:1-4, and Jarom 1:2

In addition to lengthy rabling sentences, the BOM also contains overly redundant phrases. For example:

1 Nephi 9:2 says, "...I make a full account of the history of my people; for the plates upon which I make a full account of my people I have given the name of Nephi; wherefore, they are called the plates of Nephi, after mine own name; and these plates also are called the plates of Nephi."

1 Nephi 18:2 says, "Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men."

2 Nephi 3:12 says, "Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins…"

Another good example of Joseph Smith's over usage of particular words and phrases is the abuse of the phrase "it came to pass", and the word "behold" or "beheld". This is especially telling since nothing really comes to pass after he says "and it came to pass." Other phrases include "and now", "and now I", "and again." The phrase "it came to pass" occurs an astonishing 1,353 times in the BOM, but it only occurs 452 times in the Bible. The phrase "and now" occurs 650 times, but it only occurs in the Bible 111 times. The phrase "and again" occurs 81 times, but only 32 times in the Bible. The phrase "and now I" occurs 233 times, but only occurs 11 times in the Bible. You must consider that the Bible contains much more text than the BOM.

1 Nephi 8:5-11 is a clear example of over usage of "it came to pass", and "behold/beheld".

And it came to pass that I saw a man, and he was dressed in a white robe; and he came and stood before me. And it came to pass that he spake unto me, and bade me follow him. And it came to pass that as I followed him I beheld myself that I was in a dark and dreary waste. And it came to pass after I had prayed unto the Lord I beheld a large and spacious field. And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy. And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen. And it came to pass that I beckoned unto them; and I also did say unto them with a loud voice that they should come unto me, and partake of the fruit, which was desirable above all other fruit. And it came to pass that they did come unto me and partake of the fruit also. And it came to pass that I was desirous that Laman and Lemuel should come and partake of the fruit also; wherefore, I cast mine eyes towards the head of the river, that perhaps I might see them.

The best example of Joseph Smith trying to fill pages is the blatant word-for-word plagiarism of the Bible. Word-for-word is especially condemning because a translation from Reformed Egyptian would vary quite a bit in word order and sentence structure than 1611 Elizabethan language in the King James Bible. Also, the King James Version included italicized words that were not in the original language in order to create a functional sentence. But, lo and behold, somehow Joseph Smith translated the golden plates to read exactly like the King James Bible, italicized words and all.

1 Nephi 20:1-21:26 quotes two chapters of Isaiah 48:1-49:26
2 Nephi 6:6-7 quotes two verses of Isaiah 49:22-23
2 Nephi 6:16-8:25 quotes over two chapters of Isaiah 49:24-52:2
2 Nephi 7-8 quotes over two chapters of Isaiah 50:1-52:2
2 Nephi 12-24 quotes thirteen chapters of Isaiah 2-14
2 Nephi 26:15-16 qotes one verse of Isaiah 29:4
2 Nephi 27:2-5 quotes five verses of Isaiah 29:6-10
2 Nephi 27:25-35 quotes 12 verses of Isaiah 29:13-24
2 Nephi 30:9-15 quotes eight verses of Isaiah 11:4-11
Mosiah 12:21-24 quotes four verses of Isaiah 52:7-10
Mosiah 12:34-36 quotes three verses of Exodus 20:2-4
Mosiah 12:36-13:24 quotes 14 verses of Exodus 4-17
Mosaiah 14:1-12 quotes 12 verses of Isaiah 53:1-12
3 Nephi 13:18-20 quotes three verses of Isaiah 52:8-10
3 Nephi 20:41-45 quotes five verses of Isaiah 52:11-15
3 Nehpi 22:1-17 quotes 17 verses of Isaiah 54:1-17
3 Nehpi 24:1-25:6 quotes two chapters of Malachi 3-4

It really makes you wonder why Nephi would have copied 22 chapters from Isaiah if writing on plates was so difficult (See Jacob 4:1).

In regards to plagiarism, what is especially difficult to reconcile is the BOM's usage of New Testament text. For example, 1 Nephi 22:20 meant to quote what Moses said in Deuteronomy 18:15, but instead it quotes Peter's paraphrase in Acts 3:22-23 over 500 years before Acts was penned.

1 Nephi 22:20 says, "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you."

Acts 3:22-23 says, "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you ..., like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you."

Deuteronomy 18:15 says, "The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken..."

The BOM's most extensive abuse of plagiarism of the New testament is found in 3 Nephi 12:3-15:1. It quotes three chapters of Matthew 5:3-7:28. What is very condemning is the fact that the BOM quotes Jesus' proverbs in the same order that Matthew recorded them. In addition, Matthew was originally written in Greek, so how is it that the two texts are exactly alike but were translated from radically different languages? The example below is just a small taste of how Joseph Smith inserted a massive chunk of the New Testament into the BOM.

3 Nephi 13:19-24 says, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Matthew 6:19-21 says, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

In addition to stealing texts from the Bible, the BOM has also borrowed from stories in the Bible. For example, Esther borrows from Matthew's story of John the Baptist's head being delivered on a platter to Herod.

Ether 8:10-12 says, "And now, therefore, let my father send for Akish, the son of Kimnor; and behold, I am fair, and I will dance before him, and I will please him, that he will desire me to wife; wherefore if he shall desire of thee that ye shall give unto him me to wife, then shall ye say: I will give her if ye will bring unto me the head of my father, the king."

Matthew 14:6-11 says, "But when Herod's birthday was kept, the before them, and daughter of Herodias danced before them , and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. "

In another instance, 1 Nephi 18:6-21 borrows from the story of the disciples in the boat with Christ in Mark 4:37-39.

1 Nephi 18:13, 15, 21:

[13] Wherefore, they knew not whither they should steer the ship, insomuch that there arose a great storm, yea, a great and terrible tempest, and we were driven back upon the waters for the space of three days... [15] And after we had been driven back upon the waters for the space of four days, my brethren began to see that the judgments of God were upon them, and that they must perish … [21]... And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord; and after I had prayed the winds did cease, and the storm did cease, and there was a great calm.

Mark 4:37-39:

And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

There are several major parallels between stories in the Apocrypha and the Book of Mormon that are so similar it seems pretty clear that Joseph Smith used the stories to help him write the BOM. One point that is particularly interesting is that the first major name encountered in the BOM (Nephi) is found in 2 Maccabees, and the context in which the name is mentioned parallels the context within both books.

The context in 2 Maccabees 1:19-2:10 tells the story about the sun shining on an alter, which consumed it by “a great fire kindled, so that every man marveled.” It goes on to say that “thick water” was poured on stones, and “there was kindled a flame”. Verse 36 goes on to say, “And Neemias called this thing Naphtar, which is as much as to say, a cleansing: but many men call it Nephi.” Further down in 2 Macabees 2:10 it says, “…as when Moses prayed unto the Lord the fire came down.” These parallel 1 Nephi 1:6 where fire came upon a rock: “…as he prayed unto the Lord, there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock.” Three similarities: 1) Fire came upon a “rock” or “stone” 2) Fire came down after prayer 3) the name Nephi is first introduced.