A Simple Proof That the Book of Mormon is Not the Word of God

 

In the beginning of the Book of Mormon, right before the table of contents, in "A Brief Explanation about the Book of Mormon," it says, "About this edition: Some minor errors in the text have been perpetuated in past editions of the Book of Mormon. This edition contains corrections that seem appropriate to bring the material into conformity with prepublication manuscripts and early editions edited by the Prophet Joseph Smith." There are actually around 4,000 of changes to the Book of Mormon (see the Tanner's "3,913 Changes in the Book of Mormon"). For example, consider the rather significant change from "King Benjamin" to "King Mosiah" (cf. the 1830 edition p. 200 with the current Mosiah 21:28 and also cf. the 1830 edition p. 546 with the current Ether 4:1).

 

Of course even the Book of Mormon claims there are imperfections in the record. Mormon 8:12 says: "And whoso receiveth this record, and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it." So perhaps God finally fixed the problem in the modern version of the Book of Mormon and now it is more of the word of God than it was previously. That seems possible even though a simpler explanation is that men are fixing it and making the story more coherent as they go along.


However, consider the change from "the mean man boweth down" to "the mean man boweth not down" (2 Ne. 12:9 was changed from the 1830 edition p. 87). Here you have the word of God certainly going to the word of man. Why? The beginning of this chapter affirms that this is the "word that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw." The end of 2 Nephi 11 says, "I write some of the words of Isaiah." 2 Nephi 12:9 is quoting from from Isaiah 2:9... and in King James, 17th century English no less! (Recall that the Book of Mormon was published in the 19th century.) The original 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon got it right, because Isaiah always read that "the mean man boweth down." How do we know that? Because there is no Old Testament Hebrew manuscript (or any other ancient text in any other language for that matter), early Church father citing, or early lectionary that says what the Book of Mormon now says in 2 Ne. 12:9. These sources all say the exact opposite! That demonstrates that there is no good reason to buy the Book of Mormon here and there are all sorts of reasons to reject the Book of Mormon here. The Book of Mormon cannot claim to be the word of God. At best, the Book of Mormon contains some of the word of God, namely the part of Isaiah that it faithfully copied!

 

Keep in mind that if one adds to the word of God, Proverbs 30:6 says that he will be proven to be a liar. Well, I just proved it! Once again, one should not trust the LDS Church.

 

R.M. Sivulka

President, Courageous Christians United

West Jordan, UT

November 26, 2021


Add Comment
Dan says... (Reply)
"And there are adding deleting almost 4000 changes to the iriginal Bom

the latest?

in the introduction to the bom, it used to read...and these lamanites,and they are the principal ancestors of the American Indians

the new edition now read about these lamanites...and they are AMONG the principal ancestors of the American Indians

the word AMONG is not in the Original 1830 Bom
this additional word becones part of the 4000+ changes,additions deletions Why?
can you explain these added word?

I know why this word was added
I will tell you on my next text




" (12/2/21)