Book of Mormon

FAIR Answers—back to home page

Answers portal
Book of Mormon
RESOURCES
General information: Basics Gospel fulness Most correct book Plain doctrines Book of Mormon & Bible: Plagiarized from Bible? Keeping KJV errors? Translation method Dead Sea Scrolls Criticisms: Translation Chronology of events List of methods Textual changes Anachronisms? "Familiar spirit"? Author and proprietor? Hebrew in New World? Plagiarism accusations Apocrypha The King James Bible The Golden Pot The Westminster Confession The Wonders of Nature The Spalding manuscript View of the Hebrews North American place names The Comoros Islands Joseph Smith, Sr.'s dream
PERSPECTIVES
Heartland as Hinterland
MEDIA
OTHER PORTALS
DNA Geography Holy Bible Joseph Smith, Jr. Witnesses

Production of the Book of Mormon

Translation

Translation

Summary: What do we know about the method used to translate the Book of Mormon? Were the plates sometimes not in the room while Joseph was translating them? Critics claim that each sentence and word in the 1830 Book of Mormon "had supposedly come directly from God."

Witnesses

Summary: The world was not left with Joseph Smith's testimony alone. The Book of Mormon provided multiple official and unofficial witnesses who corroborated aspects of Joseph's account.Critics have long tried to dismiss or destroy the witnesses' witness. This page links to subpages which discuss various attacks in detail.

Urim and Thummin and seer stones

Summary: Joseph Smith used the Nephite Interpreters as well as his own seer stone (both of which were later referred to as "Urim and Thummin") to translate the Book of Mormon.

Publication

Author and proprietor listed as Joseph Smith

Summary: Joseph Smith is listed as the "Author and Proprietor" of the first edition of the Book of Mormon. Critics use this to claim that Joseph wrote the book himself, despite that fact that the following page clearly states that he translated the book.

Attempt to sell Book of Mormon copyright in Canada

Summary: David Whitmer claimed that Joseph Smith received a revelation and prophesied that Oliver Cowdery and Hiram Page should go to Canada where they would find a man willing to buy the copyright to the Book of Mormon. When they failed to sell the copyright, Whitmer states that Joseph admitted that the revelation had not come from God.

Printing timeframe

Summary: "I've heard that the rate at which the first edition of the Book of Mormon was printed could only have occurred miraculously. Is there anything to this claim?"

Secular authorship theories

B.H. Roberts and "Studies of the Book of Mormon

Summary: B.H. Roberts produced several critical examinations of the Book of Mormon. These were later published after his death under the title Studies of the Book of Mormon.

B.H. Roberts' testimony

Summary: Critics claim that B.H. Roberts lost his testimony of the Book of Mormon as the result of his work on the material contained in Studies of the Book of Mormon.

Plagiarism accusations

Summary: Joseph Smith is often accused of creating the Book of Mormon by plagiarizing various contemporary sources such as the Spalding Manuscript or Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews.

Language used in the Book of Mormon

As a "familiar spirit"

Summary: Critics ask why, if the words "familiar spirit" in Is. 29:4 refer to the Book of Mormon (as used in 2_Ne. 26:16, why does "familiar spirit" always refer to occult practices such as channeling and necromancy everywhere else in the Old Testament?

Revisions

Textual changes

Summary: The claim is often heard that there are more than 4000 changes to the Book of Mormon text. The majority of these are typographical. Few of the changes are significant. We examine the more noteworthy changes.

• • "white" changed to "pure"—
    Brief Summary: Critics accuse the Church of attempting to hiding a racially offensive statement. (Click here for full article)
    ∗       ∗       ∗

Content of the Book of Mormon

Completeness

As the most correct book

Summary: Critics claim that since Joseph stated that it was "the most correct book," that the Book of Mormon should not have contained any errors. Yet, Mormon himself states in the preface that any mistakes contained therein are the mistakes of men.

Contains the fulness of the gospel

Summary: If the Book of Mormon contains the "fulness of the gospel," then why are certain ordinances such as baptism for the dead and eternal marriage not mentioned?

• • Baptism for the dead—why is it not taught in the Book of Mormon?—
    Brief Summary: If the Book of Mormon contains the "fulness of the Gospel," then why does it not mention baptism for the dead. (Click here for full article)
    ∗       ∗       ∗
  • Book of Mormon condemns polygamy—
    Brief Summary: Critics use the Book of Jacob to show that the Book of Mormon condemns the practice of polygamy, and then go on to claim that Joseph Smith ignored this restriction by introducing the doctrine of plural marriage. (Click here for full article)
    ∗       ∗       ∗

Archaeology

Archaeology

Summary: Critics charge that what is known about ancient American archaeology is not consistent with the Book of Mormon account. Sectarian critics often add the claim that the Bible has been "proven" true by archaeology, unlike the Book of Mormon.

Anachronisms

Anachronisms

Summary: Critics point to some items or concepts in the Book of Mormon which they claim are not consistent with what is known about ancient American geography, history, or anthropology. They claim that these "errors" prove that Joseph Smith was producing the Book of Mormon in the 19th century, and that the Book of Mormon is therefore not an ancient record.

Deutero-Isaiah in the Book of Mormon?

Summary: he "Deutero-Isaiah" theory is the claim that parts of Isaiah were written later than others. This theory claims that there were three individual authors, whose works were later compiled together under the name of the first author Isaiah (referred to as "Proto Isaiah"). The critical issue raised is that the Brass Plates of Laban quote from sections of Isaiah that this theory ascribes to Deutero-Isaiah, so how could the Nephites have these writings if they weren't written until after they left Jerusalem?

Doctrinal issues

Plain and precious doctrines

Summary: Critics claim that the Book of Mormon is nothing more than a "bad copy of the Bible"; that anyone could have churned out such pedestrian, warmed-over ideas by borrowing liberally from the Bible and his own personal experiences.

Great and abominable church

Summary: What is the "great and abominable church" referred to in the Book of Mormon? Critics claim that Latter-day Saints believe that the scriptural terms "church of the devil," the "great and abominable church," and the "whore of all the earth" refer to a specific religion. Critics claim that the Book of Mormon teaches that "all mainstream Christians fall into the world system know as the devil's church (or Satan's kingdom)."

Nephi's killing of Laban

Summary: How can Latter-day Saints point to Nephi's killing of Laban as an example of a positive example of a Book of Mormon character? Wasn't this cold-blooded murder? And doesn't this passage then justify the killing of "the wicked" by anyone who feels that God has told them to do so?

Evidences and criticisms of the Book of Mormon

Evidences

Historicity

DNA evidence

Summary: DNA samples taken from modern Native Americans do not match the DNA of modern inhabitants of the Middle East. Critics argue that this means the Book of Mormon's claim that Native Americans are descended from Lehi must be false, and therefore the Book of Mormon is not an ancient record as Joseph Smith claimed.

Geography

Hill Cumorah

• • Archaeology (Click here for full article)
    ∗       ∗       ∗

Lamanites

Moroni's promise

Olive culture

Stick of Ephraim—Erastus Snow statement

Wordprint studies

Relationship of the Book of Mormon to the Dead Sea Scrolls

Summary: Mistranslations of the King James version of Isaiah have been corrected using the Isaiah version found with the Dead Sea scrolls. Why is it that the quotes from Isaiah contained in the Book of Mormon have the same translation errors contained in the King James version instead of matching the original ancient text?