FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Criticism of Mormonism/Books/An Insider's View of Mormon Origins/Chapter 3
Response to claims made in "Chapter 3: The Bible in the Book of Mormon"
| Claims made in "Chapter 2: Authorship of the Book of Mormon" | A FAIR Analysis of: An Insider's View of Mormon Origins A work by author: Grant Palmer
|
Claims made in "Chapter 4: Evangelical Protestantism in the Book of Mormon" |
If Jesus visited ancient America, the 3 Nephi text is probably not an actual account of his appearances.
—An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, p. 82
—An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, p. 82
70-71, n3
Claim
- Joseph Smith Sr.'s 1811 dreams are similar to Lehi's "first" vision and his "tree of life" dream.
Author's source(s) - Lucy Mack Smith, Preliminary Manuscript (MS), "History of Lucy Smith." published in Dan Vogel, ed., Early Mormon Documents, 1:255n52.
- Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother,46-47 (hereafter History of Joseph Smith).
- 1 Nephi 1꞉16
- 1 Nephi 11-12
- 1 Nephi 14-15
- 1 Nephi 19-20
74-78
Author's source(s)
- Various scriptural references from the Bible and the Book of Mormon.
FAIR WIKI EDITORS: Check sources
82
Claim
- There are no original motifs in 3 Nephi that are not found in the Gospels.
Response82
Claim
- Joseph had the words of Christ available to him, but "curiously chose not to use them" for at least half the verses in 3 Nephi 11-28.
Response82
Claim
- Joseph may have used a blanket to screen his use of the Bible from his scribe.
Author's source(s) - No source provided.
83 - "Cowdery may be the only witness who knew about this, and he neglected to mention it"
The author(s) of An Insider's View of Mormon Origins make(s) the following claim:
Author's quote: Oliver was Joseph's main scribe day after day and perhaps the only one who really knew if a Bible was consulted. Oliver is silent on the matter. In fact, a Bible would have been needed only when quoting long passages; so again, Cowdery may be the only witness who knew about this, and he neglected to mention it.
Author's sources: The most significant thing about this claim is the lack of a source.
FAIR's Response
See: Use of sources: The silent witness
Question: Did Oliver Cowdery "neglect to mention" that Joseph Smith consulted a Bible during the Book of Mormon translation process?
Oliver was far from silent regarding the process of translating the Book of Mormon
The critical book An Insider's View of Mormon Origins(page 83) makes the following claim:
Oliver was Joseph's main scribe day after day and perhaps the only one who really knew if a Bible was consulted. Oliver is silent on the matter. In fact, a Bible would have been needed only when quoting long passages; so again, Cowdery may be the only witness who knew about this, and he neglected to mention it. (emphasis added)
Incredibly, in his zeal to provide supporting evidence for his theory that Joseph Smith consulted a King James Bible during the translation of the Book of Mormon, the author attempts to make Oliver Cowdery a "silent witness" for the prosecution by implying that he neglected to mention it!
Oliver was far from silent regarding the Book of Mormon translation, and his enthusiasm at being a witness and participant in the translation process is clearly evident. Furthermore, Oliver clearly indicated that the translation was performed using the Urim and Thummim. Here is what Oliver did say about the translation process:
These were days never to be forgotten; to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated with the Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, "interpreters," the history or record called "The Book of Mormon." (emphasis added)[1]
Unlike the author's assertion, this one can be cited to an actual source.
83, n14
Claim
- The Book of Mormon contains twenty-six full chapters from a 1769 edition of the KJV.
Author's source(s) - Walters, "Use of the Old Testament."
- Kenneth D. Jenkins and John L. Hilton, "Common Phrases between the King James Bible and the Book of Mormon," 1983.
83, n15
Claim
- The Sermon at the Temple includes modern errors found in the KJV.
Author's source(s) - Stan Larson, "The Historicity of the Matthean Sermon on the Mount in 3 Nephi," in New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology, ed. Brent Lee Metcalfe, 115-63.
85, n18
Claim
- A number of anonymous Palmyra residents said that the Book of Mormon was "chiefly garbled from the Old and New Testaments."
Author's source(s) - "Letter from Palmyra, NY," 12 Mar. 1831, Painesville [OH] Telegraph, 22 Mar. 1831, [2]; qtd. in Dan Vogel,ed., Early Mormon Documents, 3:9.
FAIR WIKI EDITORS: Check sources
85
Claim
- Author's quote: It is hard to imagine that these are Christ's unique words to the Nephites, recorded soon after he uttered them and then included on the plates Joseph received.
Author's source(s) - Author's opinion.
FAIR WIKI EDITORS: Check sources
86
Claim
- The author makes the following comparison between the Book of Mormon and the Bible:
3 Nephi 17
[They did] bow down at his feet,
and did worship him; and as
many as could come for the multitude
did kiss his feet, insomuch
that they did bathe his feet with
their tears ... Jesus groaned
within himself, and said ... I am
troubled ... [H]e wept ... and he
took their little children, one by
one, and blessed them (10, 14,
21).
Luke 7, John 11, Mark 10
[She] stood at his feet behind
him weeping, and began to wash
his feet with tears ... and kissed
his feet ... When Jesus therefore
saw her weeping, ... he groaned
in the spirit, and was troubled.
And ... Jesus wept ... And he
took them [children] up in his
arms, put his hands upon them,
and blessed them
- The author does the same thing when comparing 3 Nephi 18 with Matthew 7 and 1 Cor. 11.
3 Nephi 17 [They did] bow down at his feet, and did worship him; and as many as could come for the multitude did kiss his feet, insomuch that they did bathe his feet with their tears ... Jesus groaned within himself, and said ... I am troubled ... [H]e wept ... and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them (10, 14, 21).
Luke 7, John 11, Mark 10 [She] stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears ... and kissed his feet ... When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, ... he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. And ... Jesus wept ... And he took them [children] up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them
Author's source(s)
Response
- In order to "prove" that 3 Nephi 17:10-21 was derived from the Bible, the author has to conflate scriptural verses from three different books in the New Testament!
- Luke 7: 38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
- John 11: 33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
- John 11: 35 Jesus wept.
- Mark 10: 16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
- Use of sources: Conflating scriptural verses
90
Claim
- The Aramaic word "raca" would not have been intelligible to a Nephite.
Response- The word "raca" did not appear on the plates—that was a translation.
- Book of Mormon/Anachronisms/Aramaic word "raca" [needs work]
90
Claim
- The author claims that Jesus' statement that ""Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain" refers to a Roman law and that it "would presumably have had no meaning in the New World."
Author's source(s) Response
- Yet, the statement certainly has meaning to us, and we are not Romans either. Why would the inhabitants of the New World not have understood Christ's meaning?
90
Claim
- The three days of sunlight is not mentioned in the Bible even though North America and Israel are both in the Northern hemisphere.
Author's source(s) Response
FAIR WIKI EDITORS: Check sources
- ↑ "Letter from Oliver Cowdery to W.W. Phelps" (Letter I), (September 7, 1834). Published in Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, Vol. I. No. 1. Kirtland, Ohio, October, 1834.