russ@dadla-a.UUCP (07/27/83)
>From russ Thu Jun 30 08:04:04 1983
Subject: Book of Mormon
Newsgroups: net.religion
My claims for the Book of Mormon have produced the following types of
responses:
Have you ever bothered to investigate the true origins of
the Book of Mormon (from sources other than the church itself)?
You might be surprised to learn just how strong a case can be
made that the book came from a stolen fiction manuscript.
********************
The more generous ones think that
it was a fraud perpetrated by Joseph Smith and a few accomplices.
The more informed ones mention the fact that a book was published
privately (as a book of "inspirational fiction") about 20 years before
Smith came out with the Book of Mormon, which is for the most part
identical to it.
********************
From what I have learned from ex-Mormons, the "mounting
evidence" points the OTHER way.
One of the theories for the origin of the Book of Mormon states that Joseph
plagerized a book by Solomon Spaulding. This book does deal with ancient
inhabitants of North America, but Joseph would have had to use much more
than the Spaulding manuscript to come up with the Book of Mormon. There
are many things in the Book of Mormon that correctly relate to the setting
of the Book of Mormon that are known now but were not known by anyone in
the world at the time of Joseph Smith.
Let me start by giving a brief description of the historical nature of the
Book of Mormon.
The Book of Mormon deals with the history of three groups of people.
1. Lehi and his family who left Jerusalem about 600 BC before the
destruction of Jerusalem. The Book of Mormon follows their
history up until 400 AD including a visit by the resurrected
Christ to this continent after His ministry in Palestine.
2. Mulekites - A second group that had left at the time of the
destruction of Jerusalem. This group brought no records with
them.
3. Jaredites - A group that came to America at the time of the
tower of Babel.
Now let me also explain what the Book of Mormon is not:
1. It is not a history of these people. The history is incidental
to the main message of the Book which is to be a second witness
for Christ.
2. The Book of Mormon is not a history of all the inhabitants of
the American continents. In fact the Book of Mormon may have
covered only a small part of the inhabitants of this land.
3. It is not a history of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Those tribes
are still lost.
I will show through the course of this discussion that the Book of Mormon is
supported by both internal and external evidences. That to assume that
Joseph used a book like Spaulding's ignores the content of the Book of Mormon.
I will show that no mortal man had the capability to publish such a book.
I can not prove that it is true, I can only prove that it was not produced
out of New York state (or anywhere) in the early 1800's.
PROOF #1 - Witnesses
Just as the Bible says that everything shall be established by witnesses
(2 Cor 13:1), the Book of Mormon has witnesses that testify to its veracity.
At the beginning of each Book of Mormon are two testimonies. One is from
three witnesses and one is from eight witnesses. The three witnesses had
an angel show them the plates, whereas the eight witnesses handled the
plates without such a heavenly visitor. The two different types of
testimonies would seem to discount suggestions of hypnotism or power that
might be attributed to Joseph Smith.
Another proof of their testimony that would discount collusion was the fact
that many of the witnesses became dissatisfied with Joseph and left the
church. Even while they were outside the church they never denied their
testimonies even tho it caused them some embarrassment.