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Difference between revisions of "Book of Mormon textual changes"
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==Examples of substantive changes== | ==Examples of substantive changes== | ||
| − | + | *"the Son of" added to 1 Nephi 11:18, 11:21, 11:32, and 13:40. | |
| + | *"Benjamin" changed to "Mosiah" in Mosiah 21:28 and Ether 4:1. | ||
| + | *"or out of the waters of baptism" added to 1 Nephi 20:1. | ||
| + | *"white" changed to "pure" in 2 Nephi 30:6. | ||
==Conclusion== | ==Conclusion== | ||
| Line 32: | Line 35: | ||
===External links=== | ===External links=== | ||
| + | *Jeff Lindsay, [http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/FQ_changes.shtml Have there been thousands of changes in the Book of Mormon?] | ||
| + | *Mike Ash, [http://www.mormonfortress.com/changeb3.html Changes in the Book of Mormon]. | ||
| + | *Stephen R. Gibson, [http://www.lightplanet.com/response/answers/changes.htm Why Were 4,000 Changes Made in The Book of Mormon?]. | ||
| + | *W. John Walsh, Robert L. Matthews, Van Hale, Stan Larson, [http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/response/qa/bom_changes.htm Changes to the Book of Mormon]. | ||
| + | *J. Cooper Johnson, [http://www.fairlds.org/apol/bom/bom03.html King Benjamin or Mosiah: A Look at Mosiah 21:28] | ||
===Printed material=== | ===Printed material=== | ||
*Royal Skousen, "Changes In the Book of Mormon," 2002 FAIR Conference proceedings. | *Royal Skousen, "Changes In the Book of Mormon," 2002 FAIR Conference proceedings. | ||
| − | *Stan Larson, "Changes in Early Texts of The Book of Mormon," ''Ensign'', September 1976, | + | *Stan Larson, "Changes in Early Texts of The Book of Mormon," ''Ensign'', September 1976, p. ??. |
| + | *George Horton, "[http://library.lds.org/library/lpext.dll/ArchMagazines/Ensign/1983.htm/ensign%20december%201983%20.htm/understanding%20textual%20changes%20in%20the%20book%20of%20mormon.htm Understanding Textual Changes in the Book of Mormon]," ''Ensign'', December 1983, p. 25. | ||
| + | *Robert J. Matthews, "[http://library.lds.org/library/lpext.dll/ArchMagazines/Ensign/1987.htm/ensign%20march%201987.htm/i%20have%20a%20question.htm#LPTOC1 Why have changes been made in the printed editions of the Book of Mormon?]," ''Ensign'', March 1987, p. 47. | ||
| + | *Douglas Campbell, "[http://www.geocities.com/marcschindler1/vignette.htm 'White' or 'Pure': Five Vignettes]," ''Dialogue'', 29/4 (Winter 1996), p. 119. | ||
Revision as of 23:14, 16 August 2005
This article is a draft. FairMormon editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.
The published text of the Book of Mormon has been corrected and edited through its various editions. Critics claim that this is evidence that Joseph Smith and other Church leaders were attempting to cover up errors that would expose the book as a work of man, not God.
Contents
Introduction
Joseph Smith taught "the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book" (cite). As the end of the preceding quote clarifies, by "most correct" this he meant in principle and teaching. The authors of the Book of Mormon themselves explained several times that their writing was imperfect, but that the teachings in the book were from God (1 Nephi 19:6; 2 Nephi 33:4; Mormon 8:17; 9:31-33; Ether 12:23-26).
The critical issue is not the number of changes that have been made to the text, but the nature of the changes. If one counts every difference in every punctuation mark in every edition of the Book of Mormon, the result is over 100,000 changes (Skousen, 2002).
There are, of course, thousands of insignificant changes in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. For example, the word meet -- meaning "appropriate" -- as it appears in 1 Nephi 7:1, was spelled "mete" in the first edition of the Book of Mormon, published in 1830. (This is a common error made by scribes of dictated texts.) "Mete" means to distribute, but the context here is obvious, and so the spelling was corrected in later editions.
This article will examine:
- changes that are substantive AND
- could possibly change the doctrine of the book OR
- could be used as evidence that the book was written by Joseph Smith.
Examples of substantive changes
- "the Son of" added to 1 Nephi 11:18, 11:21, 11:32, and 13:40.
- "Benjamin" changed to "Mosiah" in Mosiah 21:28 and Ether 4:1.
- "or out of the waters of baptism" added to 1 Nephi 20:1.
- "white" changed to "pure" in 2 Nephi 30:6.
Conclusion
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Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
FAIR web site
- FAIR Topical Guide: Changes in the Book of Mormon
External links
- Jeff Lindsay, Have there been thousands of changes in the Book of Mormon?
- Mike Ash, Changes in the Book of Mormon.
- Stephen R. Gibson, Why Were 4,000 Changes Made in The Book of Mormon?.
- W. John Walsh, Robert L. Matthews, Van Hale, Stan Larson, Changes to the Book of Mormon.
- J. Cooper Johnson, King Benjamin or Mosiah: A Look at Mosiah 21:28
Printed material
- Royal Skousen, "Changes In the Book of Mormon," 2002 FAIR Conference proceedings.
- Stan Larson, "Changes in Early Texts of The Book of Mormon," Ensign, September 1976, p. ??.
- George Horton, "Understanding Textual Changes in the Book of Mormon," Ensign, December 1983, p. 25.
- Robert J. Matthews, "Why have changes been made in the printed editions of the Book of Mormon?," Ensign, March 1987, p. 47.
- Douglas Campbell, "'White' or 'Pure': Five Vignettes," Dialogue, 29/4 (Winter 1996), p. 119.