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=='''Bible vs The Book of Mormon: "plain and precious parts"'''== | =='''Bible vs The Book of Mormon: "plain and precious parts"'''== | ||
+ | In 1 Nephi 13-14 Nephi describes an apocalyptic vision that he has of the "great and abominable church" and one of the things that this church does is to remove many "plain and precious parts" out of the Bible. In 1 Nephi 13:26-28 it specifically notes that these events will take place after Christ and his original twelve apostles have left the Earth. | ||
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+ | :''26 And '''after''' they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable dchurch, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.'' | ||
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+ | :''27 And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men. | ||
+ | '' | ||
+ | :''28 Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God.'' | ||
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*Nephi's prophecy that many "plain and precious" things would be taken from the scriptures | *Nephi's prophecy that many "plain and precious" things would be taken from the scriptures | ||
*No ancient manuscript evidence for the Book of Mormon | *No ancient manuscript evidence for the Book of Mormon |
This page is based on an answer to a question submitted to the FAIR web site, or a frequently asked question.
(NOTE: This review is incomplete and is still being worked on. If you would like to help please let us know through our "Ask the Apologist" service!)
In 2010 Sourceflix & Living Hope Ministries (LHM) produced a DVD entitled "The Bible vs Joseph Smith". This film compares and contrasts the prophecies found in the Bible with the prophecies found in the Book of Mormon. The format of the film is a dialogue between Joel Kramer of LHM and Greg Gifford, a Latter-day Saint. The film is shot entirely in Israel, and various scholars are interviewed for their opinions. Overall the filming is well done and leaves the sense of a solid case against Joseph Smith, when in reality the arguments are very poor and easily debunked.
The film opens with a short conversation about the biblical test for determining whether a prophet is a true prophet or a false prophet as found in Deuteronomy 18꞉20-22:
Commenting on this passage, Kramer says,
A few important points should be made about this:
The following articles discuss this issue further:
In 1 Nephi 13-14 Nephi describes an apocalyptic vision that he has of the "great and abominable church" and one of the things that this church does is to remove many "plain and precious parts" out of the Bible. In 1 Nephi 13:26-28 it specifically notes that these events will take place after Christ and his original twelve apostles have left the Earth.
Relevant articles: John Gee: The Corruption of Scripture in Early Christianity (http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/books/?bookid=42&chapid=206)
What exactly is the nature of the "Joseph Smith Translation" (JST) of the Bible, also known as the "Inspired Version"? In his discussion of this text Joel Kramer approaches it as a restoration of the "plain and precious parts of the Bible", as described in the chapter heading of 1 Nephi 13. Describing the JST, Kramer says,
Kramer then investigates three different instances in which the JST differs from the text of ancient manuscripts of the Bible and in each case Kramer concludes that Joseph Smith's translation does not match the best manuscripts available today. Kramer ultimately concludes that Joseph Smith himself has corrupted the Bible and it is implied that Joseph is a hypocrite for claiming (through Nephi) that "the great and abominable church" is responsible for corrupting the Bible.
But Joseph Smith himself never explained what exactly the nature of the JST is. The JST was a continual project for Joseph, one he did not finish before his death in 1844. In the absence of a clear explanation of the nature of the JST, many Latter-day Saints have made the same assumption that Kramer makes, that it is a restoration of text which was lost or corrupted by translators and scribes. But LDS scholarship in recent decades has helped to provide insight into exactly what the JST is. It has been described as a combination of the following:
To demonstrate that this view is not a new one, we quote from an official editorial of Church News in 1974 (emphasis added):
See the following FAIRwiki article for more information: The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. With these principles in mind, we turn to commenting on the specific cases that Kramer discusses.
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