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< Countercult ministries | The Interactive Bible | Difficult Questions for Mormons
Influenced by Joseph Smith's background | A FAIR Analysis of: Difficult Questions for Mormons A work by author: The Interactive Bible
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Influenced by happenings of early 19th century America |
Response to claim: "Why does the B of M use old KJV type English at a time when it was not currently used."
Response to claim: "Why is about 1/8th of the B of M copied directly from the KJV (1611AD) when it was alleged to have been written some 1200-2000 years before the KJV existed?"
Response to claim: "How do you explain the fact that Joseph Smith copied from the KJV but deleted the italicized words in the KJV because he figured they were not in the original? 'Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips' Isa 6:5, The words 'is & am' are deleted in the Book of Mormon."
Often, the italicized word is a word which is implied in the original Greek or Hebrew text, but must be explicitly used in English. It is claimed by some that Joseph Smith was aware of this, and while copying the KJV passages, tended to alter the italicized words to make it look more like a translation.
Some members accept the possibility that the italicized words are often altered "intentionally," but disagree with what this means about the translation. They do not see it as threatening Joseph's inspiration, the divine nature of the translation, or the reality of an ancient text on the plates. Others hold that there is no evidence that Joseph even had access to a Bible, nor that he was aware of the italics' meaning. (It should be noted that the Bible that Joseph had access to at age 14 in which he read James 1:5 prior to the First Vision belonged to his parents. At the time of the translation, Joseph did not have access to that Bible).
Either option is a viable response, and each has its strengths and weaknesses. Hopefully more data will be forthcoming to help resolve the issue, that we might better understand the translation process of the Book of Mormon.
Just as there is no evidence that Joseph owned a Bible, there is even less that he had any knowledge of what the italicized words in the translation meant. Emma made Joseph's early ignorance crystal clear:
If Joseph didn't know this, how do the critics expect that he knew what the italics in a Bible (which he likely did not own) meant? This is something which many modern Bible readers do not know. However, one cannot conclude with certainty that Joseph did not understand what the italicized words meant. Some LDS scholars believe that he did.
Furthermore, italicization patterns varied between Bibles, and an analysis of Joseph's Book of Mormon "changes" to the KJV concluded that changes to the italics were not a determining factor.[2]
Some LDS scholars do believe that Joseph may have understood the meaning italicized words. Kevin Barney: [3]
I think there are basically three types of evidence favoring the conclusion that Joseph understood the meaning of the italicized words. First, and most importantly, is the distribution of the variants in Joseph’s inspired translations, which show a clear (though by no means absolute) tendency to revolve around the italicized words. Skousen and Wright agree roughly on this distribution, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of 30%, give or take, but they draw different conclusions from it. My experience spending a fair amount of time examining variants is that the italics were a significant factor.
Second is the practice of often crossing out italicized words in the “marked Bible” used as an aid in preparing the JST. Anyone with access to the critical text can see this phenomenon for herself, since they have actual pictures of the marked Bible text.
Third are near-contemporary statements from Joseph’s milieu evincing a familiarity with the purpose of the italics. A prominent example is this from a W.W. Phelps editorial in the Evening and Morning Star (January 1833):
The book of Mormon, as a revelation from God, possesses some advantage over the old scripture: it has not been tinctured by the wisdom of man, with here and there an Italic word to supply deficiencies.—It was translated by the gift and power of God.[4]
The witnesses of the translation are unanimous that Joseph did not have a book or papers, and could not have concealed them if he did have. Since much of the translation was done via Joseph's seer stone placed into his hat to exclude the light, it is not clear how the critics believe Joseph concealed a Bible or notes in the hat, and then read them in the dark.
Emma Smith described this portion of the translation:
NOTE: Some Mormon scholars believe that the passages in the Book of Mormon which match, for the most part, the wording of similar passages in the King James Bible, indicate that Joseph Smith simply used the wording from the Bible as he dictated. If this is the case, he clearly received that wording as part of the revelatory process, since the witnesses confirm that there was no book or Bible present at the time. For more information see Ensign (Sept. 1977): "If his translation was essentially the same as that of the King James version, he apparently quoted the verse from the Bible"
Richard Lloyd Anderson (Ensign, September 1977):
In fact, the language in the sections of the Book of Mormon that correspond to parts of the Bible is quite regularly selected by Joseph Smith, rather than obtained through independent translation. For instance, there are over 400 verses in which the Nephite prophets quote from Isaiah, and half of these appear precisely as the King James version renders them. Summarizing the view taken by Latter-day Saint scholars on this point, Daniel H. Ludlow emphasizes the inherent variety of independent translation and concludes: “There appears to be only one answer to explain the word-for-word similarities between the verses of Isaiah in the Bible and the same verses in the Book of Mormon.” That is simply that Joseph Smith must have opened Isaiah and tested each mentioned verse by the Spirit: “If his translation was essentially the same as that of the King James version, he apparently quoted the verse from the Bible.” [6] Thus the Old Testament passages from Isaiah display a particular choice of phraseology that suggests Joseph Smith’s general freedom throughout the Book of Mormon for optional wording. [7]
NOTE: Witnesses to the translation process, including Joseph's wife Emma, state that Joseph Smith never consulted a Bible or any other book as he was dictating. If Joseph did indeed quote passages from the Bible word-for-word, as Richard Lloyd Anderson suggests, he did it without the aid of having a physical Bible present during the translation. For details, see Question: Could Joseph have used a Bible during and simply dictated from it during Book of Mormon translation?.
The difficult financial circumstances of Joseph's family during the Book of Mormon translation are well known.[8] There is no evidence that Joseph owned a Bible during the Book of Mormon translation.[9] In fact, Oliver would later purchase a Bible for Joseph, who used it in producing his revision of the Bible (which became known as the Joseph Smith Translation). This purchase occurred on 8 October 1829, from the same printer that was then setting the type for the already-translated Book of Mormon.[10] Why would Joseph, poor as he was, get a Bible if he already owned one?
Response to claim: "Why are portions of Isaiah quoted off of the plates of brass when these items weren't written until after Nephi supposedly got the plates out of Laban's treasury?"
Response to claim: "Why was Paul referred to before his time? (Paul said, "Death where is thy sting")"
Response to claim: "Why is it that of the 350 names in the Book of Mormon, 100 are found in the Bible, others are place names found on early 19th century maps, and the rest are derivatives of Bible names?"
Response to claim: "Why didn't Joseph Smith ever acknowledge using the KJV of the Bible to 'translate'?"
Response to claim: "Why were the following phrases used out of the New Testament supposedly before the New Testament was even thought of--much less written?
- 1. "oh wretched man that I am" Romans 7:24 / 2 Nephi 4:17
- 2. "earthquake, rocks rent" Matt 27:51 / 1 Nephi 12:14
- 3. "old serpent, which is the devil" Rev 20:2 / 2 Nephi 2:18
- 4. "one faith, one baptism" Ephesians 4:5 / Mosiah 18:21
- 5. "One man perish" Jesus/Laban / John 11:50 / 1 Nephi 4:13"
Response to claim: "Why is a Greek word like "Christ" used throughout the Book of Mormon?"
Response to claim: "Why does the Book of Mormon always follow KJV errors?"
Response to claim: "Why don't the Book of Mormon quotes from out of the Old Testament agree to earlier Latin, Syriac, Coptic, or Patristic texts? Example: Matthew 5:27 and 3 Nephi 12:27 "by them of old time" not included in earliest Greek (should have said "to them of old") Matthew 6:4, 6, 18 and 3 Nephi :4, 6, 18 "openly" added later. Matt 6:13 and 3 Nephi 13:13 "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" should have said, "and do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one"."
Response to claim: "Why does the phrase "the lamb of God" appear only in the New Testament portion of the Bible yet it appears in the Book of Mormon over 30 times--28 times in 1 Nephi alone?"
Response to claim: "Why do the words of Malachi 4:1 appear in 1 Nephi 22:15 over a hundred years before Malachi wrote them?"
Response to claim: "Why do so many stories seem like exaggerated borrowings from the Bible? Examples:o Ammon killed six sheep rustlers with a sling (Alma 17:36) vs. David's killing of Goliath. (1 Samuel 17:50)
- Pillar of Fire. (Exodus 13:21) vs. (1 Nephi 1:6)
- Lord instructs Noah to build the Ark (Genesis 6:14) / Lord instructs Nephi to build ship (1 Nephi 17:8) / Lord instructs Jaredites to build barges (Ether 2:16)
- Jaredites brought flocks, two of a kind, seeds. (Ether 2:1) vs. Noah doing the same in (Genesis 7:9)
- Raising dead. (Matthew 10:8) vs. (3 Nephi 19:4)
- Temple of Solomon supposedly took 180,000 people seven and a half years to build (1 Kings 5, 6) / The few in number Nephites supposedly did it in less than 20 years after arriving (2 Nephi 5).
- Calming Storm (1 Nephi 18:8-21) vs. (Matthew 8:23-27).
- Men in Fire (Helaman 5:22-24) vs. (Daniel 3).
- Feeding Multitude (3 Nephi 20:3-7) out of nothing / In Bible, Christ multiplied existing food (Matthew 14).
- Christ heals masses in Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 17:9) / in Bible Jesus healed as he encountered (Luke 9:42).
- Multitude feels wounds in Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 11:13) / In Bible, Thomas felt wounds (John 20:27).
- Book of Mormon prophecies of Christ specific / Bible prophecies veiled (actually non-existent unless scripture misquoted or "prophecies" stretched to have two meanings).
- Book of Mormon Christ is completely accepted / In Bible he is rejected.
- Aminadi deciphered writing on the wall (Alma 10:2-3) like Daniel (Daniel 5).
- Daughter of Jared danced before the king (Ether 8) like the daughter of Herodias (Matthew 14) (decapitation followed in both cases).
- Daughters of Lamanites abducted like the daughters of Shiloh.
- Jews of Old Testament were monotheists / Pre-Christ Jews of Book of Mormon were not."
Notes
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