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.
Book of Mormon/Anachronisms/Bethabara
Contents
Criticism
Alexander Campbell, an early Book of Mormon critic, complained that the Book of Mormon "makes John [the Baptist] baptize in the village of Bethabara."[1]
To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, click here
Response
The Book of Mormon uses the same term as the King James Bible:
- "These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing." (John 1:28)
- "And my father said he should baptize in Bethabara, beyond Jordan; and he also said he should baptize with water; even that he should baptize the Messiah with water." (1 Nephi 10꞉9)
The critic may be engaging in an overly-hostile reading—assuming that the Book of Mormon says that John was baptizing in the middle of the village, or somesuch. But, the Book of Mormon text says nothing that the Bible text does not say.
Endnotes
- [note] Alexander Campbell, Delusions (Boston: Benjamin H. Greene, 1832), p. 92 of original; originally published in Millennial Harbinger 2 (7 February 1831): 85–96. off-site O. Cowdery reply #1 #2 Full title
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
Book of Mormon/Anachronisms/Bethabara