Should Christian's Trust the Book of Mormon?

In today's post I thought I would share an article that I got from a fellow brother in Christ named Jesse, which concerns the veracity of the infamous book of Mormon. It is almost entirely copy and paste from an email (with permission) with the exception of these three changes.

• I underlined a section where I disagree with the author concerning bible translations because I differ in opinion on whether newer bibles really do draw from the best manuscripts available. (see my Post on KJV part 1 for further details)

• I removed "including translation errors," from the paragraph pertaining to the book of Mormon copying the KJV because I don't believe there are any translation errors in the 1611 KJV (there are however some typographical errors that were fixed in later additions). 

• The bible quote from 2nd John was changed to KJV. 

Other than these three things I would have to say this article was very well thought out and informative, and without further ado here is the aforementioned post.

The Church of Latter-day Saints, which is traditionally known as the Mormon Church, is notorious for its outlandish claims regarding the total apostasy of Christianity. This church claims to be a restoration. In other words, this religious sect maintains that the entire Christian Church has gone into an irreparable state of corruption and that the available biblical revelation to mankind has also been lost. The Mormon Church claims that Joseph Smith, its founder, had received special revelation from God to start a completely new religion to restore the lost, original teachings of Christianity. It claims that the Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith from Golden Nephi Plates. For years, officials of the Mormon Church have been generating various apologetical responses to the criticisms of Mormon revelation such as grave archaeological and geographical inconsistencies found within its sacred texts or the severe lack of supporting evidence thereof.

       There is a great abundance of historical evidence for the ancient cities, rivers, nations, authoritative individuals, coins, and events that are recorded in the Bible. In other words, there is a general consensus among reputable scholars for the occurrence or the existence of things that are recorded within the pages of the Bible. In fact, this religious text has been occupied by archaeologists as a map to locate ancient cities. The Bible is a source of documentation confirming the antiquity of different religious customs and ways of life. It is utterly consistent with the nature of truth, reason, morality, and reality. The original languages used in the process of recording the Bible into manuscript form have been used in Israel and the Greco-Roman world for centuries (i.e. Hebrew and Greek). There are six thousand New Testament manuscripts existing today, which lend incredible support to the overall veracity of the Bible translations that we study in modern-times. The New Testament documents alone are almost one hundred percent textually pure. It has wider source attestation than any other ancient collection of writings. Bible translations are not simply translations of translations, but rather, are translated directly from the best Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic manuscripts available. 

The Book of Mormon, on the other hand, is a much different story when we take the time to examine statements from most scholars, historians, and archaeologists who have taken the time to study the Mormon scriptures to evaluate their claims of historical accuracy. We come to discover that the allegedly inspired Mormon texts have a much lower reputation than what the Mormons want us to believe. Most, if not all, of the historical content found in the Book of Mormon has never been verified through archaeological finds. Globally famous scientific research and educational institutions such as the Smithsonian Institute and the National Geographic Society have come to the conclusion that the Book of Mormon is essentially a worthless guide when it comes to archaeology. There is no evidence existing whatsoever for the cities, or even names found on inscriptions, to strengthen the case for Mormonism. It is simply devoid of factual support. This is the general consensus reached among leading scientists and archaeologists on matters pertaining to the historical accuracy of the Book of Mormon. Of course, the reason for the severe lack of historical evidence backing up Mormonism is that all of its claims are completely mythological. Consider the following quotations from Mormon archaeologists:

  “For example, some popular 'Mormon' books show pictures of classic Maya, Inca, and Aztec ruins and attribute them to the Nephites. Scholars are aware that these civilizations postdate Book of Mormon times. Other gross errors include the use of outdated or otherwise unreliable source materials and the tendency to make every piece of evidence fit neatly into the Book of Mormon picture, whether it belongs there or not." (U.A.S. Newsletter, No. 54, Nov. 19, 1958, p. Z. Dr. Dee F. Green, LDS Archaeologist and the editor of the University Archaeological Society Newsletter at B.Y.U.)

"It must be confessed that some members of the 'Mormon' or 'Latter-Day Saint Church' are prone, in their enthusiasm for the Book of Mormon, to make claims for it that cannot be supported. So far as is known to the writer, no non-Mormon archaeologist at the present time is using the Book of Mormon as a guide in archaeological research. Nor does he know of any non-Mormon archaeologist who. holds that the American Indians are descendants of the Jews, or that Christianity was known in America in the first century of our era. This in itself, of course, does not disprove the Book of Mormon; for not enough is yet known of the actual period of that record in ancient America, or of the origin of the American Indians, for a final judgment at this time, scientifically speaking" (M. Wells Jakeman, "University Archaeological Society Newsletter", No. 57, March 25, 1959, p. 4)

While the accuracy of the Bible can be verified through the comparison of reliable manuscripts and external data, the Book of Mormon has no standard to verify its accuracy because the “Angel Maroni” supposedly took the Golden Nephi Plates from the hands of Joseph Smith. Not only does the world not have the Golden Nephi Plates to examine, but the Book of Mormon also contains thousands of verbatim quotations, from the 1611 King James Bible peppered throughout its pages. It has been estimated that 27,000 words have been reproduced from this translation and incorporated into the Book of Mormon. This fact is devastating to the Book of Mormon, especially when Mormonism claims that the entire text of the book can be dated before 421 AD! Furthermore, there have been approximately four thousand alterations to the Book of Mormon since it was originally published in 1830 AD. Additionally, there is no known evidence for the language called "Reformed Egyptian", which was the language that Joseph Smith supposedly translated from the Golden Nephi Plates into the Book of Mormon. This language remains completely hidden from Egyptologists.

Former defenders of Mormon archaeology such as Thomas Stuart Ferguson have admitted to the absolute futility of spending years in an attempt to prove the reliability of Mormon archaeology through historical research. They have been led to the same conclusion as outside critics that the contents found within the Book of Mormon are completely fictional in nature. In fact, even the Book of Mormon admits to the possibility of it being in error:

        "Nevertheless, I do not write anything upon plates save it be that I think it be sacred. And now, if I do err, even did they err of old; not that I would excuse myself because of other men, but because of the weakness which is in me, according to the flesh, I would excuse myself." (1 Nephi 19:6)

       "And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record." (Book of Mormon 9:33)

As stated in the introduction, Mormonism maintains that the entire early church went into a complete state of apostasy. Mormons maintain that they are God's restored church. But we need to ask ourselves when this total apostasy happened? What specific evidence can they provide us with to suggest that the early church deviated from the original teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ? The most primitive Christian writers after biblical times make no mention of any uniquely Mormon doctrines. One can read through the writings of early Christians such as Ignatius of Antioch, Clement, Eusebius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Polycarp, and others only to find no mention of any peculiarly Mormon doctrines. We find no mention of any major articles of the Mormon faith such as polytheism, polygamy, celestial marriage, temple ceremonies, or any other distinctive. We do not even find an inkling of the coming of a complete apostasy of the church in the volumes of writings produced by the most primitive Christians. If the Mormon Church today is the prototype of the original churches of the first century, then we should find mention of distinctly Mormon doctrines in every corner of the early church. But this is certainly not the case. There is not even one particle of historical evidence for the Book of Mormon. We are not to believe anybody who comes to our door preaching with a book other than the Bible:

2Jn 1:9  Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 

2Jn 1:10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 

2Jn 1:11  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. 

https://rationalchristiandiscernment.blogspot.com/2017/05/no-archaeological-evidence-supporting.html