Deliver of Mormon

The Livre of Mormon is one of the canonical works of the Église of Jesus-Christ of the Saints of the Last Days. It draws its name from Mormon, prophet who, according to the Book of Mormon, would have lived from 311 to 385 a. J. - C. on the American continent.

Joseph Smith affirms to have received, on September 21st, 1823, the visit of an angel which would have revealed the place to him where, on the Colline of Cumorah, in the State of New York, was hidden the religious and historical compilation of Mormon, an old prophet. This compilation would recall more than thousand years of history of a civilization having lived the American continent. The account describes the belief of these people in the arrival of a Messiah, Sons of God, for expier for the sins of the world. The translation in English that would have made Joseph Smith of it is entitled The Book off Mormon and was published for the first time in 1830. The first French version goes back to 1852.

The scientists and critics reject the supernatural aspects of the account of Joseph Smith and estimate that this one wrote the book itself, only or with the assistance of associated more educated, while probably making use of other works. They reject the historicity of the Book of Mormon by pointing elements of the account regarded as anachronistic and the absence of scientific evidence.

Since its publication, the Book of Mormon would have been published in 133 million specimens.

Contained Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is presented in the form of a volume of Scriptures, comparable with the Bible, recalling the history of the former inhabitants of America. The words and accounts of their prophets and leader religious would have been compiled and shortened by the last of them, a prophet and historian of the name of Mormon.

Summary

The Book of Mormon starts with the history of a man, Léhi, which, at the request of God, left Jerusalem towards 600 before Jesus-Christ with her family in order to escape the destruction from the city. After having crossed the desert, the small group arrived at the seaside. There, the wire of Léhi built a boat which made it possible fugitive to sail until in America. Hardly arrived on the American continent, they separated in two groups, one following Néphi and other Laman, both wire of Léhi.

The two groups quickly formed two nations, the Néphites and the Lamanites, which entered in fight one against the other, their conflict continuing in an almost permanent way through all the work. The Book of Mormon describes the Néphites like a particularly advanced civilization, generally respectful of the commands of God, while the Lamanites were rather barbarian people, struck of a dark skin following a curse of God.

The culminating point of the Book of Mormon is the appearance of Jesus-Christ in person among the population, shortly after its resurrection. This one taught the precepts of the Gospel then, with the image of what it did in the New Testament. Its visit so extremely impressed the people which they linked and lived in peace for one long period, before separating again and to remake the war.

After many battles, the Lamanites managed to eliminate totality from the Néphites, except for a man, Moroni, wire of Mormon. Moroni then hid the plates in the hill Cumorah.

The Book of Mormon also speaks about another people, the Jarédites, which would have arrived much earlier, at the time of the tower of Babel and the confusion of the languages. These people would have disappeared little before the arrival from the Néphites which would have found plates mentioning their account.

Components of the work

The Book of Mormon is presented in the form of a collection of the annals crowned people of old America, engraved on metal sheetings. The book itself speaks about four kinds of metal plates:

1. The plates of Néphi, which were of two kinds: small plates and large plates. The first were more particularly devoted to the spiritual questions and the ministry and the lesson of the prophets, while the last were especially assigned to the profane history of the interested people (1 Néphi 9:2 - 4). However, as from the time of Mosiah, the large plates contained also texts of great spiritual importance.

2. The plates of Mormon, which consist of a summary of the large plates of Néphi, made by Mormon, with many comments. These plates contained also the continuation of the history written by Mormon and the additions of his Moroni son.

3. The plates of Éther, which present the history of the Jarédites. These annals were shortened by Moroni, which inserted its personal comments and integrated its annals into the whole of the history under the title “Delivers Ether”.

4. Bronze plates, brought of Jerusalem by the people of Léhi in 600 av. J. - C. They contained “the five books of Brace,… and also a history of the Jews since the beginning… until the beginning of the reign of Sédécias, king de Juda; and also, prophecies of the saints prophets” (1 Néphi 5:11 - 13). Many passages of these plates, which quote Ésaïe and other biblical and nonbiblical prophets, appear in the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon includes/understands fifteen great parts or divisions, called, with an exception, books, of which each one is indicated by the name of its principal author. The first part (the first six books, finishing with Omni) is the translation of the small plates of Néphi. Between the books of Omni and Mosiah, there is an insertion called Paroles of Mormon. This insertion connects the annals engraved on the small plates to the summary of the large plates makes by Mormon.

The longest part, of Mosiah with Mormon, chapter 7 included, is the translation of the summary of the large plates of Néphi makes by Mormon. The final part, of Mormon, chapter 8, at the end of volume, was engraved by Moroni, wire of Mormon, who, after having finished annals of the life of his father, made the summary of annals jarédites (under the Livre title Ether) and added later the parts known under the Livre title of Moroni.

In or towards 421 a. J. - C., Moroni, the last of the prophet-historians néphites, would have sealed crowned annals and would have hidden them, so that they appeared at the time modern. In 1823, this same Moroni, then ressuscity, would have returned visit to the prophet Joseph Smith and, later, would have given the engraved plates to him.

Importance of the Book of Mormon in the mormonism

The Book of Mormon is of paramount importance for the Église of Jesus-Christ of the Saints of the Last Days. It is at the same time a major characteristic of the Mormonisme and the spiritual base of the movement. For the Mormons, it is a tangible element of the prophetic mission of Joseph Smith. This one wrote in its newspaper: “I said to the brothers that the Book of Mormon was most correct of all the books of the ground and the keystone of our religion, and that a man would approach more God while following some the precepts that by any other book”.

In its last epistle, Moroni invites the men of the whole world to read the Book of Mormon, to contemplate in their heart the message which it contains and to ask God, our Heavenly Father, in the name of Christ, if the book is true. He promises that those which act of the kind and require with faith will obtain, by the capacity of the Holy Spirit, the testimony of the veracity and the divinity of the book (see Moroni 10:3 - 5).

Origin of the Book of Mormon

There exist several approaches seeking to explain the origin of the Book of Mormon:

the account of Joseph Smith itself, affirming to have translated under divine inspiration of the gold plates where the history of former inhabitants of America was engraved.
Joseph Smith like only author and without outside assistance. Holding of this theory consider that this one was cultivated enough and intelligent to write such a book. Besides the work would reflect events of its life.
Joseph Smith would have plagiarized one or more other works at its disposal. It would not have been able to write the Book of Mormon of itself and would have taken as a starting point the Manuscrit of Spaulding or Vue Hebrews .
the Book of Mormon would have been written by one of more cultivated companions of Joseph Smith, like Sidney Rigdon or Oliver Cowdery.

Account of Joseph Smith and divine origin

According to the beliefs of the Church' and the account of Joseph Smith, the angel Moroni would have appeared on September 21st, 1823 to him in order to give him instructions concerning of yearly antiques hidden in the ground of the hill of Cumorah (close to Palmyra) and the translation which was to be made in English about it.

Four years later, Moroni would have given these plates to Joseph Smith. This one would have made use of the urim and the thummim in order to translate them under the divine inspiration. Moroni would have recovered the plates after their translation.

In addition to Joseph Smith, eleven other men affirmed to have seen their own eyes these plates of gold. Their accounts are known under the name of Témoignage of Three Witnesses and Témoignage of Huits Témoins .

According to Parley P. Pratt, annals “were engraved on metal plates which had the appearance of gold. Each plate had approximately seven to eight inches length and width, and was a little less thick than the ordinary tinplate. They were plain so as to form a volume, as the sheets of a book, and attached to the one of the ends by three rings which, passing through, bound the whole together; they were covered on the two sides of engraved Egyptian natures. This volume, of which a part was sealed, had approximately six inches thickness. The characters or letters on the not sealed sheets, small and were elegantly engraved”.

Joseph Smith like only author

On the title page of the first edition of the Book of Mormon (1830), Joseph Smith was presented like “the author and the owner” of the work. Many critics consider this inscription as the proof that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon quite simply himself and affirmed only thereafter to have translated it. The Mormon apologists affirm that this formulation was necessary because of the laws of the time on the copyright. In the second edition of the Book of Mormon (1837), the title page was modified in order to mention “translated by Joseph Smith Jr”.

The partisans of this theory belong to the similarities between the life of Joseph Smith and the events of the Book of Mormon. Thus, daN Vogel mentions several parallels, like:

the competition between Néphi and his/her older brothers which would represent the competition between Joseph Smith and his brothers, although the author admits of having found mention in the accounts of Joseph Smith or his mother.
the removal of the girls lamanites by the malicious priests of Noah (Mosiah 20:1 - 5) who would reflect the episode of the life of Joseph Smith where it removes his future wife Emma Hale.

In addition, the dream of Léhi of the Tree of Life (1 Néphi 8 and 11) strongly resembles a dream which the father of Joseph Smith in 1811 had according to the account of his wife Lucy Smith. Criticisms raise 26 common points between the two dreams.

According to Doctor William D. Morain, the Book of Mormon also reflects the traumatisms undergone by Joseph Smith in his youth, like:

the operation which it undergoes at the 7 years age when the surgeon withdrew him a piece of bone of the leg without anesthesia. This one would result in violent metaphors in the Book of Mormon and many references to the swords, like that of Laban, representing the knife of the surgeon.
the death of his/her older brother Alvin (1823) who would be subjacent with the design of the hello in the Book of Mormon and the mormonism later.

On his side, the historian D. Michael Quinn identifies in the Book of Mormon of many elements resulting from occult beliefs which would have been familiar with Joseph Smith, like the “magic” references of certain names, Egypt like “center and transmettrice of any magic”, many allusions to the “mysteries”, “works of darkness” and the “secret combinations”.

The Book of Mormon like plagiarism

The Manuscript of Spaulding

In 1834, in a hostile book in the mormonism, Eber Dudley Howe affirmed that Joseph Smith had plagiarized a novel not published of Solomon Spaulding (1761-1816) in order to write the Book of Mormon. Howe had the manuscript in its possession and claimed to have found many parallels there. Moreover, several declarations of witnesses, gathered by Doctor Philastus Hurlbut, attested the veracity of these many common points. The manuscript disappeared after the publication from the book and criticisms could not examine it in order to check the claims of Howe.

In 1884, a copy of the manuscript was found but this one did not present any religious aspect and the Book of Mormon did not contain obviously any passage recopied since the manuscript. The history imagined by Spaulding has as a subject a group of Romans sailing until the New World at the 4th century after J. - C, the development of their civilization and their wars. Some similarities exist between the two works:

the two authors claim to have discovered annals or the manuscript under a rock
in the two accounts, of the colonists travels to the New World
on sea, the colonists face a storm threatening to run them
they are divided into two great civilizations
the group more civilized prohibits any marriage with the group less civilized
two civilizations fight one against the other, in a war of destruction
the two books mention the use of horses and the presence of elephants
a Messianic figure appears in the two accounts and ensign the people which know one era of peaces
for one period, the inhabitants put their joint goods

If the screen of the two accounts present resemblances, the common points are generally regarded as of insufficient number to support a true bond between the Manuscript of Spaulding and the Book of Mormon, as well by the apologists as by several historians, of which Fawn Brodie. The majority of the alleged similarities presented in the testimonys collected by Doctor Philastus Hurlbut appeared false. Fawn Brodie expressed serious doubts as for the reality of these testimonys, because of their uniformity and their similar style.

The theory of the Manuscript of Spaulding however preserves still partisans, estimating that the account could despite everything be used as inspiration with Joseph Smith and that it is not absolutely certain that the manuscript found in 1884 is completely identical to that which Howe had in 1834.

Sight of the Hebrews

Vue Hebrews is a book written by Ethan Smith (1762-1849). This one did not have any family tie with Joseph Smith. In his work, published in 1825 (five years before the Book of Mormon), the author advances the idea that the Indians of America would be the descendants of the Hebrews, quoting similar elements between two civilizations and abundantly making use of biblical passages in order to support its theory. The Book of Mormon being based on a similar theory, several historians and critics supported the idea that Joseph Smith had made use of the book of Ethan Smith to write the Book of Mormon.

Thus David Persuitte belongs to many parallels between the two works but any direct copy. The parallels cover concepts varied like the religious ideas and division between a civilized faction and a barbarian faction, having clashed during wars having led to the destruction of the civilized group. According to Persuitte, these elements are sufficiently numerous to consider that Joseph Smith took as a starting point the ideas present in Vue Hebrews to write the Book of Mormon. For the Mormon apologists, the idea that the Indians of America could be the descendants of the Hebrews was not an original theory of Ethan Smith but was shared by other contemporaries. Moreover, the two works present important differences, like the fact that Ethan Smith approaches the mosaic laws and traditions whereas the Book of Mormon evokes only Christian ordinances.

A close relation of Joseph Smith as author or joint author

According to this theory, a close relation of Joseph Smith, more informed than the young prophet, would have written the Book of Mormon for the benefit of Joseph Smith or would have assisted it in the drafting of the work. Two names are generally quoted: Oliver Cowdery and Sidney Rigdon. There does not exist however any proof attesting their paternity on the Book of Mormon.

Oliver Cowdery was used as secretary with Joseph Smith during the drafting of the Book of Mormon and would have on the occasion to collaborate in its writing. It was one of the Three Witnesses book. Although in conflict with Joseph Smith thereafter, he did not disavow his testimony and affirmed not to be the author of the work.

As for Sidney Rigdon, there is no formal evidence that it could meet Joseph Smith before the publication of the Book of Mormon (their first contact would have taken place in December 1830, that is to say nine months after the exit of the book). However, one of his/her friends, Adamson Bentley, affirmed that Sidney Rigdon had spoken to him about a book which would be the translation of an account present on gold plates, and this two years before the publication of the Book of Mormon. Sidney Rigdon denied however to be the author of the work in a letter on May 27th, 1839. He affirmed however thereafter to know the contents of the sealed part of the Book of Mormon.

Historicity

The Église of Jesus-Christ of the Saints of the Last Days considers that the Book of Mormon is not only one religious text but also a historical account. This belief enters in contradiction with the current scientific knowledge as well of the archeology as of the linguistics or the genetics of the populations about the settlement of America précolombienne. It is about a field where the Mormon apologists are also very active, trying to dismount the arguments of criticisms.

Certain Mormon intellectuals, like several Movements resulting from the mormonism, consider the Book of Mormon as a spiritual book without historical reality, contrary to the official Church.

Archeology of the Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon affirms that there were tribes white pre-Colombians extremely civilized, which knew certain languages of the Old World, like some of its written forms. They manufactured steel and copper, iron tools (Ether 7:9, 10:23). They raised horses and had carriages (Alma 18:9 - 12). No civilization of this type was discovered until now and the majority of these signs of civilization are regarded as anachronisms by the archeologists.

Linguistics of the Book of Mormon

See also: Linguistic of the Book of Mormon

The account of the Book of Mormon would have been translated since ancient texts written into Egyptian reformed by kneaded authors of Hebraic culture: “And now, here, we wrote these annals according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, transmitted and are deteriorated by us, according to our manner of speaking. And if our plates had been sufficiently large, we would have written in Hebrew; but Hebrew was also faded by us; and if we had been able to write in Hebrew, here, you would not have had any imperfection in our annals. ” (Mormon 9:32,33)

Thus the partisans and detractors of this book analyzed it from a linguistic point of view seeking to show the cogency of their theses. The critics of the Book of Mormon would have thus concerned the linguistic anachronisms while the Mormon apologists would have discovered forms stylistics presenting of the similarities with the Egyptian and the Hebrew.

Relation with the Bible

Biblical prophecies

The religious critics of the Book of Mormon, introduced like an important revelation of God, affirms that it should then be mentioned in the Bible, which is not the case. Certain biblical passages are however considered by the Mormons' as referring to the Book of Mormon, such: the voice which was to leave ground (Tests 29:4), the wood of Joseph which was to make only one wood with that of Juda (Ézéchiel 37:15 - 20), the other ewes about which Jesus (Jean 10:16) spoke identified as being the Néphites, and the other angel that Jean saw flying by the medium of the sky announcing a Gospel eternal (Apocalypse 14:6) identified as being Moroni.

Contradictions with the Bible

The critics affirm that the Book of Mormon contradicts the Bible in certain places, for example:

Various controversies

Changes

The critics of the mormonism denounce the 3915 changes brought to the original edition of the Book of Mormon. Since the book was translated by the divine revelation, this one should not be modified any more. The Mormon apologists affirm that the changes were brought by Joseph Smith itself at the time of the second edition and that these changes are grammatical corrections and corrections of misprints not having any influence on the direction of the text or the doctrines.

However, several changes can be regarded as modifications of doctrines:

Contradictions with the current Mormon doctrines

The critics affirm that certain doctrines of the Mormonisme evolved/moved so much so that they enter in contradiction with the Book of Mormon. The Mormons generally counter these criticisms by recalling that they believe in the Révélation continues, which explains that God complete or clarifies points of doctrines thereafter. For example:

See too

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