600 Years in The Book of Mormon

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Shulem
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Re: The Key

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Shulem wrote:
Sat May 29, 2021 5:18 am
2) Alma the elder = Peter

Let’s be clear on two points.
  • Saint Peter founded the church under Christ and baptized many souls in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
  • Alma founded the church under Abinadi and baptized many in the waters of Mormon after escaping persecution.

Alma the elder seems to echo the futuristic words of St. Paul who got his que from St. Peter who sought both physical and spiritual freedom through God.

Alma wrote:Stand fast in this liberty wherewith ye have been made free, and that ye trust no man to be a king over you.
Saint Paul wrote:Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage

Alma the elder was a Book of Mormon Saint Peter who was a bedrock upon which the church was founded with Christ being the cornerstone:

Mosiah 23:16,17 wrote:And now, Alma was their high priest, he being the founder of their church. And it came to pass that none received authority to preach or to teach except it were by him from God.

Alma was like Saint Peter, but now, believe it or not, we are informed that there are “seven churches” in Zarahemla! What are the odds that *seven churches* would imitate the New Testament seven churches in Asia as recorded in the Book of Revelation? Joseph Smith was using symbolism to make his Alma appear biblical and he tossed in the number 7 for good measure!

Mosiah 25:21,23 wrote: Therefore they did assemble themselves together in different bodies, being called churches; every church having their priests and their teachers, and every priest preaching the word according as it was delivered to him by the mouth of Alma. And now there were seven churches in the land of Zarahemla. And it came to pass that whosoever were desirous to take upon them the name of Christ, or of God, they did join the churches of God

Jesus said: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church”

Never mind the rock of Peter when you have the rock of Alma!

Mosiah 26:15,17 wrote:Blessed art thou, Alma, and blessed are they who were baptized in the waters of Mormon. Thou art blessed because of thy exceeding faith in the words alone of my servant Abinadi. And blessed art thou because thou hast established a church among this people; and they shall be established, and they shall be my people.

Hence, Alma was likened to Peter. That was exactly what Joseph Smith had in mind.
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Re: The Key

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Shulem wrote:
Sat May 29, 2021 5:18 am
3) King Noah = Pilot & the Jews

In simple terms, king Noah was the main villain of the story representing opposition in all things. He was like the Jewish Sanhedrin and Roman state all rolled up in one. He was the enemy to the birth of Mormon Christendom. He was a prototype and the very example of one who kills John and crucifies the Christ! Noah had everything he needed at his disposal through taxation and absolute power. He had women and wine, elegant and spacious buildings in which to administer his affairs, a palace in which he could govern, and he had control of the temple in which he refurbished the walls with all manner of fine things. King Noah maintained control and authority over the people like Caesar or a high priest of the Jewish religion. Noah was like a Herod to John and a Pilot & Caiaphas to Jesus.
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Re: The Key

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Shulem wrote:
Sat May 29, 2021 5:18 am
4) Alma the younger = Saint Paul
5) Sons of Mosiah = apostles of the Christian church

The plagiarism in the Book of Mormon through Alma the younger and the borrowing of whole concepts and ideas from the KJV of the Bible are abundantly made clear in many commentaries that are critical of Smith’s Book of Mormon. Apologetic responses to these critical commentaries are inherently weak and are like a mist of water being sprayed before the blazing sun only to evaporate within moments. The excuses and run-arounds given by Book of Mormon defenders regarding plagiarism are built upon the idea that if the alleged plagiarism is not expressed in perfect duplicated form, then it’s not really plagiarism but only a mere coincidence in which Smith translated under the general premise of gospel language and concepts. In other words, the apologists insist that it must be a perfect example of plagiarism, word for word, exact, complete, whole, nothing varying from the original. Otherwise, it’s not plagiarism. But nothing could be further from the truth. The Book of Mormon is full of plagiarism. Many of the teachings of Alma the younger through JOSEPH SMITH were taken from the KJV of the Bible. One only need read and compare the writings with an honest and open mind and realization will set in like the sunlight coming down from the sky and lighting the whole landscape.

This thread is not going to get into these details. There are plenty of sources on the Internet available that show and clearly demonstrate that Smith plagiarized from the Bible in order to make his Book of Mormon characters seem like Christians. The pre-Christian church of the Book of Mormon seems to have it all.
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Land of Nephi & Zarahemla

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Let’s now examine the lifespan of Alma the elder and see how far it can be traced back with accuracy. Now, by order of Mosiah II, Alma the younger was appointed chief judge and was also made the high priest by his father Alma and thus had charge over the entire church. Alma the younger became Top Dog in both political and ecclesiastical arenas (Mosiah 29:42). Thus, the reign of the judges began or “commenced” with Alma the younger and peace was established throughout the land of Zarahemla (Mosiah 29:43-47).

It’s at this very juncture that Alma the elder died, being 82 years old and is also when Mosiah II in the 33rd year of his reign died at the age of 63. Confirmation that both men died in the same year is confirmed within the next verses that comprise Alma 1:1,2: “in the first year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, from this time forward, king Mosiah having gone the way of all the earth . . . that in the first year of the reign of Alma in the judgment-seat.” Alma the younger now assumed both political and ecclesiastical reigns in 91 BC.

Therefore, Alma the elder was born (presumably in the land of Nephi) in 173 BC. This is some 20 years after ∩ 194 BC when Benjamin is crowned king by his father Mosiah I and received the plates from Amaleki at age 30 in the land of Zarahemla. We also know that Alma was called a “young man” at the time he embraced Abinadi’s teachings. Therefore, I’m dating him on the timeline as age 25 when he fled from the servants of the king after being cast out of the king’s court for defending Abinadi. Alma had to have been young and fit in order to escape and conceal himself from those who were searching for him. He hightailed it out of Dodge and headed for the bush! He had to have been fit and healthy.

Note, in the timeline below that Benjamin is granted a 103-lifespan based on having to estimate some of the internal dating but that could be off a few years. It’s interesting to note that Lehi is the only other person in the Book of Mormon attributed to having waxed old. Therefore, based on everything we know thus far, let’s calculate some known fixed dates (bold) together with previously determined theoretically estimated dates to produce additional dates into the following:

*232 BC Mosiah I continue to reign in the land of Nephi
*232 BC Abinadom presumably hands the plates to his son Amaleki in land of Nephi
*224 BC Benjamin is presumable born on this date in Zarahemla and lives to age 103
*194 BC Benjamin is crowned king by Mosiah I presumably at age 30 in Zarahemla
*194 BC Amaleki presumably hands the plates to king Benjamin who begins to reign
*173 BC Alma the elder is born in land of Nephi
*148 BC Alma believes Abinadi; Alma was a “descendant of Nephi. And he was a young man” (Mosiah 17:2)
*124 BC Mosiah II began to reign at age 30
*121 BC Benjamin “waxed old” and died in land of Zarahemla
*91 BC Mosiah II died at age 63 after a 33-year reign
*91 BC Alma the younger is chief judge and high priest


Again, kudos to Joseph Smith for keeping his record straight in which I am unable to find fault in the above chronology. It also appears that the royal lines of Zarahemla and the royal lines of the land of Nephi seem to correspond without any glaring problem or inconsistency. All that crisscrossing back and forth between both lands was quite a story for Smith to have to manage and keep his dating accurate and consistent. It truly is an amazing accomplishment based on what we know about how Smith dictated and authored the book. It’s very impressive to say the least!

I will definitely affirm that Smith was one smart fellow!
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91-year countdown to Christ

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The reign of judges began with Alma as chief judge in 91 BC. This now makes it easy for Smith to begin a simple countdown and narrate story after story in a more fluid like manner without skipping about generations and crisscrossing generations as shown earlier in Mosiah. Now it was time to have fun and dictate stories as they popped into Smith’s head while buried in a hat, words mumbling out of his mouth, and recorded by Cowdery’s patient pen. Smith found it easy to work through the chronology on a year-to-year basis and mark the years one at a time leading up to the final deadline, year 0 BC -- Merry Christmas!

A smorgasbord of anything you can eat, filled with imagination and wonder as Smith invents wartime stories and there is definitely no dearth in the action! It’s story after story and plenty of action, less the western character of John Wayne of course; the Duke does not make an appearance on horseback!

Count the years beginning precisely at Alma 1:1, there are a few skips in years within the timeline and then into the book of Helaman with just a couple skipped years, but it neatly begins with the 40th year. The 91st year which is the final year of the 600-year countdown begins in 3 Nephi 1:1 with the death of chief judge Lachoneus.

first year of the reign of Alma in the judgment-seat (Alma 1:1)
second year of the reign of Alma
fifth year of the reign of the judges
sixth year
seventh year
eighth year
ninth year
tenth year
eleventh year
fourteenth year
fifteenth year
sixteenth year
seventeenth
eighteenth
nineteenth year
twentieth year
twenty and first
twenty and second year
twenty and third year
twenty and fourth year
twenty and fifth year
twenty and sixth year
twenty and seventh year
twenty and eighth year
twenty and eighth year
twenty and ninth year
thirtieth year
thirty and first year
thirty and fifth year
thirty and sixth year
thirty and seventh year
thirty and eighth year
thirty and ninth year
fortieth year (Helaman 1:1)
forty and first year
forty and second year
forty and third year
forty and fourth year
forty and fifth year
forty and sixth year
forty and seventh year
forty and eighth year
forty and ninth year
fiftieth year
fifty and first year
fifty and second year
fifty and third year
fifty and fourth year
fifty and sixth year
fifty and seventh year
fifty and eighth and ninth years
sixtieth year
sixty and first year
sixty and second year
sixty and third year
sixty and fourth year
sixty and fifth year
sixty and sixth year
sixty and seventh year
sixty and eighth year
sixty and ninth year
seventy and first year
seventy and second year
seventy and third year
seventy and fourth year
seventy and fifth year
seventy and sixth year
seventy and seventh year
seventy and eighth year
seventy and ninth year
eightieth year
eighty and first year
eighty and second year
eighty and third year
eighty and fourth year
eighty and fifth year
eighty and sixth year
five years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God
eighty and seventh year
eighty and eighth year
eighty and ninth year
ninetieth year
ninety and first year (3 Nephi 1:1)


An interesting event recorded in the chronology concerns the disappearance of Alma the younger. The narrative suggests he went out like Moses being secretly buried by the Lord. Alma served for 9 years on the bench as chief judge and then resigned wherewith he devoted his final 10 years of service in the ministry watching over the church but was never heard of again after that. The life and ministry of Alma calls to mind biblical Saul of Tarsus who at first persecuted Christians but after having a heavenly vision was converted and later became a great apostle of the Christian church. It’s easy to connect Alma and Paul when comparing the plots and stories of the Book of Mormon with the New Testament and especially the alleged plagiarism by Alma of St. Paul’s teachings.
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1,000 years

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An important mark in which Joseph Smith had determined how long his book was going to last on a timeline is when Alma the younger prophesied to his son Helaman concerning future Nephites who because of sin would dwindle in unbelief 400 years after Christ’s birth. This prophecy was later repeated by Samuel the Lamanite just prior to Christ’s birth. Alma’s announcement was the point in which Smith confirmed his book would cover 1,000 years whereby the sad epilogue would be confirmed by Moroni at the end of the book. So, in a nutshell, Smith designed his book to cover a 1,000 year timeframe with an extra section involving the Jaredites which was outside that baseline in which his story was built. I’m of the opinion that Smith had predetermined before the translation that his book would include a 600-year timeline within the story of a 1,000 year odyssey of Israelites in America.
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Re: 600 Years in The Book of Mormon

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Sorry for the interruption. Feel free to ignore it if it harshes your flow. Just wondering who Jacob might have married. If it was a daughter of Ishmael she would likely have been as old as him and would require yet another Bible plagiarism to get a baby out of her. Otherwise it would have been one of his grand-nieces. Or a child of one of those "others" that the Book of Mormon forgets to actually mention.
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Re: 600 Years in The Book of Mormon

Post by Shulem »

Hagoth wrote:
Wed Jun 02, 2021 1:32 pm
Sorry for the interruption. Feel free to ignore it if it harshes your flow. Just wondering who Jacob might have married. If it was a daughter of Ishmael she would likely have been as old as him and would require yet another Bible plagiarism to get a baby out of her. Otherwise it would have been one of his grand-nieces. Or a child of one of those "others" that the Book of Mormon forgets to actually mention.

Thank you for your input and chiming in! You’re most welcome here!

Indeed, if Jacob had a child when he was 91 he would need to have a young wife or his older wife had a miracle baby like we read in the Bible, i.e., Sara having Isaac when she was 90 years old. But we all know that babies are not born to 90 year old women. The Bible is telling a tale that simply can’t be medically justified.

Perhaps Smith just attributed the same type of miracle for Jacob’s wife in the Book of Mormon. That is very likely. Or he may have just figured that Jacob had taken another wife later on like in the Bible in order to “raise up seed.” The Book of Mormon does take that into account.

The whole thing is rather fascinating and is a sneak preview into Joseph Smith’s personal experiences with polygamy and all the romping around that goes with it.

So, take your pick:

[ ] Miracle baby born of an old woman
[ ] Old Jacob married again to a young woman
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Re: 600 Years in The Book of Mormon

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Shulem wrote:
Wed Jun 02, 2021 4:10 pm
So, take your pick:

[ ] Miracle baby born of an old woman
[ ] Old Jacob married again to a young woman

You’d think that Jacob would want to leave his legacy on a first born or older son by giving him the plates and a charge to maintain the family line. Why skip his first wife and her sons by moving on later with a young babe? That makes no sense! Was his first wife barren? The account doesn’t say anything about her being barren and leaving Jacob in a lurch. You’d think that she would have born several sons to Jacob and that the firstborn would have been prized and received special charge of the plates. Smith seems to have wrote her into the mystery script as a barren woman who later was able to have Enos by a miracle just like the Bible. Therefore, I think Smith was just imitating the Bible and trying to put a little of the magic into his own book.

[x] Miracle baby born of an old woman
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Re: 600 Years in The Book of Mormon

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Shulem wrote:
Wed Jun 02, 2021 4:10 pm
[ ] Old Jacob married again to a young woman
Did the New World fountain of youth have a viagra additive?
Cry Heaven and let loose the Penguins of Peace
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