Scottie wrote:Over on the other board, I got this post:If so, do you know of any other piece of literature ever written by a "uneducated farm boy" comparable in complexity, length and method of production?
I think these apologists just recite what they are told. Someone once told them it is a complex literary masterpiece, and there is no way an uneducated farmboy could have created it.
Are they reading the same book I am? Where a good 1/4 of the verses start with "And it came to pass..." THAT is a literary masterpiece?
Does anyone here believe that the Book of Mormon is a literary masterpiece and why do you believe that?
Hello Scottie,
Yes, I believe that the Book of Mormon is kind of a literary masterpiece, because of mainly the Chiasmus that is within the Book of Mormon. Here is one of my favorite example of a chaismus in the Book of Mormon, which is found in Alma Chapter 13, Verses 1-9:
Alma 13:1-9:
[1] And again, my brethren, I would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord God gave these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people.
[2] And those priests were ordained after the order of his Son, in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption.
[3] And this is the manner after which they were ordained -- being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such.
[4] And thus they have been called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great privilege as their brethren.
[5] Or in fine, in the first place they were on the same standing with their brethren; thus this holy calling being prepared from the foundation of the world for such as would not harden their hearts, being in and through the atonement of the Only Begotten Son, who was prepared --
[6] And thus being called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to teach his commandments unto the children of men, that they also might enter into his rest --
[7] This high priesthood being after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the world; or in other words, being without beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from eternity to all eternity, according to his foreknowledge of all things --
[8] Now they were ordained after this manner -- being called with a holy calling, and ordained with a holy ordinance, and taking upon them the high priesthood of the holy order, which calling, and ordinance, and high priesthood, is without beginning or end --
[9] Thus they become high priests forever, after the order of the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father, who is without beginning of days or end of years, who is full of grace, equity, and truth. And thus it is. Amen.
Here is the Main Structure of the Chiasmus laid out clearly, in Alma Chapter 13, Verses 1-9:
Alma 13:1-9:
A. order of his Son (Verse 2)
B. ordained (Verse 3)
C. called (Verse 3)
D. foreknowledge of God (Verse 3)
E. prepared (Verse 3)
F. foundation of the world (Verse 5)
G. Only Begotten Son (Verse 5)
H. high priesthood (Verse 6)
I. his rest (Verse 6)
H'. high priesthood (Verse 7)
G'. his Son (Verse 7)
F'. foundation of the world (Verse 7)
E'. prepared (Verse 7)
D'. foreknowledge of all things (Verse 7)
C'. called (Verse 8)
B'. ordained (Verse 8)
A'. order of the Son (Verse 9)