The Lost 116 Pages

[Brack]

About a couple of months ago, I purchased the Lost 116 Pages book by Don Bradley.

Before I read through Don's book, I thought that Martin Harris's wife burned the lost 116 pages. But Don makes a convincing argument in his book that she didn't end up burning the lost pages. Martin Harris's son-in-law probably ended up stealing those pages

I know a lot of people have ask why didn't Joseph Smith retranslate the lost pages. There was a thread about this a few months ago on the old message board about this. Link
Don gives his reasons why Joseph Smith didn't retranslate in pages 82 and 107 of his book. He does quote from Doctrine and Covenants 10.

Don gives good evidence in his book that the lost pages stated that Ishmael was a descendant of Ephraim. The lost pages may have also stated that Laban and Zoram were also descendants of Ephraim. But I have read elsewhere that Zoram was probably a descendant of Levi. Link

Don also gives good evidence in his book that the lost manuscript pages were actually more than 116 pages. They were likely around 300 pages that ended up went missing.

Even though I no longer believe in the historicity of the Book of Mormon, I enjoyed reading through most of Don's book. I am glad that I purchased his book.

[Bought Yahoo]

I'd be interested in reading the book but my eyes start to glaze over when reading books about the Book of Mormon.

Obviously, something happened with Joseph Smith and history. He must have lost them. He couldn't retranslate because his retranslation would conflict with the original. I don't necessarily accept the explanation that designing men would have altered the transcript. He would have just said: "Hey, you altered the transcript and my translation stands."

I'm not sure buying the book on Kindle is worth it.

[Shulem]

I don't necessarily accept the explanation that designing men would have altered the transcript. He would have just said: "Hey, you altered the transcript and my translation stands."

Jesus said:

For, behold, they shall not accomplish their evil designs in lying against those words. For, behold, if you should bring forth the same words they will say that you have lied and that you have pretended to translate, but that you have contradicted yourself.

The person speaking in D&C 10 *is* the Lord. He's speaking directly to Joseph Smith in the first person just like he does in so many of the D&C revelations. The final verse concludes with: "And now, remember the words of him who is the life and light of the world, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Amen."

If you don't accept the explanation given in D&C 10, then you don't necessarily accept that it's the Lord speaking -- is that right?

[Bought Yahoo]

I still don't accept that explanation but perhaps you could avoid digging my every post.

[Shulem]

I still don't accept that explanation but perhaps you could avoid digging my every post.

Why should I avoid that? You've made a very important statement which sheds light on your disbelief about the authenticity of the Doctrine and Covenants and I'm interested in exploring that particular weak point of your faith in Joseph Smith. You can avoid it and simply refuse to answer. But keep in mind, I'm Shulem, and I got my finger on you, buddy. No Church this Sunday? Must be nice!



(Don't worry, I won't ask for the king's name)

[Bought Yahoo]

Just quit dogging me please. I don't give a shoot about any king. The last king was George, I think. Or Edward.

[Shulem]

Just quit dogging me please. I don't give a shoot about any king. The last king was George, I think.

Okay, if that's the way you want it.

Have a good day.

[Moksha]

I'm not sure buying the book on Kindle is worth it.

Hey, you are a very successful lawyer and Don is a very nice guy when he appears on Mormon Discussions. You might want to buy it just for the timed trial of how fast your eyes glaze over.

[WeirdAlma]

I'd be interested in reading the book but my eyes start to glaze over when reading books about the Book of Mormon.

Obviously, something happened with Joseph Smith and history. He must have lost them. He couldn't retranslate because his retranslation would conflict with the original. I don't necessarily accept the explanation that designing men would have altered the transcript. He would have just said: "Hey, you altered the transcript and my translation stands."

Right. This episode alone is very telling, in my opinion, as to the shifty nature of the whole operation. It also commits the Book of Mormon to a very tight translation, which of course it needs to *not* be for several of its other problems.

I really hope those pages resurface someday. There were rumors of that a couple years back. Maybe they’re in the vaults?

Here are my suggestions for better solutions to the lost pages issue:

- Joseph inquires of the Lord, via his seer stone or directly in prayer, to find where the 116 pages are. (In the course of his history, Joseph makes inquiries of the Lord about all kinds of mundane things, which the Lord responds to, so surely this would merit special attention, no?) The Lord, knowing all things… such as knowing two thousand years ahead of time that the 116 pages would be lost… relays the information of their whereabouts to Joseph. “Oh, the 116 pages are hidden in that log outside of Lucy’s house? Great, I’ll go retrieve them later!” “Oh, the pages were burned up in Lucy’s fireplace? Well, that’s good to know, so now I can just re-translate without the worry of someone altering the text. Phew!”

- The Lord, who is capable of smiting and striking people blind and dumb, smites/strikes Lucy Harris when she attempts to steal or destroy the pages. Lucy says, “Ouch!” (or tries to mumble “ouch” if she is struck dumb), and the pages are safely recovered. Remember, this is the same Lord who deemed Joseph’s marriage to teenage girls so important that he sent angels with swords to reinforce that happening… surely, he could have opened a Holy Can of Whoop Ass on Lucy for this, right?

- As described in the official scenario, Joseph re-translates exactly word-for-word, and the agents of Satan alter the stolen 116 pages slightly. Joseph then says, “Hey, those pages are slightly altered! But no worries, I’ll prove it by translating yet again.” He gives his first re-translation to a neutral third-party to keep in a safe, then produces a second word-for-word re-translation, which perfectly matches his first re-translation. (They could have even done this with a small sampling of the pages, not necessarily all 116.) The evil doubting people are now like, “Oh! Well, I guess maybe he really does have those plates and might actually be a prophet, after all. Okay, sorry. Our bad!”

- Joseph re-translates everything exactly and finishes the book from that point on. Included in the full book, as presumably would have been in the completed first translation, is the promise in Moroni 10 that if you pray about the book in sincerity, by the power of the Holy Ghost you will know whether it is true or not. Since this is the same condition for knowing its truth that is already accepted by all who adhere to the Book of Mormon being true, it should also apply perfectly well in this case. So what if someone alters a few words on those stolen pages? This new version not only is complete (i.e., it finishes everything beyond what was in the 116 pages), but being the “true” version, it should give you that real spiritual confirmation! With the weight that all believing Mormons have put on Moroni’s Promise, why wouldn’t that have been an easy and effective way to solve this apparent problem?

[Dr Moore]

I too very much enjoyed reading Don's lost 116 pages book. Especially his multiple method assessment that the lost 116 pages likely amounted to many, many more than 116 lost pages.

Reading his book inspired me to consider the time spent by Joseph and his scribes engaged in the various activities of translation. By my estimate, Joseph would have spent 60 to 70% of the time spent on translation sitting in complete silence while his scribe wrote. That's a lot of time for bricolage, memory and imagination to work.