Book of Mormon questions for brave Mormons to answer

[_Daniel Peterson]

I've come to a good part, Nephi is being considerate he writes:

"And now I Nephi do not speak all the words of my father. But to be short in writing..."

Thank goodness because that dream was already about a 1,000 words.

The account of that dream is marvelously rich, and replete with ties to the ancient Near East. That you can't wait to get through it, and complain about its length, says little about the Book of Mormon.

[_Calculus Crusader]

These people were suppose to be Jews but they did not write like Jews as they wrote like Christians. They did not act or write like other Jews at the same time who were in Jerusalem.

They also had a schizophrenic Christology that freely floated between Trinitarianism and a species of Sabellianism.

I'm not sure what Joseph Smith was seeing in his hat...

He saw dollar signs and dupes.

[_marg]

Ok I discovered there are "easy to read versions and that's what I'll get a hold of to read. I can not continue reading this.

[_Morrissey]

I've come to a good part, Nephi is being considerate he writes:

"And now I Nephi do not speak all the words of my father. But to be short in writing..."

Thank goodness because that dream was already about a 1,000 words.

The account of that dream is marvelously rich, and replete with ties to the ancient Near East. That you can't wait to get through it, and complain about its length, says little about the Book of Mormon.

One person's richness is another person's snoozefest.

What are you doing up so early and on this board? As for me, I'm waiting for a telecon to start, and they're late

[_Nevo]

Ok I discovered there are "easy to read versions and that's what I'll get a hold of to read. I can not continue reading this.

Here is one that might be more to your liking.

[_Jason Bourne]

I hope you don't mind Jason but I am looking at what I'm reading from a critical perspective and I shall try to refrain from being too negative.

That is fine.

But the book is annoying with the superfluous stuff, not to mention that it's ridiculous even conceptually, because the idea is that "reformed egyptian was used to cut down of writing characters.

My understanding is reformed Egyptian took less space than Hebrew. That does not mean it will translate into English that way.

What's up with these paragraphs which explain what someone says and then it's followed with a line or two of "after this manner of language" and a one line summary repeat of what was already said? And I looked in the KJV and "after this manner of language" is not a Hebraism.

I am not sure. Why would you look at the KJV to see if something is a Hebraism?

by the way..so Nephi is supposed to have gotten hold of the plates from Laban, which essentially is the O.T.

Part of the Old Testament up the I believe the Prophet Jeremiah as well as additional wrtings that are not in the Old Testament.

So are those plates supposed to be written in Egyptian heiroglyphics or Hebrew?

Reformed Egyptian is all we know about it.

And does that mean that the book the angel brought to Lehi was supposed to be on metal plates as well? This is confusing... what happened to the book brought to Lehi by the angel?

The Book brought to Lehi is a vision was figurative if I recall and is not part of the Book of Mormon.

[_Jason Bourne]

Ok I discovered there are "easy to read versions and that's what I'll get a hold of to read. I can not continue reading this.

Oh come on Marg. I understand the book is choppy in its style in many cases. But you are bright and can get through it. I am sure.

[_Daniel Peterson]

One person's richness is another person's snoozefest.

Precisely.

http://mi.BYU.edu/publications/review/? ... um=1&id=21

[_marg]

My understanding is reformed Egyptian took less space than Hebrew. That does not mean it will translate into English that way.

I see so Reformed Egyptian could be like Pitman's Shorthand.

I am not sure. Why would you look at the KJV to see if something is a Hebraism?

One of the reasons why "and it came to pass" is in the KJV and other Bible such as Tyndales' which was used by those putting together the KJV is that literal translations from Hebrew or Greek were used. Tyndale apparently translated translated literally word for word from Greek and tried to keep to same word order.

So the phrase "and it came to pass" is used both in ancient Hebrew and Greek to denote a new paragraph and so it was translated literally even though it's not necessary in english.

So I'm assuming the O.T.portion of the KJV is likely a literal translation mainly from Hebrew and so it would contain Hebraisms.

Since you are more knowledgable about
religion" correct me if I'm wrong.

The Book brought to Lehi is a vision was figurative if I recall and is not part of the Book of Mormon.

I missed that, went back and saw the word "vision".

As far as continuuing I really don't know. It's a lot of time to spend on something which is torture.

[_cinepro]

In the early 90's, the First Presidency officially discouraged tinkering with the Book of Mormon language, so this may have put a damper on any inclinations to revise the text.

Modern-Language Editions of the Book of Mormon Discouraged

Ensign, Apr. 1993, 74

We are pleased to announce that 4,855,167 copies of the Book of Mormon were sold during 1992. Of this number, 1,994,312 were in English, followed by 1,209,734 in Spanish. The remainder included translations in 36 other languages.

It is gratifying to note the ever-increasing distribution of this sacred scripture which has come to us as a voice speaking “out of the dust” declaring the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Isa. 29:4.) The power of its testimony and the persuasive beauty of its language have touched the hearts of millions around the world.

From time to time there are those who wish to rewrite the Book of Mormon into familiar or modern English. We discourage this type of publication and call attention to the fact that the Book of Mormon was translated “by the gift and power of God,” who has declared that “it is true.” (Book of Mormon title page; D&C 17:6.) The Prophet Joseph Smith said that the Book of Mormon was “the most correct of any book on earth.” (History of the Church, 4:461.) It contains “the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” (D&C 20:9.)

When a sacred text is translated into another language or rewritten into more familiar language, there are substantial risks that this process may introduce doctrinal errors or obscure evidence of its ancient origin. To guard against these risks, the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve give close personal supervision to the translation of scriptures from English into other languages and have not authorized efforts to express the doctrinal content of the Book of Mormon in familiar or modern English. (These concerns do not pertain to publications by the Church for children, such as the Book of Mormon Reader.)

We counsel everyone to cultivate the influence of the scriptures by personal study of the word of the Lord contained therein. When this is done prayerfully, each who reads may know the truth of these sacred words by the power of the Holy Ghost. (Moro. 10:5.)