Possible Modern Source for the Book of Mormon

[_Runtu]

The first 116 pages will be sent a few months after Mark Hofmann gets out of prison.

Thanks for the best laugh of the day.

[_Ceeboo]

I just received my copy of The Late War and I noticed something very interesting.

The very first page of the book is page 117!

Hmmmmmmmm???????????

Peace,
Ceeboo

The first 116 pages will be sent a few months after Mark Hofmann gets out of prison.

Touche!




Peace,
Ceeboo

[_Ceeboo]

Holy Bonkersnickles!

This thread has almost 17,000 views!

[_Tim the Enchanter]

Tim,

As a scholar of those two chapters, perhaps you could share your thoughts on a couple things.

Scholar is a stretch, but Alma 49 is a chapter that really spoke to me, moreso than other chapters. Looking at it through my disaffected eyes, the story is isn't that realistic (for the reasons you mention) and the characters are caricatures. Nonetheless, I still like the chapter a lot. What resonates with me is that I think this chapter shows the difference between wisdom and folly. Captain Moroni was wise. He knew the weak parts of the land and fortified them against attack. The city of Ammonihah had previously been destroyed by the Lamanites so he fortified it. The city of Noah has previously been the weakest part of the land, and Captain Moroni ensured that it was strengthened. This prepared the land against Lamanite attack. Cannot I do the same with my personal weakness? I can. This chapter reminds me that I have weakness and that it is wise to strengthen them.

Conversely, this chapter also demonstrates folly. The Lamanite leader was Amalakiah. He was a bad leader. He didn't care for his people. His personal vendetta against Captain Moroni cost the lives of the Lamanites under him. Amalakiah's folly cost the lives of the Lamanites under him. The folly of world leaders today continues to cost the lives of many people. It's a tragedy. The Lamanites in this chapter also demonstrate the sunk costs fallacy. I imagine them making the best preparations for war that they were capable of, and then not having the wisdom to realize when to cut their losses. Instead of realizing they had no chance, they threw themselves at the Nephites in a hopeless kamikaze mission.

It may seem like a simple idea (be wise, not foolish) but for whatever reason, this chapter really struck a chord with me. It was like an epiphany when it hit me and was a chapter that I returned to time and time again.

[_Bazooka]

Holy Bonkersnickles!

This thread has almost 17,000 views!

How many of them are yours?

[_Ludd]

I have lurked now and then but not posted here for a while. But I have just skimmed through a lot of this very interesting thread. I must say that I am impressed by alot of what I have seen. There seem to be a very large number of similarities between this "Late War" book and the language of the Book of Mormon.

I did not notice if anyone has been able to link Joseph Smith to this book. If it could be reliably demonstrated that Joseph Smith or someone closely related to him had this book, I've got to think that this is damn near a "smoking gun" in terms of showing where Joseph Smith came up with the "peculiar" language he used for his "translatoin" of the Book of Mormon.

Wowser!

Have any of the mopologist big guns come out yet to address this stuff? I've got to believe that this is VERY disturbing for them.

I did a google search to see if any news orgs have picked up on this yet, but couldn't find anything. I wonder if Elder Pillsbury Dough Boy Holland is getting ready to crawl over and around this recently discovered possible source for the Book of Mormon? I wonder how the church is planning to bury this baby under Mt. Doom?

[_Equality]

I did a google search to see if any news orgs have picked up on this yet, but couldn't find anything. I wonder if Elder Pillsbury Dough Boy Holland is getting ready to crawl over and around this recently discovered possible source for the Book of Mormon? I wonder how the church is planning to bury this baby under Mt. Doom?

I have heard that Peggy Fletcher Stack is working on an article about it.

[_DrW]

I have lurked now and then but not posted here for a while. But I have just skimmed through a lot of this very interesting thread. I must say that I am impressed by a lot of what I have seen. There seem to be a very large number of similarities between this "Late War" book and the language of the Book of Mormon.

I did not notice if anyone has been able to link Joseph Smith to this book. If it could be reliably demonstrated that Joseph Smith or someone closely related to him had this book, I've got to think that this is damn near a "smoking gun" in terms of showing where Joseph Smith came up with the "peculiar" language he used for his "translatoin" of the Book of Mormon.

Wowser!

Have any of the mopologist big guns come out yet to address this stuff? I've got to believe that this is VERY disturbing for them.

I did a google search to see if any news orgs have picked up on this yet, but couldn't find anything. I wonder if Elder Pillsbury Dough Boy Holland is getting ready to crawl over and around this recently discovered possible source for the Book of Mormon? I wonder how the church is planning to bury this baby under Mt. Doom?

According to the video from Chris, TLW was used as printed and recommended as a reader in schools in New York, and would have been in such use in schools from the time Joseph Smith was about 11 years old. Not proof, but added weight to the weight of evidence (which is pretty weighty already).

[_ElGuapo]

It's not a smoking gun without some kind of evidence that Joseph Smith read the book. And for the believers even that wouldn't matter. But for outsiders just trying to understand context, what this research basically says is that if Joseph Smith ever read a book that influenced his writing, this is the one. Given the parallels in word usage, pseudobiblical Hebraisms, story constructions and themes, as well as the overall emphasis on war, I personally would be shocked if he wasn't well acquainted with this book.

[_thews]

It's not a smoking gun without some kind of evidence that Joseph Smith read the book.

The question isn't based upon the fact that it can be proven he read the book, but rather the book and its parallels existed for him to read... just like Francis Barrett's book Magus on occult philosophy, or the Travels through Arabia and Other Countries in the East that could have been referenced, thus negating "He couldn't have known" arguments.

Travels through Arabia and Other Countries in the East (2 volumes; Edinburgh: Printed for R. Morison and Son, et al., 1792), by Carsten Niebuhr, ed. by Robert Heron
http://books.google.com/books?id=5P8vAAAAYAAJ

http://www.renaissanceastrology.com/jos ... isman.html