Possible Modern Source for the Book of Mormon

[_DrW]

Kishkumen,

Your link opened to the first chapter of the book, which you indicated you had read.

Have you turned back to and read the Preface? If so, what do you think about it?

If you have not done so yet, your stunning experience may not yet be complete.

Not hard to imagine the impact the Preface would have on someone in Joseph Smith's position. It seems to be both an invitation and an instruction book on writing history in a traditional, proper and, yes, even biblical manner and style.

[_Kishkumen]

Folks, this looks like a smoking gun if I have ever seen one.

[_Everybody Wang Chung]

Kish,

I'm trying to find out more about this. One of the attendees posted this about the presentation on Reddit: http://pr.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comment ... e_book_of/

Chris Johnson used some impressive algorithms and literary analysis to show similarities. Many of us know about "View of the Hebrews" but that book was not the one that showed the highest level of similarity.

There was a lot of analysis and "mathy" algorithms but basically his data shows that it is very likely that the Book of Mormon, D&C, Book of Abraham, and Pearl of Great Price were all plagiarized by single author.

Does anybody know if this presentation is online somewhere yet?

[_Gadianton]

Reverend,

The hair is literally standing on the back of my neck.

The defense will be, the "Late War" is written to mimick Bible writing, so a Brandt Gardner will say that the Book of Mormon and this book simply share a common "textual layer". The challenge will be to show similarities not accounted for by the Bible.

My first instinct was, why would Joseph Smith and company pick a satire, was the Book of Mormon a joke? So I read the introduction to glean any kind of intention, and it looks like the book was written with profound seriousness.

This definitely deserves attention, I myself will be busy at work filtering out the Bible to see if there are any dead hits.

This little reference of yours I kid you not is as, if not more promising, than other proposed sources. I've always been of the mindset that the Book of Mormon is obviously false, no need to get desperate and force an explanation for it. Much of what I read explaining the Book of Mormon seems forced, so I'm not drawn to it. But this little gem, this is holding my interest...

[_Shulem]

Folks, this looks like a smoking gun if I have ever seen one.

Indeed it does. Oh boy. The house is on fire now!

Paul O

[_Kishkumen]

Let the children of Columbia beware of false prophets which come in sheep's clothing; for it is written, Ye shall know them by their fruits.

2. Now it came to pass, that a certain man, whose sir-name was Henry, came before James, the chief governor, and opened his mouth, and spake unto him, saying,

3. Lo! If thou wilt give unto me two score and ten thousand pieces of silver, then will I unfold unto thee the witchcraft of Britain, that thereby thy nation may not be caught in her snares.

4. And James said unto him, Verily, for the good of my country I will do this thing.

[Guest]

Reverend,

The hair is literally standing on the back of my neck.

The defense will be, the "Late War" is written to mimick Bible writing, so a Brandt Gardner will say that the Book of Mormon and this book simply share a common "textual layer". The challenge will be to show similarities not accounted for by the Bible.

My first instinct was, why would Joseph Smith and company pick a satire, was the Book of Mormon a joke? So I read the introduction to glean any kind of intention, and it looks like the book was written with profound seriousness.

This definitely deserves attention, I myself will be busy at work filtering out the Bible to see if there are any dead hits.

This little reference of yours I kid you not is as, if not more promising, than other proposed sources. I've always been of the mindset that the Book of Mormon is obviously false, no need to get desperate and force an explanation for it. Much of what I read explaining the Book of Mormon seems forced, so I'm not drawn to it. But this little gem, this is holding my interest...

Dean Robbers,

Yes, we need a full court press from the entire faculty of Cassius on this one. As you have presciently noted, one of the best parts about all of this is that we will be able to observe the evolution of the Mopologetic response to this "smoking gun" from the beginning. I don't use the term smoking gun lightly. Indeed, I would be chary of doing so were it not for the stunning resemblance of this text to the Book of Mormon, not only in terms of language, but also in its divine mechanics and parallel anecdotes. One wonders how the Mopologetic set will spin this one.

Perhaps an entire issue of the Interpreter devoted to this challenge.

[_Kishkumen]

11. Now, there was a certain hypocrite, whose name was Elijah, and he was a false prophet in the east, and he led astray those of little understanding; moreover, he was an hireling, and preached for the sake of filthy lucre.

12. And he rose up and called himself a preacher of the gospel, and his words were smooth, and the people marvelled at him;

13. But he profaned the temple of the Lord, and he strove to lead his disciples into the wrong way.

14. And many wise men turned their backs against him; nevertheless, he repented not of his sins unto this day.

[_Gadianton]

Now, there was a certain hypocrite, whose name was Eligah, and he was a false prophet of the east, and he led astray those of little understanding; morever, he was an hireling, and preached for the sake of filthy lucre.

And he rose up and called himself a preacher of the gospel, and his words were smooth, and the people marvelled at him;

But he profaned the temple of the Lord, and strove to lead his disciplies into the wrong way.

[_Shulem]

Yes, we need a full court press from the entire faculty of Cassius on this one.

Indeed. This really looks serious and presents a grave situation for the LDS church. If it can be logically shown that this is original source material that inspired the Book of Mormon production it just might be enough to knock the Book of Mormon on its ass forever! Taking into consideration all the plagiarism, anachronisms, and errors of the Book of Mormon this might serve as a final death blow. The church is going to lose a lot of members on this one! And better yet, the church is going to lose a lot of potential converts!!

Notice that I said nothing about the writing of Facsimile No. 3 not matching up with Joe's official Explanations (revelations)?



Paul O