charity wrote:skippy the dead wrote:
Duh. Joseph Smith didn't have to blink letter-by-letter to convey his thoughts. It's entirely possible, though, to plan out in advance what the day's writings will consist of and go from there. If Joseph Smith had an affinity for that type of thing, then it's not even a superhuman feat to do so. He'd been telling stories about the "original inhabitants" of the Americas for years to his family. He'd already had the 116 pages he'd worked on with Martin Harris. It's not unreasonable.
Just try it. Make up a book, memorize it, dictate it to a scribe in 60 some days. Then come back and tell us what a snap it was.
The point is, you wouldn't have to memorize the whole book at once. You just need to compose small parts of it at a time. And I'm not going to base my opinion on comparing my own abilities - rote memorization isn't my strength. But for others, it is. Joseph Smith obviously had more abilities in this area than I do. Plus, it wasn't a perfect job, either. I'm too lazy to look it up now, but there are several instances where the composition of the Book of Mormon is meandering and self-contradictory, like it was made up on the fly. More reason for me to put credence into the theory that Joseph Smith was the author.
charity wrote:skippy the dead wrote:Using your 8 pages a day average - take into account that much of the Book of Mormon is copied from the KJV, so those days would likely generate more pages than other days, leaving plenty of time other days for him to weave his tale. And the theology isn't complicated - it's reflective of the theories of the day. The Book of Mormon isn't even particularly well written. Again, it's not unreasonable to conclude that the book was a product of a man's mind.
This is where you really should have done your homework. There are about 25,000 words from the KJV, in a book which contains 270,745 words. That is roughly 11%. That is not "much" by any standard. PLUS the fact that all the witnesses day that Joseph did not have a Bible with him when the translation was going on.
Oh, since you keep saying things are so easy. Memorize 8 pages of the Book of Isaiah over night, and then dictate it the next day. We will be waiting to hear what a nothing task this was.
11% isn't "much"? Really? We have a different opinion of much, then. (Silly aside: take out all the "it came to pass"-es and then do the percentage comparison.) And do not forget to take into account the amazing parallels between parts of the Bible and the Book of Mormon - that makes it easier to compose a book when you've already got a template.
We can bicker about whether the witnesses ever saw Joseph Smith with a Bible, but obviously we aren't going to convince each other of anything. But do remember that Martin Harris had reported that some "translation" occurred while Joseph Smith was behind a sheet, in another room, or upstairs. It cannot be stated that Joseph Smith "never" had a Bible with him.
And again, I'm not going to make myself the baseline for memorizing any Bible passages and then regurgitating them. We're not speculating about my abilities (and, by the way, I don't suggest I can do it). Best I can do is memorize large portions of Shakespeare. But it's certainly not impossible, and, in fact, many are able to memorize large swaths of text. Either way, your "challenge" is simply silly.
I may be going to hell in a bucket, babe / But at least I'm enjoying the ride.
-Grateful Dead (lyrics by John Perry Barlow)