Joseph Smith wrote witnesses statement

[Guest]

I reckon about the same number as you. So, shouldn't the Book of Mormon read like Hebrew given its origin and the exacting method by which it was transcribed?

Ah, but I'll at least admit I don't know how the translation process took place. It wasn't written in Hebrew. And Joseph Smith didn't know the language it was written in, so again - Joseph Smith's own words and style may be very consistent with the translation process he used. It is simply impossible to determine without having the original and knowing exactly how he accomplished it without knowing the language.

[_lulu]

That's not the point. If the Book of Mormon had mulitple authors as is claimed, it would show up in the translation. Skousen says it doesn't.
Criddle says it does, but that those authors are Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and Solomon Spalding. (I'm still holding out to include Emma in the list).
That's the point.

And you are missing my point. Joseph Smith didn't speak the language (nor know it), so how he translated it, which is really a poor term for it, is very much up in the air. He may very well have seen the events and described it in his own convoluted incorrect 17th century English style. Without the original and knowledge of the process he used, I don't find it a very compelling argument to make that his wording style and the wording style of the Book of Mormon should be different at all.

"Translated" is a word Joseph Smith used. But you're right, he also used "author."

But if you are going to to that route, then I think you have to engage directly with the word studies.

Ready?

[_Tobin]

And you are missing my point. Joseph Smith didn't speak the language (nor know it), so how he translated it, which is really a poor term for it, is very much up in the air. He may very well have seen the events and described it in his own convoluted incorrect 17th century English style. Without the original and knowledge of the process he used, I don't find it a very compelling argument to make that his wording style and the wording style of the Book of Mormon should be different at all.

"Translated" is a word Joseph Smith used. But you're right, he also used "author."

But if you are going to to that route, then I think you have to engage directly with the word studies.

Ready?

Go nuts, but I still think you are missing my point. I'll explain it again after you do your "word studies" however.

[_Drifting]

I reckon about the same number as you. So, shouldn't the Book of Mormon read like Hebrew given its origin and the exacting method by which it was transcribed?

Ah, but I'll at least admit I don't know how the translation process took place. It wasn't written in Hebrew. And Joseph Smith didn't know the language it was written in, so again - Joseph Smith's own words and style may be very consistent with the translation process he used. It is simply impossible to determine without having the original and knowing exactly how he accomplished it without knowing the language.

Now we are getting somewhere.
Go onto LDS.org and look up "A Treasured Testament" which will educate you on how the translation took place.

[_lulu]

Go nuts, but I still think you are missing my point. I'll explain it again after you do your "word studies" however.

Some of them have already been done. And none of them were mine.

Now, do you have a substantive comment to make about your position or Skousen's and the extant word studies?

Or do you want to talk about my nuts?

[_Tobin]

Now we are getting somewhere. Go onto LDS.org and look up "A Treasured Testament" which will educate you on how the translation took place.

Wow, you've got me now. And how many Gold books has Elder Russell M. Nelson translated by the gift and power of God exactly? Actually, I'll answer that for you since I know him personally and he presided at my grandparent's funeral - ZERO!

[_Tobin]

Now, do you have a substantive comment to make about your position or Skousen's and the extant word studies?

If there is a point you are going to make any time in my future, I wish you'd get there. Until then, I'll say it again - we don't know the process Joseph Smith used to translate the Gold plates and so his choice of words and style may be very consistent with what we see in the Book of Mormon.

[_Drifting]

Now we are getting somewhere. Go onto LDS.org and look up "A Treasured Testament" which will educate you on how the translation took place.

Wow, you've got me now. And how many Gold books has Elder Russell M. Nelson translated by the gift and power of God exactly? Actually, I'll answer that for you since I know him personally and he presided at my grandparent's funeral - ZERO!

I was hoping you'd notice the bits where he quotes eye witnesses to the translation process....*sigh*....

[_Tobin]

I was hoping you'd notice the bits where he quotes eye witnesses to the translation process....*sigh*....

And I'll keep asking the same question till you understand it - how many of them translated Gold plates by the gift and power of the God? And the answer is again going to be ZERO!

[_lulu]

Now, do you have a substantive comment to make about your position or Skousen's and the extant word studies?

If there is a point you are going to make any time in my future, I wish you'd get there. Until then, I'll say it again - we don't know the process Joseph Smith used to translate the Gold plates and so his choice of words and style may be very consistent with what we see in the Book of Mormon.

1. Joseph Smith claimed multiple authors
2. BYU word studies have shown multiple authors
3. Criddle shows multiple authors
4. Skousen claims one author.

Discuss, engaging directly and specifically the 4 above points.

Throwing your hands in the air and repeating "we don't know," doesn't cut it. See Mighty Builder's threads. Remembering how annoying those got?