Email Newsletter icon, E-mail Newsletter icon, Email List icon, E-mail List icon Subscribe to LAM Newsletter - enter email address below
Life After Home
Who Are We?
Radio Programs
How to Witness
Help for Mormon Friends
Mormon Neighbors?
Tips on Witnessing
Church of the Week
Salvation
After Mormonism
Conversion
Denouncing Mormonism
Easter Essays
Faith
Not the Same Christ
Jesus is the Only Way
Power of Prayer
Romans Road
The Cross
What Would Jesus Say
Why I Left
Testing for Truth
Testing Part 1
Testing Part 2
Testing Part 3
Polygamy
Letters From Mary
580 Reasons to Leave
Reasons 1-40
Reasons 41-90
Reasons 91-135
Reasons 136-190
Reasons 191-246
Reasons 247-292
Reasons 293-343
Reasons 344-394
Reasons 395-445
Reasons 446-500
Reasons 501-550
Reasons 551-580
Research
600 BC
And It Came To Pass
Anti-Mormonism
Atheism and Mormonism
Before Adam
Bible Accuracy
Birth of Jesus
Bishop's Duties
BOM Artifacts
BOM Artifacts Pt II
BOM Language
BOM Problems
Centennial Park
Curse of Cain
Demonic Names
Demonic Names Pt 2
Descriptions of Joseph
Different Jesus-Review
False Prophecies
Finding Freedom
Firing Squad
Glenn Beck and LU
Good as Christians?
Great Apostasy
Great Debate
Greek Words
Greek Latin Words Pt II
Hinckley Challenge
Holidays
Holy Week
Islam in America
Islam or Mormonism
Jesus My Brother
KJV Only or Not
Mormon Confession
Mormon Lifestyles
Mormon Quotes
Nephi's Reign
Nephi & Jacob
North Korea
Oaths & Loyalty
PBS on Mormons
President
Relationship
Smithsonian
Spirit Children
Temple Furniture
Temple Furniture Pt 2
Temple of God
'Tis The Season
Vital Statistics 2004
Vital Statistics 2006
Vital Statistics 2008
Voided Atonement
Worship Music
Worshipping Pioneers
Mormon Doctrine
3-in-1 LDS Facts Pt 1
3-in-1 LDS Facts Pt 2
3-in-1 LDS Facts Pt 3
3-in-1 LDS Facts Pt 4
Articles of Faith
Baptism for Dead
Bishop & Young Women
Book of Mormon
Burning in the Bosom
Confused
Ensign
Families Forever
Food Storage
Fundamentals
General Conference
God an Exalted Man?
Inspired of God?
Is Jesus a Mormon
Jesus-Lucifer's Brother?
Light of Christ
Mormon Beliefs
Mormon Presidents
Mormon Terminology
Moroni; Who Was He?
Oliver Granger
Pray to Jesus?
Saints of Polygamy
Salt Sermon
Unequally Yoked
Women Need Husbands?
Word Studies
Joseph Smith
All Because of Joseph
False Prophet
Jeffs vs Joseph
Joseph & Lucifer
Joseph Description
Joseph Description Pt II
Joseph Smith Bio
Joseph Smith's Vision
Joseph's Wives
Jesus vs. Joseph
Support LAM
Donate
Pray for Us
About Us
Who is LAM
What We Believe
Team
Testimony
Careers
Contact
Exit Letter
Bookstore
Mormon News
Mormon Quotes
Links
Testimonies
Dave
Doris
Emily
Janet
Jenn
Melissa 1
Melissa 2
Tracy
Contact

The trouble with the BOM
Despite 4,000 changes, Mormons maintain it is still the most correct book ever written - including the bible

 

This article will cover many of the changes to the Book of Mormon illustrating the ever-evolving theology of the Mormon Church.  We present the following evidence:

 

We felt that it was important to start with what Mormons say about a particular change rather than have us do that. 

Therefore, d
on't take our word for it, listen to how Mormon scholars explain away changes to the BoM while maintaining that it is the most correct book ever written:

 

1. "Born of a Virgin" Change - as told by FAIR

"In 1837 Joseph Smith made several editorial changes in the Book of Mormon. Many are relatively innocuous, but one of them is much more substantial. In the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, the verse we know as 1 Nephi 11:18 reads:

And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of God, after the manner of the flesh.

For the 1837 edition, Joseph inserted "the Son of," so that the verse has read ever since:

And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.

There is no way to know just what was on Joseph Smith's mind when he made that change, but that hasn't stopped a lot of people from trying.

However, when we focus on the fact of the change, we inherently begin to ask the wrong questions. Several authors have discussed this change as evidence of an evolving LDS theology of God. That very question implicitly supposes Joseph Smith as the author of the Book of Mormon by assuming that the Book of Mormon is evidence of Joseph's early thought. If we believe the Book of Mormon, it isn't. The Book of Mormon doesn't represent Joseph's theology--it represents Nephite theology."  

To read the complete text please go to FAIR LDS.
-----------------------------

We at Life After Ministries wish to thank Mormons like Brant Gardner who wrote the preceding "defense" of his faith.  We also wish to thank "FAIR" for publishing it on their site.  We are happy to see Mormon Scholars so willing to give Joseph Smith, the proprieter of Mormonsim, the benefit of the doubt.  Therefore, we call on FAIR to act in a manner consistent with its name, and instruct all Mormons, via its website, to be as pragmatic about judging the intentions of early Christian theologians as they are about the judging the intentions of their own.

Moreover, we are shocked that scholars from an  organzation calling itself by the name of FAIR would start with a conclusion that the Book of Mormon is necessarily true and then reverse engineer the data to meet that conclusion (please note the underlined text above).  Instead, we call on all Mormons to start with a hypothesis of "The Book is Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ" and reasearch forward, letting the data prove or disprove the hypothesis of their theories. 

In The Final Analysis

It would seem that sometimes the Church of Latter-day Saints is its own worst enemy. By making such unsubstantiated claims that "the Book of Mormon is the most correct book ever," they leave themselves completely open to criticism.  It's almost as if the Mormon Church invites the criticism, likes the criticism, is more comfortable playing the victim rather than facing the obvious and confounding issues that dog the Country's 4th largest dominiation.  Instead, time after time, it has been our experience, whether we're dealing with members, missionaries or leaders of the Mormon Church, that despite the "prophectic" claims from their founder that they would confound their enemies, the Mormon church as a whole, runs away from defending their faith despite the claim that they are "true church." We should think that members of the 'true church' could do as much. But such is not the case leaving themselves open to criticism. 

 

The Book of Mormon is just another one of many examples.  It has many problems. Any person willing to take a close enough, critical look at the BOM, or the Church and its doctrines for that matter, can find the serious doctrinal problems with Mormonism.  However, the Mormon Church preys on ignorance. It prefers that its members only look as deep as they are told to.  It's part of the indoctrination process to keep its members where they are--safely within the church's control. If the Church member begins to look deeper and form their own conclusions, and in essence face the facts themselves, the entire illusion quickly unravels because any decerning follower of Mormonism quickly finds themselves in a deeper sea of questions rather than in a deeper sea of faith.

  

Therefore, in its haste to make sure all the doctrine lines up in the Church of Latter-day Saints, the Church has changed, tweaked and excused (as you have seen above) its countless alterations to the Book of Mormon as mostly grammatical fixes while at the same time it blasts Christians on charges that the Bible is flawed because of its many translations.  It matters not in the least to the LDS Church that their hypocrisy is fully exposed when they deny, if you follow their line of reasoning, that the Book of Mormon, after being translated in Spanish is somehow less reliable than its English counterpart.  What's more, major portions of the Book of Mormon are copied directly from the Bible, particularly from the book of Isaiah.  It begs the question in that sense, "How can something so vile and polluted like the Bible as Mormons claim it is, be poured into something so correct, like the Book of Mormon, and not remain unpolluted itself?"  Does it not stand to reason that if we have a a glass of dirty water and pour it into a glass of pure water, does not the pure water become polluted?

 

Furthermore, if the Book of Mormon is the most correct book ever written, why would the LDS Church tell its missionaries to leave behind the Bible?   Is this not the least bit curious to the average Mormon that they would not leave behind something other than "the most correct book ever written?"  

 

In what is a classic example of finger pointing, Mormons continue on this crusade about the Book of Mormon and its perfection.  Any discussion about the book will eventually lead to its "sacredness" despite what we have discussed here.

So we thought it would be helpful to point out some of the changes to the BOM and also show where the Bible, in the Mormon's eyes, gets a bum rap. 

More will follow on this subject soon and we'll examine the specific charges on both sides in the weeks to come.

For more information on Mormon beliefs, please go to www.lifeafter.org.  Life After Ministries is a donor supported ministry that cannot spead the Gospel to deceived Mormons without your help.
Please give.


 

 

 
PLEASE GIVE...

Life After Ministries is a donor-
supported non-profit organization. Without your support we are unable to spread the REAL gospel of Jesus Christ to Mormons all over North America. 
Please give today

DONATE      
• Changing the hearts of the Mormons is a daily process of changing one heart at a time.  We can't do it without you.  Please help today. 

Volunteers
 
     

• Life After Ministries is always in need of volunteers.  If God has put  Mormons and others deceived by the enemy on your heart, contact us today. 

Open your own missions field 
• LAM is looking for a few dedicated Christians in every major metropolitan area to help us stop missionaries from being successful.  Find out how your passion can stop theirs.

Other Vital LAM Resources...

LAMJournal
• Receive a Free six-month Subscription to the Journal.

Sign up for the LAM Newsletter 
• Want to know where we're speaking, or just need information? Sign up for the free LAM Newsletter today. 

Other Mormon Links 
• More links to sites challenging Mormonism

Church L
inks 

• This group of Churches has partnered with LAM.  Find out how to get your church on this page and how you can become a teacher of Mormon witnessing at your church. 

Google News - Mormon Issues            
• Sign up to recieve free email updates from Google News every time news breaks on Mormons or LDS Church.
 

© 2007 Life After Ministries - All rights reserved.