AboutMichael Kelley Expertise For a different viewpoint on Mormonism for your questions, try me. I am a staunch believer in the Book of Mormon and belong to another church (the Church of Christ)that is set up identically to the Biblical church. If there are things about traditional Mormonism that trouble you or you have questions about, just ask and you might find the answers from the Book of Mormon to be quite surprising. I have been studying the scriptures diligently for 16 years under the school of hard knocks... I may not have all of the answers but will sure go find them if I don`t. I`m strongest on Biblical and Book of Mormon doctrines, and am also somewhat familiar with Mormon history and archaeology.
Question How did the italicized words, placed in the 1611 AD King James English translation of the Bible, by the 1611 King James translators, appear on the 200 pound gold plates which were made 1700 years before the King James translators were born? There seems to be an error of some kind here that one would think should have been corrected by now. Could you help me with this?
Thank you.
Answer Hi Buz,
I will be happy to answer your questions. Please note that I am ex-LDS and belong to the original Church of Christ that believes in the Book of Mormon.
When translating the Bible from Greek into English the translators interjected many words to make the sentence flow better and make better sense of it's intended meaning. It is a common problem for translators and by doing this they make the translation readable without doing damage to the original meaning (usually).
When the Book of Mormon was translated it was done by the power of God, and without some of the mistakes introduced by the errors of men. Example: in the Bible Jesus states that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter into heaven. The original Aramaic states it was easier to pass a rope through the eye of a needle. Rope and Camel look almost identical in Aramaic.
It would be logical for God to cause the translation from reformed Egyptian (that the gold plates were written in) into English to be translated into readable English and thus many of the interjections by the KJV translators would of course coincidentally match the Book of Mormon passages. In the Book of Mormon Isaiah is extensively quoted, and Jesus reteaches the same Sermon on the Mount to the Nephites that He did to the Jews, therefore many of these quotes and reteachings will be word for word identical.
Of course from the antis they will cry plagiarism on the part of Joseph Smith and that the Book of Mormon is a fraud. This is very short sighted and the critics fail to do deeper research that not only reveals many similarities, but also many differences between the quotes of Isaiah and the two Sermons on the Mount.
Check out my website that compares the two Sermons on the Mount with differences highlighted in color and the KJV interjections in []. http://home.earthlink.net/~technomn/page57.html
On this webpage you will see many passages that are word for word identical, yet also has many remarkable differences. In the Bible Jesus tells the followers to pluck out their eyes or cut off their hands in order to avoid sin, the Book of Mormon says to cross yourselves. Unknown to many is the term "Pluck out your eyes" is a Hebrew euphamism that meant to cross yourself and never was intended to be taken literally. In another place Pharisees and Publicans are mentioned in the Bible... but not in the Book of Mormon... because those titles did not exist 600 BC when the Nephites migrated to the New World and it would have been a glaring error if Smith had plagiarized the Bible and included those words. Examine all of the differences on my webpage and you will note numerous differences, some so subtle that if Smith had intended on plagiarism it would have been impossible for him to account for all of these differences and he would inevitably introduced manmade errors that would have been discovered. Yet in spite of these differences, doctrinally the two sermons on the mount are identical.
Overall... the study I made on the 2 sermons on the mount not only reinforced my belief in the Book of Mormon, but in the Bible as well. By knowing of a certainty of the truthfullness of the Book of Mormon (by many means) and seeing word for word passages written in the same language in the Bible... it shows me God's hand with the King James translators too. I read a history on the KJV translation efforts how they would have extensive fasts and prayer so that they would make an accurate translation and the Book of Mormon verifies that work.
Most people think the Book of Mormon teaches "another Gospel" meaning a different or strange gospel. Nothing could be further from the truth. Doctrine for doctrine the Book of Mormon teaches the very same gospel as the Bible does. Unfortunately countless souls think the Book of Mormon teaches the doctrines of the apostate Utah LDS church such as the past practice of polygamy, the current practices of Baptism for the Dead, Celestial Marriage, a changing God, plural Gods, man becoming a God, the 1st Presidency etc. etc.. The Book of Mormon not only utterly fails to mention those doctrines even once, but in many ways strongly teaches AGAINST those LDS doctrines.
The Book of Mormon was never intended to teach another or opposing gospel, but is intended to teach the same Gospel as the Bible, and witness to the world that the Bible is true and Jesus is the one and only true Son of God.
I hope this helps answer your questions, feel free to ask other questions if you like or email me directly to technomn@earthlink.net
