Book of Mormon

By Steve A. Hamilton

Introduction: I’m no expert on Mormonism or on the Book Of Mormon. However, I was invited to study the Book Of Mormon by a few of their members who provided a copy of their book for my study. What I learned about the Mormons was appalling. I learned the Book Of Mormon was full of errors. Therefore, I felt compelled to expose some of the errors contained in the Book Of Mormon in this lesson.

I. Some independent facts about the Book Of Mormon.

A. 3913 changes have been made to this book since its original publication in 1830 (3,913 Changes in the Book of Mormon, by Sandra Tanner). This fact alone proves it is not inspired of God.

B. About 1/8^th of the Book Of Mormon is plagiarized directly from the 1611 KJV Bible.

1. This is most interesting since the Book Of Mormon was allegedly written 1200 to 2000 years before the KJV was translated.

2. Yet, Isaiah 2-14 is directly quoted in 2 Nephi 12-24. Isaiah 48-49 is plagiarized in 1 Nephi 20-21. Isaiah 50-52:2 is quoted nearly word for word in 2 Nephi 7-8. Isaiah 53 can be found in Mosiah 14. Isaiah 54 is plagiarized in 3 Nephi 22. Malachi 3 can be found in 3 Nephi 24. The beatitudes and a loose transcription of Matthew 5-7 is found in 3 Nephi 12-14.

3. Now you can imagine that the explanation given by the Mormons is the Bible actually plagiarized the Book of Mormon since they claim it was written first. Two problems with this explanation:

a. The writings of the Book of Mormon were first revealed in 1830. Where was it since the time they claim it was originally written?

b. How is it that the Book of Mormon was translated into the KJV Elizabethan English when no one talked like that in 1830? Was the angel Moroni stuck in 1611 England when he supposedly gave the writings to Joseph Smith?

C. The Book Of Mormon itself admits its own inaccuracy as a failing of the men who wrote it to write well.

1. "And now behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge in the characters, which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech. And if our plates had been sufficiently large, we should have written in the Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in the Hebrew, behold, ye would have had none imperfection in our record. But the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also that none other people knoweth our language; and because that none other people knoweth our language, therefore he hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof." [Mormon 9:31-34]

2. "And I said unto him, Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing: for Lord, thou hast made us mighty in word by faith, whereunto thou hast not made us mighty in writing: for thou hast made all this people that they could speak much, because of the Holy Ghost which thou hast given them; and thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands . . . when we write, we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words; and I fear lest the Gentiles shall mock at our words. And when I had said this, the Lord spake unto me, saying, Fools mock, but they shall mourn . . . " [Ether 12:23-26]

II. The Book Of Mormon contradicts the Bible.

A. Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:1; 21:17) but the Book Of Mormon says it was Jerusalem (Alma 7:10).

B. There was 3 hours of darkness at the Lord’s crucifixion (Luke 23:44) but the Book Of Mormon says it was 3 days (Helaman 14:20, 27).

C. The Lord’s church began in 33 AD (Matt. 16:18: Acts 2) but the Book Of Mormon says it was 147 BC (Mosiah 18:17).

D. The “disciples were first called Christians in Antioch,” 40 AD (Acts 11:26), but the Book Of Mormon refers to Nephites as Christians in 73 BC (Alma 46:13-16).

III. The Book Of Mormon denies the inspiration of the Bible.

A. “The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible.” (Opening sentence in the Introduction of the Book of Mormon.)

B. “Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” (Introduction to the Book of Mormon.)

C. “And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away. And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men. Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God” (1 Nephi 13:26-28).

1. The abominable church here is the Roman Catholic church.

2. This passage charges that the Catholic church has tampered with the Bible such that the Bible can no longer be trusted for accuracy.

D. “Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews? … Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written” (2 Nephi 29:6,10).

1. Here the Mormons assert that the Bible is corrupt because Jews wrote it.

2. They claim the Bible does not contain all of God’s instructions to man.

E. However, the Bible does claim all inspiration and contains the complete instructions to man (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:3).

IV. The Mormons teach many false doctrines.

A. Mormons believe Christ’s death brought universal salvation by grace to all people. Since everyone is going to heaven, man needs only to earn his place in heaven. The Bible teaches salvation is not universal but is predicated on faith (Rom. 1:16; Heb. 9:28; Eph. 2:8-9).

B. Mormons believe they alone have authority to baptize. The Bible says Christ is the author of salvation (Heb. 5:9) and has commanded his disciple to baptize (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:16).

C. Mormons believe God was once a man and was the literal father of Jesus. The Bible says otherwise (Num. 23:19; John 4:24; Matt. 1:18).

D. Mormons believe Hell is not eternal. It is like a jail where you pay your dept to God. The Bible says otherwise (Matt. 25:46).

E. Mormons believe God continues to reveal new things until the return of Christ. The Bible says it was once delivered (Jude 3).

F. Mormons believe they can baptize on behalf of the dead. The Bible teaches we must give an account of our own actions while we live (2 Cor. 5:10; Rom. 14:10-12).

Conclusion: Much more could be said about the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, many gullible people, who are willing to believe anything, have been mislead by this evil book. The Lord has given us fair warning about believing lies (2 Thess. 2:9-12).

Last modified: 05/02/08