Questions Regarding the Book of Mormon - Part 3

This time I’ll address problems with Jacob, Mosiah, Alma, and Helaman.  I want to note that in these postings, I have read many — if not most — of the typical LDS responses.  I just want to challenge any Mormon to give me a response and see if it can hold water.  So let’s look at today’s list of problems in the Book of Mormon.

1.  Jacob 1:15 calls polygamy a wicked practice, yet God later gave Joseph Smith the revelation approving it.  Is God inconsistent? 

2.  Jacob 2:24, 27 also vilify polygamy.  Jacob 3:5 again reiterates the command.  How does this square with D&C 132?

3.  Jacob 4:1 tells us that only a little of the words can be written because of the difficulty of engraving the plates.  Why then are the Nephite prophets so wordy?  There are numerous examples; many sentences are 200 to 300 words long, there are 2000 "and it came to pass" phrases, and in 4 Nephi 1:6 there are 57 words just to say 59 years passed by.  Alma 13:7 even has the phrase, "or in other words," a phrase that should have been left out of difficult writing.

4.  Jacob 7: 27 ends with the French word "adieu"!  Why would God have Smith translate suddenly into French?

5.  Mosiah 2:3 says, "And they also took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings according to the law of Moses."  According to the law of Moses the firstlings of their flocks were never offered as burnt offerings or sacrifices.  All firstlings belonged to the Lord and could not be counted as a man's personal property - whereas all burnt offerings, or sacrifices for sin of every kind, must be selected from the man's own personal property, or be purchased with his own money for that purpose, while all firstlings of the flock, as the Lord's property, came into the hands of the high priest, and by him could be offered up as a peace offering, not as a burnt offering or a sin offering, himself and family eating the flesh.  This error in Mosiah proves that the Book Of Mormon could not have come from God.

6.  Mosiah 13:12-24 is Exodus 20:5-17 KJV, including the error of "kill" for "murder".  Why wouldn’t God have had Smith translate the word to “murder” rather than follow KJV?

7.  Mosiah 14 is Isaiah 53 KJV with the usual problems.  Mosiah 15:14-17 is Isaiah 52:7-10 and Mosiah 15:29-31 is Isaiah 52:8-10.

8.  Mosiah 21:28, in the original 1830 version, stated that King Benjamin had a gift from God, corrected to King Mosiah in later versions.  If Joseph dictated from what he was seeing translated by a gift of God, how did he make this error?

9.  Mosiah 27:13.  The use of the word "Church" throughout this book is anachronistic, but this verse in particular contradicts Matthew 16:18.

10.  Why does Alma 7:10 says that Jesus will be born in Jerusalem when the Bible says Bethlehem? 

11.  Alma 10:3 says that Nephi and Lehi were descendants of Manasseh, yet in Mosiah 2:3 we found them offering sacrifices according to the law of Moses.  The Bible says only the descendants of Aaron can offer these sacrifices (Ex. 28:40-43; Num. 3:3-10; 1 Chron. 23:13; 2 Chron. 26:18; Heb. 7:12-14).  How is this contradiction explained?

12.  Alma 13:15.  "...tithes of one-tenth part..."  Tithe means one tenth; did God not know that?

13.  In the book of Alma 28:14-29:1-11, more than 30 changes have been made from the 1830 edition, and page 303 of the original edition had the statement, "Yea, decree unto them that decrees which are unalterable" (Alma 29:4), which has been deleted.  Why has this been removed?

14.  Alma 46:15 tells us there were people called Christians in 73 BC.  The Bible tells us the first use of the word "Christian" was in Antioch.  Which is correct?

15.  Alma 54:4 uses the Greek word "epistle", which means "letter".  This word continues to be used throughout the text.  Why would God have Smith translate Egyptian into a Greek word when he could have just used “letter”?

16.  Helaman 8:20 talks of Ezias and Isaiah.  Ezias is Greek for Isaiah - they are the same person.

17.  Helaman 9:6 says, "Now, immediately when the judge had been murdered - he being stabbed by his brother by a garb of secrecy."  "Garb" is a piece of clothing; how do you stab with clothing?

18.  Helaman 12:25-26:  What was Helaman reading when he quotes John 5:29?  John wasn't written for at least another 90 years.

19.  Helaman 14:20,27 says the earth would be darkened for three days at Jesus' death.  The Bible says the darkness lasted three hours.  Which is correct?

 These are not insignificant problems!!