Friday, February 8, 2019

2 Nephi 29 Anachronism

2 Nephi 29 is all about a “Bible,” which “Gentiles” will claim they have and so they don’t need another “Bible” (referring to The Book of Mormon). And God says the Bible will come from the Jews.

Here’s the big question: The Book of Mormon was supposedly translated from “reformed Egyptian,” so why is the word “Bible” even in it?

The word “Bible” is a middle English word derived from Old French, via ecclesiastical Latin word biblia, which is from the Greek word (ta) biblia, which means "(the) books.” Now according to those who study languages, the Greek “(ta) biblia” is from their word biblion, which means “book.” And even that word is originally a diminutive of biblos, meaning “papyrus” or “scroll” and is of Semitic origin.

Now, the word “Bible” (capitalized as a proper noun, and shown that way in 2 Nephi 29), was not used for referring to the Christian scriptures until at least the 3rd century when all the various books were collected into one unit. So how does it show up in a BOM text which is supposedly from the 6th century B.C.?  The word wouldn’t have meant anything to the people at that time

This is just one of the many anachronisms in The Book of Mormon, proving it was just the concoction of Joseph Smith.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

ya that's not a very good argument. that's like comparing current English to old English.
languages evolve. if you actual wanted to go against a word seems out of place you should have chosen Egyptus, in Pgp.

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Anonymous,

I think it is indeed a good argument. The point was that Smith used a Greek word to refer to a book which wasn't even collected as such until centuries later, and Greek was the language of the time. Since he was "translating" so-called "Reformed Egyptian" it should have been translated as "Books" Or "Book," not a proper noun "Bible."

There are quite a few words and other anachronisms in The Book of Mormon, many of which I address in my series on The Book of Mormon.