This is my last post for now on the Book of Mormon. I will finish with questions from 3 Nephi, Mormon, Ether and Moroni. This series hasn’t included all my questions, but are those that immediately came to mind when I last read through the Book of Mormon. I have started a collection of other questions, but those are for another time. So now lets look at my questions. Some of the last ones are statements about being plagiarisms from the KJV.
1. 3 Nephi 9:18 uses the Greek words "alpha" and "omega". Wouldn’t the “reformed Egyptian” alphabet have different letters at the beginning and the end? Why didn’t Smith translate to the English alphabet?
2. 3 Nephi 11:17 uses the Hebrew "Hosanna" ("save us"). Again, why translate into Hebrew instead of English?
3. 3 Nephi 11:33-34 is almost a direct quotation from Mark 16:16. Modern Greek scholars have determined that Mark 16:16 of the King James version was a translational error and wasn't in the original manuscript. So how did it end up in the Book of Mormon?
4. 3 Nephi 12:3-48 is KJV Matthew 5, with problems as previously noted when copying from KJV. Verse 22 leaves in the word "Raca", which is Aramaic for "empty-head". Why is Aramaic in an English translation of “reformed Egyptian?”
5. 3 Nephi 13 is Matthew 6 KJV with the normal problems, including the use of the Greek word hypocrite (meaning "actor"). In verse 23 Smith uses the Jewish evil eye idea, which Nephites would not know! And why are they using the cubit for measure (vs27)?
6. 3 Nephi 14 is KJV Matthew 7, with the usual problems. Along with chapters 12 and 13, these were supposedly words spoken by Jesus during his visit to America in A.D. 34, whereas the words in Matthew are part of the Sermon on the Mount. Would Jesus have repeated himself word for word like that, speaking in a different language to a different audience at a different time and place? And if he did, would a translation from Reformed Egyptian come out to be identical with a translation from Greek manuscripts, which in turn were a translation of the Aramaic words Jesus used with his Jewish audience?
7. 3 Nephi 15:17 and 21 are both KJV John 10:16! How?
8. 3 Nephi 16:18-20 is Isaiah 52:8-10, but is not identical with Mosiah 15:29-31. Why?
9. 3 Nephi 18:29 is copied from I Corinthians 11:27. Why was Jesus not so specific with the Jews in Israel?
10. 3 Nephi 19:4 has the Greek name Timothy. How?
11. In the 3rd chapter of Acts, Peter's sermon at Pentecost paraphrases Deuteronomy 18:15-19. While in the process of writing 3 Nephi 20 (which is KJV Acts 3:23-26), Joseph Smith puts Peter's paraphrase in the mouth of Jesus when he was allegedly preaching to the Nephites. Joseph overlooked the fact that at the time that Christ was allegedly preaching His sermon, the sermon itself had not yet been preached by Peter! How can this be?
12. 3 Nephi 20:31-45 are KJV Isaiah 52:1-15 with the verses somewhat out of order. Chapter 21:8 is Isaiah 52:15 KJV.
13. 3 Nephi 22 is KJV Isaiah 54 with the usual problems.
14. 3 Nephi 24 is KJV Malachi 3, while chapter 25 is Malachi 4, with the usual problems.
15. 3 Nephi 27:29 is KJV Matthew 7:7.
16. Mormon 9:22 ends with KJV Mark 16:15, while 9:23-24 is Mark 16:16-18.
17. Ether 2:3 has bees in the New World yet they were not brought over until the Spanish explorers came in the 16th century. How is this accounted for?
18. Ether 2:20. Doesn't God know which end is up?
19. Ether 5:18 is again KJV Mark 16:16-17
20. Ether 6:5,11 tells us that a "furious" wind propelled the "vessels or barges" (which were they?) to the Promised Land. It took the furious wind 344 days to blow the barges to the New World. Even if the furious wind could only push the barges at 10 mph, the distance traveled would have been 82,560 miles - three times around the globe. Is this reasonable?
21. Ether 10:5 again tells us polygamy is not right in God's sight. Again, how does this relate to D&C 132?
22. Ether 15:31 tells of a fight to the death between Coriantumr and Shiz. Shiz gets his head cut off, after he had already fainted from loss of blood, and then raises up on his hands before falling back, while struggling for breath! This defies all medical knowledge. (no, it is not analogous with the reflexes of a chicken’s body with the head chopped off)
23. Moroni 7:45,46 is KJV 1 Corin. 13:4 on.
24. Moroni 10:9-16 is basically KJV I Cor. 12:8-11.
24. The last great battle at Hill Cumorah in A.D. 385 killed about 500,000 people with all manner of weapons of war, yet no archaeological evidence can be found for this battle. Why?
Explain how an inspired translation from Reformed Egyptian directly to the English language of 1830 becomes virtually word-for-word identical with the 1611 English translation from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek; how do the words become the same? (Especially explain how the italicized words in the KJV - those not in the original but put there by the translators to help make sense - are included in the Book of Mormon.)
The text shown to Smith on his seer stone in his hat over his face would not move until the scribe copied everything accurately - so why have there been over 4000 changes to the text since 1830?
Last, but not least, the Lamanites are supposed to be descendants of Jewish people — Semites — and the American Indian is descended from the Lamanites. Anthropologists state that the American Indian is Mongoloid — descended from Asian peoples who crossed the Bering Strait. This has been demonstrated conclusively by recent DNA studies.
"The nature of the message in the Book Of Mormon is such, that if true, no one can possibly be saved and reject it; if false, no one can possibly be saved and receive it." Orson Pratt.
