Why does the book of mormon have the exact wording of the king james bible in so many places. Could the bom be processed and compared against a view of the hebrews, the late war and the kjv of the bible. Several commentators on mormon history and the book of mormon, including lds church general authority b. Critics long speculated that smith had access to the original script and that smith heavily plagiarized it for the book of mormon. Does the book of mormon blatantly plagiarize the king james. A ferrous industry is a whole system of doing something. Poll, cri part one of this fourpart series is unavailable. A journal of mormon thought, spring 1987, page 6667 external links non mormon. Its largest denomination is headquartered in utah and goes by the name the church of jesus christ of latterday saints.
Critics of the book of mormon claim that major portions of it are copied, without attribution, from the bible. Doesnt this affect the credibility of smiths claim that the book of mormon was the product of divine. To order this book directly from amazon, click here. The book of mormon plagiarizes the bible yahoo answers. Being born and raised in an lds family in ogden, utah came with the understanding youd be learning all you could about joseph smith, mormonism. There are differing views on the origin of the book of mormon. Did joseph smith plagiarize from view of the hebrews. Alma 5 and the book of mormons plagiarism of the new. Txt original cri file name, how mormons are defending the book of mormon release a, march 22, 1994 r.
Sure, big sections are quoted straight from isaiah, but the character who does the borrowing says hes quoting isaiah, so that isnt really plagarism. Did joseph smith plagiarize from shakespeare when writing the. Now, a decade and a half later, persuitte has added many more facts in this, the 325page second edition. The book of mormon is a forgery and thus the religion founded on it is a fraud. Plagiarism in the book of mormon skeptics annotated bible. Did joseph smith write the book of mormon by getting ideas from contemporary sources. The late war between the united states and great britain, the first book of napoleon, and the view of the. Kingmen, chiasmus, and many more elements found in the book of mormon appear in a book called the late war published in 1811. Matheny, response at book of mormon archeology sunstone symposium, 25 august 1984, typed copy transcribed from tape recording, pp.
Exploring claims of plagiarism in the book of mormon part i. A recent attempt to revive the spaulding theory is the 45page work of vernal holley, book of mormon authorship. The latter assumes that joseph smiths fantastic memory enabled him to recall biblical expressions and incorporate them wholesale into the book of mormon. I know the software exists and is used by high schools and universities to determine if a student is plagiarizing.
Early mormon apostle orson pratt made a statement concerning the book of mormon. Alma 5 and the book of mormons plagiarism of the new testament. And finally, nephi says hes going to swipe a couple of chapters from the book of isaiah as a bit of filler for his plates of brass. He didnt have the time, education or wherewithal to do this. Josephs plagiarism in book of mormon and other revelations. Jun 18, 2015 he could have been honing the story of the book of mormon over many years. Joseph smith is often accused of creating the book of mormon by plagiarizing various contemporary sources such as the spalding manuscript or ethan smiths view of the hebrews. Much of the content of the book of mormon was plagiarized from the bible and joseph smiths own life experiences e. As noted repeatedly in various sections of this book, josephlike all prophets was, in part, a product of his milieu. In many other cases, joseph smith made minor word changes or additions.
Besides the extensive list of parallels between the bible and the book of mormon, this book examines many other possible sources used to create the text, i. The lds church teach the book of mormon compares to the kjv of scripture and corroborate its teaching, but here youll see a few of the discontinuity between their book of mormon and the scriptures. Some critics claim that joseph smith copied much of the structure and content of the book of mormon from the 1823 book view of the hebrews by ethan smith no relation to joseph smith. I reported plagiarism in a phd, but my university ignored it. In several cases, the plagiarism is proof that joseph smith was the author of the book of mormon, since the source of the copied text was not accessible to the alleged book of mormon authors. I dont remember seeing golden plates used except as a descriptive adjective not the name of the plates, but i could be wrong. People aer sure quick to tackle joseph smith, but in retrospect, they forget his age and his educational level. Joseph smiths plagiarism of the bible in the book of mormon. Early mormon apostle orson pratt made a statement concerning the book of. The former has joseph smith forgetting what he had given in the 116 lost pages and having to avoid discussing the same topics, lest he contradict what he had dictated earlier. Surprisingly, one of the most common objections to the book of mormon is the claim that joseph smith plagiarized from shakespeare when writing translating 2 nephi 1.
His worldview, environment, and education no doubt influenced his interpretation of scripture, how it related to his surroundings, his understanding of past and future prophecies, and his interpretation of historical events. Dec 21, 2016 nah, the book of mormon 1830 is not clever enough to have been copied from something else. The fact that alma 5 was clearly written by someone who knew and borrowed heavily from the new testament even while altering its teaching demonstrates that the story of the book of mormon isnt true. It has been pointed out in these pages that there are many things in the former book that might well have suggested many major things in the other. Plagarism and contradictions book of mormon youtube. May 01, 2007 if you have read the entire book of mormon, then you would realize that there is no way that a young boy could have written it. Foundation of the book of mormon series book of mormon plagiarism if ive said it once ive said it a thousand times. Why do mormons plagiarize a book they dont believe in. Sep 17, 2017 the lds church teach the book of mormon compares to the kjv of scripture and corroborate its teaching, but here youll see a few of the discontinuity between their book of mormon and the scriptures. The book of mormon contains passages from the king james bible summary. Apocryphacritics claim that joseph smith created the story of nephi and laban by plagiarizing concepts.
As noted in chapter 2, the book of mormon was undoubtedly translated into the language of joseph smith. Additional information from part 1 of joseph smiths plagiarism of the bible in the book of mormon, pages 3738 in 2008 another computer study was done by matt jockers, craig criddle and daniela witten, comparing various authors word prints, including solomon spalding and sidney rigdon, with that of the book of mormon. Several investigations and studies which set out to prove that joseph wrote the book of mormon have actua. Mormonism and plagiarism, by jerald and sandra tanner plagiarism in the book of mormon the skeptics annotated book of mormon isaiah in the book of mormon. Did ethan smiths view of the hebrews furnish structural material for joseph smiths book of mormon. May 23, 2008 according to tanner, martin, paulson, et al. May 11, 2018 we believe that joseph smith borrowed from a number of contemporary books of his day when he wrote the book of mormon. David persuitte, a technical writer from virginia, wrote the first edition of this book in 1985. It was a book of poems based on their phd, and i recognised some of the lines in it as possibly plagiarised. No, the book of mormon was translated by joseph smith, through the power of god, from an ancient record. Did joseph smith plagiarize from shakespeare when writing the book of mormon. This awardwinning page is a workinprogress by jeff lindsay representing one of the most controversial discoveries ever about the origins of the book of mormon, the finding of overwhelming evidence for plagiarism from walt whitmans leaves of grass. It depends to some extent on the provenance of the book of mormon. As early as 1831, eber howe, in his antimormon book mormonism.
They present this as evidence that joseph smith wrote the book of mormon by plagiarizing the authorized king james version of the bible. Roberts and fawn brodie, joseph smiths, biographer noted the considerable similarities in the content of view of the hebrews and the book of mormon, which was published seven years after ethan smiths book. Book of mormonplagiarism accusationsking james bible. Joseph smith is often accused of creating the book of mormon by plagiarizing various contemporary sources such as the spalding manuscript or ethan. In fact the lord said that revelations are given to his servants in the manner of their language. Oct 31, 2019 the people in spauldings book do not abide by the laws set forth by moses while the people in the book of mormon adhere to it very strictly which is the entire backbone for the theory that joseph smith used view of the hebrews to plagiarize the book of mormon, but more on that later. How art thou fallen from heaven, o lucifer, son of the morning. If true, it is one of the most important messages ever sent from godif false, it is one of the most cunning, wicked, bold, deeplaid impositions ever palmed upon the world.
Did joseph smith plagiarize from view of the hebrews when. The truth about the authorship of the book of mormon. Not only did he plagiarize whole chapters of the bible, he borrowed names, phrases and stories from three other books. What would a recovering baptist know about these things. An account written by the hand of mormon upon plates taken from the plates of nephi. Has the book of mormon ever been processed through a plagiarism checking software. Lehis dream was very similar to a dream joseph smiths father had before the book of mormon was published.
Aug 23, 2017 critics argue that the large number of similarities between the book of mormon and the bible suggest that joseph smith is guilty of plagiarism. The solomon spalding theory chapter 9 of joseph smiths. Did the book of mormon plagiarize the kjv bible answers. If an angel really did bring joseph smith the book on gold plates, then it could not have plagiarised the kjv or any other bible. Miraculous origins theories generally accept joseph smiths own account, that he translated an ancient record compiled and abridged by mormon, a precolumbian resident of the western hemisphere. Josephs environment and the book of mormon book of mormon. Joseph smith and the origins of the book of mormon 2nd edition and also in kindle. Did joseph smith plagiarize from view of the hebrews when writing the book of mormon by jeff lindsay. Mormonism claims to be a christian religion, the only true christian religion.
And now i, nephi, write more of the words of isaiah, for my soul delighteth in his words. More on joseph smiths plagiarism in the book of mormon. The falsity of mormonism what about the book of mormon. A closer look, zenos publications, ogden, utah, 1983. While the characters in the book of mormon often give credit to the biblical authors they are quoting see 1 nephi 20212 nephi 78mosiah 143 nephi 1214, 22, 2425, there are. Aug 08, 2017 in his letter to a ces director, jeremy runnells claims that the story of samuel the righteous lamanite preaching repentance to the apostate nephites in helaman 16 demonstrates joseph smith was guilty of plagiarizing ethan smiths book view of the hebrews. Original title of the book of mormon published in 1830 the book of mormon. Joseph smiths first vision was not unique to his day, and evidence suggests he plagiarized themes from other tales to fabricate his own visionary tale mormon historian richard bushman has identified over 33 visionary tales published between 1783 and 1815.