Whoever wrote the BOM......

[deacon blues]

Whoever wrote the BOM knew the last king of Judah was named Zedekiah, and that he was killed by Nebuchadnezzar around 587 BC. They didn't know:
1. That Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 598 BC, and probably installed Zedekiah as king in 597 BC. (See: 2nd Kings 24, and also Babylonian annals.
2. That most or all of the prophets in Jerusalem opposed Jeremiah. Jer. 26:11

What else didn't the author(s) of the BOM know or not know?

[jfro18]

That Isaiah was written by multiple authors, and that the BoM includes verses from Deutero-Isaiah that was written after Lehi left.

[dogbite]

Didn't know that the long ending of Mark plagiarized for Mormon 9:22-24 is actually a forged ending most likely dating from some time in the 300s CE.

Or that Noah, Moses and the Exodus are myths unsupported by any historical evidence.

[dogbite]

Mosiah 3:7 (and the Doctrine and Covenants) references the Book of Luke and Christ sweating blood. This too is a later forged addition to the New Testament but no later than 230 CE and maybe up to 60 years or so earlier.

[dogbite]

In third Nephi when Christ speaks of gathering them as a mother hen gathers her chicks. Chickens were not known in Palestine when the Nephites left.

At the time of Christ's visit to America only a small part of Mexico had domesticated turkeys and the described behavior and language would not be known to the Nephites. unless they were the turkey people

[alas]

What ocean going boats are like. Consider the Jaredite barges. There is just so much wrong with that story.

How fast a population grows.

[jfro18]

What ocean going boats are like. Consider the Jaredite barges. There is just so much wrong with that story.

How fast a population grows.

This opens up such a massive line of problems and it's one of those things I never thought of until I mentally snapped to look at the church's history.

The math is just awful when you look at what they claimed they were doing with the limited people they had.

The Letter For My Wife section on the Jaredite barges really outlines just how nonsensical it was.

And the Book of Mormon using such literal events from the Bible (Tower of Babel, flood, etc) is a massive problem.

With regards to math - I had this written up a while back and I'm sure it can be beefed up or explained in more detail (there was a fun discussion on reddit about a year ago that really dug into this):
In 2 Nephi 5, we have the story that a temple was built in the first 20 years in the New World. "And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon’s temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine."

At this point there are at most 50-53 people who have already split into two groups, with one half to two thirds of this group women and children, who would likely not be sent to work on building temples. That leaves just 8-10 men to build a temple! For contrast, the Bible tells us that 183,000 people worked on Solomon's Temple for 7.5 years. There is absolutely no way that 8-10 men could build any kind of temple in such a short time, let alone in exceedingly fine workmanship. The math just does not add up.

Nephi also says that "And I, Nephi, did take the sword of Laban, and after the manner of it did make many swords, lest by any means the people who were now called Lamanites should come upon us and destroy us." Again, the amount of people needed to create swords without any technology is beyond what was available. This would require not just the material, but iron and steel forges, which would have also left evidence for us to know it happened. In addition, you can't just make a sword on a whim- you need to find ore, smelt the ore, make tools to shape the smelted ore, the knowledge of how to smelt the ore so that it is strong and durable, and know which materials are strong and which ones will break. Yet we are told that Nephi was able to make these swords with a small group of people that have never made swords before. I realize the apologists would proclaim that God can make miracles happen, but there is no mention of God providing the swords or the temples. FAIR mentioned that the swords are probably much more primitive than Laban's, but that does not match the Book of Mormon's own words.

In Jacob chapter 2 it has been about 56 years since Lehi left Jerusalem. He is about 45-50 years old and is upset at the white Nephites and calls them worse than the Lamanites as the rich Nephites have become arrogant and proud about their wealth and they have “gold, silver, and all manner of precious ores." Those that have more are proud and mistreat the poor and they like to wear “costly apparel."

At this point we've had just two generations since leaving Jerusalem. Because the groups have split, we are talking of a group that consists of about three dozen people. Considering again that many are women and children, does it make any sense that they would have the time or motivation to search for gold, silver, and precious ores? The Book of Mormon states that they are the only people on the entire land - what good would precious ores do? They would be focused on making cooking pots, storage for gathering, or materials for shelter.

With such a small group, the priorities would be hunting, water, and shelter. But in the Book of Mormon they are already talking about "costly apparel," which implies there are multiple levels of clothing to distinguish between normal and costly apparel. Again, the amount of work that goes into creating clothing is large, and the idea that there would be multiple levels of clothing being produced is silly. This is compounded by the idea that the rich Nephites are trading gold, silver, and precious ores for the clothing which would have no value in an uninhabited world.

The math doesn't add up for any of this to be happening, but in the terms of Joseph Smith's lifetime it makes sense you would do this, which is why it is in the Book of Mormon.

[FiveFingerMnemonic]

That the theological concept and term "probationary state" does not exist in any hebrew or greek scripture and only exists in 19th century theology created by Jonathan Edwards and his later followers the Hopkinsians.


https://tinyurl.com/y3tb5e6l

[Hagoth]

The math doesn't add up for any of this to be happening...

You're just not properly reading between the lines. According to the essay the BoM "hints" at entire nations of other people who we can borrow from whenever we need to make the numbers work, it just forgets to actually mention them.

[Hagoth]

The BoM talks about synagogues. They are a post-temple tradition. They were neither needed nor in existence until the Roman destruction of the temple, and they make absolutely no sense in the Americas.

[wtfluff]

Or that Noah, Moses and the Exodus are myths unsupported by any historical evidence.

Want to include the Tower of Babel in this, as mentioned in jfro18's post.

[Palerider]

The BoM talks about synagogues. They are a post-temple tradition. They were neither needed nor in existence until the Roman destruction of the temple, and they make absolutely no sense in the Americas.

I've been wrong before but pretty sure the first synagogues were created after the Babylonian captivity when the Jews could no longer worship at their temple. Agree though, still too late to be mentioned in the BoM because Lehi supposedly left before the captivity.
That being said, the word "synagogue" (being Greek) has no place in the BoM as the real Hebrew term is beit k'nesset (literally, House of Assembly).

But I'm sure some crafty apologist would say, "Well, that bright young man Joseph, saw the word "Knesset" written in reformed Egyptian (which translates as " public tipi, wikieup or wigwam) and thought, Oh! They're talking about a synagogue! I'll just use that term to save everyone having to figure out what the word Knesset means.

[moksha]

According to the Book of Mormon, Zedekiah's son Mulek escaped death and traveled across the ocean to the Americas, where he founded a nation, the Mulekites. Mulek had set sail in 587 BCE across the Atlantic Ocean, reaching landfall at Fire Island, New York.

[Thoughtful]

Glass windows. Jeebus.

[dogbite]

Got jewish baptism wrong. The jew do have ritual washing, mikveh, but is more about finishing being unclean under Mosaic law rather than Christian forgiveness and membership and male orchestrated ordinance.

[Palerider]

Got jewish baptism wrong. The jew do have ritual washing, mikveh, but is more about finishing being unclean under Mosaic law rather than Christian forgiveness and membership and male orchestrated ordinance.

There was a lot that was forgotten that Joseph left out. If the Nephites were supposed to be living Christlike lives but keeping the Law of Moses, then where in the heck are the celebratory feasts like Passover???

Show me where Passover is mentioned anywhere in the BoM and I'll send you $10.00.

Isn't that why the brass plates were brought along? To remember the Hebrew language and the Law? Mmm Hmmm....

[Just This Guy]

Got jewish baptism wrong. The jew do have ritual washing, mikveh, but is more about finishing being unclean under Mosaic law rather than Christian forgiveness and membership and male orchestrated ordinance.

There was a lot that was forgotten that Joseph left out. If the Nephites were supposed to be living Christlike lives but keeping the Law of Moses, then where in the heck are the celebratory feasts like Passover???

Show me where Passover is mentioned anywhere in the BoM and I'll send you $10.00.

Isn't that why the brass plates were brought along? To remember the Hebrew language and the Law? Mmm Hmmm....

To go along with that, what about the whole thing of offering sacrifices? There are two references to building altars as part of worship, but no mention of the animals they put on them.

[Hagoth]

According to the Book of Mormon, Zedekiah's son Mulek escaped death and traveled across the ocean to the Americas, where he founded a nation, the Mulekites. Mulek had set sail in 587 BCE across the Atlantic Ocean, reaching landfall at Fire Island, New York.

Kinda makes you wonder why Nephi had to go to such great lengths to go around the world in the opposite direction. Also, the OT tells us that Zedekiah was forced to watch the execution of his sons before his own eyes were put out. So how did one of them escape to the Americas (the obvious place to go, right?)? The common apologetic for this is that the Bible tells us that his sons were killed but does not expressly say that ALL of his sons were killed.

[1smartdodog]

All those armies fighting and killing each other for days. The numbers of soldiers in the conflicts are huge. Logistically you could never feed that many men on the move. Not to mention the sanitation issues.


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[moksha]

According to the Book of Mormon, Zedekiah's son Mulek escaped death and traveled across the ocean to the Americas, where he founded a nation, the Mulekites. Mulek had set sail in 587 BCE across the Atlantic Ocean, reaching landfall at Fire Island, New York.

Kinda makes you wonder why Nephi had to go to such great lengths to go around the world in the opposite direction. Also, the OT tells us that Zedekiah was forced to watch the execution of his sons before his own eyes were put out. So how did one of them escape to the Americas (the obvious place to go, right?)? The common apologetic for this is that the Bible tells us that his sons were killed but does not expressly say that ALL of his sons were killed.

What year did the Nephites leave on their Indian and Pacific Ocean voyage?