Skip to main content

I Think There's a Good Reason for the King James Bible English in the Book of Mormon

Critics of the LDS Church think that phraseology from the King James Version of the BIble in the Book of Mormon indicates that it is a fraud. I disagree. Here's why.



If Smith were reading the Bible regularly before his 1820 encounter with Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and many angels, doesn't it stand to reason that Smith would be even more enthusiastic in reading the Bible thereafter than he was before? Our vocabulary is obviously shaped by the books we read. It is not hard to imagine that Smith's vocabulary would have been distinctly shaped by his reading of the Bible intensely for the 3 years between the "First Vision" and his becoming acquainted with Moroni in 1823. And that intensity could only have grown after Moroni quoted the Bible to him and told him that he was about to make clear the beginnings of the work that Christ told Smith in 1820 that he would be instrumental in helping to bring forth. I don't know about you, but by that point, I'd be taking my Bible with me to every meal, while I was walking into town, while I was resting in between clearing land for my father's farm, and a lot of other places I can think of.

The King James Bible was the most popular edition in the day, and I think it's been evidenced that the Smith family had at least one copy(?) of the KJV. In the 9 years or so between Smith's first encounter with the divine and when the Book of Mormon translation began, I can imagine that Smith had thoroughly incorporated KJV vocabulary into his everyday manner of speech (not to mention that he had probably been able to memorize great swathes of it in preparation for the mission that Christ and Moroni told him he was being assigned).

We also have significant evidence that Christ, the Father, and Moroni were only a very few of the divine messengers that Smith entertained during that time period.

This sheds light on a very likely reason that the Book of Mormon is peppered with KJV phraseology.

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for commenting. If you have a Google/Blogger account, to be apprised of ongoing comment activity on this article, please click the "Subscribe" link below.

Popular posts from this blog

Red Clothing and Resurrection: Jesus Christ's Second Coming

The scriptures teach that when Christ comes again to the earth, that he will be wearing red apparel. Why red ? They also teach that at Christ's coming, many of the dead will become resurrected. Will this only include members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Not by a long shot, no matter what some Mormon might tell you.
2 comments
Read more

To Have the Compassion of an Ogre

At least when it comes to using government as a weapon of compassion, I have the compassion of the ogre. I will explain below why I think government cannot and should not be in the business of compassion. The force of government has caused many people to show less compassion to their fellow men. On the other hand, some of the best things happen when government is not compassionate. In such circumstances, individuals personally begin to display more compassion. One such instance of this happened recently in Utah when the governor asked the legislature to convene a special session in order to (among other things) provide special monies to pay for dental care for the disabled . If they didn't fund the governor's compassion project, it would make the legislators look even more heartless in a year where the budget surplus was projected to be at least $150 million. In spite of these political odds, the legislature did not grant the $2 million that 40,000 members of the disabled
Post a Comment
Read more

Hey, Senator Buttars: "Happy Holidays!!"

Utah Senator Chris Buttars may be a well-meaning individual, but his actions often don't come out that way. His latest lament, with accompanying legislation that businesses use the phrase "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays", is at least the third case in point that I am aware of. First, we were entertained by the faux pas made by the Senator in the 2008 Utah Legislative session, when referring to an In reality, America has a Judeo -Christian heritage, so maybe Senator Buttars should change his legislation to "encourage" businesses to advertise with " Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas"...? analogy of a human baby, of declaring that " this baby is black ". Then there was the attempt to help a friend develop his property in Mapleton, Utah, by using the force if his legislative office . Let's see if we can top that... Who cares that businesses hock their Christmas wares by using the term "Happy Holidays"? I
6 comments
Read more