Reimagining the BoM

I have bought in pretty heavily to Bill Wright’s notion about an interstellar reading of the BoM. Until recently I’ve operated from the perspective that the notion is valid, mainly because I like it. Over the past few weeks I have been deep in study of the BoM and am now operating from the perspective if making Bill’s theory conform to the BoM rather than the other way around.

It’s a good way for me to test the idea and they say iron sharpens iron so I’m hoping the BoM and Bill’s theory can in the end coexist. But it is hard to make it fit. I’ll tackle something like Nephi’s prophecies and feel really good about how it’s coming together and then it suddenly falls to pieces.

So I’ll try a new angle, and maybe switch to Jesus’ visit to Bountiful, work up a nice theory, and then once again watch it fall to pieces. It feels like carrying sand with my hands.

Last week I lashed out at poor Moroni and Nephi and/or the BoM translation team, holding them to account for my frustrations at being unable to make it all completely fit. Hopefully they aren’t the types to take a guy like me too seriously and pronounce a curse or two in my general direction.

One of Bill’s comments led me to JS-History bc, as Bill pointed out, Joseph says right there he used the curious stones to translate the BoM, which I posited that he had not. Point for the translation team! But just one verse prior, JS-History drops a nuclear bomb on the space theory. It says the angel told Joseph that the plates contained “an account of the former inhabitants of this continent“.

I don’t see how to read that as referring to Tirion/Valinor. I guess one could argue Joseph was just playing to his audience and didn’t want to blow too many minds by introducing space travel. Or maybe you could say Joseph just didn’t understand that notion yet. But the problem is Joseph said that’s what the angel told him so now you have to impeach the angel and assume he’s also confused or obfuscating intentionally.

Tough sell.

I decided to look around on the JSP website and Words of Joseph Smith. WJS doesn’t have much that I could find, only a few references from Joseph that north and south America comprise zion: “that is the Zion where the Mountain of the Ld shd b”. And also: “The whole of North and South America is Zion, the mountain of the Lords House is in the Centre of North & South America”.

And also: “the Elders are to go through all America & build up Churches untill all Zion is built up but not to commence to do this untill the Temple is built up here and the Elders endowed then go forth & accomplish the work & build up stakes in all North and South America”

\\As an aside, I suspect Joseph did not mean what we today call North and South America. I suspect he meant the northern US states and southern US states. But that’s just a guess. \\

Regardless, it’s pretty clear Joseph’s vision of zion is that it was here in America. The reason that is significant is because in other sources he said that the New Jerusalem would be established on this continent. It would descend from heaven, true, but get built up here. That doesnt’ fit with a Promised Land floating in space because the BoM is precise that the New Jerusalem will be established in that land, wherever it is.

So if Joseph is correct that the NJ is going to be here, then that means Lehites and Jaredites were also here and not in space.

On the JSP site you can do a search for “continent” and find many instances that demonstrate the early Mormons clearly thought that the prior inhabitants of America were the BoM descendants. Not that we care much what the consensus was but where Joseph says it, I think we have to take it more seriously.

I found a letter written to the elders of the church where he treats on this subject. In it, Joseph quotes a pretty fascinating scripture from Deuteronomy that seems to actually support the Space theory. That scripture promises to gather in scattered Israel and says “…and if any of thine be driven out unto the utmost parts of heaven; from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee; and from thence will he fetch thee.”

Looks like a point for the sky walkers! But Joseph seems to clarify in a way that doesn’t allow for that. He follows his quotation of Deuteronomy with this:

It has been said by many of the learned, and wise men, or historians, that the Indians, or aboriginees of this continent, <​Conjecture​> are of the scattered tribes of Israel. It has been conjectured by many others, that the aboriginees of this continent, are not of the tribes of Israel; but the ten tribes which have been led away into some unknown regions of the north. Let this be as it may, the prophecy I have just quoted, “will fetch them,” in the last days, and place them in the land which their fathers possessed: and <​Deut 30—:7.​> you will find in the 7th. verse of the 30th. chapter quoted: “and the Lord thy God will put all all these curses upon thine enemies and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.”
Many <​may​> say that this scripture is fulfilled; but let them mark carefully what the Prophet says: “if any are driven out from unto the utmost parts of heaven;” (which must mean the breadths of the earth.) Now this promise is good to any, if there should be such, that are driven out, even in the last days; therefore, the children of the fathers have claim unto this day: and if these curses are to be laid over on the <​Book of Mormon 487. P.— and p. 497.​> heads of their enemies, wo be unto the Gentiles: See Book of Mormon <​page​> 487. <​1st Edition​> “wo unto the unbelieving of the Gentiles saith the Father.” And again, see book of Mormon, page 497, which says; “Behold this people I will <​I​> establish in this land, unto the fulfilling of the covenant which I made with your father Jacob, and it shall be a new Jerusalem.” Now we learn from the Book of Mormon, the very identical spot continent and [HC 2:261] spot of land, upon which the New Jerusalem is to stand and it must be caught up according to the vision of John upon the isle of Patmos. Now many will be disposed to say, that this New Jerusalem spoken of, is the Jerusalem that was built by the Jews on the eastern Continent: but you will see from Revelations <​Revelations 21:2. New Jerusalem​> 21:2, There was a New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven adorned as a bride for her husband. That after this the Revelator was caught away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and saw the great and holy City descending out of heaven from God. Now there are two cities spoken of here, as as every thing cannot be had in so narrow a compass as a letter, I shall say with brevity, that there is a new Jerusalem to be established on this continent. And also the New Jerusalem shall be established rebuilt on the eastern continent. See <​Book of Mormon page 560.​> Book of Mormon page 560, “Behold Ether saw the days of Christ, and he spake also concerning the house of Israel, and the Jerusalem from whence Lehi should come: after it should be destroyed it should be built up again, a holy City unto the Lord: wherefore it could not be a New Jerusalem, for it had been in a time of old.” This may suffice, upon the subject of gathering until my next.

We’ve got some really cold buckets of ice water here for the Space theory. For one, Joseph seems to clearly be saying the “utmost parts of heaven” refers not to Space but the earth itself. For another, he once again uses the phrase “on this continent” to refer to the place that the New Jerusalem would be built as opposed to the “eastern continent” where the old Jerusalem would be rebuilt.

Tirion is in the uttermost West in Tolkien’s world, meaning Valinor, not in the East. And regardless, if the NJ is going to be “on this continent” then it can’t be on a floating land mass in space.

The only way out I can see is to say Joseph was confused/wrong or purposely dissembling to not blow too many minds. I doubt that, however. He didn’t seem to have a problem blowing people’s minds. I mean hello, Kolob, kokobaubeam (or whatever the word was), new scriptures, etc. I don’t see him suddenly deciding to put on the kid gloves for just this topic.

I’m definitely open to other ways to reconcile JS-H and these other sources because right now I am at a loss. I really want the Space theory to work but I have to be able to work around contradictions for that to happen. What do you think?

I’m neck deep in a few topics right now that I really want to blog about but I’m just not quite ready. I want to have some more answers before I put them out there.

In the process of my neck-deep studies, I have come across some typos in the BoM or if not typos, very sloppy writing and I find myself occupied with what to make of that. Here are two examples from 2 Nephi 25:

Wherefore, I write unto my people, unto all those that shall receive hereafter these things which I write, that they may know the judgments of God, that they come upon all nations, according to the word which he hath spoken. Wherefore, hearken, O my people, which are of the House of Israel, and give ear unto my words: for because the words of Isaiah are not plain unto you, nevertheless they are plain unto all those that are filled with the spirit of prophecy.

I’m not so much worried about punctuation as I am errant words. That “for” just does not work there and I think it was probably not meant to be there at all. Here’s another example:

But behold, I, Nephi, have not taught my children after the manner of the Jews. But behold, I, of myself, have dwelt at Jerusalem, wherefore I know concerning the regions round about, and I have made mention unto my children concerning the judgments of God, which hath come to pass among the Jews, unto my children, according to all that which Isaiah hath spoken, and I do not write them.

Check that out. Someone wrote “unto my children” twice when a single instance would make more sense. I’ll throw in one more from Ether 6:10 courtesy of WJT’s comment here:

And thus they were driven forth. And no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them.

Now granted, the idea that’s getting communicated isn’t really changed much by this sloppy writing but I find myself wondering why these errors exist at all? David Whitmer (whom I greatly admire) claims the BoM is essentially perfect. By his telling, Joseph used a brown seer stone inside a hat to read the words aloud from the plates and that the words would only change once the scribe wrote them correctly. As much as I like DW, I think he must be up in the night on this topic. He’s either guessing or repeating what someone else told him because if he’s right, we wouldn’t have typos and I think we’d have a book that is MUCH more skillfully written.

I also doubt very much Nephi was that sloppy of a writer. It seems a safe assumption that writing upon plates of gold requires no small amount of effort so if I were tasked with such a thing, I would write first on paper, get it cleaned up and presentable, proof read, etc, long before I picked up the stamp or chisel or whatever.

The type of writing error above with “unto my children” being repeated in the same sentence is actually a very common error. I in fact make this mistake often when writing emails. But I almost always proofread emails and so I rarely actually send it out in that sloppy way. Do we really think Nephi was just stamping along on those gold plates with whatever came into his mind without any effort to first make sure it made sense and was reasonably well said?

Tough to imagine.

But you know, I don’t really buy that Joseph Smith translated from the plates at all and so I don’t think we can blame Nephi. If he did, I have a very low opinion of Mormon, Nephi, Moroni, and the rest as writers. It doesn’t make them bad dudes, of course, but can you really not put your ideas together in written form more clearly than that?

I’ll come back to what I think translation actually looked like.

I’m aware of Moroni’s worry about being mocked and here I am mocking him a little.

And I said unto him: Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing; for Lord thou hast made us mighty in word by faith, but thou hast not made us mighty in writing; for thou hast made all this people that they could speak much, because of the Holy Ghost which thou hast given them;

24 And thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands. Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared, for thou madest him that the things which he wrote were mighty even as thou art, unto the overpowering of man to read them.

What’s wrong with their hands?? Is Moroni saying that the Nephites are very clumsy with their hands unlike the brother of Jared who was apparently not? If so, my mental images of their wars would have to be completely re-thought. If you can’t wield a pen un-awkwardly I can’t imagine you’d do much better with a sword or cimeter. It makes me think of this video game my boys like to play called Human Fall Flat where these clay-like figures have absurd battles:

Now those are some awkward hands, Moroni! I’m guessing you were better off than these guys.

By contrast the brother of Jared was apparently the OG giga chad when it came to writing:

//Moroni if you’re reading, this, no hard feelings, fam. I just really don’t get it. I hope you don’t mind a little light trolling and don’t jump too quickly to the “fools mock but they shall mourn” bit.//

I really have no idea what Moroni could mean or why he is so self conscious, unless the BoM we have really IS as good as they could write. But somehow I doubt it. I suspect the bad grammar and at times poor structure and never-finished sentences is more a function of the story passing from one person’s mind, to another person’s pen on paper (Cowdery, Emma, et al), to another person’s re-written printer’s manuscript, to another person’s type setting.

John Gilbert, the printer, wants no part in the blame, by the way. He reports:

Speaking of Harris and Hyrum Smith, Gilbert remembered, “I called their attention to a grammatical error, and asked whether I should correct it? Harris consulted with Smith a short time, and turned to me and said; ‘The Old Testament is ungrammatical, set it as it is written.’”

For a time Gilbert stuck to the printer’s manuscript but eventually started making minor corrections, whether approved or not. Of course, the BoM manuscript is also completely devoid of any punctuation so the printers had to do that on their own as well. Tough job!

“Ok, Ernest Hemingway, you’ve got all the answers, how was it translated then?”

My current working theory is that Joseph never cracked the gold plates open, at least not to translate. I’m sorry but if those BoM writers were THAT bad at writing, they should have asked a friend for help. Plus Moroni doesn’t say they are bad writers, he says their hands are awkward, maybe just awkward for gold-plate writing? Idk but I think they could string together sentences better than what we get to read today. And even if they were bad writers, we’re reading this in English, not reformed-Hebrew-Egyptian-Northern-Promised-Land dialect or whatever, so clean it up in the translation for Christ’s sake (literally)! The BoM writers didn’t write it in crappy English, the Joseph Smith crew did.

So if Joseph never cracked the plates, how do we have a book of Mormon at all? I suspect it was channeled to him either through that brown stone Whitmer mentions or the so-called Urim and Thummim from a spirit or angel that just isn’t/wasn’t that great at english. The BoM reads like a telling, not like a writing. It sounds like a storyteller who knows a tale really well sat down to tell it with a few aids here and there (like parts of Isaiah or the sermon on the mount). If that’s correct, I think this spirit/angel was not great at English. He either only knew Old English or just decided to present it in that lousy format hoping that it would have a Biblical air to it and therefore be taken seriously.

That “translation” process alone (from spirit/angel to Joseph via a stone) would introduce errors and then you get mishaps from Joseph repeating it aloud (probably with some errors) and the scribe writing what he hears (more errors) and then a printer’s manuscript that has on average “three scribal errors or changes” per manuscript page.

Imagine trying to republish Homer’s Iliad from the ancient Greek using a translator AND the telephone game and I think you’re getting close.

Who was the spirit/angel? Probably Moroni I would think. It would have to be someone intimately familiar with the contents of the plates and able to give a reasonably accurate accounting of them.

Of course, then we’d have to wonder why have plates at all? What I’m telling you is the plates are NOT there for being translated. I suspect it has more to do with the whole “recorded on earth and in heaven” stuff of D&C 128 or the “out of the books which have been written, and which shall be written, shall this people be judged” stuff from 3 nephi. I don’t think the plates were necessary for getting a book written and published in english…unless they were needed as some kind of tool or medium to help the spirit/angel who channeled the stories to Joseph Smith.

Anyway, that’s my theory about why the BoM is a not-great book from a writing standpoint. Not that I think that’s a reason to discredit or disbelieve it, but I do think it’s a reason to consider what maybe is misstated within its covers. Or are there important words missing here and there that would make some of the confusing passages more clear? Or is it just fine as is, close enough for what matters? Probably.

As always, thoughts welcome.

I’m still thinking about WJT’s BoM space exploration analysis. There’s an idea I can’t shake. The BoM is an utterly unbelievable book if you place it in the world we know and with humans as we understand them.

Read More

I was telling my wife about WJT’s space-narrative takedown and my response to it. She is certainly more inclined to WJT’s reading than mine but she reminded me of something from a show she watches called Young Sheldon.

Read More

Last week I had a very busy work week so I didn’t get to post a few things I had planned to do. Maybe that’s for the best since the story I am trying to flesh out has taken some real hits lately.

Read More

My dwarvish origin story for the Bible has hit quite a snag — or more like it ran into a buzz saw — over the weekend. For context, consider this handy timeline of the Old Testament I found via Google image search:

Read More

There is a friend of mine who blogs by the name William Wright (WW) or in normal life as just Bill. Anyone who reads this blog probably knows who that is. Bill has been regularly blogging about the same strange worldview that this blog presupposes — where Mormonism supposedly collides with JRR Tolkien’s writings.

Read More

[Note: I set the stage for this post in my last post about the corrupted Book of the Lamb of God and in the post prior to that which proposes a potential origin story for this world’s ethno-religious group called Jews. You really need to read those prior two posts to have a chance at understanding this post.]

Read More

For the past several years I’ve been convinced the Holy Bible is a pretty unreliable and even dangerous book filled with inaccurate information that is designed to lead people astray. As a result, I rarely read it and if I do, I take it with a rather large grain of salt.

Read More

I’ve mentioned this in at least one other post, but I don’t think the words “Jews” or “Israel” etc from the BoM refer to our modern usage of those words. I think they instead refer to Noldor elves, the House of Finwe, which is likely not a surprise to anyone who reads this blog (if anyone does read it). That idea comes not from me but from books written by Daymon Smith.

Read More