Is the Book of Mormon the Inspired Word of God? Part 2

In my last post I looked at some of the errors with the nature of the Book of Mormon. In this post I want to look at some of the changes to the book. Several sources I researched all stated that there were almost 4,000 independent changes between the original 1830 and the current 1981 versions of the Book of Mormon. 4,000 changes!!! I find it ironic that the Book of Mormon set out to fix the corruption that took place over the previous 2,000 years and yet within its first 150 years has been corrupted in over 4,000 places. Now I’ll grant that some of these are minor spelling corrections but many more are not. In the interest of space I cannot list all of the changes. Therefore I will only list a couple of my favorites. Now I realize that it is very easy for me to make these claims unchallenged. Therefore, as always, in the interest of fairness, I encourage you to verify these claims yourself. I also realize that most of you don’t have access to either an 1830 or a 1981 version of the Book of Mormon. So, again in the interest of fairness, I will provide one. Click Here for a photocopied version of the 1830 Book of Mormon. (The photocopy helps ensure accuracy as opposed to someone simply typing it). Click Here for the 1981 version of the Book of Mormon.

First, on the title page of each book Joseph Smith is recognized as the playing a key role. However the 1830 version states “…by Joseph Smith Jr. Author and Proprietor” as compared to the 1981 version which states “translated by Joseph Smith Jr.” -- So which is it; did Joseph Smith write the book or did he simply translate it? It may appear like a minor issue of semantics but in reality it has major implications for the rest of the book.

Secondly, the 1830 version of the Book of Mosiah, p.200; states: "...on learning from the mouth of Ammon that king Benjamin had a gift from God..." However the 1981 version states in Mosiah 21:28: "...on learning from the mouth of Ammon that king Mosiah had a gift from God..." – So which was it? Was it King Benjamin or King Mosiah?

Thirdly, the 1830 version of the Book of Alma p.315; reads "But behold, as the seed swelleth and sprouteth and beginneth to grow, and then ye must needs say, That seed is good; for behold, it swelleth and sprouteth and beginneth to grow." However, in the 1981 version, the leaders of the Church have taken the liberty to rewrite it to say the following “But behold, as the seed swelleth and sprouteth and beginneth to grow, and then ye must needs say, That seed is good; for behold, it swelleth and sprouteth and beginneth to grow. And now behold, will not this strengthen your faith? Yea, it will strengthen your faith: for ye will say that I know that this is a good seed; for behold, it sprouteth and beginneth to grow." – They not only doubled the length of the verse but entirely changed its meaning.

Finally, in regards to skin color the 1830 version of the Book of 2 Nephi 30:6 uses the word “white.” This is important to know if one has ever desired to study how the Mormon Church has historically viewed blacks. (Click Here for more information). However the 1981 version uses the word “pure” instead of white. This is very convenient considering that it wasn’t until June of 1978, only 3 years earlier, that blacks were allowed by the church to hold a position of priesthood.

I could go on and on with countless other examples of changes in the Book of Mormon. (Well okay, technically not countless as there are only about 4,000 of them). Please notice that I did not show simple grammatical changes but changes that significantly alter the meaning of the text. I find it very interesting that when the 1830 version was translated from the tablets, it was done with seer stones, one character at a time. Seems reasonable that one character at a time should produce a pretty accurate translation shouldn’t it? If it wasn’t translator error than why would a sovereign God have dictated a text with so many errors? Why couldn’t he get it right the first time? These are questions that Mormons must be held accountable to answer. I don’t know about you, but personally I do not feel comfortable trusting my eternity to a book written by a god who can’t seem to make up his mind and therefore needs regular “updates” to his holy text. If you would like more information or would like to see lists with more changes you can Click Here, Click Here, Click Here, or Click Here.