Note: Much of the content in this podcast can be found in show participant Ross Anderson’s book Understanding the Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon claims to be an ancient scripture that tells the story of God’s people in the American continent.

LDS challenge: “Either the Book of Mormon is what the Prophet Joseph said it is, or this Church and its founder are false, a deception from the first instance onward…Joseph must be accepted either as a prophet of God or else as a charlatan of the first order…” (Jeffrey R. Holland, “Christ and the New Covenant,” quoted in Ensign, September 2002, 14)

To accept BoM is to accept JS as a prophet, and everything that he stands for.

The Book of Mormon claims can be / should be tested. 1 Thess 5:21 “Test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good.”

Archaeology 

• BoM claims to be an ancient record of American continent
• Featuring great cities, people at war
• Archaeology has failed to unearth any concrete evidence for BoM
• Inscriptional evidence → names carved into stone monuments
• Example: Sennacherib / Assyrians = names of Israel’s kings
• No BoM name every found
• Material remains → walls / foundations of ancient cities
• Plenty of ancient cities in America, but none that can be linked to BoM
• Example: BoM describes its people using gold, silver, iron, brass, copper
• The mining, smelting, and casting of metal ores requires special tools / complex processes which leave traces in the archaeological record
• Scholars generally agree: metallurgy not introduced into America until several centuries after the BoM story ends
• Animals → BoM mentions many different kinds of animals: cattle, sheep, goats, horses
• None have been found in any archaeological setting dating to BoM times
• Unlike deer, jaguar, peccary, tapir, other native species
• The horse have never been found depicted in any of 1000s of sample of art
• New world archaeology is still a young science
• Perhaps some day some artifact or inscription will be found to validate the BoM
• But so far, best LDS apologists can do = create aura of plausibility based on vague similarities
• By contrast, archaeology has repeatedly demonstrated the reliability of Bible: historically / geographically
• Use of metals as describe in Bible can be verified at many sites
• A person can visit the actual cities where Bible describes Jesus or Paul travelling
• British Museum (London)
• Massive stone panels from ancient Ninevah → cities in Bible are recorded there

Evidence for the reliability of the Bible: “Three Reasons to Trust the Bible” 

DNA

• Traditional LDS understanding - based on BoM story → native Americans are descended from ancient Jews who left Jerusalem for America around 600 BC
• This is what JS taught → the most straightforward way to read the BoM text
• Mainstream science → all native Americans are of Asian origin
• Supported by extensive DNA sampling of American Indian populations
• Many current LDS scholars claim that most NA’s are of Asian descent
• While a small subset are of Semitic origin, descended from Lehi
• Idea is = Nephite & Lamanite civilizations described in BoM made up a very small % of total population of New World during BoM times
• LDS Church has acknowledged the challenges
• 1981 BoM: identifies Lamanites as “the principle ancestors of the American Indians”
• 2006 BoM: Lamanites “are among the ancestors of the American Indians”
• If BoM peoples were not alone in the Americas, it’s very surprising that BoM never mentions these large populations of other people
• In fact, no references to other peoples or nations, no accounts of Nephites evangelizing pagans, no polemics vs polytheism, idolatry, etc.

LDS Church Gospel Topics Essay: Book of Mormon and DNA Studies

Bible Plagiarism

• BoM contains extensive material in common with the Bible
• First type of shared content = simple repetition or direct quotation
• Including frequent phrases such as “it came to pass” and “verily, verily I say unto you”
• Second type = interpretive changes to a biblical text
• 2 Nephi 2:18 expands on the biblical account of Eve’s temptation (Gen 3:4-5)
• Third type = structural parallels to the Bible
• Includes literary forms, common motifs, character types, etc
• Conversion of Alma (Mos 27) has many features in common with Paul’s conversion (Acts 9)
• Point: in many cases, Nephite writers mimic wording from the NT
• A doc to which they would have had no access.
• All of this shared content raises the Q: does common material come from independent sources?
• Or did JS simply copy from the Bible?
• Case 1 = the Sermon on the Mount
• Jesus appears in BoM - apparently in 40 days after resurrection prior to ascension
• His public address in 3 Nephi 12-14 contains much in common with Matt 5-7
• Case 2 = BoM contains more than 19 complete chapters in common w/Isaiah
• Lehi’s people carried a copy of OT scriptures with them → source of quoted material
• Several lines of evidence suggest JS derived the Isaiah passages directly from KJV rather than an ancient source
• Example: biblical scholarship has advanced since KJV translation
• Many passages that were obscure in KJV in JS time are now more clear
• But some of the misunderstandings found in the KJV are also found in BoM
• Suggests a direct relationship between KJV / BoM
• Would not have been present in BoM’s quotes of Isaiah if the Isaiah text had originated in Lehi’s time, as the story claims
• How would translation problems from KJV find their way into BoM?
• The extensive content shared between KJV & BoM - and the nature of the parallels - creates strong impression that BoM was produced AFTER the KJV
• Of course, LDS apologists have answers for all of these objections
• The question is whether their answers are credible
• For loyal Mormons, the answers are convincing because they already have an existing commitment to the BoM
• Others, without that grid, are not convinced that BoM passes the test