The Book Of Mormon

As usual by daily routine, I was on my way for evening work outs to Sports Complex (Mardyke Arena) of University College Cork yesterday here in Ireland. And the weather is very nice and sunny now a days with a little warmth. It was not surprising that I confronted two guys with a decent attire and with school bags on their shoulder. But it was strange to see that both of them that they were very tall. In fact I was holding my head up when myself is nearly six feet. It is very common in streets that people approach you for money (in a decent language “Change please”) or awareness of charity organizations or for giving up flyers on pubs, parties, offer etc. Now these guys came up with a request of one min conversation. I wasn’t much in a hurry, so I thought “Ok, now lets see what they have”.

They raised up a blue book with golden title on it ” The Book of Mormon”. I was quite surprised since I was never expecting something more than four pages of any script. Ok, now this is a good catch since I always respect books and keep them with great respect from my childhood days irrespective of the relevance and content matter. So I was a bit excited and eager to get the book. But I was still afraid whether it’s free or for cash !!!

One of the guys started to explain about the book. He asked, “Do you live yourself in God?”. Since I’m a christian and myself including my family at home in India are all having good faith in God and with a good tradition of a Syrian Indian Christian beliefs, I said ” Yes !!!”. And now the guy continued…. ” We are here to spread and develop awareness about this book. It’s an another testament which give more insight into the life of Jesus Christ and the happenings which are not recorded in Bible. I will mark a chapter for you. If you don’t mind, we can show up to your place whenever you are free to talk more about this. So, may I have your address or contact number?”

Well, it was interesting for me to know about something like this exist. I always welcome people to talk, goes to public talks, sit with any kind of seminars. I believe that all this will add to my knowledge and I always have the freedom to decide what I should believe and what I should not. I gave them my address and said that I must be free usually on week ends. I was just interested in the book and to know more about it which could be easily done by google.com. So I’m not looking forward to hear something from these guys. But I still hold the book and googled after returning home.

One good thing of Wikipedia is that you will see the best and worst opinions or more specifically be the rumours behind things. What is supposed to believe, what are in fact will be given the same power for spreading the word.

The following are said about the book:

The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr.as The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi. According to Smith’s account, and written in the book itself, it was originally written in otherwise unknown characters referred to as “reformed Egyptian” on golden plates. Smith said that he received these plates in 1827 from an angel named Moroni, whom Smith identified as a resurrected indigenous American who wrote part of the book over a millennium ago. According to Smith, this ancient Moroni buried the plates in a hill near Smith’s home in Manchester, New York.

The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It is a record of God’s dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains, as does the Bible, the fulness of the everlasting gospel. The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Their words, written on gold plates, were quoted and abridged by a prophet-historian named Mormon. The record gives an account of two great civilizations. One came from Jerusalem in 600 B.C., and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are among the ancestors of the American Indians.

The crowning event recorded in the Book of Mormon is the personal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Nephites soon after his resurrection. It puts forth the doctrines of the gospel, outlines the plan of salvation, and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come.

After Mormon completed his writings, he delivered the account to his son Moroni, who added a few words of his own and hid up the plates in the hill Cumorah. On September 21, 1823, the same Moroni, then a glorified, resurrected being, appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and instructed him relative to the ancient record and its destined translation into the English language.

In due course the plates were delivered to Joseph Smith, who translated them by the gift and power of God. The record is now published in many languages as a new and additional witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that all who will come unto him and obey the laws and ordinances of his gospel may be saved.

Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

In addition to Joseph Smith, the Lord provided for eleven others to see the gold plates for themselves and to be special witnesses of the truth and divinity of the Book of Mormon. Their written testimonies are included herewith as “The Testimony of Three Witnesses” and “The Testimony of Eight Witnesses.”

Jesus in the Book of Mormon

Stated on the title page, The Book of Mormon’s central purpose is for the “convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.”

The book describes Jesus, prior to his birth, as a spirit “without flesh and blood”, although with a spirit “body” that looked similar to how Jesus would appear during his physical life. Jesus is described as “the Father and the Son”. He is said to be:

“God himself [who] shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people…[b]eing the Father and the Son — the Father, because he was conceived by the power of God; and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and Son — and they are one God, yea, the very Eternal Father of heaven and of earth.”

Other parts of the book portray the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost as “one” Beliefs among the churches of the Latter Day Saint movement encompass nontrinitarianism (in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) to Trinitarianism (particularly among the Community of Christ). See Godhead (Latter Day Saints).

In furtherance of its theme of reconciling Jews and Gentiles to Jesus, the book describes a variety of visions or visitations to some of the early inhabitants in the Americas involving Jesus. Most notable among these is a described visit of Jesus to a group of early inhabitants shortly after his resurrection. Many of the book’s narrators described other visions of Jesus, including one by a narrator who, according to the book, lived thousands of years before Jesus, but who saw the “body” of Jesus’ spirit thousands of years prior to his birth. In another vision, according to the book, a different narrator described a vision of the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus, including a prophecy of Jesus’ name, said to have taken place nearly 600 years prior to Jesus’ birth.

Historical Authenticity

The consensus within the non-Mormon archaeological, historical and scientific communities is that the claims of the Book of Mormon do not correlate with the physical and historical evidence. These discrepancies cover four main areas:

• The lack of correlation between locations described in the Book of Mormon and American archaeological sites.

• References to animals, plants, metals and technologies in the Book of Mormon that archaeological or scientific studies have found no evidence of in post-Pleistocene, pre-Columbian America, frequently referred to as anachronisms. Items typically listed include cattle , horses, asses, oxen, sheep, swine, goats^, elephants, wheat, steel,brass, chains, iron, scimitars, and chariots.

• The lack of linguistic connection between any Native American languages and Near Eastern languages.

• The lack of DNA evidence linking any Native American group to the ancient Near East.

Most adherents of the LDS movement consider the Book of Mormon to be a historically accurate account, although within the LDS movement there have been many apologetical groups attempting to reconcile the apparent discrepancies. Among those apologetic groups, much work has been published by Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), and Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR), attempting to either prove the veracity of Book of Mormon claims, or countering arguments critical of its historical authenticity.

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A you tube video is clipped here which is a documentary on Bible and Book of Mormon. Many similar videos are available in you tube.

But anyway, it was interesting for me to know something like this.  May be I will read this eventually………….