First, I want to thank you for a great site; you have done well in answering some of my questions. I have been wavering on whether or not to join the church, and have done some extensive research in the process. Some has been negative, like in any religion and some has been positive. I have a question regarding the Book of Mormon. When Mr. Harris lost the 116 page manuscript of the first translation, it was from the book of Lehi correct? When he told Joseph, he said he had to pray about it. He then came back and said he would translate the book of Nephi, as God was upset that the first one was lost. Mr. Harris wife did this ti see if Joseph was truly translating and a prophet.
My question, if he truly was the prophet he should have been able to re translate what he did the first time. I doesn’t make sense that God would leave that book out, as the BOM is to be the most correct and was to restore the gospel. If it was left out then how would the gospel be restored in its fullness with a missing book. Am I just over thinking things? Its just that if I convert, I want to be 100% sure that I believe.
Once again, thank you for your time and your awesome web site.
5 Responses to “First, I want to thank you for a great site; you have done w…”
Bruno Rubio
2011-07-24 22:16:34
Since it was first published in English in 1830, the Book of Mormon has been fully translated into 72 languages.
Hi Fernando. It's excellent that you're thinking so carefully about these things. Let me make a few comments:
1) As far as I know, the idea that Martin Harris' wife stole the manuscript is unsubstantiated. She seems to have been antagonistic towards the church and may well have stolen the pages, but I don't think that's ever been proven.
2) The Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 9) makes it very clear that certain redundancies were built into the book itself so that important theological content was not lost. The lost content was mostly historical, not theological.
3) Joseph Smith claimed (with reason, given the antagonism towards the church at the time) that enemies of the church intended to alter the stolen text and claim the resulting discrepancies were evidence that Joseph was not a true prophet. Consequently, Joseph was instructed by God to begin translating Nephi's account rather than retranslating Lehi's account.
Regardless of the motives, the story of the lost 116 pages has been valuable to the Mormon people. It is often cited as an example of how God will not deprive us of our free agency (free will). He won't stop us from acting contrary to His will, even if the results might be disastrous. Joseph insisted on sharing the pages despite God's command that he keep the text to himself. Like Joseph, each of us need to learn to follow God despite our own natural desires and inclinations. I hope this answer helps!
Art Sherwood
2011-07-18 19:49:12
When Nephi arrived in the New World, he was commanded by God to begin keeping a record of the history of his people. This record which he began is what was known as the large plates of Nephi. This record contained a detailed history of the people, both secular and spiritual. Some time after that, the Lord commanded Nephi to create a second smaller record containing just the more spiritual history. When Mormon was compiling the history of the Nephites from the large plates of Nephi, he learned about this smaller record, found it, and included it as-is in his record (read Words of Mormon). God knew hundreds of years beforehand that those 116 pages would be lost. That is why he had Nephi create two records. All of the important information lost in those 116 pages (from Mormon's compilation of the large plates) was duplicated in the small plates.
Had Joseph re-translated the 116 pages, those people who stole the originals could alter them and then reveal them to be different from the re-translated text and claim that Joseph was not a prophet. God wasn't going to give them that chance. He had prepared a better solution.
M. Welch
2011-07-19 04:47:36
If Joseph Smith had retranslated the same portion of the Book of Mormon and the pages had been retained by the people who had presumably stolen them, or if they had been found later, the original translation could have been used as "proof" that he was not really translating the plates correctly. For example, if the wording wasn't 100% the same. The "gospel" and the "scriptures" aren't the same thing. The gospel is the teachings of and about Christ, the news that he lives, etc. The "fulness of the gospel" refers to the fact that the Book of Mormon reinstitutes principles that were lost to time and changes in doctrine that we believe were practiced by the original Christians (before and after Christ's mortal ministry). We do not have the fulness of the scriptures. In fact, we believe there are a lot more ancient scriptures out there that haven't even been discovered! So leaving out one book of the Book of Mormon doesn't really affect the overall message, and the "sealed" parts of it will be revealed one day. It was really a protection to the work of Joseph Smith that he was not allowed to retranslate that part, as well as a punishment for not listening to God in the first place. I hope that helps. ¿_¿
Pamela Dean Bonta
2011-07-25 01:04:19
Maybe you are overthnking things. :) Actually, you are correct - Joseph could have just retranslated those pages. But, Heavenly Father told him not to because it would not serve any useful purpose and would enable unbelievers to disrupt the work that Joseph was appointed to do. How? Several ways. First, if Joseph or his scribes misspelled or miswrote even one letter, they would have been called liars and forgers because the the second copy was not the same as the first. Second, even if it had been retranslated and rewritten exactly the same as the first, the people who stole it could have easily changed the pages they had, thus making it seem like Joseph was a charlatan. As it turns out, Heavenly Father knew that there was a possibility that these pages would be stolen. Hence, the same information was found elsewhere in the Book of Mormon. A God but brief explanation can be found here. http://www.fairwiki.org/Book_of_Mormon/Translation/The_lost_116_pages
Shalon
2011-07-21 02:32:46
He certainly could have. But detractors had changed the wording of the transcript. If he had re-translated it, it would not have matched the new version they had. Leading those detractors to say... If it were true it would have matched. The LDS church is the "Most Complete" but as the 13th article of Faith says, We believe that there are still new revelations to come.
1) As far as I know, the idea that Martin Harris' wife stole the manuscript is unsubstantiated. She seems to have been antagonistic towards the church and may well have stolen the pages, but I don't think that's ever been proven.
2) The Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 9) makes it very clear that certain redundancies were built into the book itself so that important theological content was not lost. The lost content was mostly historical, not theological.
3) Joseph Smith claimed (with reason, given the antagonism towards the church at the time) that enemies of the church intended to alter the stolen text and claim the resulting discrepancies were evidence that Joseph was not a true prophet. Consequently, Joseph was instructed by God to begin translating Nephi's account rather than retranslating Lehi's account.
Regardless of the motives, the story of the lost 116 pages has been valuable to the Mormon people. It is often cited as an example of how God will not deprive us of our free agency (free will). He won't stop us from acting contrary to His will, even if the results might be disastrous. Joseph insisted on sharing the pages despite God's command that he keep the text to himself. Like Joseph, each of us need to learn to follow God despite our own natural desires and inclinations. I hope this answer helps!
Had Joseph re-translated the 116 pages, those people who stole the originals could alter them and then reveal them to be different from the re-translated text and claim that Joseph was not a prophet. God wasn't going to give them that chance. He had prepared a better solution.