The Book of Mormon - Writings of Nephi and Isaiah

Many evidences supporting The Book of Mormon have emerged since it was first published  in 1830.  Although I have written of the importance and necessity of receiving a testimony by the power of the Holy Ghost, I have had my testimony strengthened by other means as well.  

One of my favorite pieces of evidence occur in the writings of the prophet Nephi.  In this particular grouping of writings Nephi is quoting the writings of the prophet Isaiah, which had been preserved for him and his posterity on the Brass Plates.  The verse I am referring to is in 2 Nephi 12:16 and it reads as follows -

 16 And upon all the ships of the ^asea, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.

At first glance this really doesn't mean anything to the causal observer.  However, when compared to the verse from Isaiah in the KJV of the Bible we can see a difference.  

Isaiah 2:16 -

16 ^aAnd upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. 

The Isaiah verse is missing something in the fact that it says nothing about the "ships of the sea."  It only mentions the "ships of Tarshish."  

Many critics would simply use this as a means to claim that Joseph Smith must have embellished the verse and/or added his own interpretation of it, either to make himself look like a prophet who is inspired or to give validity to the fact that he didn't just copy parts of the Bible.  However, neither is true.  There is a third option, and it is the correct option.  

In the Greek version of the Bible, called the Septuagint Bible, we find something rather interesting.  In the verse in Isaiah 2:16 it reads as follows - 

16 και επι παν πλοιον θαλασσης και επι πασαν θεαν πλοιων καλλους

(translation)

16, and upon every seagoing vessels and upon all Theano ships Kallis

The Greek version mentions seagoing vessels, and doesn't specifically mention the ships of Tarshish (although the ending of the verse isn't easily translated, so it could be the same thing).  

The overall point I am trying to make is that it seems highly unlikely that Joseph Smith, who knew neither Greek nor was practiced in theology at the time of translation, would have paid close enough attention to one single verse of scripture to worry about making sure it matched up with both the English version of the Bible and the Greek version of the Bible.  

My witness is that the Book of Mormon is a true book and that Joseph Smith was the translator of it, and that he did so by the gift and power of God.  

The Sin of Needing a Sign

I have often been asked if I have any evidence of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, as if somehow physical or tangible proof is the best way to prove such things.  While I do have many credible tangible reasons for believing, I rely more on my witness from God through the power of the Holy Ghost than by any other means.  This is the proper way of things.  In the Book of Mormon we are taught;

17 Yea, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a^asign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe.

 18 Now I ask, is this faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to ^abelieve, for he knoweth it.

 19 And now, how much ^amore ^bcursed is he that ^cknoweth the^dwill of God and doeth it not, than he that only believeth, or only hath cause to believe, and falleth into ^etransgression?

 21 And now as I said concerning faith—^afaith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye ^bhope for things which are ^cnot seen, which are true.

These verses from Alma 32 show that needing signs before belief is not only an unwise path to follow, but can also bring greater condemnation if the sign is not followed.  

In Matthew 16 in the New Testament we read;

4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

Wicked people seek after a sign before they will believe.  They are also the first to disbelieve once they have received a sign! (aren't things ironic?)  We learn of this truth in 3 Nephi in the Book of Mormon

 1 And it came to pass that thus passed away the ninety and fifth year also, and the people began to forget those ^asigns and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or a wonder from heaven, insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts, and blind in their minds, and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen—

 2 ^aImagining up some vain thing in their hearts, that it was wrought by men and by the power of the devil, to lead away and^bdeceive the hearts of the people; and thus did Satan get possession of the hearts of the people again, insomuch that he did blind their eyes and lead them away to believe that the doctrine of Christ was a ^cfoolish and a vain thing.

Requiring a sign before belief is probably the worst way to try and gain a witness of the truth.  

My experience and testimony is that God places a premium on belief without a sign more than on belief with having received a sign.  Perhaps this seems backwards to some, but scriptural evidence confirms this fact.  John 20 in the New Testament shows this;

29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast ^aseen me, thou hast believed: ^bblessed are they that have not seen, and yet have ^cbelieved.

I don't know why this is the way of things, I only know it is true.  It is how I received my witness.  I believed and did everything I was taught that I should do, and it wasn't until after that period of testing that I received a witness from God.  But I now have this witness and I will do all I can to be faithful to it.  

Conversation With a Pastor (Part 7)

The last time wrote I posted a short email that I had sent to the the Pastor.  I didn't get a response from him in the interim but I did write him a longer response to many of his questions.  He wanted to know what I believed about Jesus Christ and he wanted to know why a restoration and prophets in our day were necessary.  He wasn't that tactful about it but I didn't expect him to be.  The necessity of a Restoration and of modern day prophets completely undermines his interpretation of the Bible as well as the church he started without direct face to face revelation from God.  

The response that follows was given in very direct words.  I explained my belief in the divinity and Godship of Jesus Christ as well as the reason a restoration was necessary.  

_______

Pastor S,

In your previous message to me you mentioned a couple of things that you wanted me to expound upon; namely the deity of Jesus Christ as well as the need for a restoration of the Gospel.  

This is my personal testimony of Jesus Christ.

I know that Jesus Christ was the first born spirit child of Heavenly Father.  He is the creator of the universe and everything therein.  He created the Earth under the direction of his Father and was chosen to be the Savior of Mankind before the Earth was even created.  I know that he came to earth as the babe born in Bethlehem of Judea and lived in very humble and meek circumstances, yet he grew in favor with God and with man.  He lived a perfect life of service and love, never once sinning or going amiss of his Father's will.  I know that on a terrible night he worked out the Infinite Atonement, which is the means whereby redemption and resurrection can come to the entire human family.  He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemanie and bled from every pore because of the burden he had to bear.  I know that he felt the pains, sickness and infirmities of the entire human family and that he did this so that he might know how to succor us in our afflictions.  I know that he suffered the pain and paid the price for the sins of all mankind, that we might repent and be found clean from the stains of this world.  I know that he was lifted up upon the cross and suffered unimaginable pain, yet I know that he did it willingly, according to the will of the Father.  I know that he was resurrected on the third day and is now a glorified and perfect being with a body of flesh and bones.  He was the first fruit of those who slept and all shall rise like he did.  I know that he ascended into heaven to take his place on the right hand of the Father, and that he is clothed with glory and perfection.  He is the Lord of the Universe and will forever be our God.  

I hope that my words helped to express at least some of how I feel about the Lord.  Words do not do justice to the feelings of my heart, however.  Yet I hope they will suffice.  

Regarding the restoration of the gospel, I must say that I appreciate the way you worded your question.  It helped me to understand what you currently know about Mormon beliefs.  From what you said you seem to believe that Mormons think that the prophets in the Bible somehow "got it wrong."  I want to clear up the matter and say that we do not believe that.  At all.  We do not believe any of the prophets got it wrong.  In fact, they are what kept things right for so long!  Were it not for all of the prophets the work of the Lord would have had a rather difficult time getting off the ground.  If Adam were not a prophet then he would not have been able to converse with the Lord and know how to keep the commandments.  He wouldn't have known what commandments even were.  If it were not for Noah being a prophet then the entire population of the earth (including noah and the other seven people on the ark) would have been wiped out in the flood, because how would they know about its coming except by being warned by the Lord?  Were it not for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob being prophets then we would have missed out on an infinite number of blessings that have come through their posterity.  Were it not for Moses the Lord's covenant people would have remained in bondage in Egypt because they would have not have been led out by a prophet of the Lord.  In fact, the Bible explicitly states, "surely the Lord, God, will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7)  Prophets are the way that the Lord has always and will always communicate to his people upon the earth.  So, to be clear, Mormons reverence the prophets of the Bible and in no case have we ever claimed that they "got it wrong."  

The problem that seems to always come up, however, is the disobedience of the people whom the prophets are trying to lead.  This is an undeniable fact.  People have the ability to choose.  They can follow the counsel of the prophet or they can ignore it.  If they ignore it then there are usually pretty severe consequences (like in the case of the Flood) and this is where the problems come into play.  God has a perfect plan, but people are not perfect.  It must be terribly frustrating to God to have only imperfect people to work with, but he makes it work because he is all powerful and because he loves us.  So, even when people mess up (whether individually or as a whole) the Lord brings prophets into play to try and get the people back on track.  This is a very easy thing to see in the Bible.  It is also easy to see a pattern emerging and Mormons call these "dispensations."  Adam as a prophet was the first dispensation, Noah was another, Moses was yet another, and so on.  If God's plan was to only ever use the teachings of one prophet and never call new ones then we would only have the teachings of Adam and that would be (apparently) sufficient for salvation.  However, this is not the case at all and hopefully you can now see why prophets are vital to forwarding the work of the Lord.  

At this point I would bet that you are following the logic of this and aren't in total disagreement with it.  However, the part that will probably hold you up is when Jesus comes to the Earth.  For most protestants that event is the apparent end of prophets coming to the Earth, notwithstanding the fact that Jesus called many others (including the 12 Apostles) to carry on the work once he was gone.  I suppose I can kind of see where that mindset comes from, however to that I would argue that if the Lord didn't intend for this pattern to continue then He would not have given Peter the position he held as the chief Apostle, nor would more Apostles been chosen to fill the vacancy created after the death of Judas Iscariot.  The pattern was meant to continue, however it did not and this was due to persecution of the Church and the difficulties in keeping many different groups of saints living "sound doctrine" without constant correction and reproof from the Apostles.  By 110AD (and that is being generous, it was probably much sooner) all of the Apostles were killed, except for John the Beloved.  I believe the last time he was heard of was around 79AD (though I could be off on that one).  However, after that date, there is silence as far as the Bible is concerned.  There are no new writings from the Apostles (not in the KJV Bible anyway) because they were all gone, and after a time no new Apostles were called to fill vacancies.  So, what of prophets and of revelation?  It ceased for a time.  Surely God still heard and answered the prayers of those who remained faithful, however, how long can a person and their posterity remain true to a belief when there are no leaders and when there are very few, if any, writings from those inspired men?  The Bible as you and I know it really did not exist for quite some time after the turn of the first century AD.  Even still, those who could manage to get writings would only have fragments.  After the Catholic church formed it was nearly impossible for common people to have access to the scriptures.  The holy writings were hoarded by so called priests who cared for wealth and power more than for the salvation of their congregations.  And this is where the interesting part comes.  

The Catholic church claims that they are the Church that Jesus set up while he was on the Earth.  They claim divine authority through the Apostle Peter.  They consider him their first Pope and they feel that each of their Popes since Peter have held the authority that was originally given to Peter.  While there are glaring holes in this way of thinking the Catholics at least hold a unique position as far as Christianity goes.  I'll refer you to the following account for a more eloquent explanation.  This is from Elder Orson F. Whitney of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during a church conference in April, 1928.

Many years ago I had an interesting conversation with a man who was a member of the Roman Catholic church. He was a great scholar; he must have had a dozen languages at his tongue’s end, and seemed to know all about history, science, law, philosophy, and all the rest of it. We were frank and friendly with each other, and one day he said to me:

 “You ‘Mormons’ are all ignoramuses. You don’t even know the strength of your own position. It is so strong that there is only one other position tenable in the whole Christian world, and that is the position of the Roman Catholic church. The issue is between ‘Mormonism’ and Catholicism. If you are right, we are wrong. If we are right, you are wrong, and that’s all there is to it. These Protestant sects haven’t a leg to stand on; for if we are right, we cut them off long ago, as apostates; and if we are wrong, they are wrong with us, for they were a part of us and came out of us. If we have the apostolic succession from St. Peter, as we claim, there was no need of Joseph Smith and ‘Mormonism;’ but if we have not that apostolic succession, then such a man as Joseph Smith was necessary, and ‘Mormonism’s position is the only consistent one. It is either the perpetuation of the Gospel from ancient times or the restoration of the Gospel in latter days.”

 “Doctor,” said I, “that is a very clear and concise statement, and I agree with it in almost every particular. But don’t deceive yourself with the notion that we ‘Mormons’ don’t know the strength of our own position. We know it better than you do. We know it better than any other people can know it. We haven’t all been to been college, we can’t all speak the dead languages, and we may be ignoramuses as you say; but we know we are right, and we know you are wrong.” I was just as frank with him as he had been with me.

From an objective point of view this is a very interesting, yet serious thing to think about.  If Catholics hold the rights and authority as passed down by Peter, then both Mormonism is wrong and every Protestant religion is wrong because we would all be apostate groups that broke off from the truth.  However, if Catholicism is wrong and never had the authority from Peter then the only other way for a Church to claim that authority is by way of a Prophet being called of God.  In either case (and this will be hard for you to hear) all Protestant churches do not hold the authority that was given to Peter, meaning all Protestant churches are false churches to one degree or another.  To be clear, that doesn't mean that everything they teach is wrong, but it does mean that they hold no right to the authority and divine revelation that Christ gave to his Apostles (and especially to Peter).  This means that they are not able to be God's authorized church on the earth.   

Now you may say what you will about Mormonism or about Joseph Smith or about our claim to revelation and divine authority, but you cannot deny that we hold a unique position in relation to the rest of Christianity.  Also, yes, we are Christians in one of the most strict senses I have ever known about.  

So, that is why a restoration was needed.  And if a restoration was not needed then we should all be Catholics.  It is as simple as that.  However, I know that a restoration was needed and I know that God has called prophets again in our day.  The divine authority has been restored to the earth by those who held it previously.  They have returned as resurrected beings with bodies of flesh and bones and have given that authority to God's chosen servants.  

Brian, I am certain that you are a good man and that you continually strive to serve God to the best of your ability.  I admire that and commend you for it.  Your dedication to God is admirable and you should continue forth in doing what you feel is the right thing to do.  I pray that you will be a good pastor to those who look to you for guidance and I hope you continue to grow.  I also hope that I have been able to adequately explain my position, and whether you agree with it or not, I hope that it at least makes sense to you.  If you have further questions I invite you to ask them.  However, I also hope that you will continue to ask God for guidance as well.  He loves us all, no matter what we believe and no matter what we may have done.  

Keep the faith brother,

Hal Waldram

PS  If you are one who is willing to read a lot, which I'm sure you are, then you may find the book Jesus The Christ by James E. Talmage to be very insightful.  I have read it many times and think that you would enjoy it.  I have never found a book that organizes the events of the Lord's life in the New Testament as well as that one.  Here is a link to it on Amazon if you are interested Jesus The Christ by James E. Talmage .  I think they even have a free Kindle edition.  

_______

After this message I never received a response.  I don't know what happened to the pastor.  I don't know if he even read my words or if he even cares to have an explanation at all of the need for a restoration, but it doesn't really matter.  I was able to bear my witness to him that Jesus is the Christ and that He has restored the fullness of the everlasting gospel in our days.  I was able to bear witness that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the Earth.  I was able to bear testimony to him that God has called new prophets in our day, who received direct revelation from Him.  These things are what is important.  Winning arguments or defending your position is of little import however, especially when compared to being able to boldly declare the truth to someone in darkness.  I was able to boldly declare my witness, and whether the pastor believed it or not makes no difference.  I declared the truth and, despite how preposterous it may sound to some people, I know that time will vindicate me.