The Book of Mormon Challenge - Hugh Nibley

LDS historian and apologist Hugh Nibley, in an effort to show how impossible it would be for someone to write the BOM, issued the following challenge:

If one scoffs at the missionary's explanation of the Book of Mormon, he is in so many words claiming it to be false: That it is a deceiving fraud formulated through the efforts and talents of a common man. What is produced by one man can always be duplicated by another. The challenge that the Book of Mormon makes to the world is that of duplication. Because the book complies with every one of the following conditions, in order to produce a similar record, one must comply with the same conditions.

Here is the challenge: Can you accept it?

1. Write a history of ancient Tibet covering a period from 600 B.C. to 450 A.D. Why ancient Tibet? Because you know no more about Tibet than Joseph Smith (or anyone else) knew about ancient America.
2. You are 23 years of age.
3. You have had no more than three years of formal school education, and have spent your life in backwoods farming communities.
4. Your history must be written on the basis of what you now know. There was no library that held information for Joseph Smith. You must use none. There is to be no research of any kind.
5. Your history must be 531 pages and over 300,000 words in length.
6. Other than a few grammatical corrections, you must have no changes in the text. The first edition as you dictate it to your secretary must stand forever.
7. This record is to contain the history of two distinct and separate nations, along with histories of different contemporary nations or groups of people.
8. You must describe their religious, economic, political, and social cultures and institutions. Cover every phase of their society, including the names of their coins.
9. Change your style of writing many times. Many ancient authors contributed to the Book of Mormon, each with his own style.
10. Weave into your history the religion of Jesus Christ and the pattern of Christian living.
11. You must claim that your smooth narrative is not fiction with moral value, but true and sacred history.
12. You must include in you book fifty-four chapters dealing with wars, twenty-one historical chapters, fifty-five chapters on visions and prophecies. Remember, when you begin to write visions and prophecies, you must have your record agree meticulously with the Bible. You must write seventy-one chapters on doctrine and exhortation, and you must check every statement with the scriptures or you will be proven a fraud. You must write twenty-one chapters on the ministry of Christ, and every thing you claim he said and every testimony you write in your book about Him must agree absolutely with the New Testament.
13. Many of the facts, claims, ideas, and statements given as absolute truth in your writing must be entirely inconsistent with the prevailing beliefs of the world. Some of these worldly beliefs must be the direct opposite of your claims.
14. Included in your narrations will be authentic modes of travel; whether or not those ancient people used fire; description of their clothing, crops, mourning customs, and types of government. You must invent about 280 new names that will stand up under scrutiny through the years as to their proper application and derivation.
15. You will have to properly use figures of speech, similes, metaphors, narrations, exposition, descriptions, oratory, epic lyric, and parables.
16. You must invite the ablest scholars and experts to examine the text with care, and you must strive diligently to see that your book gets into the hands of those eager to prove it a forgery, and who are most competent to expose every flaw in it.
17. Thorough investigation, scientific and historical evidence, and archeological discovery for the next 125 years must verify its claims and prove detail after detail to be true, for many of the details you put in your history are still buried beneath the soil of Tibet.
18. You must publish it to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people declaring it to be the word of God and another witness for the Lord Jesus Christ.
19. The book must not contain any absurd, impossible, or contradictory statements. Your history must not contain any statement that will contradict any other statement elsewhere in the volume.
20. Many theories and ideas as to its origin must arise, and after discovering and examining the facts, they must fail. You have claimed that your knowledge had come from divine origin, and this claim continues to stand as the only possible explanation. The strength of this explanation must not decrease as time passes, but actually increases to the point where it becomes the only logical explanation.
21. Your record is to fulfill many Bible prophecies, even in the exact manner in which it shall come forth, to whom delivered, its purposes, and its accomplishments.
22. Call down an angel from heaven in the middle of the day and have him bear testimony to four honest, dignified citizens of your community that the record is the word of God. These witnesses must bear the angel's testimony to the world, not for profit or gain, but under great sacrifice and severe persecution, even to their death beds. You must put that testimony to the test by becoming an enemy to these men.
23. Thousands of great men, intellectual giants, national and international personalities, and scholars for 165 years must accept your history and its teachings even to the point of laying down their life rather than deny their testimony of it.
24. You must include with within the record this promise: "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, He will manifest the truth of it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost."
25. Missionaries must bear record to the world for the next 165 years that they know the record to be true because they put the promise to the test and found it to be true. The truth of it was manifested to them by the power of the Holy Ghost.
26. Over 52,900 plus competent salesman must be so sold on your book that they gladly give up two or more years of their lives to take it to all parts of the world for distribution. They not only pay their own way during these years, but return bearing testimony that the time spent will remain as one of the highlights of their lives. They receive nothing in return for their efforts but the joy of having shared your book with others.
27. Your book must not only raise the standards of millions of people but do it in such a way that they become one of the great moral, ethical, and dynamic marvels of the day. They must become world renowned for this.
28. For the next 20 years you must watch those that follow and you, your family, and the dearest of your loved ones persecuted, driven time after time from their homes, beaten, tortured, starved, frozen and killed. Tens of thousands must undergo the most extreme hardships in your presence just because they believe your claims concerning the origin and content of what you have written on ancient Tibet.
29. You must gain no wealth from your work, but many times lose all that you have. Like those that believe you, you must submit yourself to the most vile persecution. And finally after 20 years of this, give your own life in a very savage and brutal manner, for your testimony concerning your history book. This must be done willingly on your part.
30. Start right now and produce this record which covers 1,000 years of history, doing it, not in the peaceful atmosphere of your community, but under the most trying of circumstances which include being driven from your home several times, and receiving constant threats upon your life. Please have your book completed, talk a friend into mortgaging his farm to raise money to have it printed - all in 60 days.

There is only one answer: The Book of Mormon is a divine record. If not, its origin must be stated and its claims must be explained by the critic. It isn't enough to merely discard it as false and forget about it!

The first thing to do in examining any ancient text is to consider it in the light of the origin and background; there is no need to look farther, since historical forgery is virtually impossible.

___________________________

Critics of the book have tried to refute this challenge, but none of them have ever reproduced anything like The Book of Mormon.  None of them have ever accepted the challenge.  So, to the critics, go ahead and criticize all you want, but until you actually reproduce something like the Book of Mormon, you haven't a leg to stand on.  

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.  

And It Came To Pass - Authenticity of the Book of Mormon

The phrase, "And it came to pass" occurs in the English translation of the Book of Mormon 1,381 times.  It is found in all books except the book of Moroni (the last book).  It can vary in how it is recorded, sometimes being used as "now it came to pass" or "for behold it came to pass" or "but behold, it came to pass" or "and it shall come to pass" but all variations contain the same root meaning.  


The phrase is not unique to the Book of Mormon, however.  The Bible uses the phrase, or one of its derivatives, some 613 times (526 in the Old Testament and 87 in the New Testament).  This supports the fact that the phrase "and it came to pass" is Hebrew in origin, which correlates well with the statement from Nephi, "Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians" (1 Nephi 1:2).  


It has been discovered that the Maya people, who lived in the Southeast part of Mexico and in Guatemala, may have adopted the phrase " and it came to pass."  Recent discoveries in the translation of the glyphs of the 7th Century Mayan ruins of Palenque show the phrase "and then it came to pass" and "it had come to pass" both used frequently.  Even more recently, another glyph has been directly interpreted as "and it shall come to pass."  This glyph has been named "Utchi" and it comprised of three separate glyphs; (U)T, CH and I.  Combined the three glyphs mean "and it came to pass."    

Three parts of the Utchi glyph

Here is a brief explanation of the glyphs history from "Things Mormon."

In 1985, a Mayanist scholar, Davit Stuart, observed that the Anterior Date Indicator (ADI) and Posterior Date Indicator (PDI) named by Eric Thompson functioned as a grammatical and literary feature both in colonial and modern Maya languages.  He speculated correctly when he interpreted the sound of the glyph as "Ut" in the Chol language and "Utchi" in the Maya language, meaning "to happen, or to come to pass." (Schele 1987:26)  Two years earlier, John Justeson and Will Norman found a consistency in an event indicator that appear as the word "IWAL," which means the action is ongoing at the time, such as "and" or "and then."  Together, UT_IWAL in the PDI in Maya glyphs read "and then it came to pass" or "and now it came to pass."   

It is interesting, and kind of ironic, that one of the things used to criticize the Book of Mormon has actually become one of the means to help prove its authenticity.  It is my testimony that the book is true and I am confident that as time goes on many other things will come to light to help further help the case of the authenticity of this great book.

Mapping the Book of Mormon

I am not sure how accurate this is, so take it with a grain of salt but I found a site that talks about the geography of the Book of Mormon and estimated locations of where certain cities and places in the Book of Mormon could exist in real world locations of today.  Most of it is in Central America and some of the dates correspond to the Book of Mormon pretty well.  For instance, the Olmec culture has been considered to be the Jaredites spoken about in Ether in the Book of Mormon.  The dates are fairly close to one another.  But you can go see for yourself and decide how accurate this is.  Just remember though, the geography won't prove or disprove anything and it shouldn't be used as a measuring rod of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon because that can only come by a witness from the Lord.  Here is the Link

Golden Plates From 600 BC Found In Bulgaria

This is the second post in the Authenticity of the Book of Mormon series that I have written about.  Those familiar with Mormon history will know that Joseph Smith claimed that he was given golden plates from which he translated the writings which now comprise the Book of Mormon.  Many disbelieve this claim and it is often a stumbling block for people who try to believe in the Book of Mormon.  However, an ancient record, recorded on golden plates has been discovered in Bulgaria.  This record has been dated to around 600 BC and is considered the oldest complete book in the world.  

Joseph Smith described the plates, from which he translated the Book of Mormon, as follows; 

These records were engraven on plates which had the appearance of gold, each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long, and not quite so thick as common tin. They were filled with engravings, in Egyptian characters, and bound together in a volume as the leaves of a book, with three rings running through the whole. The volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters on the unsealed part were small, and beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction, and much skill in the art of engraving. (History of the Church, 4:537)

 While the plates found in Bulgaria do not contain the same information as the Book of Mormon it is still a fascinating find in the fact that it shows plates existed as a means of preserving records around 600 BC, which is the time that Lehi and his family left Jerusalem.  


Here is the source link if you would like to read more: Maxwell Institute 

The Book of Mormon - Translated Back to Egyptian

There have been many critics of the Book of Mormon over the years, including those who doubt its authenticity based on the fact that it was produced by an uneducated farm boy from upstate New York.  This post is the first in a series regarding the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.  

Elder Russel M. Nelson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles related the following account regarding a man translating the Book of Mormon back into Egyptian and becoming converted to the gospel.  In the Book of Mormon we read that the record had been written in the "characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech."  (Mormon 9:32).  Since the record was originally written in a form of Egyptian, it would seem natural for it to follow some of the literary styles of the language.  The following document will cover several of the literary artifacts that confirm it is a true record.  

It is my testimony that the Book of Mormon is not only a true historical artifact, relating the history of the inhabitants of North and South America but also that it is another witness of the Lord, Jesus Christ.  It has been a confirmation to me that he is our Savior and that he is the Savior of the entire world, not just the Jews who lived in Jerusalem during his mortal ministry.