How do we know which book the bible, the apocrypha, the quran, the book of mormon, etc. The following essay is the official lds released essay entitled book of mormon translation. The holy quran is a book that everyone should read no matter the religion but it should be read in its original language, like most books that are translated it loses flavor when its not. A divinely guided book would not contain these kinds or numbers of grammatical mistakes, and to claim inspiration for such a book is to cast reproach upon god himself. Much can be known about the coming forth of the english text of the book of mormon through a careful study of statements made by joseph smith, his scribes, and others closely associated with the translation of. Think joseph smith could have gotten that right by sheer chance. Do jehovahs witnesses have a book equivalent to the book of. Before i get flamed i would like to point out three of the more glaring anachronistic errors. Translating the book of mormon religious studies center. The young man, however, had very little formal education and was incapable of writing a book on his own, let alone translating an ancient book written from an unknown language, known in the book of mormon as reformed egyptian. Unless otherwise indicated, the translation was financed and the resulting text published by the church of jesus christ of latterday saints lds church.
Both include gods will revealed to prophets for different peoples. Containing the full arabic text of the quran, an accompanying english translation, and extensive commentary, this is a compilation of the muslim faiths final revelation from god to mankind through the last prophet muhammad, peace be upon him. However, whereas islam insists upon the eternity, complete oneness and uniqueness of god, mormonism asserts that the godhead is made up of three distinct beings, each of which is referred to as a god. It was first published in march 1830 by joseph smith as the book of mormon. The book of mormon is a sacred text of the latter day saint movement, which adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the american continent from approximately 2200 bc to ad 421. Being true, however, is much different than being as perfect as god is perfect. Mar 17, 2004 the lds church recognizes four main texts as divinely inspired and authoritative scripture. The book of mormon has been criticized for its lack of significant female characters in the narrative.
This surah has 200 verses and resides between pages 50 to 76 in the quran. The quran is claimed to be the perfect, verbatim word of the almighty and allknowing creator of the world, allah. As you can see from this verse in the quran, it states that if there are mistakes, discrepancies, and the quran is not from allah. Joseph smith said that the book of mormon translation was performed by the gift and power of god the lost 116 pages of the book of mormon manuscript. It is mostly a book of wars, oppression, slavery, treachery, bloodshed. Jan 02, 2020 how do we know that the bible is the word of god, and not the apocrypha, the quran, the book of mormon, etc question. Mormons read the christian bible king james translation or kjv and the book of mormon. Islam and the church of jesus christ of latterday saints both teach that god revealed their sacred texts, the quran and the book of mormon, to correct humanmade errors in other religious practices. Islamic apologists make the claim that the quran predicts muslims would be victorious at home and abroad surah 30. I dont agree with this because of the other texts stated here and other reasons stated elsewhere.
Errors in grammar there are literally thousands of grammatical errors in the original edition of the book of mormon errors that gradually have been changed in later editions. Book of mormon an inspired translation of nephi plates. Weapons used from 544 bc to 52 bc p107359 are listed as bows and arrows, steel swords, axes. The book of mormon incorporates text which seems to be taken from the king james version, including passages which are now considered to be mistranslations in the king james version. A quran, a holy bible, a book of mormon and the new world translations of the holy scriptures pied up.
Contradictions between the book of mormon and the bible. In the old testament, male pronouns he and his are mentioned 6. The purpose of the site is to peel away the layers of traditions and assumptions about the translation of the book of mormon and get down to a firm foundation of facts. Errors of mormonism by keith piper but though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. You mean, in the quran are there any mistakes and errors. How do we know that the bible is the word of god, and not the. It is claimed that each sentence and word in the 1830 book of mormon had supposedly come directly from god. Devout muslims teach that the quran, the holy book of islam, is the inspired word of allah through the angel gabriel to the prophet muhammad. The arabic language when read has many different meanings and when translated it loses those,so u get one verse that means one thing when actually it has 3 or. The contradictions between the book of mormon and the bible constitute a most serious obstacle to accepting the book of mormon as latterday scripture supplemental to the bible. Since then, talal has been studying the quran, researching it, and teaching it to others. What are 1769 kjv edition errors doing in book of mormon. David whitmer, one of the three witnesses to the book of mormon, made this statement.
The book of mormon account of jesuss sermon in 3 nephi 1214 originated in the nineteenth century, derived from unacknowledged plagiarism of the kjv. The book of mormon is the only explanation for this scripture. Royal skousen is a professor of linguistics at brigham young university and has spent years studying the text of the book of mormon to look for variants and textual patterns. These take the form of such things as double negatives, incorrect adverbs and adjectives, and incorrect tenses. Volumes have been written on its distinctive and rhythmic style, and it is still regarded as a triumph of modern english literature. Aliimran, like the names of many other surahs, is merely a name to distinguish it from other surahs and does not imply that the family of imran has been discussed in it. For instance, when the quran said that the earth was flat, that was a mistake.
The holy quran translated into english please take the time to listen and share part 2 of 2 part 1. How do we know that the bible is the word of god, and not the apocrypha, the quran, the book of mormon, etc answer. I will use the yusuf ali translation, and i have included the citations in the paragraphs is that as footnotes so that people can copy and paste them, with. This copy is an accurate and authentic translation. As of march 2015, the lds church continues to publish at least portions of the book of mormon in 110 languages. From the printers manuscript, the 1830 edition of the book of mormon was typeset. English translation of the message of the quran, the holy book of islam is considered to be the revealed word of god.
If this is true, then the book of mormon should be full of errors. The book of mormon teaches that little children are not capable of sin because they do not have a sinful nature moroni 8. English translation of the message of the quran by syed. Talal itani first read the quran 1992, in order to discredit it. These errors totally undermine the claim that joseph translated the book of mormon and the claim that the book of mormon is the most correct book on earth. Id say this was highly improbable, and creates additional problems see the note below. John hamer, a community of christ pastor and cartographer, recently went on john dehlins podcast mormon stories and made the following observation. The book of mormon is set in north america in the first century. An englishman, robert of ketton, created in 1143 a latin translation of the quran that was a steppingstone for many later efforts to put the book into other european languages.
And finally, nephi says hes going to swipe a couple of chapters from the book of isaiah as a bit of filler for his plates of brass. The book of mormon is supposed to be the account of people who came from the middleeast to the americas. But quran also has historical and archaeological errors, as well as errors in mathematics and logic. Book of mormon translation response to an essay on the mechanical process in which the book of mormon was translated was put in the topical guide of the website on 1230. Its not only that its academically impossible to justify arguing that the book of mormon is an ancient text, its actually an ongoing contribution to the injustice, the racism, imperialism, and genocide that. I wish also to mention here, that the title page of the book of mormon is a literal translation, taken from the very last leaf, on the left hand side of the collection or book of plates, which contained the record which has been translated. Jun 07, 2019 do jehovahs witnesses have a book equivalent to the book of mormon. Like a crime scene, we do not need a video recording or an affidavit from the suspect or a witness to show whether or not the suspect murdered with a. For example, the quran states that one night, allah took muhammad to alaqsa mosque in jerusalem. The following list of quran errors is to demonstrate that such beliefs are not true. Its an ok translation, but since the quran is not ordered in chronological order, most nonmuslims will be left scratching their heads or go completely over their heads as the surahs chapters of the quran reads more like a manila folders of gathered thoughtsnotes. Although it serves primarily as a religious text, it is to be interpreted literally as being an actual, historical record of the inhabitants of the ancient. It is also the best english translation of quran for non muslims as,itis written in a very very easy to understand language. The question of whether it is an actual historical work or a work of fiction has long been a source of contention between members of the latter day saint movement and nonmembers.
How do we know that the bible is the word of god, and not. Stack of holy books new world translation of the holy scriptures, book of mormon, holy bible and the quran. As noted earlier, the message of the quran fits nicely with the culture in which it was given. Joseph smith said 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 history of the church, vol. My goal is to help muslims understand that the quran has a history of transmission errors, and that they should not dismiss the bible because of its textual history. The full book of mormon is currently available in 88 languages, including other middleeastern languages like persian farsi and turkish.
Book of mormon difficulties, contradictions and explanations. Muslims believe the quran corrected human errors in previous sacred texts. Jul 06, 2011 the contradictions between the book of mormon and the bible constitute a most serious obstacle to accepting the book of mormon as latterday scripture supplemental to the bible. For most adherents of the movement, book of mormon historicity is a matter of faith. For many years the mormons taught that the lord had given joseph smith a perfect translation of the book of mormon, and that all of the errors were errors which were made by the nephites on the original plates. The book of mormon purports to be a record of an ancient israelite migration to the new world.
A scanned pdf of the arabic book of mormon can be found here, and a physical copy can be purchased from store a list of other lds materials in arabic can be found on. Since that first translation, many more attempts have been made to penetrate the work from an outside, academic point of view, but it wasnt until the early 20 th century that the quran was first translated by muslims. Kjv translation errors as found in the book of mormon. Debunking fairmormon letter to a ces director book of. David whitmer, one of the 3 witnesses of the b of m, i will now give you a description of the manner in which the book of mormon was translated. The complete texts of the bible, quran, and book of mormon, with annotations from a skeptics point of view. Palmer, a cambridge scholar, was entrusted with the preparation of a new translation of the quran for max mullers sacred books of the east series. If the book of mormon is an accurate translation, some claim that it shouldnt contain these translational errors. But this can hardly be utilized as an argument for a divine origin. In addition to the bible, various groups have claimed divine inspiration for the apocrypha, book of mormon, quran, and other works. To avoid circular reasoning, the first question we must ask is. The writer has an obsession with warfare and killing, with killings starting from chapter 4.
Mormonism differs from mainstream christianity for being nontrinitarian. How could there be so many witnesses of the book of mormon and the plates and not one of them deny their testimony even when some of them became bitter toward joseph smith. Islam and mormonism both originate in the abrahamic tradition. Accordingly, his translation, the quran, appeared in london in 1880. How do we know which book the bible, the apocrypha, the qur. Accordingly, after the translation was finished, oliver cowdery copied the entire book of mormon onto a second manuscript, known today as the printers manuscript. Mormons believe some editions of the bible include translation errors, while muslims believe jews and christians misinterpreted some of gods true intentions. Another testament of jesus christ, which is an english translation from the golden plates that was first published in 1830. Even supposing alternative explanations were possible in every case, the problem would remain that the quran contains no obvious attempts to differentiate its understanding of the natural. Book of mormon problems lds church members are taught that the book of mormon bom is scripture, as well as a true record of the inhabitants of the americas from about 2200 bc to 420 ad. Do jehovahs witnesses have a book equivalent to the book. It seems reasonable to assume that if smith was a prophet of god and was translating the book of mormon under divine inspiration, he would have known about the errors found in the king james version, and would have corrected them for when passages from the king james version appeared in the book of mormon. His early work on the translation, with emma smith and martin harris serving as the main scribes, was lost in 1828.
Book of mormon translation essay abridged ive noticed that the gospel topics essays tend to use some wordy and sometimes obfuscatory language. The king james version of the bible is, in all likelihood, the most successful of all the english translations. Joseph smith translating the book of mormon by looking at a seer stone in a hat. The original book of mormon transcript the book of. Plagiarism in the book of mormon the annotated bible. Some will contest these numerous errors in the quran by appealing to metaphor, alternative meanings, or phenomenological interpretations of the text. The quran oxford worlds classic is one of the best quran translation in english and the best selling book of 2015. It tells of the jaredites, people from the tower of babel who came to central america but perished because of their own immorality. There are two possible explanations for the origin of the book of mormon. The book of mormon, was alleged to be inspired in both the original language and the translation into english. The book of mormon is the sacred text for the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. The lds church recognizes four main texts as divinely inspired and authoritative scripture. It has earned high reputation in a very short time.
I will use the yusuf ali translation, and i have included the citations in the paragraphs is that. Joseph, or someone else involved in the translation, heard or remembered or read the phrase. The first translation of the quran into english was done in 1649 by alexander ross. The question of which if any religious text is the true word of god is of utmost importance. Book of mormontranslation errors from the kjv fairmormon. I agree with user12266596052733915141 both are inspired books of scripture. I encourage people to read the ensign regularly, especially this year when were all focused on the book of mormon. Those historical interests are manifest in the recent description of the translation of the book of mormon found on the churchs official website. Quran scientific errors occur when a verse, approached from a literalist perspective, states something about reality thats fundamentally flawed. As such, they claim there are no errors in the quran. It is either of divine or human origin, and if it is of human origin that means that joseph smith concocted the book.
On wednesday, january 15, 2020, royal skousen will be presenting a lecture on the history of the text of the book of mormon at brigham young university. Many books have claimed to be the word of god or divine. The original 1830 edition, book of mormon had s of. Quran scientific errors are external errors errors in relating the quran to the external world, rather than internal errors. The quran free pdf ebook english translation of the quran. Joseph smith and his scribes wrote of two instruments used in translating the book of mormon. Lecture on the history of the text of the book of mormon. Do jehovahs witnesses have a book equivalent to the book of mormon. Here is a new translation of the quran by talal itani, who kindly offered to post it as an ebook. That story of the book of mormon translation will be consistent with all of the various forms of evidence.
An account written by the hand of mormon upon plates taken from. Ive decided to cut each paragraph down to its core message in one or two sentences. Third, in addition to errors that are due to textual variants, the kjv also made grammatical and stylistic errors that were naively copied by the book of mormon. Smith copied the kjv blindly, not showing awareness of translation problems and errors in the kjv. However, when confronted with the presence of 1769 kjv errors and 17th century italics in the book of mormon, many of the same apologists will revert to the loose translation by claiming that maybe joseph smith indeed used a 1769 kjv bible to borrow verses over into the book of mormon. Book of mormon translation joseph smith claimed that the book of mormon is his translation of an ancient book written on gold plates. Apologetics press the book of mormon and the ancient evidence.
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