I have a really hard time believing that much of the stories told in The Book of Mormon really happened personally. I think Joseph Smith just took things from the Bible and made them fit into his religion. He did not really come up with any new revelations, but instead chose which parts he liked and compiled them into a book. When he did this he had to establish a hint of credibility. He does not really achieve this even though he attempts to at the end with the testimonies, but he takes some of the symbols from the Bible and incorporates them into the stories of Nephi and the other books found in The Book of Mormon.
I think Joseph Smith Jr. took symbolism from the Bible and incorporated it into his translation of The Book of Mormon. Three and twelve are numbers that are given symbolic significance throughout the whole Bible. These show up when the period of darkness is described. It last for roughly three tumultuous days. When Nephi is told to baptize those who have repented, eleven others are also told (486). This means a total of twelve people are given the power to baptize followers in the name of Jesus. I think Smith took the number of apostles and found a way to incorporate it into his narrative.
Joseph Smith took elements from the Bible, specifically the symbolism of numbers, and used them to give credibility to his translation of The Book of Mormon. Personally, I think this is a poor way to bring about a base of credibility.
Your convictions have led you to be distrusting of Joseph Smith and the Mormon Church at large. The grounds on which you reject these ideas are based on his attempts to legitimize his faith. I think it would be an interesting exercise to consider the basis of your own world view. What aspects of your understanding of life contradict what Joseph Smith outlines in The Book of Mormon? For instance, I believe the sun will rise tomorrow, but my only line of evidence for this is that I have witnessed the sun rise. The truth is that I don’t truly know if the sun will rise tomorrow, I can only assume on deductive thinking that it will. If you believe the sun will rise tomorrow, it might be a similar justification as used in The Book of Mormon.
ReplyDeleteBethAnn - you bring up a good point. I also believe that the Book of Mormon is a bit of stretch when it comes to finding meaning in the world. We just have different examples: the use of number symbolism found in the bible being used in the book of Mormon is a curious similarity and I wouldn't be surprised if they are the same.
ReplyDeleteAnd it is funny to think that most of the stories in the Bible are likely not true. though some of it is historical, it is mostly not, and Joseph Smith borrowed stories from it.
I find it a stretch that Native Americans are descendants of Laman and are Darker because they do not follow God. Also, the story where a strange Brass item is found that points them in the right direction. I talk about these stories in my blog.