Every theorist and serious reader of the Book of Mormon, especially those with strong pre-determined beliefs, should know certain facts about the Book of Mormon.
• The first published Book of Mormon was in March 26, 1830, and as of December 2016, 66% of the people of the Earth have access to the Book of Mormon in their native language, with 173,000,000 copies printed in 110 languages. There are 3,925 references to Jesus Christ in the book, and on average some form of Christ’s name is mentioned every 1.7 verses.
The original edition of the Book of Mormon printed 5,000 copies
• Written to the Lamanites. Nephi and the other writers of the original plates wrote with their brethren, the Lamanites in mind. Even Mormon and Moroni did so, with Moroni writing in the preface: “Wherefore, it is an abridgement of the record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites—Written to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel. It is also written for Jew and Gentile, and all was written by way of commandment.
• Names. The Book of Mormon contains 337 proper names and 21 gentilics (or analogous forms) based on proper names, including two translated names (not transliterations) and 188 names unique to the Book of Mormon.
• The age of Joseph Smith. He was 21 years of age when he began translating the plates. At this time he had little schooling, knew no foreign languages, and had no training in Hebrew.
• During translation, the gold plates were not always in the room where the translation took place, and when they were, they were covered by a thin towel.
• The actual translation of the 531 pages we now have in the English version was translated between April and June of 1829, during a period of 65 days (Church History in the Fulness of Times, 46–62).
• The large plates (Mosiah through Moroni) were translated before the small plates—1 Nephi through Words of Mormon (Church History in the Fulness of Times, p59).
• Scribes. Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer, and Emma Smith served as Joseph’s scribes during the translation of the Book of Mormon (Church History in the Fulness of Times, pp47,52,56,58,82). Oliver Cowdery also desired to translate the plates but was unsuccessful (D&C 8,9).
• The first 116 pages of the Book of Mormon, which contained the Book of Lehi and his history, were translated from the large plates soon after Joseph received them. Emma Smith and Martin Harris were Joseph’s scribes during this time. These were the pages lost by Martin Harris and never retranslated again because “wicked men had stolen the pages and would have altered them, hoping to discredit Joseph when he translated them again and the two manuscripts didn’t match because of their alterations (D&C 10). Nephi, then translated from the Small Plates, which was Nephi’s abridgement of his father’s record recorded on the small plates (1 Nephi 6,9; Words of Mormon 1:3-7).
• Printing. Joseph was ready to print the Book of Mormon in 1829. A copyright was obtained on June 11, and the translation was completed on July 1 (see Church History in the Fulness of Times, p66).
E. B. Grandin and his print shop where the first Book of Mormon was printed
• The printer, E. B. Grandin, was only 23 years old. He agreed to print 5,000 copies of the book, which was an enormous number at that time (see Church History in the Fulness of Times, p63).
• The first Book of Mormon was available for purchase on March 26, 1830. It was bound in brown leather and could be found at Grandin’s bookstore.
• Martin Harris sold 151 acres of his farm in order to pay the costs of printing the Book of Mormon (see Church History in the Fulness of Times, p65).
• The box with the gold plates also contained the Urim and Thummim and the breastplate (JSH 1:52). These are the only objects we know that were in the box when Joseph retrieved the plates, though an angel also showed the sword of Laban and the Liahona to the Three Witnesses (D&C 17:1).
15. The original plates Joseph received were written upon directly by 11 different people: Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni, Amaron, Chemish, Abinadom, Amaleki, Mormon, and Moroni. (Of course, the words of other prophets and leaders were recorded on the plates by these 16.) There were also 11 people (besides Joseph Smith) who saw the gold plates and witnessed that they had seen them (Testimony of Three Witnesses,” and “Testimony of Eight Witnesses”)
Simple Questions about the Authenticity of the Book of Mormon:
• Could an uneducated boy come up with 531 pages of ancient scripture on his own that was historically accurate and prophetic in nature?
• Would it be possible for that boy to understand and include ancient Hebrew literary writing styles such as idioms and Chiasmus, some of which weren’t even discovered until long after Joseph Smith was gone?
• How would Joseph Smith have been able to know so much about the Middle East, especially the Arabian Peninsula where Lehi and his family traveled? The book includes findings in that region that no one had yet discovered.
• How could Joseph Smith come up with roughly 200 new names in the Book of Mormon and then have them turn out to be Semitic in nature?
• If you think Joseph Smith couldn’t have written this book, then where did it come from? If one says the devil put him up to it…then why would Satan want to publish another testament of Jesus Christ and a book that does nothing but promote righteousness. Jesus said that a house divided against itself would fall.
• Who were the “other sheep” that would hear Jesus’s voice in John 10:16?
• Why are there volumes of books written by non-LDS authors stating that Christ came and visited the America’s a couple thousand years ago just like it says in 3rd Nephi? How would Joseph Smith have known this when at the time no one even considered it?
The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ
• If we have the stick of Judah (record of the Jews or the Bible), then where is the stick of Joseph that is referenced in Ezekiel 37:15-20? The Book of Mormon is the only explanation for this scripture. Lehi was a descendant of Joseph. Think Joseph Smith could have gotten that right by sheer chance?
• 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? With so many people involved…a hoax of this magnitude could never go uncovered.
• How could the Book of Mormon never contradict itself while being an extremely complex book? After all these years…someone would have found something…but no.
There are many other comments that could be made to show the uniqueness of the Book of Mormon regarding its provable statements. Thus, it should be understood that in determining anything physical about Mormon’s descriptions, one need start with the scriptural record itself—and this is particularly important when considering the location of the Land of Promise, and the beliefs and opinions that generates. The point is, the more one is armed with the knowledge of the scriptural record, one is in a better situation to know the truth. That knowledge not only includes what is written in the record, but a knowledge of the information behind what is written, who wrote it, and why it was written.
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