So saying something similar about Dianetics, L. Ron Hubbard's best-seller, makes that true as well? (What a low threshold of "truth" you adhere to, John)
Did Joseph Smith author, not just translate, the Book of Mormon? Exept for an ability to read, Joseph Smith was nearly uneducated.
You mention this, plus wanted documentation on the pre-actual translation process. John, we already have a fair amount! What do you think Joseph actually did prior to writing all this down? Why, he told various versions of it in story/tale form! How do we know this? (Always listen to the moms of 17 yo -- like Lucy Mack Smith describing her boy about the age of 17)...and if he could tell tales like the following at age 17, stop with the "uneducated" nonsense...giving dictation is just like tale-telling:
"During our evening conversations, Joseph would occasionally give us some of the most amusing recitals that could be imagined. He would describe the ancient inhabitants of the continent, their dress, mode of traveling, and the animals upon which they rode; their cities, their buildings, with every particular; their mode of warfare; and also their religious worship. This he would do with as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life among them. On the twenty-second of September, 1824, Joseph again visited the place where he found the plates the year previous; and supporting at this time that the only thing required, in order to possess them until the time for their translation, was to be able to keep the commandments of God...he fully expected to carry them home with him. (Lucy Mack Smith, edited by Preston Nibley, History of Joseph Smith, p. 83, Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, 1958)
What Mormons may miss in this account is that Lucy Mack Smith was saying Joseph gave these storied details before he ever even "interpreted" these gold plates. A lot of it was already there -- in his active, imaginitive mind!
And you need to answer these questions. Who was the author or authors of the Book of Mormon?
Come on, John. I know you're a literate person. You can read.
* On the 1830 version of the BoM, on the title page, Smith answers this plainly: Joseph Smith, Jr. AUTHOR and PROPRIETOR
* D&C 24:1 says he wrote the Book of Mormon (it doesn't say he "translated" them).
* Beyond that, whole chapters from Isaiah and other minor prophets (like 3 Nephi 24 & 25 is Malachi 3 & 4) are pulled wholesale into the BoM...13 such chapters, if my memory serves me correctly. 3 Nephi 21:12-18 resembles Micah 5:8-14. 3 Nephi 20:16-18 echoes Micah 4:12-13; 5:8-9.
* We know that the King James Version Bible became the plagiaristic source for Joseph Smith as he copied approximately 27,000 overall words airlifted, thee-for-thee and thou-for-thou, from the Bible into the Book of Mormon (even though 1830 America didn't use "thee" and "thou" in everyday language). That’s why you need to look at the 1830 version of the BoM, John. Because with the 4,000+ clean-up changes that smoothes things over, you have much less of a mountaintop-to-valley experience in reading the current BoM than the 1830 version.
Outright plagiarism from the KJV at times got Smith into trouble by revealing his true source -- that it wasn't "gold plates," after all, that he was "translating."
Example #1: 2 Nephi 23 of the Book of Mormon is a word-for-word theft of Isaiah 13 [and please note...that the italicized words of Isaiah 13, KJ Version during Joseph Smith's day, were not in the original Hebrew from which the KJV was translated...So if they weren't in the Hebrew, how did Nephi get them? Did he reach into the future of 1611 in the UK, and superimpose them into golden plates between 559 and 545 BC?]
Example #2 Per http://www.undergroundnotes.com/Smithbook.pdf -- In the "Mosiah" chapter fourteen in the Book of Mormon, Isaiah chapter fifty-three is copied word for word, including the italicized words that the King James translators added for clarity! There are sixteen italicized words from the King James Bible in "Mosiah" fourteen. The list of italicized words
are
and (three times),
there is,
our,
was (twice),
he was,
was any
his (twice),
a portion (once).
How did these italicized words from a 1611 translation get into a document that was supposedly written before the time of Christ? The answer is obvious: Smith copied them when plagiarizing the King James translation of the prophet Isaiah.
Example #3: Finally, compare 1 Nephi 22:20 in the Book of Mormon with Acts 3:22:
Acts 3:22, as cited by the Kings James Translators in 1611 using common 17th-century language of the era to translate something from over 1500 years prior:
For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you (Acts 3:22)
Now compare that to 1 Nephi 22:20, as cited by Joseph Smith in 1830 using common 1611 language to "translate" something supposedly originally said 2400 years earlier -- and 600+ years PRIOR to Peter's quotation.
The issue is not the paraphrases of the first 7 words of Acts 3:22 or the first 19 words of 1 Nephi 22:20...It's what follows: Acts 3:22: "A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you...like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you"
...Compared & Contrasted to...
1 Nephi 22:20: "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you"
Except for "unto your brethren" midway between the above two phrases in Acts 3:22, 'tis the exact SAME King James language "paraphrase," even though the NT was in Greek and the Book of Mormon supposedly wasn't -- and even though 19th century Americans were closer to 1950s American culture than 1611 speech wise!
Please note, John, that when you "paraphrase" someone you do exactly that -- you paraphrase. You don't quote someone word for word for 27 exact King James English words within two phrases -- putting the exact same semi-colon at the exact same spot...and you certainly don't quote exactly somebody supposedly speaking over 600 years in the future of your statement in a historical colloquialism from 200 years behind you in its exact translation. (Please also check Dt. 18:15, 18 and you'll see that indeed BOTH Acts 3:22 and 1 Nephi 22:20 are EACH paraphrases of those verses).
Bottom line: The apostle Peter paraphrased Moses in his original language; and the Book of Mormon writer -- IF it was a historical doc -- could also paraphrase Moses in his own language within a separate venue. (No concern in and of itself). It's only when you compare the additional generations of paraphrasing and translating that it becomes quite obvious where Smith got his source for 1 Nephi 22:20.
Illustration: If one of your FR posts was published in the year 3800 in a publication -- and they used an exact version of that quotation as it appeared in a British cockney-slang or Scottish colloquial vocab-adapted publication as published in the year 3575 -- I don't think future FReepers would tell us with a straight face that the author of the year 3800 publication "translated" the original Freeper source from gold-plated Freeper documents written in the year 2010...with his face stuck in a hat.
It was in 1885 when the Spalding manuscript was discovered in Hawaii. Many of the key comments on this discovery are preserved in volume 4 of RLDS church history, chapters 27 and 28. Suffice it to say that the Spalding-Rigdon theory on the origin of the Book of Mormon suffered a death blow by this confirmed discovery. Representatives from both the LDS and RLDS were anxious to obtain copies to publish to finally refute the Spalding-Rigdon authorship theory, and this they did.
However, the aspect of this discovery that is most devastating to enemies of the Book of Mormon is the revelation that some of their predecessors had been knowingly telling lies.
The task of admitting this was left to a Joe Smith hater honest enough to acknowledge that lying had taken place. In the July 30, 1885, issue in the Boston Congregationalist was an article by the Reverend C. M. Hyde, D.D. entitled "Who wrote the Book of Mormon? Solomon Spalding not its author". That the Reverend Hyde was a Joe Smith hater is proven by the final sentence of the article: "While, on the contrary, all that is known of Joe Smith, his money-digging, his religious ranting, his schemes for getting a livelihood, corroborate the belief, in view of all the facts of the case, that he, and he alone, is the author of the Mormon bible and the founder of the Mormon church."
It therefore must have been painful to Reverend Hyde to have to admit (emphasis mine): "The story has not the slightest resemblance IN NAMES, incidents or style to anything in the Book of Mormon." The "IN NAMES" refers to a claim in Mormonism Exposed (1834) that states: "The names of Nephi and Lehi are yet fresh in my memory as being the principal heroes of his [Spalding's] tale."
Hyde must have felt some disappointment as he had to admit this (emphasis his): "It is evident from an inspection of this Manuscript, and from the above statements, that whoever wrote the Book of Mormon, Solomon Spalding did not. The testimony of the Conneaut people after the lapse of twenty years, as to their knowledge of the contents of Spalding's story, the Manuscript Found, is not to be relied upon, imperfect and contradictory as it is. The supposition that Spalding wrote another story, which he carried with him to Pittsburg, to the office of Patterson and Lambdin, to be printed; that he left it there, where it was found in 1822 by Rigdon when he worked in that office, and that Rigdon took this Manuscipt with him and published it through Joe Smith in 1830 as the Book of Mormon, is a most violent supposition, unsupported by any evidence whatever; Rigdon in fact, having never met Smith until after the publication of the Mormon bible."
Sadly, some diehard Joe Smith haters don't want to admit that some of their predecessors were liars. Some are still claiming that the Nephi and Lehi names were in another manuscript by another Spalding! This reminds me of Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin to arrive.