Evidence for nephis bountiful, journal of book of mormon studies, 71 1998. Vaughn, discovered a 2000yearold hematite mine near nazca, peru. Steel and iron are mentioned several times in the book of mormon. Much can be known about the coming forth of the english text of the book of mormon through a careful. Once we have a foundational testimony of the book of mormon, then. Comments made by philip barlow on book of mormon language for. The limited book of mormon vocabulary becomes even smaller when we remove the unique book of mormon names. Further, the weakness of uncertain horses in the book of mormon is an area with a hint of a familiar trend. Some linguistic evidences for the book of mormon latter. In entertainment, they call these plotholes, tropes, plotarmor, etc. Deloy pack, hebraisms, in book of mormon reference companion, ed.
May 17, 2019 the annotated edition of the book of mormon aebom is lined with purported evidence, both archaeological, anthropological, linguistic, and genetic, that the events of the book of mormon took place in the heartland of the united states. According to the text, the nephites and the lamanites initially spoke hebrew 600 bc and might have spoken a modified semitic language until at least 400 ad, when the book of mormon ends. 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. There are at least185 quotations and 2,500 unique vocabulary words from the new testame.
Archaic english verb endings and the book of mormon. Five compelling archeological evidences for the book of mormon. Under the assumption that the majority of native americans descend from the peoples described in the book of mormon, roberts noted that linguistic evidence. There is plenty of evidence in north america supporting the book of mormon. The book of mormon is written in the style of the king james version of the bible but contains many linguistic clues that indicate it has an ancient hebrew source. Geology of the book of mormon book of mormon scientific and. Perhaps the newest evidence supporting the book of mormon relates to language. The author is dedicating all proceeds from the book to additional scientific geologic and engineering studies to cast further light on the ancient setting of the book of mormon. Deanna draper buck was a support specialist for seminaries and institutes of religion in louisville, kentucky when this was written. Truth shall spring forth out of the earth, journal of book of mormon studies, vol. Dec, 8, 2014 is there evidence for the book of mormon. The book of mormons old testament portion bmot quotes heavily from the new testament of the bible. In the first place, we have demonstrated the extensive existence of chiasmus in the book of mormon beyond any possible doubt. Archaeology itself can be divided and subdivided into numerous disciplines.
I couldnt possibly cover every book of mormon correlation in one sitting. Apologists from farms have published studies that claim that the linguistic evidence cited by roberts above does not necessarily contradict narrative of the book. Apr 12, 2020 there is plenty of evidence in north america supporting the book of mormon. Mormon scholar, blogger find evidence proving validity of book of mormon. The very surprising language of the book of mormon. Aug 21, 2014 the pioneering research of royal skousen, a professor of english language and linguistics at brigham young university, for example, extending now over nearly three decades, provides arresting evidence that significant portions of the vocabulary of the book of mormon derive from the 1500s and the 1600s, and not, as one might expect, from the 1800s.
In fact, several mormon organizations have been founded in order to prove. The author is dedicating all proceeds from the book to additional scientific geologic and engineering studies to cast further. Its early account of jerusalem just before the babylonian captivity gains in plausibility as research continues to accumulate. 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. Two of the most prevalent claims for the book of mormon are, there is much archaeological proof to the book of mormon, and the american indians are descendants of israelites who came to america as described in the book of mormon. Lost civilizations of north america documentary4, deborah bolnick on haplogroup x. Book of mormon evidence articles book of mormon evidence. Millions have asked this question because the book of mormon is foundational to the mormon faith more accurately known as the church of jesus christ of latterday saints.
Archaeological evidence and the book of mormon why is there no archaeological evidence for the book of mormon. Supporting evidences of the book of mormon are broadly identifiable. On the other hand, if its origin is godgiven, then joseph smith was a prophet, and if he was a prophet, then the church of jesus christ of latterday saints is true. In the book of mormon, the book of nephi tells the story of a hebrew family that flees the city of jerusalem around 600 b. Linguistic correlations to the book of mormon book of mormon. Linguistic evidence for the book of mormon strong reasons. Definitions of linguistics and the book of mormon, synonyms, antonyms, derivatives of linguistics and the book of mormon, analogical dictionary of linguistics and the book of mormon english. The book of mormon is rife with narrative issues, which are problems from the actual story, context, history, etc. Although historians and archaeologists consider the book to be an anachronistic invention of joseph smith, many members of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints lds church and other denominations. Careful study of the book of mormons vocabulary and grammar suggests that. Brother hanna perceives that this word would be a very unusual word for an american youth, joseph smith, to use. Importantly, many of these clues are linguistic patterns missing from the bible or undetected for generations, meaning the translators could not have just made it up or copied from. Some linguistic evidences for the book of mormon latterday. The content of the book of mormon may be the most convincing evidence for its claim as a historical record and divine scripture.
Time now for a few final evaluations of what we have learned about chiasmus in the book of mormon. Welch while he was on an lds mission in regensburg, germany, chiasmus or poetic parallelism is a nested ancient hebraic form of explaining an idea, where the ideas are set out in series of statements and then repeated with the first being last. The authenticity of the book of mormon has also been challenged on linguistic grounds. 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. Importantly, many of these clues are linguistic patterns missing from the bible or undetected for generations, meaning the translators could not have just made it up or copied from the bible. Although hematite is today mined as an iron ore, vaughn believes that the hematite was then being mined for use as red pigment.
Millions have asked the question, is there evidence of the historicity of the book of mormon, because the book of mormon is foundational to the mormon faith more accurately known as the church of jesus christ of latterday saints many have wondered what evidence has been found in its support, as the book asserts to be a record of ancient peoples that came by ship from the old world. Joseph smith claimed to have translated the book of mormon from a language called reformed egyptian. Although historians and archaeologists consider the book to be an anachronistic invention of joseph smith, many members of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints lds church and other denominations of the latter day saint movement believe that it. Between 2004 and 2007, a purdue university archaeologist, kevin j. As a result, if the book of mormon can be proved to be manmade, then the church is manmade. Otherwise, there is only one plausible answerthe very existence of such parallelisms in the book of mormon reinforce very strongly that the book of mormon is exactly what it purports to be.
Just as linguistics must begin with the observation and move to an even closer examination of the evidence for more examples, so too we continue to mine the book of mormon and the increasing information about mesoamerica to see the correspondences. Taken as evidence of the book of mormon, chiasmus offers us a touchstone like we have rarely ever had before. Are anachronisms in the book of mormon evidence it is. Geology of the book of mormon book of mormon scientific. And yet such a thing was totally unknown to joseph smith and universally unrecognized by the world until the present decade. In fact, they may provide striking evidence that the books translation in the. Read the book of mormon and research the moundbuilder civilizations especially the hopewell and the adena. Mormon challenges are precolumbian horses in book of. Critics of the book of mormon have claimed that a variety of linguistic anachronisms exist in it which cast doubt upon its historical authenticity. The remainder of the video features interviews with experts in history, biology, anthropology, linguistics and archaeology. Since the publication of the book of mormon in 1830, mormon archaeologists have attempted to find archaeological evidence to support it.
With the collaboration of independent linguist stanford carmack, skousen argues in the nature of the original language that virtually all the. Scholars find evidence that book of mormon phrases mocked by. May 15, 2016 mormon scholar, blogger find evidence proving validity of book of mormon. Linguist brian stubbs discusses some of his findings of both hebrew and egyptian the two languages mentioned in the book of mormon in the languages of the native indians in his 2006 fair conference address. There is generally no direct support amongst mainstream historians and archaeologists for the. Linguistic evidence for the book of mormon youtube. Quarterly articles and internet articles on book of mormon history, language, culture, and geography allen, joseph l.
Jun 04, 2019 the book of mormon is written in the style of the king james version of the bible but contains many linguistic clues that indicate it has an ancient hebrew source. This evidence provides insight into the nature of josephs own linguistic preferences. Nov 26, 2019 there is plenty of evidence in north america supporting the book of mormon. A new area of evidence concentrates on the external linguistic evidence. Book of mormon difficulties, contradictions and explanations. In this post i wanted to emphasize physical evidencesstuff you can touch, see, feel.
Reference is made here as in other parts of the book of mormon, to the stiffneckedness of his people. 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. Book of mormon linguistics analasis makes case for book of. Royal skousen is a professor of linguistics at brigham young university and has spent years studying the text of the book of. The book of mormon is the only explanation for this scripture.
The pioneering research of royal skousen, a professor of english language and linguistics at brigham young university, for example, extending now over nearly three decades, provides arresting evidence that significant portions of the vocabulary of the book of mormon derive from the 1500s and the 1600s, and not, as one might expect, from the 1800s. Non mormon archaeologists speak on book of mormon evidence. Some might suggest that the book of mormons vocabulary was limited because joseph smiths vocabulary was limited. Think joseph smith could have gotten that right by sheer chance. Mormon scholar, blogger find evidence proving validity of. No evidence has been found in the americas of iron being hardened to make steel in ancient times. Aug 02, 2008 what most do not realize, however, is that scientific evidence for book of mormon history is not limited to archaeology but can also be found in mesoamerican linguistics. The book of mormon in north america book of mormon evidence. Linguistic anachronisms in the book of mormon are words that represent concepts that are not believed to have existed in the americas between 2500 b. Joseph lovell allen true book of mormon geography lands. When lehi et al come to america, they bring horses and grains from the old world, including corn. Deanna draper buck, internal evidence of widespread literacy in the book of mormon, religious educator 10, no.
What most do not realize, however, is that scientific evidence for book of mormon history is not limited to archaeology but can also be found in mesoamerican linguistics. The book of mormon is further undermined by the fact that there is no evidence of a semitichieroglyphicdemotic hybrid script called reformed egyptian in the text or a spoken hebrew dialect ever being used by pre or postcolumbian natives of north or south america. Archaeological evidence and the book of mormon fairmormon. The book of mormon text contains logical impossibilities. However, hugh nibley, a mormon apologist, argues that reformed egyptian is actually meroitic egyptian. What is the original language of the book of mormon. History and historicity in the book of mormon fairmormon. In short, the 1832 history contains a significant amount of. Perry benjamin pierce adduced the evidence of the language of the book of mormon in a paper entitled the origin of the book of mormon, which appeared in the american anthropologist n.
It is important to remember that the people of the book of mormon left behind not only the material remains of their existence but their words as well. Chiasmus is both a necessary and natural way of understanding book of mormon literature. This is a short clip from a video produced by fair called the book of mormon and new world dna. Linguists provide possible evidence consistent with book of mormon claims as discussed on my book of mormon evidences page, brian stubbs has published significant works showing serious connections between native american languages the utoaztecan language group and old world languages such as hebrew. The book of mormon, the founding document of the latter day saint movement and one of the four books of scripture of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints lds church, is an account of three groups of people. According to the book, two of these groups originated from ancient israel. Internal evidence of widespread literacy in the book of mormon. Mar 27, 2016 rod meldrum, president, the firm foundation. Under the assumption that the majority of native americans descend from the peoples described in the book of mormon, roberts noted that linguistic evidence among the native american peoples does not appear to support the book of mormon narrative, inasmuch as the diverse language stocks and dialects that exist would not have had enough time to. I think the most compelling evidences for the book of mormon are the linguistic evidences offered in the text. Native americans with hebrew ancestry book of mormon. Scholars are saying things today like, where there is chiasmus, there is the influence of a hebraic hand.
The volume has long invited scrutiny from all branches of science. That being said, evidence of hebrew or egyptian dissimilation is not essential to support the hypothesis of this paper because cezoram appears toward the end of the book of mormon, after centuries of language change, so the changing of the sound from z to s could be unique to the book of mormon people, having developed centuries after lehi and. Our first 2020 event will be april 9, 10, and 11th at the mountain america exposition center at 9575 s state st in sandy, ut 84070 this will be the firm foundation expo featuring the 25th international book of mormon evidence conference. The very surprising language of the book of mormon deseret news. We feel that there is compelling evidence to support this supposition through a multifaceted approach utilizing the scriptural prophecies and promises first and foremost, combined with evidences from such areas as book of mormon geography passages, modern day archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, climatology, cultural and social patterns. This common query often expresses the questioners incorrect assumptions about archaeological methodologyassumptions usually based the questioners lack of knowledge about a very specialized academic area. Archaeologists and egyptologists have found no evidence that this language ever existed. An egyptian linguistic component in book of mormon names.
The book of mormon does fit into what we know of the ancient world. An additional criticism of the historical authenticity of the book of mormon concerns linguistics. Linguistics the book of mormon is not supported by any linguistic evidence. Even one prominent mormon apologist, john tvedtnes, has rejected such evidence for the book of mormon see dialogue. This book is a landmark event in book of mormon studies and is a book that must be read by every serious student of the book of mormon. This evidence includes the reported appearance of the plate stack by modernday witnesses, the fact that mormon and moroni did not seem to prefer using reformed egyptian, book of mormon figures apparent lack of knowledge of prophecies recorded in the small plates, the presence of an interpreted term in the small plates section, the presence of. Nonmormon archaeologists speak on book of mormon evidence. How joseph smiths grammar differed from book of mormon. The annotated edition of the book of mormon aebom is lined with purported evidence, both archaeological, anthropological, linguistic, and genetic, that the events of the book of mormon took place in the heartland of the united states. If you enjoy language and words, i think youll enjoy brian stubbs fair presentation from 2006. The conclusion of dna evidence brings us the fascinating testimony of an exmormon. Tvedtnes, hebraisms in the book of mormon and names of people. Smith and the preposterous book of mormon having raised the issue of linguistics and book of mormon evidence in my last post, let me point to an intriguing recent presentation with some weighty discoveries relevant to the muchderided nephite system of coinage in alma 11.
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