Alma 2

Alma 2:34

“And thus he cleared the ground, or rather the bank, which was on the west of the river Sidon…”

This verse is among many others that have an apologetic tone that is unique to the scripture of the Book of Mormon.

Others in the book of Alma include Alma 24:19:

“And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace.”

The apologetic nature of these verses consists of the impression given by the writer that they are really concerned about how the reader will understand what is being read. Therefore, there are many clarifications of statements after the statements have been made. The Book of Mormon, makes plenty use of the phrase “in other words” for example. That is, after a statement has been made, the writer again states the same thing but in another way and with other words with the intent and the hope that with these other words, the reader will understand what he is trying to say.

            Now, although I really do not think that this apologetic style of writing was characteristic of pre-enlightenment/pre-Hellenism ancient Israelites, I also do not think that this necessarily disqualifies the scripture from being sacred. It could have been that the writers of scriptures were really pre-enlightenment/pre-Hellenism ancient Israelites, and that they did not write in this apologetic style. Still, it would be completely consistent with the Mormon tradition that this apologetic style of writing came from Joseph Smith himself.

            It would not be against the Mormon tradition to say or to think that Joseph Smith translated the plates and added new words and phrases to it that may have been more characteristic of his own time and history. In fact, there is even a Joseph Smith translation of the Bible that has many commentary-like phrases and words that is considered a more perfect translation of scripture. According to Mormons, this is not a violation against the legitimacy of sacred scripture because the translation was inspired by the Holy Spirit through Joseph Smith. So that just as the original writers of the Bible are said to be inspired by God, Joseph Smith is said to be the same. So whatever he wrote and whatever additions he made to scripture and to the plates he found is authorized by God. The argument cannot be made that the Book of Mormon is not legitimate just because it doesn’t sound ancient, or because it sounds out of his time. This is because Joseph Smith was inspired separately, even to change the scripture to how he saw fit to clarify the message.

Written 12-24-14