Hi everyone! Welcome to this video. My name is Danny. I was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 60 years.
And, as a Latter-day Saint, I fully accepted what Joseph Smith said about the Book of Mormon being the “most correct book on Earth,” I also agreed with what Smith wrote in the 8th Article of Faith which stated, “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly, we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.” And what comes from that Article of faith, most members of the LDS Church have reservations about the reliability of the Old and New Testaments. Can they trust what the Bible teaches? Have “plain and precious” teachings been removed by wicked priests, as the Book of Mormon claims?
If you were to ask any Latter-day Saint, to specifically identify any errors in translation or any of the plain and precious teachings missing in the Bible – they couldn’t do it.
On the other hand, they fully trust the Book of Mormon to be correct because Joseph Smith endorsed it as the “Keystone” of Mormonism. Modern LDS prophets have even said that the truthfulness of Mormonism stands or falls on the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.
My question is - If the Book of Mormon is supposed to be a direct translation of an ancient record, why is it so reliant on the King James Bible which is supposedly riddled with translation errors? Why would God allow these errors from the Bible to be included in the translation process of Joseph Smith’s peep stone in a hat? Was God carefully selecting only those passages out of the Bible that were translated correctly to be in the Book of Mormon? Stay tuned, as we discover the answer to those questions.
Today, we are going to examine one of many portions in the Book of Mormon that is highly problematic. I’m referring to Mormon chapter 9, that is a copy of the long ending of the gospel of Mark. Most Latter-day Saints would not even know it was in the Book of Mormon. But it will prove to be another clear example of plagiarism used by the 19th century author.
Here’s the issue: Bible Scholars have verified that the last 12 verses in Mark 16 are not found in the oldest and most reliable manuscripts of the Bible. The oldest manuscripts are known to be the most accurate because they were closer to the earliest copies from the original autographs.
The vast, majority of later Greek medieval manuscripts of Mark DO contain verses 9-20. But Bible scholars agree these verses were added later by scribes in the translation process. For example - the 1611 King James Version contains these verses. But, since older and more accurate manuscripts have been discovered, they confirm that verses 9-20 were not in the original gospel of Mark. I won’t take time here to read those verses, but I encourage Latter-day Saints to read them for yourselves.
Let me read from the gospel of Mark in the King James Bible. Mark 16:9-20 “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.
Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”
These 12 added verses cast doubts and suspicion on Mark as their author. As you read the entirety of chapter 16, you will notice an abrupt and awkward transition between verses 8 and 9. The word “now” that begins verse 9 should link everything that follows. But what follows does not continue with the narrative ending in verse 8. Instead, there is an abrupt change describing Yeshua appearing to Mary Magdalene. lacking the continuity of Mark’s gospel.
Also, for Mark to introduce Mary Magdelene here as though for the very first time in verse 9 is odd because she had already been introduced in the first part of the chapter. Just another piece of evidence that this ending section was not written by Mark.
Furthermore, the vocabulary is not consistent with Mark’s gospel and doesn’t read like Mark’s writing. The references to certain “signs” in verses 17-18 do not appear in any of the other three gospel accounts. You won’t find any discussion of signs like picking up serpents, speaking with tongues, casting out demons, drinking poison, or laying hands on the sick. It is only foreign to the gospel of Mark.
Because this long ending of Mark has become a consensus among biblical scholars to not be in the original manuscripts, more modern translations of the Bible provide a disclaimer in the side margins or footnotes stating that the earliest manuscripts do not include Verses 9-20. There are only a handful of passages in the Bible that can now be identified as translation errors, and this is one of them.
Another example of an insertion by a scribe is the story of the woman taken in adultery found in John 8:1-11. That passage was also absent from our two oldest and best manuscripts. And modern translations, such as the NIV and the ESV, will include that passage but [bracket it - as not being original to the text].
Having said all that about the Bible - how on earth did this questionable material make its way into the Book of Mormon? The short answer is that Joseph Smith was not aware of these problematic issues when he decided to copy the long ending of Mark into the Book of Mormon. Opps!
Not only does the Book of Mormon contain these dubious scribal teachings, but the Book of Mormon has them in the exact same wording as the King James Bible. The odds are practically zero that these words are exactly what Yeshua supposedly taught in Mark.
Joseph Smith quotes the exact phrasing in the Book of Mormon from an ending that scholars know now was attached long after the gospel of Mark was first written down.
Let’s do a brief comparison: Mark 16:17-18 “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Now Mormon 9:24 “And these signs shall follow them that believe—in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.”
When was the last time a Latter-day Saint cast out devils or spoke in tongues, or handled serpents, or drank poison without harm? Does that really sound like practical advice to anyone? No!
Let me compare a quote from Mormon 9:22 “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” That line is taken directly from Mark 16:15.
And from Mormon 9:23 “And that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.” That line is also copied from Mark 16:16. Both verses were added by scribes in the King James Bible and not a part of the Christ’s teachings.
I will prove in future videos, that there are many verses and passages copied from the KJV Bible into the Book of Mormon. So, to claim Joseph Smith did not plagiarize the Bible goes against all common sense.
As a Latter-day Saint, I once heard Apostle Jeffrey Holland proclaim, “Either the Book of Mormon is what the Prophet Joseph said it is or this Church and its founder are false, fraudulent, a deception from the first instance onward. Not everything in life is so black and white, but it seems the authenticity of the Book of Mormon and its keystone role in our belief is exactly that.”
I personally wanted the Book of Mormon to be true. However, after carefully studying and examining it, I am now totally convinced that the Book of Mormon is nothing more than a 19th century book of fiction written by Joseph Smith.
Something to consider!
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Until next time, God Bless!