What the Book of Mormon Itself Says About Its Origin
by Bruce F. Levi, ICARE Ministries
A request, exhortation, or challenge is often given by missionaries of the LDS Church to pray to God about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. This challenge is from the Book of Mormon, Moroni chapter 10, verse 4, page 529. One is asked to pray about whether the Book of Mormon is true, because, as the passage states, if one is sincere, God will show that the book is true.
It seems obvious, however, that the Book of Mormon itself has already answered this question for us well before Moroni, 10:4. Let us take a look at what some writers in the Book of Mormon have to say about the origin of the Book of Mormon.
1. Moroni 10:1 “Now I, Moroni, write somewhat as seemeth me good…”
This statement is found on the same page, just a few verses above, where Moroni’s exhortation to pray about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is found. Moroni, himself, has already answered the question. Moroni states plainly that he wrote words that only "seemed good to him," not what he was inspired by God to write.
2. Title Page of the Book of Mormon “And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of man…”
Here, on its own title page, the Book of Mormon's publishers alert it readers that the boook may well contain, “faults”
and “mistakes of men.”
3. 1 Nephi 1:3 “…and I make it according to my knowledge.”
Here at the beginning of the text of the Book of Mormon, the prophet Nephi states that his writing are according to his own knowledge, not according to the inspiration of God.
4. 1 Nephi 19:6 “..I do not write anything upon plates save it be that I think it be sacred. And now, if I do err, even did they
err of old; not that I would excuse myself because of other men, but because of the weakness which is in me, according to
the flesh, I would excuse myself.”
Nephi states that he writes only what he thinks is sacred, and not anything which God has told him is sacred. Then he
plainly admits to error in his writings and explains that this error is due to his own human weakness.
5. Jacob 1:2 “And he [Nephi] gave me, Jacob, a commandment that I should write upon these plates a few of the things
which I considered to be most precious…”
Jacob states that he is writing because ephi told him to write the things that he (Jacob) considered to be most
precious, not what God wanted him to write.
6. Jacob 7:26 “I have written according to the best of my knowledge.”
Jacob wrote this near the end of his life. He says he wrote according to the best of his own knowledge, not what God had inspired him to write.
7. Mormon 8:1 “I have but few things to write, which things I have been commanded by my father [Moroni].
Moroni states that his writings are what his father, Mormon, told him to write, not what God told him to write.
8. Ether 5:1 “I, Moroni, have written the words which were commanded me, according to my memory…”
Moroni now states that he wrote what his father Mormon, told him to, not what God told him to write. In addtion, he says
that is was base on his own memory, not what God had inspired.
9. Moroni 1:4 “Wherefore, I write a few more things, contrary to that which I had supposed [as he stated in verse one]; for I
had supposed not to have written any more; but I write a few more things, that perhaps they may be of worth unto my
brethren…”
Moroni states that he had changed his mind about what to write and that what he wrote was only "perhaps" of worth. If
God had really told him what to write, there would be no doubt about its worth. Are you willing to base your eternal destiny
on a mere hypothesis of what may "perhap" be true?
James admonishes us to ask God for wisdom in James 1:5. The Greek word that is translated wisdom means “practical skill or acumen, thoughtfulness and being discreet and cautious” (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible). After applying practical skill and acumen in a thoughtful, discreet. and cautious manner, here is the conclusion. Book of Mormon writers, themselves tell us the origin of the Book of Mormon with their use of such words as: seemeth, faults, mistakes, suppose, my knowledge [as opposed to God’s knowledge], err, according to my memory, commanded by may father, supposed, and perhaps. The exhortation in Moroni 10:4 is invalid. It wants us to ask God a question to which the answer has already been given. The Book of Mormon's own statements tell us of its human origin.
Do you really want to rely on something of human origin when it comes to your eternal salvation?