Showing posts with label editorial promise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label editorial promise. Show all posts

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Internal Consistency regarding things to come

The author of the Book of Mormon must have had extensive notes and a lot of time to plan the text. How else can we explain how he knows what is going to come in the later chapters?

Here is an example, from Helaman 2:

12 And more of this Gadianton shall be spoken hereafter. And thus ended the forty and second year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.
13 And behold, in the end of this book ye shall see that this Gadianton did prove the overthrow, yea, almost the entire destruction of the people of Nephi.
14 Behold I do not mean the end of the book of Helaman, but I mean the end of the book of Nephi, from which I have taken all the account which I have written.

These are called editorial promises, and there are many of them throughout the book.  I'll highlight two editorial promises in this post.

Mormon's editorial promise about Gadianton


Notice the wording in verse 13: "this Gadianton did prove the overthrow, yea, almost the entire destruction of the people of Nephi."

This is a perfect opportunity for Joseph Smith to accidentally insert a big plot hole into the book.  If he had merely left out the word "almost", we'd have to explain how Mormon, who is killed 96 chapters later (prior to the entire destruction of the Nephites), knew the full extent of the damage Gadianton would do.

By including the word "almost" in the sentence, Mormon reflects an accurate understanding of the effect of Gadianton up to the time of writing, leaving it to Moroni to describe the brutal end of the Nephites.  It's a subtle detail, but a very important one, and the Book of Mormon gets it right.

I believe Mormon had an outline. He reviewed all the records than decided what to include in his record.

In some cases, he included the record word-for-word, such as Alma-2's instructions to his sons found in Alma 36-42 or Moroni's epistle to Pahoran in Alma 60.

Some records he merely summarized, such as the period of wickedness leading up to the massive destruction at the time of Christ's death.

Other events he left out completely. He gives us a long list of what he is leaving out in Helaman 3:

14 But behold, a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people, yea, the account of the Lamanites and of the Nephites, and their wars, and contentions, and dissensions, and their preaching, and their prophecies, and their shipping and their building of ships, and their building of temples, and of synagogues and their sanctuaries, and their righteousness, and their wickedness, and their murders, and their robbings, and their plundering, and all manner of abominations and whoredoms, cannot be contained in this work.
15 But behold, there are many books and many records of every kind, and they have been kept chiefly by the Nephites.

A detail like this one would be really hard to keep track of by a person who is attempting to dictate the book in a single draft without notes.

An editorial promise made by Mormon and fulfilled by Moroni


Mormon's outline seems to include a list of what he had promised to include. When he died in battle prior to completing the work, his son Moroni took over.

I believe Moroni was able to complete the record by reviewing the outline and list his father had kept. This brings us to the second editorial promise I'd like to discuss in this post--an example of Moroni fulfilling an editorial promise made by his father. (Many thanks to Stisa for pointing this one out to me.) 

In 3 Nephi 18:36-37, we read about Jesus Christ touching the disciples to give them the power to give the Holy Ghost:

36 And it came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of these sayings, he touched with his hand the disciples whom he had chosen, one by one, even until he had touched them all, and spake unto them as he touched them.
37 And the multitude heard not the words which he spake, therefore they did not bear record; but the disciples bare record that he gave them power to give the Holy Ghost. And I will show unto you hereafter that this record is true.

The bold words above explain what happened.  The italics tell us that the multitude did not hear what Christ spoke to them.  The underlined words contain the editorial promise.

In Moroni 2 (39 chapters later), we read the fulfillment of this promise:

1 The words of Christ, which he spake unto his disciples, the twelve whom he had chosen, as he laid his hands upon them—
2 And he called them by name, saying: Ye shall call on the Father in my name, in mighty prayer; and after ye have done this ye shall have power that to him upon whom ye shall lay your hands, ye shall give the Holy Ghost; and in my name shall ye give it, for thus do mine apostles.
3 Now Christ spake these words unto them at the time of his first appearing; and the multitude heard it not, but the disciples heard it; and on as many as they laid their hands, fell the Holy Ghost.

In my opinion this example is powerful evidence that the author had notes and time. In my opinion, a good theory for how we got the Book of Mormon text will account for this type of detail.  The theory espoused by believers accounts for this in a pretty simple way--Mormon was the author and he had a lot of notes and a lot of time. Naturalistic theories fall short.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

King Mosiah-2 as a seer

King Mosiah was a seer.  We learn this in Mosiah 8 from the first Ammon (not Mosiah's son) who visits the land of Nephi and meets King Limhi:
13 Now Ammon said unto him: I can assuredly tell thee, O king, of a man that can translate the records; for he has wherewith that he can look, and translate all records that are of ancient date; and it is a gift from God. And the things are called interpreters, and no man can look in them except he be commanded, lest he should look for that he ought not and he should perish. And whosoever is commanded to look in them, the same is called seer.
14 And behold, the king of the people who are in the land of Zarahemla is the man that is commanded to do these things, and who has this high gift from God.
In Mosiah 28:11-17, 20 chapters later, we find out that King Mosiah (near the end of his life) translates the records. A summary of the translation of these records becomes the Book of Ether (compiled by Moroni).  They are referred to several times prior to that, perhaps most notably in Alma 37 (see verse 21 for example).

In fact, an editorial promise to give an account of this record is found in verse 19:
19 And this account shall be written hereafter; for behold, it is expedient that all people should know the things which are written in this account.
Thus, the author of the book needs to remember to include this record in order to fulfill this promise. There are dozens of editorial promises in the Book of Mormon. The author of this book clearly had a lot of time and a lot of notes.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

An editorial promise about Alma's missionary work

The Book of Mosiah is complicated. Several editorial promises can be found within this book.  An editorial promise is when the author promises to give an account at a later time.  There are many examples of these throughout the Book of Mormon. Here is one:

In Mosiah 21:35, Mormon mentions that when king Limhi and his people joined the Nephites in Zarahemla, they wanted to be baptized:

35 They were desirous to be baptized as a witness and a testimony that they were willing to serve God with all their hearts; nevertheless they did prolong the time; and an account of their baptism shall be given hereafter.
 This account is found in Mosiah 25:17-18
17 And it came to pass that after Alma had taught the people many things, and had made an end of speaking to them, that king Limhi was desirous that he might be baptized; and all his people were desirous that they might be baptized also.
18 Therefore, Alma did go forth into the water and did baptize them; yea, he did baptize them after the manner he did his brethren in the waters of Mormon; yea, and as many as he did baptize did belong to the church of God; and this because of their belief on the words of Alma.

Sunday, June 23, 2019

Internal Consistency between 1 Nephi 1:17 and 1 Nephi 10:1

In verse 17, Nephi promises to give us two things: First, an abridgment of his father's record. Second, an account of his proceedings:

17 But I shall make an account of my proceedings in my days. Behold, I make an abridgment of the record of my father, upon plates which I have made with mine own hands; wherefore, after I have abridged the record of my father then will I make an account of mine own life.

See 1 Nephi 10:1:

1 And now I, Nephi, proceed to give an account upon these plates of my proceedings, and my reign and ministry;

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