Proofs of the Book of Mormon (The B.O.M. Series 4 of 7)

When the Lord commanded The Three Witnesses to bear record of the Book of Mormon, they were worried they would not be believed because the people described in the book were nothing like what they thought they knew of the “savages” roaming the land in their day. The following was the Lord’s answer to their concerns.

“The Lord told us, in reply that he would make it known to the people that the early inhabitants of this land had been just such a people as they were described in the book, [educated, refined, and living in large cities], and he would lead them to discover the ruins of great cities, and they should have abundant evidence of the truth of that which is written in the book…” – David Whitmer, Interview with James H. Hart (Richmond, Mo., 21 August 1883), as printed in Deseret Evening News, Salt Lake City, Utah

Here are a few examples of evidence that have come forth: 

1. Did you know that the Liahona has parallels to the Ark of the Covenant, which was known to contain (or was otherwise associated with) a golden pot of manna, the rod of Aaron which budded, the brazen serpent, the Urim and Thummim, and the Stone Tablets from Mt. Sinai? It held functions, just as these well-known items in the bible, and those functions were very similar to the ones from the bible. 

Read more about these connections here. 

2. The allegory of the olive tree, recorded in Jacob 5, contains many details that are consistent with known botanical principles and horticultural practices. In fact, even though the bible has over 50 occasions where it mentions olive tree culture, and the Book of Mormon only has a few chapters, the Book of Mormon contains the most detailed descriptions of olive horticulture in any scripture, including examples that could not be gleaned from the over 50 mentions in the bible.

Learn more here.

3. Many of the words used in the Book of Mormon had become unpopular and had fallen out of use by Joseph Smith’s day, (e.g. “beloved”), yet they make multiple appearances in the Book of Mormon. 

Check out some of these words and learn why this is so significant here.

4. The way you speak and write is completely different from anyone else in the world. that In fact, everyone speaks and writes so differently that when studied, they leave a distinct imprint specific to them and only them—much like a fingerprint. 

The Book of Mormon has 28 distinct voices. Read more about this here.

5. There are multiple forms of Hebraic poetry in the bible, including Janus Parallelisms, Synthetic Parallelisms, Antithetical Parallelisms, Alternate Parallelisms, and Chiasmus, amongst many others. If the Book of Mormon is scripture written by ancient prophets who lived during the same time as those in the bible, and would’ve been taught to write in the same manner as the bible prophets, then shouldn’t they be in the Book of Mormon also? Well, they are.

One example of these forms of Hebraic poetry first discovered in the bible, a Chiasmus, was also discovered in the Book of Mormon—among all the others mentioned above. In 1967, then-missionary, John W. Welch, learned about Chiasmus while attending a lecture on the New Testament in his German mission.

He then decided to explore the Book of Mormon and after a lot of searching discovered the first of many chiasmus in Mosiah 5. To read more of his story, go here, and to look at examples of Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon and learn about how they work, look here, here, and here.

The basic idea of a Chiasmus is that an idea or thought or inverse of the thought will be repeated, once at the beginning of scripture and once at the end until meeting at a focal point. Chiasmus can be as small as one verse or as long as a chapter or more.

We can’t even imagine the amount of planning and forethought it would take to achieve this and still tell a story.

Here’s one of our favorite examples from Alma 36. The letters next to the line in the verse show the thought or inverse of the thought. For example, (A) at the beginning of the chapter says “my son, give ear to my words” and the (A) at the end of the chapter says “this is according to his word.” You’ll also notice that at the end of each line there’s a number. This is the number of the verse where you will find the line shown here. 

We would even add an R in there as a focal point. It’s at the end of verse 17 and reads: to atone for the sins of the world.

Atone. And what is the entire chapter about? How the atonement worked in Alma’s life. 

We don’t know about you, but we think that’s pretty amazing!

While it’s fun to learn about proofs of the Book of Mormon, we spent hours researching this email,(you can find hundreds more at https://evidencecentral.org/recency), the leaders of the church often exhort us to gain a testimony from the content of the scriptures, the testimony it bears of Jesus Christ, and not from proofs.

Ezra Taft Benson said, "We do not have to prove the Book of Mormon is true. The book is its own proof."

Tad R. Callister said, "Together with the bible, the Book of Mormon is an indispensable witness of the doctrines of Christ and His divinity."

And we certainly believe these things to be true. 

Now to wrap up, we have one more quote for you. 

I implore each of us to prayerfully study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so, we will be in a position to hear the voice of the spirit, to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive heaven’s help in our lives. - Thomas S. Monson

Be sure to catch next week’s email—it’s going to be a doozy! We’ll be talking villains, Book of Mormon ones, that is, and what we can learn from them. You’re going to love it!

Love, 

The Cedar Fort Family 

P.S. Catch the whole B.O.M. Series here:

The Book of Mormon and Science  (The B.O.M. Series 1 of 7)

The Book of Mormon and Personal Revelation (The B.O.M. Series 2 of 7)

The Book of Mormon and Kids/Teens (The B.O.M. Series 3 of 7)

Proofs of the Book of Mormon (The B.O.M. Series 4 of 7)

Book of Mormon Villains and What We Can Learn from Them. (The B.O.M. Series 5 of 7)

The Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon (The B.O.M. Series 6 of 7)

Miracles of the Book of Mormon (The B.O.M. Series 7 of 7)

P.P.S. Check out our Book of Mormon Collection here. Want to strengthen your testimony of the Book of Mormon? We have you covered from Book of Mormon Chiasmus, to The Legal Cases in the Book of Mormon, to Doctrinal Insights of the Book of Mormon, to The Burning Book, and more!