What is the greatest film of all time? If you said: ‘Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark’ – you are correct. I love this film it has everything in it. There is action, there is a hero, there is a baddy, there is romance, there is humour, there is the search for biblical treasure and then they throw in some villainous Nazis – what a film! But recently, I discovered something else in the film – an anachronism.
A
What?
An
anachronism is something belonging to a period
other than that in which it is exists. An example of this would be that you are
perhaps watching a film about Henry VIII and suddenly an aeroplane fly’s past
or, in the case of Indiana Jones, which is set in 1936, a map is shown showing
names of countries that were not named as such in the 1930s.
Though
anachronistic, you can still enjoy these films, because they are just films,
but sometimes anachronisms can be far more damaging and cannot be ignored.
A
Book from God
What
if anachronisms are found in a religious text? Not just any text, but one you
have a testimony of as being from God. You believe this text to be the ‘most
correct book of any on earth and the keystone of your religion, and a man would
get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than any other book’.[1]
Should such a text contain anachronisms?
If
the book is from man, the answer may be yes, but if it is from God, the answer
should surely be no, and Mormons are adamant that their book is from God.
The
Book of Mormon
Though
modern LDS images of Joseph Smith make him look comparable to a fictious dashing
hero like Indiana Jones, he was a real person. It was Joseph, as the founder of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who claimed that the Book of
Mormon translated from gold plates, contained actual history of the ancient
Americas during the period around 2,500 B.C. to 400 A.D.
One
would imagine that if what Joseph was saying is true, there should be no historical
errors – but that is not what we find.
The anachronisms found in the Book of Mormon are
words, phrases, artifacts, or something else that historians, archaeologists,
or linguists believe did not exist in the Americas during that time
period.
Let
us consider a small number of these and, as we do, we will put them into two
categories: General Anachronisms and Greek Anachronisms.[2]
General
Anachronisms
Adieu?
This
French term can be found in Jacob 7:27, even though the French language didn’t
exist until around 700 A.D.
Coins?
And the judge received for his wages according to his time—a senine of gold for
a day, or a senum of silver, which is equal to a senine of gold; and this is
according to the law which was given. Now these are the names of the different
pieces of their gold, and of their silver, according to their value. (Alma
11:3-19)
The
Book of Mormon names several gold and silver coins, none of which have ever
been found by archaeologists in the America.
Horses
and Elephants?
And they also had horses, and asses, and
there were elephants and cureloms and cumoms; all of which were useful unto
man, and more especially the elephants and cureloms and cumoms. (Ether 9:19)
Again,
archaeology shows that horses and elephants did not exist in the Americas,
during the period the Book of Mormon supposedly covers. It was the Spanish who
introduced horse to the Americas in the 1500s. As for, cureloms and cumoms, no
one has any idea what these were.
The
King James Bible
If
you have read the Book of Mormon, you will have noted that it reads very much
like the 1611 King James Bible. This is because large portions of the KJV was
lifted directly from the 1611 text and added to the Book of Mormon. This can be
seen by comparing the following passages – 1 Nephi 20-21 and Isaiah 48-49; 2
Nephi 7-8 and Isaiah 50-51; Nephi 12 and Isaiah 2; 2 Nephi 24 and Isaiah 14.
Greek
Anachronisms
How
is it possible that a group of Hebrews, allegedly sailing from Israel around
600 B.C., would have had a working knowledge of the Greek language? Finding the
use of koine Greek in the Book of Mormon is a real problem. These linguistic
anachronisms raise all kinds of questions.
Alms
Verily,
verily, I say that I would that ye should do alms unto the poor; but
take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them;
otherwise ye have no reward of your Father who is in heaven. Therefore, when ye
shall do your alms do not sound a trumpet before you, as will hypocrites
do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their
reward. But when thou doest alms let not thy left hand know what thy
right hand doeth; That thine alms may be in secret; and thy Father who
seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly. (Alma 13:1-4)
How
did the Greek word ‘alms’, which has no counterpart in the Hebrew, find its way
into the Book of Mormon?
Alpha
and Omega
I am the light and the life
of the world. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
end. (3 Nephi 9:18)
Why
would Jesus describe himself as the first and last letters of the Greek
alphabet when his hearers wouldn’t have had a clue what he was talking about?
Christ
In 2
Nephi 25:14-19, the words ‘Christ’ (Greek for anointed one) and its Hebrew
equivalent ‘Messiah’ are used interchangeably. This happens throughout the Book
of Mormon, but the use of Christ is totally anachronistic.
Christians
Alma
46:13-16 mentions the name ‘Christians’ twice. This is a Greek term and the
Bible tells us that believers were first called ‘Christians’ in Antioch. (Acts
11:26).
Timothy
and Jonas
And it came to pass that on the morrow, when the
multitude was gathered together, behold, Nephi and his brother whom he had raised from the dead, whose name was Timothy, and also his son, whose name
was Jonas… (3 Nephi 19:4)
Why
would Hebrew families give their children Greek names? Timothy and Jonas are
both Greek names.
So
what?
When
confronted with the anachronisms found in their sacred text, Latter-day Saints
usually respond by bearing their testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon.
This is because in Mormonism, feelings trump truth. These anachronisms cannot
be brushed under the carpet, they cause serious problems concerning the
historical accuracy of the Book of Mormon.
[1] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1984/06/the-most-correct-book?lang=eng
[2] The Mormon Scrapbook –
Daniel G. Thompson (Providence Publications 2004) p.21
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