The Book of Mormon is the central religious text for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (The Mormons). It is often said by believing members that the Book of Mormon is a beautiful and correct history of the Native Americans before and after the coming of Jesus Christ.
The Book of Mormon not only speaks of Jesus Christ, mentioning his name more than 4,000 times, but claims to be a third testament of his appearance to the native peoples of the American continents. One need only venture into the pages of this book to understand some of the religious beliefs of the Mormons, as well as some very early doctrine in the early Mormon church.
It is claimed that the Book of Mormon was translated through the modern-day prophet, Joseph Smith, in the 2 years leading up to his founding of the Church of Christ in April of 1830. It's worth asking where the Book of Mormon reportedly came from.
As the story goes, Joseph Smith was visited by an angel in his bedroom during September 1823. The angel told him of the location of an ancient record of the Native Americans, inscribed on golden plates, bound together into a single volume. Fast-forward 4 years, and the 22 year-old Joseph Smith digs into the Hill Cumorah in New York, and unearths the golden plates. After many trials and tribulations, the Joseph Smith produced the "Original Manuscript" in June of 1829 with the help of Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer, Emma Smith, and some others.
Once the "Original Manuscript" was compiled, the E.B. Grandin Printing Press in Palmyra, New York, required the information be transcribed into a final draft called the "Printer's Manuscript," most of which survives today. Unfortunately, Joseph Smith buried the Original Manuscript in the cornerstone of the Nauvoo, Illinois temple, which was recovered after his death, and it was majorly damaged by water and mold. Only about 28% of the Original Manuscript survived the burial, but scholars have been able to recreate the original Book of Mormon by combining the "Original Manuscript," and the "Printer's Manuscript," into the closest possible text of the original Book of Mormon as Joseph Smith intended.
One may ask why we must concern ourselves with the "Original" and "Printer's" Manuscripts of the Book of Mormon, and that is a challenging question indeed. If we understand how the Book of Mormon was written, it seems to instill a lot of importance in the original version of the book. Here is a quote from David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses to the golden plates, and an early leader in the church.
"I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man."
Page 11 of his book An Address to All Believers in Christ, Part First, Chapter 1. Also, Interview given to Kansas City Journal, June 5, 1881, reprinted in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Journal of History, vol. 8, (1910), pp. 299-300.
This is a quote from Martin Harris, the man who financed printing and publishing the Book of Mormon, also one of the Three Witnesses.
"Martin Harris related an incident that occurred during the time that he wrote that portion of the translation of the Book of Mormon which he was favored to write direct from the mouth of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He said that the Prophet possessed a seer stone, by which he was enabled to translate as well as from the Urim and Thummim, and for convenience he then used the seer stone, Martin explained the translation as follows: By aid of the seer stone, sentences would appear and were read by the Prophet and written by Martin and when finished he would say "Written," and if correctly written that sentence would disappear and another appear in its place, but if not written correctly it remained until corrected, so that the translation was just as it was engraven on the plates, precisely in the language then used."
Reported by Edward Stevenson, "One of the Three Witnesses," Millennial Star, Volume 44, pp86-87.
Thus we see why it is so important to study the earliest possible manuscript of the Book of Mormon to see it in its original intended form. If the Book of Mormon was indeed dictated through Joseph Smith by revelation, and the sentence wouldn't disappear until it was transcribed correctly, then we cannot accept anything but the earliest version of the Book of Mormon as being inspired by God.
It also logically follows that any changes that have happened since the 1829 "Original Manuscript," have altered the word of God from what he originally revealed to Joseph Smith. If this is the case, every alteration removes the Book of Mormon further away from the divinely revealed truth of God, speaking through his prophet, Joseph Smith.
Luckily, the LDS church recently teamed up with the RLDS church to produce the "Printer's Manuscript," and we're able to look at the raw text as dictated by God and written by Oliver Cowdery, in order to compare it to the current 2016 version of the Book of Mormon hosted on the LDS Church's own LDS.org, and see the differences between the versions. The only question that remains is, why would the church need to change anything from the "Printer's Manuscript," if that's what was spoken by Joseph Smith as the Latter-day prophet to lead this dispensation to exaltation?
The scholarship studying the differences between these versions of the Book of Mormon is still in its early stages, but by initial studies, there appears to be 10's of thousands of differences between the "Original Manuscript," combined with the "Printer's Manuscript," and the current 2016 version of the Book of Mormon. It's, indeed, hard to believe that God made 10's of thousands, or possibly over 100,000, mistakes while revealing the Book of Mormon to Joseph Smith, that required later correction.
All of this leads us to the final question, what is the purpose of this website? We are looking to build a one-stop place to offer everything a person could possibly want to know about the Book of Mormon. On the left side of your screen you will see the heading of "OM/PM" which is the combined 28% of the "Original Manuscript" with 72% of the "Printer's Manuscript" of the Book of Mormon. On the right side of your screen, you will see the current 2016 version of the Book of Mormon, as hosted on LDS.org, the LDS Church's own website. Every single difference between the texts is highlighted in red, including the addition of verse breaks in the chapters. There are many other editorial marks featured in the comparison portion of the website, and a legend will be provided in that section.
One more feature that is included will be found with green links available on the comparison screen. These will link to passages in other books written before 1830 that are similar to the Book of Mormon in some way. There is also a comments section on each of these excerpts where readers, like yourself, can add their thoughts about similarities between these passages in the Book of Mormon and other possible source texts for the Book of Mormon.
The Book of Mormon not only speaks of Jesus Christ, mentioning his name more than 4,000 times, but claims to be a third testament of his appearance to the native peoples of the American continents. One need only venture into the pages of this book to understand some of the religious beliefs of the Mormons, as well as some very early doctrine in the early Mormon church.
It is claimed that the Book of Mormon was translated through the modern-day prophet, Joseph Smith, in the 2 years leading up to his founding of the Church of Christ in April of 1830. It's worth asking where the Book of Mormon reportedly came from.
As the story goes, Joseph Smith was visited by an angel in his bedroom during September 1823. The angel told him of the location of an ancient record of the Native Americans, inscribed on golden plates, bound together into a single volume. Fast-forward 4 years, and the 22 year-old Joseph Smith digs into the Hill Cumorah in New York, and unearths the golden plates. After many trials and tribulations, the Joseph Smith produced the "Original Manuscript" in June of 1829 with the help of Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer, Emma Smith, and some others.
Once the "Original Manuscript" was compiled, the E.B. Grandin Printing Press in Palmyra, New York, required the information be transcribed into a final draft called the "Printer's Manuscript," most of which survives today. Unfortunately, Joseph Smith buried the Original Manuscript in the cornerstone of the Nauvoo, Illinois temple, which was recovered after his death, and it was majorly damaged by water and mold. Only about 28% of the Original Manuscript survived the burial, but scholars have been able to recreate the original Book of Mormon by combining the "Original Manuscript," and the "Printer's Manuscript," into the closest possible text of the original Book of Mormon as Joseph Smith intended.
One may ask why we must concern ourselves with the "Original" and "Printer's" Manuscripts of the Book of Mormon, and that is a challenging question indeed. If we understand how the Book of Mormon was written, it seems to instill a lot of importance in the original version of the book. Here is a quote from David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses to the golden plates, and an early leader in the church.
"I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man."
Page 11 of his book An Address to All Believers in Christ, Part First, Chapter 1. Also, Interview given to Kansas City Journal, June 5, 1881, reprinted in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Journal of History, vol. 8, (1910), pp. 299-300.
This is a quote from Martin Harris, the man who financed printing and publishing the Book of Mormon, also one of the Three Witnesses.
"Martin Harris related an incident that occurred during the time that he wrote that portion of the translation of the Book of Mormon which he was favored to write direct from the mouth of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He said that the Prophet possessed a seer stone, by which he was enabled to translate as well as from the Urim and Thummim, and for convenience he then used the seer stone, Martin explained the translation as follows: By aid of the seer stone, sentences would appear and were read by the Prophet and written by Martin and when finished he would say "Written," and if correctly written that sentence would disappear and another appear in its place, but if not written correctly it remained until corrected, so that the translation was just as it was engraven on the plates, precisely in the language then used."
Reported by Edward Stevenson, "One of the Three Witnesses," Millennial Star, Volume 44, pp86-87.
Thus we see why it is so important to study the earliest possible manuscript of the Book of Mormon to see it in its original intended form. If the Book of Mormon was indeed dictated through Joseph Smith by revelation, and the sentence wouldn't disappear until it was transcribed correctly, then we cannot accept anything but the earliest version of the Book of Mormon as being inspired by God.
It also logically follows that any changes that have happened since the 1829 "Original Manuscript," have altered the word of God from what he originally revealed to Joseph Smith. If this is the case, every alteration removes the Book of Mormon further away from the divinely revealed truth of God, speaking through his prophet, Joseph Smith.
Luckily, the LDS church recently teamed up with the RLDS church to produce the "Printer's Manuscript," and we're able to look at the raw text as dictated by God and written by Oliver Cowdery, in order to compare it to the current 2016 version of the Book of Mormon hosted on the LDS Church's own LDS.org, and see the differences between the versions. The only question that remains is, why would the church need to change anything from the "Printer's Manuscript," if that's what was spoken by Joseph Smith as the Latter-day prophet to lead this dispensation to exaltation?
The scholarship studying the differences between these versions of the Book of Mormon is still in its early stages, but by initial studies, there appears to be 10's of thousands of differences between the "Original Manuscript," combined with the "Printer's Manuscript," and the current 2016 version of the Book of Mormon. It's, indeed, hard to believe that God made 10's of thousands, or possibly over 100,000, mistakes while revealing the Book of Mormon to Joseph Smith, that required later correction.
All of this leads us to the final question, what is the purpose of this website? We are looking to build a one-stop place to offer everything a person could possibly want to know about the Book of Mormon. On the left side of your screen you will see the heading of "OM/PM" which is the combined 28% of the "Original Manuscript" with 72% of the "Printer's Manuscript" of the Book of Mormon. On the right side of your screen, you will see the current 2016 version of the Book of Mormon, as hosted on LDS.org, the LDS Church's own website. Every single difference between the texts is highlighted in red, including the addition of verse breaks in the chapters. There are many other editorial marks featured in the comparison portion of the website, and a legend will be provided in that section.
One more feature that is included will be found with green links available on the comparison screen. These will link to passages in other books written before 1830 that are similar to the Book of Mormon in some way. There is also a comments section on each of these excerpts where readers, like yourself, can add their thoughts about similarities between these passages in the Book of Mormon and other possible source texts for the Book of Mormon.