Saturday, April 26, 2008

Post 4 - Sure Evidence That The Book of Mormon's Translation Was of God

To Access This Blog's Index, Please Scroll Down To the Fifth Paragraph From the End of This Post!

****
TODAY'S THEME

If you have really read the Book of Mormon as the title of this post series asks, you would have really enjoyed, along with me, Neal Maxwell Institute's Daniel C. Peterson's fireside presentation at the Olivewood Book Store in Provo on April 10, 2008. When one "really" reads the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, as many times as I have been privileged to do, he will have recalled much from that reading of this Book of Books, during Dr. Peterson's captivating presentation.

Sometime, a number of years ago, while studying the Book of Mormon, I noticed that Nephi tells us his father's family's travel direction in Southern Arabia changed to due East at a place named Nahom (I Nephi 16:34). I also noticed then, that before and afterwards, most all locations on their long route were given names by Father Lehi and his fellow travelers, such as the Valley of Lemuel, after his second oldest son and the place by the seashore they named "Bountiful" because of "its much fruit." Dr. Peterson really enjoyed telling his audience about how this Arabian site, Nahom, still bears the same name it did in the day of the prophet, Lehi.

Although Dr. Dan didn't mention it, I remember reading a report from a BYU researcher who reported that there is an ancient burial ground there. Co-incidentally Lehi assisted in burying his relative, Ishmael there.

You will enjoy the convincing description our fireside presenter made of all this evidence which supports that which Joseph Smith told us right along, that this record was made by Hebrew travelers in about 600 B.C. As Dr. Peterson asks, "How could Joseph Smith or any other person in our day, except for a possible Arabian bedeouin who possibly didn't read or write, come up with that ancient, accurate place name."

That is just one of many items Dr. Dan gives to convince us that no-one in Joseph Smith's day could come up with the information we find in the Book of Mormon about such accurate details of ancient Hebrew olive orchard cultivation and details of experiences Book of Mormon people had in the Seismic Disaster described in III Nephi that occured just before the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ appeared to the relatively small Nephite-Lamanite population that had escaped death at that cataclysmic occasion.

Another matter that Dr. Peterson so ably discussed is how Hebrew language characteristics regularly showed up in the English translation the Lord gave Joseph Smith through direct revelation. He told us that many of those Hebrew language characteristics were changed later by the Prophet Joseph or others in Church leadership to improve the English of this divine translation.

Dr. Dan is so convincing. I have noticed that there were no direct responses on the Internet to the facts that were presented by him that evening. There is no plausible way to dispute the facts that were given us by Dr. Peterson that evening.

It will be very much worth your while to watch this video. You will be viewing Part 2 when you begin. There are five parts to this lecture which lasted about an hour and a half altogether. You can make the other four parts of his lecture available to access at any time, by merely a single left click on the screen just to the right of Dr. Peterson's left shoulder. Dr. Peterson tells us a number of convincing facts in each of them. I had you begin with Part 2, because I found it particularly interesting. You may find parts 1, 3, 4 or 5, particularly interesting. Check them out as you have time!
Daniel C. Peterson
 Turn on your computer's speaker now! Click on the arrow on the screen below!





There was something special that I picked up on. I particularly appreciated Dr. Dan's enthusiasm and conviction as to why we should believe the statements of relatives and friends of Josephs Smith's in the Harmony, PA area regarding the actual manner of translating of the Book of Mormon rather than what the sophisticated, modern, easy living, computer wielding ciritcs describe. Our presenter described in great detail things that were reported by these local people regarding the translation. He then pointed out to us that all of these local folks were down-to-earth, practical and pragmatic farmers who really had to hustle to keep alive. He asks whose statements are the most credible, the modern easy-living critics or those Nineteenth century "down-to-earth people" who really knew what they were talking about.

I really appreciated Dr. Dan's enthusiasm for this great helping of convincing information given us throughout his captivating, scholarly, presentation. He apologized beforehand about having to read much of his material, but that wasn't needed because of his captivating enthusiasm. I look forward to future presentations to be made by this good man. He could read all of them as far as I am concerned.
__________


DISCLAIMER
This website is not owned by or affiliated with the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the Mormon or LDS Church). The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the position of the Church.


____________


TO ACCESS NEIL BIRCH'S BLOG INDEX: To Either Read the Full Index Item Which Refers To This Blog Post, (Or To Search The Index For Any Other Blog Post You Desire To Access), When You Have Read All of This Paragraph, Please Click on the Following: The Book of Mormon's Translation Was of God. Sure Evidence (A Dan Peterson Video Assists in providing this evidence) - Post 4 After The Picture of Our Savior Jesus Christ Sitting Next to a Little Boy Comes Onto Your Screen, Please Scroll Down To Your Target Item Or Use the Alphabetical Scrolling Device (When It Has Been Installed).


__________


"Have You Really Read the Book of Mormon" Legal /Statement Thank you for visiting. The author retains intellectual property and creative licensing rights. Permission to use or reprint must be given in writing. © Est.2008 Neil Birch

____________



I deeply appreciate your readership and hope you found very beneficial, that which was presented to you in this blog post.
If you have any questions about what you have read or viewed in this post or in any previous posts of mine, or if you even have a curiosity about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and or its teachings, please e-mail me. I'm Neil and my e-mail address is: jneilmelva@gmail.com. If you contact me I'll get back to you just as soon as possible.


I invite you to let your friends and relatives know about this blog if you think they would be interested in it. Please be advised that I also have an additional blog. It is in Spanish: Its content is translated from the English in this blog.

Neil Birch