When we compare the Bible to the Book of Mormon, we’re essentially contrasting a literary masterpiece like Shakespeare with a Junior High creative writing class. Both have their unique narratives, but one stands out as a masterwork. While the Book of Mormon is often touted as another testament of Jesus Christ and a scripture volume on par with the Bible, I find it challenging to draw more than a surface-level comparison between the two.

In the first part of this series, I pointed out two contrasts between the two books. First, the Book of Mormon translates golden plates from Reformed Egyptian. This despite the fact that Reformed Egyptian is not a known language, and no other books written in Reformed Egyptian can be found anywhere in the world. According to the story, Nephi left Jerusalem with his father during the reign of King Zedekiah. We have no reason to think Reformed Egyptian was a language choice in Jerusalem in the years leading up to the Babylonian captivity. Joseph Smith did not claim he had the skill to translate this Reformed Egyptian. He maintained that God provided him with two seer stones and a peep stone, which he used to render the words in English. But even if Reformed Egyptian was an actual language and Joseph Smith accurately translated it, we could not examine his translation or verify his work. The golden plates of the Book of Mormon have been removed. So, the Book of Mormon is not verifiable in any way. We are required to take Joseph Smith’s word for it.

This doesn’t compare to the Bible, which has thousands of manuscripts in the original languages, some dating back to within a few years of the Bible’s original writing. We can and do examine English translations in light of those original languages. We have a wealth of source material to explore regarding the Bible. The testimony to the authentic Bible speaks openly.

Second, the Book of Mormon tells the story of the house of Lehi, who left Jerusalem just before Nebuchadnezzar conquered it. Lehi traveled first to Egypt and then to the Americas. Though God is mentioned periodically (often to impose Lehi’s will on his sons), God is not the theme of the Book of Mormon. I don’t recognize the Triune God of the Bible anywhere in the Book of Mormon. Over many years of reading my Bible, I have become familiar with its rhythm of rebellion and redemption. That theme appears many times and in various historical settings ranging from the book of Judges to the Babylonian Captivity. Many times, Israel forgets God and falls under His judgment. And though God chastises His people, He never discards them. God’s commitment to His covenant people shines all through the time of the judges and the kings, but never more than when Israel was carried away into captivity in Babylon. His prophets constantly remind the people that God has not and will not forsake them. 

Perhaps the easiest way to illustrate the contrasting themes between the Bible and the Book of Mormon would be to consider how these two books open. Genesis 1:1 points immediately to God, as does John 1:1. 1 Nephi 1 opens with, “I, Nephi…” The Bible opens with all that God did. The Book of Mormon opens with what Nephi and his father did.

In this next installment, I will discuss another contrast between the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

A Contrast of Writing Styles

The poetic genius of the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments is staggering. The narrative especially demonstrates the touch of a master storyteller. For one thing, the writing is concentrated and compact. The Bible specializes in saying more than it is saying – it speaks beyond the words on the page. The scope is broad, and the language is condensed.

We expect this in poetry; the Bible gives us plenty of poetry. The song of Miriam after Israel crossed the Red Sea, the song of Hannah at the dedication of Samuel, the psalms of David and Asaph, the discourse of Job, the proverbs of Solomon, and the lamentations of Jeremiah all show a poetic genius. Consider the book of Lamentations, which may be one of the finest examples of Hebrew poetry in the Bible. Four of the five chapters of Lamentations consist of exactly 22 verses. The middle chapter has 66 verses. Four of the five chapters form an acrostic, with each line of the chapter beginning with the following consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Chapter 3 forms that same acrostic; only each letter of the Hebrew alphabet leads off 3 successive lines. The first two chapters of Lamentations form a chiasmus, with the central theme of the chapter found in the middle two verses, verses 11-12. The third chapter is more complex, with the central verses (31-33, 34-36) dividing the chapter into two chiasmas, the central theme of each division in the central passage of that division. So, the central theme of the first half of Lamentations 3 is found in vv. 16-18, and the center of the second half is in vv. 49-51. This elaborate poetry describes much of what we find in the Old Testament.

Most impressive is the narrative portions of the Hebrew Old Testament, which often take a poetic form. The writers use various techniques, including word repetition and chiasmus, to show what God communicates in the passage. Some favorite examples include the story of Ehud, who stabbed Eglon (probably a name given to mock the double-wide king of Moab) in the belly “and the dirt came out.” Eglon’s servants didn’t check on the king for quite a while because of the raunchy aroma seeping from the room (they thought he was having a tough time in the bathroom – Judges 3:24). Clearly, God intends to give His people a good laugh at the expense of a once mighty tyrant.

Another favorite includes the story of David hiding from King Saul when David and his men were pinned up against a rock in the wilderness of Maon, and Saul was coming in for the kill. The Bible tells us, almost nonchalantly, that a messenger came to Saul at just that moment and said, “Haste thee, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land” (I Samuel 23:27). Just like that, Saul and his army evacuated the battlefield and David, who surely thought his life was over, found deliverance at the hand of the Philistines.

The New Testament surpasses the Old in the glorious truths expressed in majestic simplicity. The richness of Christ’s parables, the sting of His insults, the understated account of Christ’s crucifixion, the minimal detail given to the resurrection, and the descriptions of justification and sanctification and glorification and redemption that saturate the New Testament all tell us that the Bible is not the work of literary amateurs. And yet, they said of Jesus, “How knoweth this man letters having never learned?” His disciples were “unlearned and ignorant men.”

I don’t see this kind of style and eloquence in the Book of Mormon. The narratives are not compelling. The language is hardly plausible. Editorial comments abound describing the limited space for writing and the difficulty of recording on metal plates. The writing is wordy, tedious, exhausting.

I am surprised by the number of lengthy verses the Book of Mormon uses to tell the reader that there isn’t room to record everything that could be said. This is odd, because the Book of Mormon is notoriously wordy. Consider this passage as a sample; it is long on description and short on point.

And it came to pass that we did take our bows and our arrows, and go forth into the wilderness to slay food for our families; and after we had slain food for our families we did return again to our families in the wilderness, to the place of Shazer. And we did go forth again in the wilderness, following the same direction, keeping in the most fertile parts of the wilderness, which were in the borders near the Red Sea. And it came to pass that we did travel for the space of many days, slaying food by the way, with our bows and our arrows and our stones and our slings. (I Nephi 16:14-15)

The language and cultural life of the Book of Mormon don’t match the time. For example, I Nephi 2:11 calls Lehi a “visionary man,” a term that surely was snatched from a more modern era. And I can’t help but notice how I Nephi 17:8-12 treats the sons of Lehi like they were cavemen. They had to mine metal to make tools and had to make fire by striking stones together. Israel was a fairly advanced society at this time, so this seems out of place.

But it is hard to make heads or tails of the story itself. The Book of Mormon tells a kind of pseudo-exodus story. Despite many warnings from the Old Testament prophets that the Jews were not to flee to Egypt, the Book of Mormon tells us that God led one family to flee to Egypt. Nor were they told to flee to Egypt for Israel’s sake, but as a radical departure from Israel (which certainly fits with the history of the LDS church). In fact, Lehi and his family are told that they are the new covenant family. They are sent to a new “promised land.” The Book of Mormon would have us believe that God replaced His plan of salvation with something entirely unlike what He promised Abraham (I Nephi 17:36-38; 19:13-15).

If we are to believe the Book of Mormon, we must assume that God discarded the promise He made to Abraham and chose instead to bring redemption through Lehi and Nephi. In fact, contrary to the Biblical record, the Book of Mormon teaches that one son of King Zedekiah survives the conquering Babylonians and moves to the Americas, where he becomes part of this counter-redemption story.

Yet, the Bible teaches that Israel survives the captivity and that God preserves the royal seed of David, through which He sent the promised Messiah. God didn’t preserve David’s royal seed through Zedekiah, whose sons were all killed in front of his eyes. Instead, God carried on the royal seed of David through Jehoichin, who was taken captive into Babylon. Again, the Bible repeatedly demonstrates God’s commitment to His people despite their wickedness and rebellion against Him. Hesed – God’s loyal, covenant love plays what might be the most prominent theme in the Old Testament., These stories put God’s heart on display. I can’t find that sort of theme in the Book of Mormon.

We’ll pick this up again soon.