About This Video
Shawn McCraney contrasts the exhaustive list of works required by Mormonism for followers to please God with the simplicity of two commandments from Biblical Christianity: believe in Jesus and love one another, as outlined in John 6:29 and John 13:34. He argues that religious institutions burden their followers unnecessarily when, according to scripture, faith and love are the only required actions, and introduces a critical examination of the Book of Mormon, challenging its authenticity and origins.
The Book of Mormon, unlike the Bible, lacks personal insights and cultural details typical of ancient Jewish records, such as family names, romance, weather descriptions, and domestic details, which casts doubt on its authenticity as a historical account of a Jewish people. Critics argue that these omissions, along with repeated and redundant phrases, suggest the narrative does not originate from Jewish culture and reflects broader issues regarding women's roles within Mormonism.
Shawn's teaching critiques the Book of Mormon's claim of being an ancient record by pointing out the absence of significant Jewish religious practices, such as Passover and feasts, which are prevalent in the Old and New Testaments but missing from the Book of Mormon. Additionally, Shawn highlights the problematic anachronistic use of the name "Jesus Christ" in the Book of Mormon's Old Testament section, arguing that it inappropriately employs a Greek name not used by Jews before Christ's birth, casting doubt on its authenticity as a record from devout Old World Jews.
Shawn's teaching critiques the anachronistic use of Greek names, like "Jesus Christ," in the Book of Mormon, suggesting that Joseph Smith included modern Greek-translated names hundreds of years before their historical emergence. Additionally, Shawn argues that the Book of Mormon contains extensive plagiarisms from the King James Bible, which demonstrates that Smith used it as a reference rather than translating purely by inspiration, thus undermining the claim of divine translation.
Shawn argues that Joseph Smith incorporated elements from apocryphal books and other non-ancient sources, such as anti-Masonic and anti-Catholic themes, into the Book of Mormon, challenging its claimed origin as an ancient or uniquely inspired scripture. This teaching explores the presence of similar names and themes in the Book of Mormon and various external influences, suggesting that these factors diminish its authenticity compared to the Bible.
Heart of the Matter: Mormonism Meets Biblical Christianity
Live from Salt Lake City, Utah
“LIVE FROM THE MECCA OF MORMONISM” SALT LAKE CITY UTAH – This is Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology., where Mormonism Meets Biblical Christianity, face to face. Show 22 BOM 48. Peeling the Onion II. May 29th 2012. And I’m your host, Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion.. We praise the True and Living God for allowing us to participate in this ministry. May He be with you (and us) tonight.
Church? Go to www.C-A-M-P-U-S.com for information. This Sunday we’re adding a third gathering from 7-9 pm for young people aged 16-24. Then the following week, beginning June 11th, we are launching a Monday Night women’s Bible study held at the Downtown SLC Denney’s from 7-9. Go to www.C-A-M-P-U-S.com for more information.
AM 820 check them out – AM 820 da Truf!
Exploring Biblical Truths
How about a moment “From the Word?” If you’re new to the show this is where we go through the Bible and bring out passages that clarify the differences between Mormonism and Biblical Christianity. Last week we left off in John chapter 6 verse 15. A few verses later, Jesus finds Himself surrounded by the masses who are looking to be fed with more bread produced by the hands of the Master. Knowing they sought physical food instead of the true food He came to bring, Jesus tells them to labor not for food that perishes but for food that will last eternally, the food He came to bring. This causes them to ask the LORD: John 6:28 What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? What a tremendous question – especially in the Mormon/Christian debate. How do you answer this? How does a person “work the works of God?”
Mormonism proposes an almost innumerable list of works that ought to be done by people who seek to follow God:
Home teaching
Fasting
Family Home Evening
Paying Tithing
Attending the Temple
Accepting and magnifying callings
Sustaining leaders
Attending Sunday meetings
Keeping their Sabbath Day Holy
And the list literally goes on and on and on! Jesus, sent to earth to (among many other wonderful things) clarify the truth, could have listed a thousand things too! (But He didn’t.)
Jesus' Teachings
Let’s read the next verse for His reply: 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Do you believe it? Or are you living under a burden heaped on your back by religious men seeking to keep you in chains? Later on in John, Jesus added a new commandment in addition to believing, saying in John 13:34: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
From the context of the whole of scripture Christians – true Christians – are given two commandments and ONLY two commandments: Believe in Him who was sent, and love – the Lord and Neighbor as ourselves. There is NOTHING more required – at all – ever. Don’t believe me? LISTEN TO THIS!
1st John 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
My friends, religious institutions like Mormonism rely on people feeding the machine. And in order for them to ensure that the machine continues to thrive, they heap supposedly “God-given” commandments upon the backs of their people – You must do this! You must pay that! You must visit this place to please God. But Jesus (and His apostles) made it perfectly clear what is required . . . Believe . . . and love. And with that, let’s have a word of prayer.
Before we delve into the page by page contents of the BOM, I think it is important that we layout what exactly we’ll be looking for within the text to prove it a con. Again, if we can prove that contents of the Book came from sources, events, and issues surrounding Joseph Smith (as opposed to being from ancient times) we can see the book as a fraud. As I have intimated over the course of this examination, the Book of Mormon is unquestionably a massive amalgamation of insights and ideas couched in the theme that “Jews came from the area of Palestine by boat in three passages,” and over the course of many hundreds of years, supposedly grew into several mighty nations only to then destroy themselves but leaving a remnant . . .
Examination of Missing Elements in Sacred Texts
who became the American Indians. In and around this story (which serves as a vehicle to introduce all sorts of other themes and ideas) we find topics about government, liberty, American work ethic, and Christ’s true church in the mix. But there are also a number of elements that are MISSING from the book that you would think would be included in a sacred ancient record written by devout Jews.
As the Tanner’s point out in their book, Joseph Smith’s Plagiarisms (which is available at www.utlm.org) the Book of Mormon, unlike the Bible, is a very “impersonal book.” In a literal history, of a literal people, and their literal travels, personal instances are usually included in the narratives – especially when written by the Jews. For example, the Bible is littered with insights that describe real living, in real societies, in real family situations by real people, who come to us in living color. The Bible shows men and women for who men and women really are – good and evil, serving God and failing Him, in stories full of human pleasures and real human pain.
Personal and Cultural Details
For example consider the following terms, all of which are abundantly present all through the Bible. Music (which was so important to the ancient Israelites) The mentioning of an abundance of colors, Children and their names, Women and their names, DeathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. and the details of burial and mourning, Sickness and personal illnesses, Foods and detailed food prohibitions, Marriage and the ceremonies involved.
From what I’m told, and having known both a number of Jews who actually came from Israel, as well as having read the Word extensively, we can easily see – even today – how important these things are to the Jews and their thriving culture. But oddly, these things are either missing or barely touched upon in the BOM. In fact, Nephi, a central character never even mentions the names of his children and while he uses his own name in the phrase, “I, Nephi” eighty-six times in the first two books of the Book of Mormon, he never mentions his wife’s name.
Odd . . . and indicative of Joseph Smith’s heart for women and wives. Mothers (or mother), sister (or sisters) are rarely mentioned – with sister (or sisters) only being included once in the entire tomb. Aunt or Grandmother never. The very fact that “all things female” are hardly given a thought not only strongly suggests that the book did not come from Jews but it provides us with a pre-emptive smack of how Mormonism itself has long viewed the role of women in society.
Additionally, for a group coming by boat from arid Palestine and into the eastern part of the Americas, I personally find it odd that rarely, if ever, are elements of the weather mentioned in the Onion. Ice, snow, cold, heat of the day, winter – never a mention. Now if you have ever been in the East Coast during winter, wouldn’t that be somewhat of a troubling experience for Jews coming to a new world?
Comparison of Literary Elements
Romantic love is for the most part entirely lost in the Book of Mormon but plays a distinct and quite open and natural role throughout the Bible narrative. It is interesting that Joseph Smith said that Song of Solomon was not inspired. Finally, where the Jews and their honest and ancient record (the Bible) goes into great detail about their homes (houses, home, etc) including providing tremendous details about the contents of their dwellings (like descriptions of their roofs, entryways, windows, bedrooms, beds, furnishings, candlesticks etc.), the Book of Mormon mentions such things 98% less than the Bible.
All this seems odd . . . for a legitimate ancient record . . . but admittedly, it neither proves nor disproves the book – just adds to the preponderance of evidence against it. The LDS will defend the lack of such things in the BOM by saying that room on the plates “was severely limited,” and therefore the writers had to use words judiciously, editing out anything that was not necessary to the story.
This is proven totally false by the fact that entire passages are taken verbatim from the Bible and repeated in the text, and perhaps more importantly there is an overabundant redundancy of words that if removed, Mark Twain said we would have only a pamphlet remaining. For example – and this is just one of many – the phrase “And it came to pass,” is used 1407 times in the Book of Mormon. That’s seven thousand words!
Examination of Jewish Cultural References in the Book of Mormon
Devout Jews who came from the Old World were greatly lacking in what mattered most to them—sacred references to elements of their devout faith. I mean, read the Old Testament, even the New for that matter! So much of it revolves around their customs, and religious celebrations, feasts, and rituals. Remember, we are seeking to establish if the Book of Mormon is truly of ancient origin and if it was written by devout Jews who came from the Old World. If it is, why is so much missing from this most important part of their culture and heritage?
The Tanners (again, from their book, Joseph Smith’s Plagiarism’s page 208) write: “While the Book of Mormon shows a fair knowledge of biblical Christianity and a real interest in the religious topics that were being debated during Joseph Smith’s lifetime, it seems to be almost totally deficient when it comes to the issues which were of great importance to Jews prior to the coming of Christ.”
I mean, when we read the Bible we find a tremendous amount of information surrounding the Passover, the festivals, and the feasts around which this culture revolved. In the Book of Mormon? Not a mention. Anywhere. The word feast is present 12 times but in all but one they refer just to meals and lack religious ties. In the final one, the mention comes in the form of a direct quote from the Bible. This fact, in and of itself, at least to me, proves that this book was not written by Jews or their faithful descendants.
Unleavened bread? Essential in both their culture and in picturing our Lord and His life’s offering? Not a mention. Year of Jubilee, New Moons, Sabbath year? Only in verses taken from the Bible. Nothing extra in the narrative supposedly provided by these fictitious Jewish travelers. And let me tell you, if they were Jewish, these things would have taken precedence because they are ways and means in which the Jews related to and worshipped God! Laws of cleanliness? Forget about it. So these are just a few of the things missing from the supposed ancient record of the Jews.
The Presence of Christ in the Book of Mormon
Now let’s take a look at what is present in general themes in the Book of Mormonion. First and foremost, which to me is one of the greatest indictments upon the book, is the superabundant presence of teachings and references to Jesus Christ. Now, to an unregenerated mind, saying this might seem like a terrible thing. But we have to remember that we are seeking to discover if the Book of Mormon is an ancient record written by Jews who came from Israel 600 years or more before the Birth of Christ. Now, looking at the Bible, there is not one single instance, prior to the Gospel accounts, where the name of Jesus is mentioned.
He was, however, known and called by a variety of different names prior to His birth, including:
The Lord – Psalm 34:8
The Holy One of Israel – Isaiah 49:7, 45:11
The Messiah – Isaiah 42:19
The strong arm of the Lord – Isaiah 53:1
A tender plant – Isaiah 53:2
A root out of dry ground – Isaiah 53:2
Word of God – Psalm 107:20-147:18
The plant of renown – Ezekiel 34:29
Im man’-u-el – Isaiah 7:14
Wonderful – Isaiah 9:6
Counselor – Isaiah 9:6
The Mighty God – Isaiah 9:6
The everlasting Father – Isaiah 9:6
The Prince of Peace – Isaiah 9:6
The redeemer of Israel – Isaiah 49:7, 63:16
Fountain of living waters – Jeremiah 2:13
The first and last – Isaiah 44:6, 48:12
The Lords servant – Isaiah 42:1, 42:19
The tree of Life – Genesis 2:9, 3:22-24
The tree of knowledge – Genesis 2:9, 3:1-24
The Living God – 1st Samuel 17:26, 11
The Ancient of Days – Daniel 7:9, 13, 22
A precious stone – Isaiah 28:16
Words – Jeremiah 15:16
The Son of Man – Daniel 7:13
Linguistic Inconsistencies in Naming Christ
But Joseph Smith and his Book of Mormon sought to out-do the Bible. And one way he did that was having it say what the Bible doesn’t. So hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus was born, the Book of Mormon account reveals His name. But get this: it presents His name in the Greek, which was not around nor available to the Book of Mormon writers—and not in the Hebrew.
We might view the Book of Mormon as containing two basic sections—an Old Testament section, which supposedly was written before Jesus was born, and a New Testament section, which is the record written after His birth. In the Old Testament section, Joseph includes the name for the Messiah and calls Him Jesus Christ, NOT
Greek Names in the Book of Mormon
Knowing that this is the Messiah’s name in Greek. When someone told him that he had used Greek words in his record which predated the Greek language AND was written by a people who did not have access to the Greek language, Smith replied: “There was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I… translated the Book of Mormon.” (Times and Seasons, vol. 4 (May 15th 1843): page 194).
Despite Smith’s rejection of Greek being in the Book of Mormon, there are Greek names within it. As we come across them we’ll point them out. But let’s just look at the name, Jesus Christ, which is included. “Messiah” is a Hebrew word. The Greek translation of Messiah is Christos. In the English, this is Christ. Both mean “anointed.” Jesus did not have a last name. Christ is simply the Greek way of saying Jesus the Messiah.
The given name of the Messiah was Joshua – in Hebrew, Yeshua. Translated into Greek? Iesous. Transliterated into English? Jesus.
If the Book of Mormon, mentioning the name of the Messiah hundreds of years before his birth would have called Him, “Joshua the Messiah,” or “Yeshua the Messiah,” it still would have been a bit of a stretch but far more acceptable and believable because the name Joshua means “God’s Salvation” and it is believed that among the Jews there was a belief that the promised Messiah would bear this given name.
But being ignorant of the etymology of the name Jesus Christ, that it is merely an English translation of Greek, Joseph created a story that used this modern name BEFORE the creation of the Greek language was around to even call Him Iesous Christos. To call the promised Messiah “Jesus Christ” before He is born is like saying that there is an ancient Chinese book, written 500 years BC that says Cheetos, Slurpees, and Everlasting Gobstoppers were sold in the corner huts of their villages at that time.
Do you see the problem?
Language Anachronisms
Nevertheless by page 28 of the first edition Book of Mormon, 600 years before the LORD was even born and two hundred years before the Classic Greek language even took form, Nephi included the Greek name translated in to English “Jesus Christ” on his plates. Ha.
We have only touched on the anachronistic issues with words Joseph uses to describe the promised Messiah and other things. More later. What else will we come across in our “page by page” examination of the Book of Mormonion?
We will (of course) come across direct plagiarisms from the King James version of the Bible – hundreds of them! Now, I don’t know if you all realize this but the King James version of the Bible was translated from the Greek. Scholars did their best to put the wording in the exact order, tense, and possession. For example, let’s just take a passage out from the New Testament:
Matthew 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Got that? Well, in the Book of Mormon, this passage is presented in the exact same way as it is presented in the King James version. The problem is in the Koine Greek manuscripts (to which the King James translators referred) the words are all aligned in a different order, and words like “YOU” are missing entirely – filled in by the King James translators.
Additionally, other words and phrases like “all manner of evil” and “falsely” used here in verse 11 of Matthew 5 were popular words and phrases during days of Elizabethan English but are today better explained with better words than what were available to the King James translators. In other words, from these hundreds and hundreds of direct plagiarizations that Joseph took from a King James Bible we have absolute proof he did NOT translate this book (at least entirely) by the gift and power of God but also by consulting the King James Bible which must have been by his side or in his brain.
Additional Plagiarism Sources
Of course, Joseph didn’t limit himself to short quotations from the Bible but he also borrowed a number of storylines from it as well. These will blow you away when we get to them.
Then we have plagiarism from the apocrypha. Apocryphal books are books of spurious reputation that have, over the course of history, been included in some Bibles – especially the Catholic. Essentially they were written during what is known as the intertestamentary period and are akin, in some ways, to the Gnostic writings of New Testament times. But
Joseph Smith and Apocryphal Sources
In Joseph Smith’s day, apocryphal books were often included in Protestant Bibles, and we will see, firsthand, how Joseph incorporated elements, names, and themes from these sources to plump his book up. For example, going back to the title page of the Book of Mormon (which we saw last week), we find the word “abridged” used twice therein (referring to the book being an abridgment from other records). Nowhere in the Bible is the word “abridge,” “abridged,” or “abridgment” used – but it is used in the Apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees verses 23, 26, 28, and 31. You may think, “Well, that’s kind of a stretch.” Alone it would be. But these incidences are not singular.
The Influence of Apocryphal Books
Would you say that it’s also a stretch that in that same apocryphal book of 2nd Maccabees (1:36) we also find the use of an otherwise non-biblical name, Nephi? No, several apocryphal books were certainly utilized by Smith, and again, when we come to them, you will be blown away by the parallels. Let’s open them up so our operators can clear your calls. (801) 973-8820, (801) 973-TV20. And listen – First TIME callers ONLY, LDS CALLER PREFERRED, SINGLE QUESTIONS with follow-ups relating to the first.
But before we go to the phones, allow me to list other resources and themes we will prove are not only included in the Book of Mormon but came from sources that were not ancient in the least! These include all kinds of links to:
- Anti-Masonic themes
- Anti-Catholic themes
- Themes from the Christian Primitivist Movement and/or Restorationist Movements
- Themes supporting the New Republic
- Themes on Indian Origins
- Agrarian Ideals
- Autobiographical elements
- Christian revivals described
- Prophecies after the fact
- Anti-Jacksonian themes
- Anti-trinitarian themes
- Folk magic references
- Topics from “View of the Hebrews”
- Opinions on Communal Republicanism
- Millennialistic notions, and
- Anti-Monarchal rhetoric… to name a few!
Questioning the Source of the Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon from an ancient source? The Book of Mormon a book of Holy writ? The Book of Mormon a miraculous book of scripture? The most correct book on earth which will draw people closer to God than any book on the face of the earth? Funny, any and all of those descriptions point to the Bible alone and could never be applied to ANY other book.
Hey, remember, there are more and more and more people who are coming to see what the Mormon fraud is all about. And they are coming out not to atheism or abject humanism, but into a saving relationship with the Lord. Every Friday night, right here on TV20, from 8-8:30 pm, tune in and you can watch them as they share their stories of this very journey out of religion and into a direct relationship with God with Bishop Earl. The show is called The Ex Files. Fridays 8 – 8:30 pm.
