Stephen E. Jones

Jesus is Jehovah Quotes: Unclassified quotes: October 2008

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The following are quotes added to my Jesus is Jehovah unclassified quotes database in October 2008.
The date format is dd/mm/yy. See copyright conditions at end.

2008: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Nov, Dec.

12/10/2008
"It certainly would have been possible for God to impart extra-biblical scripture to various persons living in 
the Americas. The question is: Does the _Book of Mormon_ reflect divine authorship? Overwhelming 
evidence would lead any objective investigator to answer no. The BOM is filled with linguistic, historical, 
cultural, and archaeological inaccuracies that belie its human origin (i.e., Smith). For example, Smith claims 
that he translated the BOM from Reformed Egyptian characters. But there exists no historical evidence that a 
`Reformed' Egyptian language ever existed anywhere in the New World (i.e., North and South America). 
There is also no evidence that the following BOM words are Egyptian or Semitic: Shazar (1 Nephi 16:1314), 
Irreantum (1 Nephi 17:5), deseret (for `bee,' Ether 2:3), and Liahona (Alma 37:38)." (Abanes, R., "Cults, New 
Religious Movements, and Your Family: A Guide to Ten Non-Christian Groups Out to Convert Your Loved 
Ones," Crossway Books: Wheaton IL, 1998, p.212)

12/10/2008
"It is also noteworthy that the BOM is written entirely in King James English, which is from the sixteenth 
century. If Smith actually had translated another language into the English of his time period (i.e., the 
nineteenth century), the BOM would read in a manner more in line with his day. Numerous Mormon critics 
have theorized that when Smith wrote the BOM, he tried to authenticate it by using King James English. 
This is a likely scenario since hundreds of verses in the BOM are copied directly from the King James 
Version of the Bible." (Abanes, R., "Cults, New Religious Movements, and Your Family: A Guide to Ten 
Non-Christian Groups Out to Convert Your Loved Ones," Crossway Books: Wheaton IL, 1998, p.212)

12/10/2008
"The BOM also contains a number of geographical mistakes. For instance, l Nephi 17:5 describes Arabia as 
being `bountiful because of its much fruit and also wild honey' and 1 Nephi 18:1 indicates that Arabia 
contained ample timber. But Arabia has never had ample or bountiful supplies of timber, fruit, or honey. The 
BOM also speaks of a river in Arabia named Laman that flows continually to the Red Sea (1 Nephi 2:6-9). In 
reality, there has never been any true river in Arabia." (Abanes, R., "Cults, New Religious Movements, and 
Your Family: A Guide to Ten Non-Christian Groups Out to Convert Your Loved Ones," Crossway Books: 
Wheaton IL, 1998, p.212)

12/10/2008
"The BOM even contains numerous archaeological inaccuracies. It is asserted in 1 Nephi 18:25, for example, 
that the New World had cows, oxen, asses, horses, and goats `for the use of man' in 600 B.C. But there were 
no such animals in the New World until Europeans brought them to the continent several hundred years 
later." (Abanes, R., "Cults, New Religious Movements, and Your Family: A Guide to Ten Non-Christian 
Groups Out to Convert Your Loved Ones," Crossway Books: Wheaton IL, 1998, p.212)

12/10/2008
"Discrepancies between the BOM and historical fact are so numerous that it would require an entire volume 
to catalog and explain them. Consequently, I have chosen to simply excerpt an article by biology professor 
Thomas Key, which appeared in a 1985 issue of the _Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation_. It 
clearly establishes the enormous problems faced by Mormons who claim that the BOM is God's infallible 
Word: `Ether 9:18-19 contains several problems. First, it lists domestic cattle, oxen and cows as separate 
species! Second, these did not exist in the Americas at that time. Third, domestic swine did not exist here 
then. Fourth, horses, asses and elephants did not exist in America at that time..... here are Serious problems 
in the description of the behavior related to poisonous snakes, etc. in Ether 9:30-34. First, the notion that 
snakes increase as a drought increases is contradicted by the fact that reptiles are particularly sensitive to 
heat and lack of water, and would die off faster than other animals. Second, even with the large population 
of modern America, only about twenty people die yearly by snake bite. It is certainly not realistic for Ether to 
claim that numerous people and animals were exterminated by snakes ... Satyrs (2 Nephi 23:21) and dragons 
(2 Nephi 23:22,8:9) are mentioned as literal creatures and not figurative. Chickens (3 Nephi 10:4-6) and dogs 
(Alma 16:10, Mosiah 12:2, and 3 Nephi 7:8) were non-existent here at the time. In 3 Nephi 20:16 and 21:12, 
lions are described as `beasts of the forests.' Contrary to popular opinion and the _Book of Mormon_, lions 
do not live in forests or jungles. live in savannahs and veldts (few scattered trees) and lions never inhabited 
the Americas. Silk is erroneously mentioned as being produced in the Americas at that time (1 Nephi 13 :7, 
Alma 4:6 and Ether 9:17 and 10:24).... Clothes moths are mentioned in 3 Nephi 13:19-20 and 27:32, vet there 
were no woolen garments for moths to attack as sheep had not vet been introduced [to America] ... 2 Nephi 
17:15 lists two foods at that time; butter and honey. But Indians had no milk animals nor honey bees.... Alma 
46:40 attributes `the cause of disease to ... the nature of the climate,' instead of to filth, poor diet, or germs.... 
3 Nephi 17:7 mentions leprosy in 34 A.D., yet the first known case in the Americas was in 1758.... The implied 
reproduction rate in the _Book of Mormon_ is astronomical! The story starts in 600 B.C. and extends to 421 
A.D. It involves a mere handful of people who travel from `the land of Jerusalem' [sic] to the Promised Land 
of America. Every four or five years or so there are devastating wars that kill many thousands of people 
(Alma 28:2, etc.), or as Ether 15:2 savs, `nearly two millions of mighty men' in addition to their wives and 
children. For this to be so, it would be necessary for each couple to have scores of children, and for them to 
reach maturity in three or so years throughout the supposed period.'" (Abanes, R., "Cults, New Religious 
Movements, and Your Family: A Guide to Ten Non-Christian Groups Out to Convert Your Loved Ones," 
Crossway Books: Wheaton IL, 1998, pp.212-213)

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