Wednesday, October 23, 2013

The First Edition Book Of Mormon

By Cornelia Reyes


Historians, book collectors and libraries all over the world are always after the first edition Book of Mormon. The copy contains original recording by the author or translator with clear indications that its origin is New England. There are a number of inconsistencies and apparent grammatical mistakes touching on numbers, tenses and spelling. The English used is Jacobean across all scripts.

The Latter Day Saints Movement considers it as sacred and a representation of words from prophets in ancient America. The prophets were said to have lived between 2200BC and 421AD. It has its origin in Joseph Smith who copied from tablets referred to as Plates of Nephis. In the words of Smith, the scriptures were written in a form he referred to as reformed Egyptian. This is why he was required to translate the writing on the golden plates to English.

Many prophets took part in writing the scripture with the last contributor being Moroni. Moroni then buried the scripts on one of the hills in New York. In 1827, Moroni returned to the earth to reveal where the book had been buried. He instructed Smith to commence translating the scriptures. This would serve as evidence that Christ was restoring the true church on earth after centuries of distortion.

The content of original scripts include discussions on various Christian doctrines including eschatology, atonement, the original sin by Adam and Eve as well as redemption of both body and soul. There are discussions on how the latter-day church should be organized. The scriptures depart substantially at the point where Jesus appeared to American after resurrection.

These scriptures are holy and special to followers of the Latter Day Church movement. It represents the chronological interaction God had with Americans in history and is therefore holy. It is structured like other religious scripts that are divided into verses and chapters. It also is a collection of writing by different authors.

There is heavy borrowing of a style used in King James Version bible including the Early Modern English. Translations have been done over the years into 108 languages and counting. They are either partial or complete translations. Among the accounts given of the translation process include special spectacles that were prepared and given by the angel. There is a mention of sealed content that is yet to be revealed.

There are a number of witnesses to these revelations including seven with signed affidavits. Among the people who assisted in production of the book is Harris Martin who financed production by selling his land. It was released to the market in March 1830. This was after Martin allegedly disappeared with the initial 168 translated pages. Cowdery Oliver stepped in and helped with the final translation.

The first edition Book of Mormon has its first page as a translation of The Very Last Leaf which was read from the golden plates. It seeks to show the great deeds God is doing to the Americans beginning with their forefathers. It was meant for distribution and use by all nations of the world.




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