Pages

Romantic Adventure

Wednesday, 23 October 2013

The First Edition Book Of Mormon

By Cornelia Reyes


Historians, libraries and book collectors attach an incredible price tag to the first edition Book of Mormon. This is the unedited version that traces its origin to New England despite its inconsistencies in tenses, numbers and spelling. It was written in Jacobean English and does not contain any changes or corrections of original scripts.

According to the Latter Day Saints Movement, these scriptures are sacred and are words from American prophets. These prophets lived between 2200BC and 421 AD. John Smith did the intermediary work of copying from the Plates of Nephis. The language or form used to write these scriptures was called reformed Egyptian. Joseph had to make translations on behalf of the angel Moroni.

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.

Some of the discussions contained in the original texts include Christian doctrines such as the sin of Adam and Eve, redeeming the soul and body, eschatology and atonement. The expected organization structure of the Latter Day church was discussed as well. There is a clear departure when the writing states that Jesus made an appearance to Americans after His resurrection.

The unique writing in this book has led members of the Latter Day Church to regard it as special. It is a historical record of the interaction God had with Americans beyond being Holy Scripture. It is a collection of several books with the names of their writers as they titles. Like other religious books, it has chapters and verses.

The linguistic style used in writing the scripts is the Early Modern English and closely relates to the King James Version of the bible. Over the years, it has been translated wholly or partly up to 108 languages. Smith gives different accounts of his process of translation and how the book eventually became a reality. He had spectacles that were prepared especially for the purpose of translation. Some of the content, according to his scribes, was sealed. This means that everything has not been revealed yet.

Several people have signed affidavits about the origin of this scripture. One of the neighbors who helped Smith in translating the scripts was called Martin Harris. He assisted at the initial stages and even sold his land to clear the printing bill. The first copies were sold in March of 1830 which were translated with the assistance of Oliver Cowdery after Martin eloped with the first 168 pages.

The front page of the first edition Book of Mormon is translated from a golden plate that read The Very Last Leave. This scripture came to the American people as a message from God that he was with them just as he was with their fore fathers. This message was to be broadcast to the rest of the world.




About the Author:



0 comments:

Post a Comment