LindaBerlin
Active Member
Did they ascertain their findings before the Spalding manuscript was found? The Spalding manuscript is not like the Book of Mormon. Have you even read the Spalding manuscript?
Actually, I didn't want to write about the Book of Lies, called the Book of Mormon, in this thread. But since you mentioned the Spaulding manuscript, and not everyone knows about it, and Mormons only know the history from a Mormon point of view, I would suggest that you open your own thread here. At the moment it should only be said that there were two versions of the book Spaulding, and the first version was published. While the second version of the book was stolen from the printer, a printer hired by Sidney Rigdon, who was suspected of stealing the manuscript. And, one has found parts of the manuscript, and compared it to the Book of Mormon. Here are three similarities:
The report is found:
In his novel, Spaulding writes that his accounts were hidden in a box found in an artificial cave on the top of an Indian burial mound not far from his home. Only a lever could lift a heavy stone door to allow access to the cave.
Joseph Smith claimed that he found the report in a stone box buried in a hill near his parents' apartment. And that he could access it by lifting through a lever a "stone of considerable size" that covered the box.
Both, "rediscovered reports," claim to contain a shortened account of the ancestors of today's Native Americans from ancient America (Manuscript Story p.2-4; Title page Book of Mormon), both written in ancient language, written on gold plates, and found in a hill near the place of residence. Chance?
Both reports report that the original was buried together with the short version, prepared for the time when non-Jews will inhabit the continent (Manuscript Story, p. 3-4; 1 Nephi 13:35), and both works appeal to the reader to study the work and testify of its truthfulness (Manuscript Story, p. 2-3; Moroni 10:4).
So that is the first general overview. But what about going into depth if we go into the depths? Let's see what we can find there!
From Jerusalem to America - or- A "funny" sea trip
Fabius, the first narrator in Spaulding's Manuscript Story, and Nephi, the first narrator in the Book of Mormon, begin their introduction by briefly introducing himself and his own, pointing out that they came from a good family of the ancient world, and that he was well-educated for the time (Manuscript Story, p. 4; 1. Nephi 19).
Spaulding immediately begins to tell of a sea voyage, while the people of the Book of Mormon (Lehi and his family) remained in the wilderness before they set sail. Both "sea reports" are strikingly similar.
Both groups have roughly the same size and number of women on board, and in both stories came a storm that lasted several days (four and five), begging God for help and being saved by God. Manuscript Story, p. 4-5; 1. Nephi 18:8-15). The difference between the manuscript of Spaulding and the Book of Mormon is that in Spaulding, travelers heard a divine voice from heaven telling them that they would surely reach their destination through gentle winds, while the "Book of Mormon People" got a special compass (called "Liahona") from God that would bring them safely to their destination, and that would only work with faith strength.
Arrival in America
In the manuscript of Spaulding, the travelling people arrived in America, rich in wild animals, using a democracy led by judges, possessing everything together, and believing in Christ. They didn't want to marry the "bronze-colored savages," but if they did, their children would be beautiful and white (parallels to the Book of Mormon are clear here). They also built a Christian church, along with the beginnings of their priesthood. (Manuscript Story p. 4-11)
In the Book of Mormon, too, people first find wild animals, come to believe in Christ (600 BC?), and build a Christian temple. They, too, use ruling judges, and have everything in common. They were banned from god from entering into mixed marriages, but in place of which, as in Spaulding, the children would become white and beautiful, the peoples of the Book of Mormon were originally white and beautiful, and became dark-skinned and lazy as a people through mixed marriages. (1 Nephi 18:25; 2 Nephi 5:16, 21-23; 3 Nephi 26:19)
Many parallels between the manuscript of Spaulding and the Book of Mormon use the method of inverse conceptual word arrangement to achieve certain goals. Goals that have something to do with racism in both books!
Spaulding and Smith also agreed on the description of the appearance of the "wilds": both said that they wore skins around the loins, shaved their heads, painted themselves red, and used slingshots, bows and arrows (Manuscript Story p. 11; Alma 3:4-5). Chance?
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