In 1828, Martin Harris, acting as scribe for Joseph Smith, recorded the first 116 pages of The Book of Mormon. He asked permission of Joseph Smith to let him borrow these pages to take home with him so he could show them to his wife. Martin's wife was very skeptical and feared that her wealthy husband was being conned out of his money in order to get the Book of Mormon published for Joseph. Joseph inquired of the Lord to know if he might do as Martin Harris had requested, but was refused. Joseph inquired again, but received a second refusal. Still, Martin Harris persisted as before, and Joseph applied again, but the last answer was not like the two former ones. In this the Lord permitted Martin Harris to take the manuscript home with him. Three weeks later Mr. Harris returned to Joseph and told him that he had lost the 116 pages.
Joseph was very distraught over this, exclaiming "Oh, my God! All is lost! All is lost! What shall I do? I have sinned." It is widely believed that Martin Harris' wife had taken the pages. The reasoning was that if Joseph was indeed a prophet he could retranslate those same pages exactly as before and that would prove he was actually translating instead of just making up the Book of Mormon story as he dictated to Martin. Finally, Joseph inquired of the Lord as to what he should do; in response, he received a revelation, which is recorded in section 10 of the Doctrine & Covenants. He was told that he should not retranslate those lost pages because Satan's cunning plan was to have evil men alter the words in the original translation and wait until Joseph retranslated those pages. The evil men would then produce the original lost 116 pages with the alterations to prove that Joseph was a fraud.
God, of course, knew of Satan's eventual plan and had Nephi make two sets of plates that cover essentially the same material but written a little differently. Joseph was instructed to now translate from the smaller, abridged plates of Nephi, instead of from the larger plates of Nephi that he had translated from earlier. This way the same basic information that should be included in the Book of Mormon was there, but it would not be expected to match exactly the original lost 116 pages that were first translated by Joseph.
Links recording official church version: Doctrine and Covenants Section 10
[top]The official story taught and recorded by the church is nonsensical for the following reasons:
The evil men that were conspiring to alter the original documents could not have done so without it being very obvious that the original document was altered. When Martin Harris was scribing for Joseph, he didn't use a pencil and paper. Martin wrote with ink on foolscap. Any alteration would be very noticeable and not convincing to anyone.
In addition to the rubbing out of old words and rewriting of new words, the handwriting would have been different. Any rudimentary handwriting inspection would have determined that it had been altered, especially easy to determine given that the new handwriting would have occurred in the same spot as the rubbed-out and re-written words.
If the evil men, that were planning on changing the stolen 116 pages, thought their plan of changing some words from these pages would work to discredit Joseph, they would not have been completely foiled by Joseph translating from different plates to tell the first part of the Book of Mormon story. If they thought their alterations would have gone unnoticed then they would have still tried to alter the 116 pages to discredit his work.
For example, they could have changed some names of people or places or altered events that are central to the beginning of the Book of Mormon and thereby prove that Joseph's new translation was in error. If they really thought their alterations would have gone unnoticed they could have changed the names of Nephi's brothers or the cities they came from or many other items that would have been included in both sets of plates. But they never did this - why? If opponents of the Church really had the lost 116 pages as Joseph claimed, they would have resurfaced in some form to at least attempt to discredit Joseph, even if they would not have been successful.
The general belief at the time was that Martin Harris's wife burned the 116 pages. If she destroyed them, then this entire story is simply made up by Joseph Smith. But the prophet Joseph evidently was afraid she had not, but had secretly hidden them, for the purpose of entrapping him, should he ever attempt to reproduce the pages. If the work was really of God, the manuscript could be reproduced word for word without a mistake. If, however, Joseph created it himself, his memory would hardly be adequate to such a task, without numberless changes or verbal differences-and thus "give himself away," since he loudly professed to be all the time aided "by the gift and power of God." Since the lost pages never surfaced in any form, it is likely that they were destroyed immediately by Martin Harris's wife. Therefore, the entire story about someone altering pages is impossible and just made up by Joseph because he knew he could not reproduce those same pages as he was not really translating the Book of Mormon story.
It is convenient that the prophets of old just happened to make an extra set of plates 1500 years ago to cover this contingency, isn't it? Not only are the 116 pages lost, we have an explanation of how it was fixed right in the document itself written thousands of years before the event happened. For further details, see the following insightful essay: The Stolen Manuscript
Sandra Tanner has an interesting theory about the lost 116 pages. We haven't fully explored this theory but basically it states that the retranslated portion of the first part of the Book of Mormon is very different from the rest of the book. Names and specific details seem to be intentionally left out from this section of the book such as the names of Ishmael's daughters and names of kings. The reasoning is that Joseph probably wasn't 100% sure of some of the specific details of the original 116 pages and he didn't want to take the chance that the lost 116 pages may contradict him on names or other details. Therefore, he purposely omitted certain details, which is why the beginning of the Book of Mormon seems to be different than the rest of the Book of Mormon. When Joseph was dictating the events that occurred after the time period, that was covered by the original 116 pages, he then started including more specific details that would not have been in the original lost pages and could not be challenged. The theory deserves further investigation, but we wouldn't consider it proof. A Black Hole in the Book of Mormon
[top]We regret that we could not find the problems with this issue discussed in any church publication or web site other than the canonized account given in D&C Section 10. But we did engage in discussions with two LDS apologists who offered the following responses:
The assertion that the evil men that were planning on altering the lost 116 pages were incapable of doing so is foolhardy. A master forger like Mark Hoffman could have done it. He would not have simply altered some of the words because that would have been detectable. Instead he would have likely rewritten an entire page or several pages as needed. That way, he could have altered most anything he wanted to and there would not be any noticeable rewritings in the pages.
Forgery is a practice of ancient origins. Even the Roman biographer Suetonius claims that the Roman emperor Titus considered himself a master forger. Master forgers, even in the 19th century, had the ability to skillfully forge documents. If the forgers had the 116 pages (and if it was all in Martin Harris's handwriting) they would have had no problems reproducing Martin Harris' handwriting. The paper wouldn't have to be exactly the same, just very similar, and it would be difficult to tell the difference.
Reference: Discussions with two LDS apologists.
First of all Mark Hoffman was caught. Even the Tanners (the biggest enemies of the Church) said his 'Salamander letter' was a forgery but it STILL fooled the Church leaders.
Although it would be possible for a master forger to forge the documents in the early 1800s, what are the odds that either one of the evil men trying to bring down Joseph was either a master forger or had access to a master forger? It's not a common skill and since money wasn't the motive, how could they pay for a skilled forger to even begin this kind of undertaking?
But even if that were possible and they found a very skilled forger in the 1820s, Martin Harris would have simply said that it was not his handwriting and he did not write those pages. Martin lived for many decades after the Book of Mormon was published and he would have refuted it. If he simply said he didn't write those pages, as presented by the evil-doers, the whole attempt would have been one of the weakest arguments against the church - hardly Satan's master plan.
Martin Harris' testimony that a forgery had occurred would have been useless. Even today, physical evidence is seen as more reliable than eye witness testimony. While any person could examine the two versions of the 116 pages and see differences, Martin Harris' denial would act as hearsay with all its attendant problems. Any person confronted with the issue would think: "Why should someone believe Mr. Harris when we have the proof right here in front of us?"
Reference: Rebuttal provided by LDS apologist writing to MormonThink.
Martin Harris proclaiming that the document was a forgery would not have been so easily dismissed. If the testimonies of faithful LDS aren't shaken by having Egyptologists demonstrate how Joseph Smith's translation of the Egyptian papyri facsimiles in the Book of Abraham are totally wrong, then why would such an easy explanation as Martin Harris saying the pages were forged cause concern? To your point 'why should someone believe the Church when we have the proof right here in front of us' that Joseph did not translate the Book of Abraham facsimiles correctly?
Also it would have prompted a detailed scrutiny of certain pages and if any inconsistencies such as slightly different handwriting, different paper, different ink, etc. were found only on the pages that Martin said he didn't write, then it would be enough evidence to at least say it's a stalemate - he said/she said. The faithful LDS would of course believe the LDS person and the critics would believe the non-LDS people. The Church would go on.
ALSO, if it would be so easy to forge the 116 pages to discredit Smith then why wouldn't the forgers have tried to alter the 116 pages even if Joseph was to tell the same basic story but from another source? As stated above, the forgers could still very easily have changed things that would be common to both the first 116 pages and to the rest of the BOM and just as effectively proved Smith a fraud. For example they could have changed the names of people like Nephi to Napham or change the names of cities like Jerusalem to Galilee or change any number of things that would cause problems for the published part of the Book of Mormon.
If the evil men were smart enough to be able to have the documents forged to such a degree as to escape detection, then surely they would realized that they could still foil Smith by changing some of the 116 pages to cause inconstancies with the BOM story.
[top]The lost pages could not have been altered without detection. The lost pages never resurfaced and were very likely burned by Martin Harris's wife. In reality, the lost 116 pages were never produced and what Smith and God had feared never happened. If Harris's wife had really thrown them in the fire, then what would have been the problem with Smith just re-translating them from the beginning again? If the pages were not destroyed, they would have resurfaced at some point because they could still be altered to discredit Smith. But they never resurfaced either because they were destroyed early on by Mrs. Harris or because there were no evil men standing by to alter the pages. Either way, the story about Satan's plan to discredit the prophet was apparently made up by Smith to cover himself. What ultimately happened is exactly what you would expect if Joseph was making up the Book of Mormon. The pages were lost and needed to be redone - it would be a similar story told a little differently.
Also, Joseph asked God if he could share the pages and he got a "no" answer twice. Then he got a "yes" answer because he was wearying the Lord with his requests. To believe this, you must accept that God is so impatient he's bothered by someone asking the same question repeatedly. You must also believe that a perfect God can be wrong or change his mind (especially when annoyed by irritating supplicants like Joseph Smith). This conflicted, changeable being doesn't sound like a God anyone should be worshiping, or in fact resemble the God the Mormon's profess to believe in. But if God will change his mind by repeated requests for the same desire, perhaps I should continue to ask God to help me win the lottery.
In response to the critic's comment above about God being a changeable God that would change his mind by merely being asked the same question repeatedly, a reader suggested the following possible explanation:
[top]In regards to the lost Book of Mormon manuscript, I have personally wondered if the Lord never did "agree" to allow Joseph to give Martin the manuscript. That is, Joseph Smith only thought he received a "yes" answer on the third attempt. Personally, I find this a more interesting interpretation of the events because it underscores the dilemma inherent in personal revelation - how do you really know if the answer came from God? I like to think that Joseph Smith would have struggled with this dilemma just like anyone else. I offer this as a rebuttal to the "Ending summary by critics" section you have, which states that the nature of God from this incident shows that "this conflicted, changeable being doesn't sound like a God anyone should be worshiping." Yes, a "changeable" god should not be worshiped, but the events of the lost manuscript do not necessarily have to be interpreted as an example of God changing His mind.
We find it hard to believe that Satan and some evil men were really behind the plot to steal the 116 pages. The stolen pages would have eventually come forth, in probably a failed attempt to discredit Joseph. If nothing else they would have been worth a lot of money so we can't imagine why the evil men, if they existed, would not have used the pages to either try to discredit Joseph, ransom them to Martin and Joseph or hold on to them to eventually sell them. The stolen pages wouldn't have simply been destroyed by men who went to such trouble to obtain them.
Instead it seems much more plausible that Martin Harris' wife had immediately destroyed the pages to defy her husband. If that's the case we wonder if there could be any other reason why Joseph would make up the story about Satan's plan to discredit him? We have not yet been able to think of any other reasonable explanation to answer Joseph's actions.
There's an episode of the cartoon South Park called "Meet the Mormons." In the episode, a faithful LDS family tells the story of the lost 116 pages to a neighbor boy they are trying to convert. They tell this story as proof that Joseph Smith was telling the truth and Mormonism is true. Perhaps the most telling comment we've ever heard about the lost 116 pages debacle comes from the neighborhood boy, who, after hearing the story of the lost 116 pages, exclaims "What? You mean Mormons know about this story and they STILL believe in it?"
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