Recovery to Mormonism

Christianity and
the Book of Mormon

Those “recovering from Mormonism” might tell you that the Book of Mormon can’t be true because it’s too blatantly a Christian book from the beginning.  If Lehi’s family came from Jerusalem and their descendants therefore adhered to Mosaic law, why is there so much talk of Christianity and Christ?  If Joseph Smith was going to write up a fake account of an Jewish people in America, why didn’t he even bother to research the Jewish faith?

But the anti-Mormons and ex-Mormons are taking a rather simple view of the matter.  Even far more reasonable critics may be missing a few important things.   Read on.

How could Nephites be Christian before the coming of Christ?  Mormons believe that prophets pre-Christ had some knowledge of Him and His gospel.  This is not unsupported by the Bible—Isaiah, particularly, seems to have a firm (and poetic) understanding of who and what Christ would be.  And we must remember that the Bible does not represent everything the Israelites knew.  If Isaiah speaks about the cleansing of sins by the Messiah, we need not necessarily assume that the Israelites had no idea what he was talking about, or that prophecies only make sense in hindsight.  We need not assume that the prophets who speak of the Messiah in the Old Testament were the only ones who did.  Like the Book of Mormon, the Bible is an abridgement, a compilation of knowledge.  It does not contain every prophecy or every spiritual text written or known by the Israelites.  And, of course, a great deal may not have been commonly known or commonly discussed.  We simply do not know everything.

Additionally, the context of the Book of Mormon is different than that of the Bible.  While the Bible is more compilation than abridgement—history books grouped together, poetic/literary works grouped together, prophetic books grouped together—the Book of Mormon was indeed compiled, edited, and whittled down into a single narrative line.  This was done mostly by one man, Mormon, who lived long after Christ.  You must imagine the Bible a considerable degree shorter, with most of the books left out.  Perhaps Chronicles 1 and 2 becomes a couple of paragraphs, save for (let’s say) a portion of the reign of David that the abridger considers particularly important.  You must also imagine the Bible put together by someone like Paul, only, coming far later.  Christianity has been around for three centuries.  You must also remember that the primary purpose of the text this abridger is putting together is this: to testify of Christ.

Therefore, any mention or prophecy of Christ is going to take primary importance over anything else.  This person is writing from hindsight.  The Old Testament writers were not.  The writers of the gospels were—they pointed to prophecies, noting that Isaiah and David knew of Christ.  They wrote genealogies, placing Christ’s name at the end, as the culmination of a line of Israelite heroes.  Again, imagine the Old Testament put together by them, and it may have had a more Christian flavor.

Would the word Christ or Christian have ever shown up in a text not written in Greek?  No, of course not.  But Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon into words that he and we would understand (and English words, at that).  Would anyone be more comfortable with the Book of Mormon if every instance of “Christian” was rendered something like “believers-in-the-Messiah-to-come?”  Joseph Smith wasn’t interested in making his text seem “authentic,” and therefore, “alien.”  He translated it into the type of English he spoke.  The pre-Christ Nephites were probably not “Christian” in the same sense as the post-Christ Nephites. Indeed, the term, as is briefly defined in Alma 46:15—“Christians as they were called, because of their belief in Christ who should come,” seems to have a slightly different meaning pre-Christ.  But the term is applicable enough to be used. 1

Okay, but isn’t baptism uniquely Christian?  No.  Baptism (or ritual immersion) was a Jewish ceremony long before.  It was not, mind, for the remission, or cleansing, of sins, and/or to signify entrance into a community of believers.  It didn’t serve the same purpose as Christian baptism. 

However, the Dead Sea Scroll community (the Qumranian sect) professed a different kind of baptism.  The Dead Sea Scrolls make mention of many concepts that would be familiar to modern Christians, among them, the redemption of the soul.  Some of the phrases have similarities, even, to phrases used in the New Testament.  The scrolls speak about the proper method of baptism, as well, and baptismal font type structures have been found in the remains of their settlement.  Purification rites by water have a particular importance in their texts.  There is, therefore, reason to believe that Christian-type baptism existed before Christ.

And the Dead Sea Scroll community quite illustrates that we do not know everything there is to know about the Jews. 2

But what about Alma setting up a church?  Isn’t that also a Christian thing?  The Greek word for church is the same as the Hebrew word for “convocation”—or a group of people called together for an assembly.  This word is used in the Old Testament and was in common use at the time of Christ.  The Jews used it to refer to their religious unity.  To use it for a community of believers doesn’t seem too strange. 3

1. Christianity in the Pre-Christian Book of Mormon (Michael R. Ash)

2. Same

3. “Church” before the coming of Christ (Jeff Lindsay)