Anachronisms in the Book of Mormon

There are a number of anachronistic words and phrases in the Book of Mormon—their existence in the text contradicts known linguistic patterns or archaeological findings.

Each of the anachronisms is a word, phrase, artifact, or other concept that did not exist in the Americas during the time period in which the Book of Mormon claims to have been written.

Mainstream scholarly consensus is that the book was created in the 19th century by Smith with the resources available to him, including the standard English translation of the Bible at the time, the King James Version (KJV).

[7] Modern apologists affirm that "when Joseph Smith referred to the Book of Mormon as the 'most correct book' on earth, he was referring to the principles that it teaches, not the accuracy of its textual structure", and therefore readers should not expect it to be "without any errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity of phrasing, [or] other such ways.

However, the evidence indicates that these chapters were not written by Isaiah, but rather by one or more other people during the Babylonian captivity, sometime between 586 and 538 BC (between 14 and 82 years after it could have been known to the Book of Mormon prophets).

[23][24][25] There are several instances where horses are mentioned in the Book of Mormon, and are portrayed as being in the forest upon first arrival of the Nephites, "raise(d)", "fed", "prepared" (in conjunction with chariots), used for food, and being "useful unto man".

[33] Others, such as John L. Sorenson, believe that the word "horse" in the Book of Mormon does not refer to members of the genus Equus but instead to other animals such as deer or tapirs.

[38][page needed][39][40][41] It is known that a small population of mammoths survived on Saint Paul Island, Alaska, up until 5725 BP (3705 BC),[42] but this date is more than 1000 years before the Jaredite record in the Book of Mormon begins.

[53] The introduction of domesticated modern barley and wheat to the New World was made by Europeans sometime after 1492, many centuries after the time in which the Book of Mormon is set.

Evidence exists that this plant was cultivated in North America in the Woodland periods contemporary with mound-builder societies (early centuries AD) and has been carbon-dated to 2,500 years ago, although it is questionable whether it was ever domesticated.

Clark Wissler, the Curator of Ethnography at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, noted: "we see that the prevailing mode of land transport in the New World was by human carrier.

"[60] Richard Diehl and Margaret Mandeville have documented the archaeological discovery of wheeled toys in Teotihuacan, Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, and Panuco in Mesoamerica.

Mayan paved roads at Yucatan had characteristics which could allow the use of wheeled vehicles, but there is no evidence that those highways were used other than by people on foot and nobles who were borne on litters.

[76] Between 2004 and 2007, a Purdue University archaeologist, Kevin J. Vaughn, discovered a 2000-year-old iron ore mine near Nazca, Peru; however there is no evidence of smelting, and the hematite was apparently used to make pigments.

[79] When the remnants of the Jaredite's abandoned cities were discovered (around 120 BC),[80] the Book of Mormon narrative states that some swords were brought back "the hilts thereof have perished, and the blades thereof were cankered with rust", suggesting that these swords had metal blades.

The closest evidence to a pre-Columbian metal blade on Mesoamerica comes from the Maya, but those artifacts were not swords, but small copper axes used as tools.

Apologists, including Michael R. Ash, and William Hamblin of FAIR, note that the Book of Mormon does not mention the materials that the "cimiters" were made out of, and postulate that the word was chosen by Joseph Smith as the closest workable English word for the weapon used by the Nephites[87] that was not made of metal, and was short and curved like various weapons found in Mesoamerica.

[90] The Book of Mormon account refers to various groups of literate peoples, at least one of which is described as using a language and writing system with roots in Hebrew and Egyptian.

[91] Archaeological dating methods make it difficult to establish which was earliest (and hence the forebear from which the others developed) and a significant portion of the documented scripts have not been deciphered.

The Book of Mormon describes another literate culture, the Jaredites, but does not identify the language or writing system by name.

In the vast majority of cases, it uses the terms in an identical manner as the Bible[weasel words], where it does not matter which word is used: And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

For example, in 2 Nephi 10:3, the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob says an angel informed him that the name of the Messiah would be Christ:Wherefore, as I said unto you, it must needs be expedient that Christ—for in the last night the angel spake unto me that this should be his name—should come among the Jews (2 Nephi 10:3) The word "Messiah" is used in the text before this point, but from this point on the word "Christ" is used almost exclusively.

[citation needed] Richard Packham argues that the Greek word "Christ" in the Book of Mormon challenges the authenticity of the work since Joseph Smith clearly stated that, "There was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of the Lord, translated the Book of Mormon.

"[70] Joseph Smith stated in a letter to the editor of Times and Seasons, "There was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of the Lord, translated the Book of Mormon.

A significant portion of the Book of Mormon quotes from the brass plates, which purport to be another source of Old Testament writings mirroring those of the Bible.

In many cases, the biblical quotations in the English-language Book of Mormon, are close, or identical to the equivalent sections of the KJV.

[106][108] The Septuagint version of the verse was discussed in numerous readily available Bible commentaries in the 1820s, including ones by Adam Clarke and John Wesley.

[110] Specific derivative sections include: Universalism, or the doctrine that all humanity would be saved, was a prominent theology that peaked in popularity in the northeastern United States in the 1820s and 1830s.

The Book of Mormon contains a number of sermons and passages that use anti-Universalist religious arguments common to that time and place, not known to have occurred in any ancient American setting.

[115][116] The existence of 19th century anti-Universalist arguments and rhetoric in the Book of Mormon has been pointed out as anachronistic by various scholars, including Fawn M. Brodie and Dan Vogel.