The Book of Mormon: A Readers Edition: A Reader's Edition [Paperback]

I read the Book of Mormon for the first time in mid-2002 at age 15. Since then, I have read it almost 9 times (as of this review). Moreover, I have read a heck of a lot of material critical of the text itself (e.g. The Tanners, Evans, Vogel, Metcalfe) Notwithstanding, most, if not all, the attacks are usually based on fraud and/or popular though errant assumptions about the Book of Mormon text that actually do not jive with the text itself. In additoin, what Hardy has done with the 1920 text is make it more accessible to those approaching the Book of Mormon, following modern editions of the Bible, by indenting, for example, prose, not too dissimilar to the NRSV rendition of Deuteronomy 32, and leaving introductions to chapters to a bare minimum, alongside adding a number of appendixes, such as one on poetry in the Book of Mormon (e.g, chiasmus).

I urge any one interested in the truth to read the Book of Mormon to discover for themselves that it is indeed another testament of Jesus Christ, and to learn of its truthfulness by study and by prayer to God, after "testing all things" (Acts 17:11).

I find the Book of Mormon to be as credible as any other religious scriptures I have read. Whether the words were divine inspiration, copied from mysterious "plates", or even the work of an incredibly intelligent human mind - how does this differ from any other religous writings? And how does this affect your personal interpretation of your reading of the Book of the Mormon? Do you let other peoples opinions affect YOUR beliefs and your interest; your aspiration towards spiritual truth and knowledge? I certainly hope not!

For every thing affirmed in our world there is another who will deny it - even the most basic of truths - put it up for discussion in a group and see how few actually agree on anything. The Prophets warned of this condition in the world, as well as the Hindus - who call the current period we are living in "The Age of Quarrel" - that men will talk but will not listen; no one will agree on anything and people will be too proud to compromise or attempt to understand the viewpoint of others; greed, corruption and dishonesty will rule the day - gosh, sound familiar?

All religious masters and leaders teach that Faith is one of the major requirements for religious belief; from Moses to Jesus to Buddha to Martin Luther King. Is Faith based on fact? If one had to have proof for those ideals and beliefs then most would abandon Faith altogether. Even the Buddha, who told his followers not to trust anyone, but to investigate the truth for themselves, also instructed them to have Faith!

The whole basis of the Torah (The Law) is the 10 commandments which were also at one time written on stone tablets and "revealed" to Moses - does the fact that we can't find these tablets make those commandments any less imperative to the foundation of Judaism or Christianity? Do/did Smith's plates exist? Who cares? Jesus gave new teachings based on these Old Testament scriptures and The Law. Did Jesus have faith that the commandments were revealed to Moses?

Can you imagine if those plates did exist today - believers would say "See we told you so.." and skeptics would say "Oh, they are not real..." It would be akin to finding the lost Ark of the Covenant which by the way millions of Jews believe existed with no proof.

The Hindus have volumes and volumes of ancient scriptures - many of them handed down orally through thousands of years - how are we to trust the origins and the current inerpretation of these scriptures? Yet, billions of Hindus seem to have no problem putting their faith in them.

There is no denying that the basis of Mormonism is The Old and New Testament and I find it both inspiring and interesting. In truth, I don't really care about the origin - just as I can't question the origin of any religious scriptures and get satisifactory answers. Do you really think Joseph Smith - I am sure he was a great man in many respects - at his young age and limited education hatched a "scheme" to get rich by instituting a phony religion? Can you imagine the scope of such a project if you, personally, were to attempt to undertake a job like this today? Give it a try, write up some "phony" scriptures, pass them around on the internet and invite people to join up - I would be interested to hear how it goes for you and then whether or not your followers still believed in your message 75 years from now.

I read the Book of Mormon for what it is, the same way I read the Bible, the Torah, the Bhagavad Gita or Buddha Sakyamuni's foundational precepts -for inspirational knowledge. I then put that knowledge into my greater subconcious mind to mull over and work with God to determine its value. Man can not do this work alone, nor do I rely on the judgement of man - who is in absolutely no position to judge anything. Intellectual reasoning is more or less a trick of the mind and denial the work of the ego.

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Everyone who reads the Book of Mormon regularly should do themselves a favor and buy this book. Read this version for a while. I'm not sure I've ever enjoyed reading the BofM as much as I have while reading this edition. It feels like a book I would read for fun, including staying up late to fit in Just One More Chapter, something I've rarely done, but with this version it happens regularly. Brilliantly formatted to match the brilliant content.