Question
Gramps,
I have heard there have been around 3000 corrections made in the Book of Mormon. Some changing words others were simple grammatical error fixes. Why didn’t Joseph Smith just do it right the first time?
Josh
Answer
Hello Josh,
This is a very good question and one that has been asked a number of times, mostly by people trying to discredit the veracity of the Book of Mormon.
It is interesting to note that Joseph is not the person responsible for the grammatical errors nor the linguistic variants.
I will give you two sources which you can take some time to research and learn more about this topic.
However, here is an excerpt from the Church’s main website:
The History of Various Editions
Although Joseph Smith was the translator of the Book of Mormon, the spelling in the first edition was Oliver Cowdery’s, and the punctuation was John H. Gilbert’s.
Oliver described the time he spent as a scribe as “days never to be forgotten—to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude in this bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated with the urim and thummim.” (Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, p. 14.)
Another excellent source where you can find supplemental information, which by the way is mostly repetitive as what the main church’s website has published, is the Fair Mormon page.
I hope you find the peace of mind that comes from knowing that the Book of Mormon is the true word of God and that by reading and pondering the message within its pages, we can get closer to Him, than by any other book.
Regards,
Gramps
