A NAZARENE VIEW OF THE BOOK OF MORMON

By James Scott Trimm

PART 3

DISPLACING THE PROMISES OF ISRAEL


According to Torah YHWH promised that he would make Abraham's descendants
through Isaac to be the special nation to Him that would be above all
nations upon the face of the earth:

[1] After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision,
saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
[2] And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go
childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
[3] And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one
born in my house is mine heir.
[4] And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not
be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall
be thine heir.
[5] And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and
tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So
shall thy seed be.
(Gen. 15:1-5)


[1] And when Abram was ninety years old and nine,
the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him,
I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
[2] And I will make my covenant between me and thee,
and will multiply thee exceedingly.
[3] And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
[4] As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee,
and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
[5] Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram,
but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
[6] And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of
thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
[7] And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after
thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto
thee, and to thy seed after thee.
[8] And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein
thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession;
and I will be their God.
[9] And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou,
and thy seed after thee in their generations.

[19] And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou
shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an
everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
(Gen. 17:1-9, 19)

[17] And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
[18] Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and
all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
(Gen. 18:17-18)

[6] For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God
hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that
are upon the face of the earth.
[7] The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were
more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
(Deut. 7:6-7)

But the Book of Mormon attempts to thieve this promise from the Jewish
people and deliver it to its fictional Jaredites:

[42] ...I will go before thee into a land which
is choice above all the lands of the earth.
[43] And there I will bless thee and thy seed,
and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of
the seed of thy brother, and they who shall
go with thee, a great nation. And there shall
be none greater than the nation which I will
raise up unto me of thy seed, upon all the
face of the earth. And thus I will do unto
thee because this long time ye have cried
unto me.
(Ether 1:42-43)

The Book of Mormon's Jaredites are a fictional non-Jewish race who
supposedly left just before the fall of the Great Tower of Babel (Babylon)
and settled in the New World. The entire civilization supposedly was
destroyed (Ether 13-15) sometime before 130 BC (Omni 1:20-22). The Book of
Mormon would displace these promises from the Jewish people and reassign
them to a fictional dead civilization.

Not only does the Book of Mormon seek to displace Israel's promise that
there would be no greater nation, but the Book of Mormon also seeks to
create a Land of Promise in America for the House of Joseph (2Nephi
1:3). But the Torah teaches that the Land of Promise for all of Israel is
in a very specific location in the Middle East (Gen. 13:14-18).

James Trimm

Coming Soon:

Part 3

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain
(The Torah Test for a Prophet)