thoughts on the B of M
Ok, as I've been reading the B of M, I have started realizing something about the way that it is put together, and I was talking to dh about it, but he's not sure what I'm thinking is correct. So I was just wondering what you think, if this has ever crossed your mind or whatever.
Ok, So you know, 1 and 2 Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni are all written in the first person point of view, (using I, Me, My, Mine etc...) i.e. "I Nephi, having been born on goodly parents..." so it's obvious that Nephi (or whoever) is talking. However, once you get into Mosiah, Alma etc, it seems to me that it is mostly Mormon talking. For example: Alma 18:36 "Now when Ammon had said these words, he began at the creation of the world, and also the creation of Adam, and told him all the things concerning the fall of man..." etc Alma 21:1 "Now when Ammon and his brethren separated themselves in the borders of the land of the Lamanites, behold Aaron took his journey towards the land..." etc.
So to me, it really sounds like Mormon (because we know that he is the one who abridged all the records) is condensing their (Ammon, Aaron etc) records into this record, and he's basically just telling their story. Does that make sense? And I was thinking, the sealed portion of the golden plates must contain the full record of everything. Like in the first scripture I quoted, Ammon told King Lamoni about the creation and Adam and everything, but maybe Mormon thought he didn't need to include all of that again in this record because it's already been recorded so many other places, or because he wasn't prompted that it was necessary or something. Am I making any sense?
So what do you think? Is Mormon telling a lot of the story in his own words? Or have I missed something about who is really writing this record...
Thoughts?
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