“The Trial” — Section 5
An obvious Book of Mormon mistake, or contradiction
Representative of a Christian church:
I would like you to explain a very obvious contradiction in the Book of Mormon. In Alma 7:10 of your Book of Mormon, it states that, “He [Christ] shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem, which is the land of our forefathers…”, while the Bible clearly informs us in Luke 2:4-11 that Christ was born in Bethlehem in the City of David. Look on any Bible map and you will see that Bethlehem is over 5 miles from Jerusalem. Can Bethlehem be Jerusalem? No, it cannot.
Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
We will be happy to discuss this verse, and explain why it is not a contradiction at all. Would you please turn with us to 2 Kings 14:20? It reads, “And they brought him on horses; and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the City of David.” Now if the City of David, according to the New Testament, is Bethlehem, how could he be buried at both Jerusalem and Bethlehem? Notice that the Book of Mormon states that Christ would be born AT Jerusalem, the LAND of their forefathers. The Oxford dictionary defines ‘at’ as a word which expresses exact or approximate position. Notice also that the Book of Mormon describes the birth of Christ as occurring in the LAND of Jerusalem, not the city of Jerusalem. Bethlehem is indeed included in the general LAND of Jerusalem.
Representative of a Christian church:
Fine, but here is another contradiction found in the Book of Mormon. Upon the crucifixion of Christ, we read in Luke 23:44 that “…it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.” Then we turn to the Book of Mormon and in 3 Nephi 8:20-23 it states that darkness covered the land for three days. Was it three hours, as evidenced by the Bible, or three days, as stated in the Book of Mormon?
Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
We have identical experiences in the Bible where darkness prevailed for unusual periods of time in one area, and was light at the same time in other areas. We read in Exodus 10:21 — “And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over all the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand towards heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days. They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days.” You will notice that the Book of Mormon incident was a repeat performance of the experience suffered in the land of Egypt. As 3 Nephi 8:19 points out, the corresponding three hours to Luke 23:44 were among the most perilous of the three day ordeal. However, the wisdom of the Lord prevailed as it did in Egypt, and this continent remained for three days in darkness. We would point out that the Exodus account specifically points out that the darkness covered the ‘land of Egypt’. The Lord obviously has the power to cause certain areas to be darkened and other areas be simultaneously unaffected. This was apparently the case at the crucifixion of the Lord also, as the Bible states that the darkness was ‘over all the earth’, but the Book of Mormon states that the darkness there was ‘upon the face of the land’, not over all the earth.
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