Does the Book of Mormon Contradict the Bible?

 Someone, I (@gather_in_podcast) have been chatting with on Threads recently, asked me to read this article, ContradictionsBetween the Book of Mormon and the Bible | Institute for ReligiousResearch (irr.org) and "let the Holy Spirit work".

You will notice that firstly, the title of the article gives away the authors conclusion. I have re-titled it as a question.

Jared Halverson (BYU, Unshaken Saints) has suggested a formula for examining information critical to our beliefs as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the Three S formula - Selective, Superficial, and Sensational. Most critical writing (or videos etc.) exhibit most, but not necessarily all, of these elements.

So, let me just look at the first point made in this article.

1. The Book of Mormon teaches that little children are not capable of sin because they do not have a sinful nature (Moroni 8:8). In contrast, the Bible in Psalm 51:5 clearly teaches that we have sinful nature from birth: "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me" (NIV). (This does not mean that those who die in infancy are lost.*)

What is the author doing here?

Firstly, they quote a verse from the Book of Mormon. Hang on - no they don't! They give a reference to a verse, but then give their interpretation of it. The verse actually says

"Listen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold, I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; the whole need no physician, but they that are sick; wherefore, little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them; and the law of circumcision is done away in me.” That's the first S - Selective! And it's also Superficial.

Secondly, they quote a Bible verse, with their interpretation of it. At least they quoted the whole verse.

Is this Sensational? To a protestant or Catholic Christian, who believes that man is subject to the doctrine of Original Sin, yes, it would be Sensational.

Going back to their first point - are they correct in their interpretation of what the Book of Mormon teaches on this subject? Well, Moroni 8:8 does say "wherefore, little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin", but that's just a small part of the verse, and that verse is part of a whole chapter that discusses this topic. So, the authors treatment of what he thinks we believe is very selective and very superficial!

Chapter 8 of Moroni teaches (from the chapter heading) - 

The baptism of little children is an evil abomination—Little children are alive in Christ because of the Atonement—Faith, repentance, meekness and lowliness of heart, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end lead to salvation.

Why is baptism of little children an abomination? It's it because little children are "alive in Christ". Obviously, a baby is not capable of committing sin. Physically they cannot break most of the commandments. They don't know what any of the commandments are. They really don't even know who they are. But, as they grow and mature, they do actually become capable of committing sins. 

Do they have a "sinful nature from birth" as Luke P Wilson states in his article?

Psalm 51.5 says "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." In this Psalm, David is pleading for forgiveness from the Lord for the sins committed with Bathsheba and her husband Uriah. This is a poem and full of symbolism. Verse 5 could be the voice of the baby, conceived by David and Bathsheba in adultery, that died. Even if David is referring to himself, he is so distraught as a result of his extremely serious sins (adultery, deception, abuse of power and murder), that he may well feel that he has been sinful since birth.

No where in this Psalm does the author say that all children are born with a sinful nature, or are bound in the doctrine of Original Sin, which is a false doctrine that has been perpetrated on Christians for a long time. There is very little in the Bible to support this doctrine.

What do most Latter-day Saints believe on this subject?

Our 2^nd Article of Faith states that “We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.”

Read all of Moroni Chapter 8, which is Mormon's letter to Moroni on the subject, for the full explanation. One thing to add to this is from King Benjamin's sermon in Mosiah 3. This whole chapter is talking about sin and atonement, but verse 19 in particular describes the sinful nature of the "natural man" and how we can overcome that. "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

In a nutshell, yes, we believe that Adam and Eve transgressed God's commandments. We tend not to call it a sin, because at the time, they were as "little children" and didn't really understand the commandment or the consequences. But they were nonetheless subject to the consequences, and so are we. They became mortal, subject to physical death because they could no longer eat from the Tree of Life, and they were thrust out of the presence of God, which they had enjoyed in the Garden of Eden. We call this "spiritual death". On the upside, with mortality came the ability to "go forth and multiply" and because they had partaken of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they could now discern the difference between good and evil and therefore choose whether to obey the commandments or not.

So, in conclusion, do we need to worry about the first claim made by Mr Wilson? No, the Book of Mormon, particularly Moroni 8, does not contradict the Bible in this matter. What, in fact, does contradict the Bible, is the notion that little babies are born with an evil nature. Mankind can develop an evil nature, through giving in to Satan's temptations and not repenting, made possible through faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

(There's another 8 or 9 points in the article by Luke Wilson to respond to. Not sure if I have the time or energy to do that at the moment. Maybe if I get enough requests to do that I might. Thanks for reading. I'd appreciate any comments.)