I had a great opportunity recently to share some insights into the Book of Mormon with a relatively large audience. This group was riveted by my presentation of what some of the scholarly world has produced over the last 40 years or so. For instance:

• Joseph Smith, an unlearned farm boy, somehow managed to churn out a profoundly written religious text of over 500 pages, at a rate of 8 to 11 pages per day, all within a 65- to 75-day window of time. Having written a book of comparable size myself, I can attest that I could never pull that off, even with the advantages I have over Joseph Smith, which include a solid education, access to world-renown scholars, access to libraries, and high-tech tools such as broadband, search capabilities, a word processor, and AI.
• Languages such as Hebrew (the spoken language of Book of Mormon prophets) have rules. We call them Hebraisms. The exact same rules that apply to a Hebrew text such as the Old Testament also find themselves within the pages of the Book of Mormon. But it even goes beyond Hebrew grammar and extends to Hebrew norms, such as the Hebrew distinction between a thief and a robber, which is mirrored by the Book of Mormon.
• Just as Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7 of our Bibles) Jesus also taught a nearly identical sermon to the people within the Book of Mormon following His resurrection. However, whereas Jesus is recorded as saying “Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement” in Matthew 5:22, the parallel passage found in 3 Nephi 12:22 does not include the words “without a cause.” Was that an oversight on the part of Joseph Smith? Not at all. The words “without a cause” are not found in the earliest biblical manuscripts we have, thus pointing to the miraculous accuracy of Joseph Smith’s translation.
• The Book of Mormon describes many Old World places that were named by Lehi. But one Old World place that was not named by Lehi is called Nahom in the Book of Mormon. There is compelling evidence that such a place, which existed prior to Lehi’s travels in the Arabian desert, has actually been discovered through recent archaeological field work.

There were additional bits of compelling evidence I shared with this audience, and they were quite surprised at such material, having never been exposed to it. The audience asked great questions and came away with a deeper appreciation for the Book of Mormon.