The Ang Aklatan - Revision history

SpencerMarsh at 03:25, 23 June 2026

2026-06-23T03:25:57Z

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	{{To learn more box:forgeries}}		{{To learn more box:forgeries}}


	{{Critical sources box:Forgeries related to Mormonism/Ang Aklatan/CriticalSources}}		{{Critical sources box:Forgeries related to Mormonism/Ang Aklatan/CriticalSources}}

SpencerMarsh at 03:25, 23 June 2026

2026-06-23T03:25:43Z

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	{{Header}}		{{Header}}
	~~=What~~ is the "Ang Aklatan," and ~~does it have anything~~ to do with the Book of Mormon?=		{{Summary1}} Enthusiasts sometimes claim that the Ang Aklatan is an ancient record comparable to the Book of Mormon and evidence of God's dealings with peoples in the Philippines and surrounding regions. The Ang Aklatan was produced by Elisha M. Enoc, who claimed to have translated it from ancient copper plates through divine revelation, and its narrative contains many themes that resemble the Book of Mormon. However, textual analysis suggests that the work depends heavily on the language, ideas, and structure of the modern Book of Mormon itself, often to a degree that is difficult to explain as an independent ancient source. The text also appears to respond to modern Latter-day Saint teachings and contemporary religious debates rather than reflecting an authentically ancient context. Consequently, the evidence is more consistent with the Ang Aklatan being a modern work influenced by the Book of Mormon than with it being an independent ancient record comparable to Book of Mormon scripture.
	==An analysis of the text demonstrates considerable dependence upon the Book of Mormon text itself. This suggests that the author/translator was responding to the modern Book of Mormon text==		----
			====What is the ''Ang Anklatan''? An analysis of the text demonstrates considerable dependence upon the Book of Mormon text itself. This suggests that the author/translator was responding to the modern Book of Mormon text====

	The source of this work says:		The source of this work says:
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	However, in addition to these thematic issues, an analysis of the text demonstrates considerable dependence upon the Book of Mormon text itself. This suggests that the author/translator was responding to the modern Book of Mormon text.		However, in addition to these thematic issues, an analysis of the text demonstrates considerable dependence upon the Book of Mormon text itself. This suggests that the author/translator was responding to the modern Book of Mormon text.

	==Preparing the text for analysis==		====Preparing the text for analysis====
	~~FairMormon~~ researcher Ben McGuire performed some textual analysis, and reported:		FAUR researcher Ben McGuire performed some textual analysis and reported:

	<blockquote>Occasionally, I dabble in questions about statistical modelings of texts.<ref>For a discussion of McGuire's methodology, see {{Interpreter\|article=[http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/the-late-war-against-the-book-of-mormon/ The Late War Against the Book of Mormon]\|vol=7\|date=2013\|pages=323-355}} McGuire's description of his work on the ''Ang Aklatan'' is here published for the first, and is based on reply to a question forwarded to FairMormon.</ref><br><br>		<blockquote>Occasionally, I dabble in questions about statistical modelings of texts.<ref>For a discussion of McGuire's methodology, see {{Interpreter\|article=[http://www.mormoninterpreter.com/the-late-war-against-the-book-of-mormon/ The Late War Against the Book of Mormon]\|vol=7\|date=2013\|pages=323-355}} McGuire's description of his work on the ''Ang Aklatan'' is here published for the first, and is based on reply to a question forwarded to FairMormon.</ref><br><br>
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	I took one of my simple tools to compare texts. What I do is create a database, and include the texts I want to compare. Then I strip out the numbers and the punctuation (a process called normalization). This leaves me with a sequence of words. Next, I break the text into manageable chunks called locutions. I did this with the Lesser Gospel Written by Buka (it does take a little time so I only used the one text). The first part of it reads: “Now during the eleventh year of King Linurang there”. This becomes “Now during the eleventh”, “during the eleventh year”, “the eleventh year of”, and so on. Once I have completed this, I make a frequency chart of all of these phrases (giving me a list of all the unique four word phrases in a text). I used four words—primarily because experience has shown me that this gives us a good working range of statistics.</blockquote>		I took one of my simple tools to compare texts. What I do is create a database, and include the texts I want to compare. Then I strip out the numbers and the punctuation (a process called normalization). This leaves me with a sequence of words. Next, I break the text into manageable chunks called locutions. I did this with the Lesser Gospel Written by Buka (it does take a little time so I only used the one text). The first part of it reads: “Now during the eleventh year of King Linurang there”. This becomes “Now during the eleventh”, “during the eleventh year”, “the eleventh year of”, and so on. Once I have completed this, I make a frequency chart of all of these phrases (giving me a list of all the unique four word phrases in a text). I used four words—primarily because experience has shown me that this gives us a good working range of statistics.</blockquote>

	==What can we learn from such analysis?==		====What can we learn from such analysis?====

	McGuire then describes how he interprets this data:		McGuire then describes how he interprets this data:
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	Of course, the Book of Mormon doesn't try to hide this, it makes it quite clear that it is quoting whole chapters from Isaiah. And it also identifies a major source in the Brass Plates (a copy of something like our Old Testament).</blockquote>		Of course, the Book of Mormon doesn't try to hide this, it makes it quite clear that it is quoting whole chapters from Isaiah. And it also identifies a major source in the Brass Plates (a copy of something like our Old Testament).</blockquote>

	==How close are the Book of Mormon and ''Ang Aklatan'' texts?==		====How close are the Book of Mormon and ''Ang Aklatan'' texts?====

	McGuire continues:		McGuire continues:
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	<blockquote>It's not surprising that it sounds good to us. It uses this language and these ideas from the Book of Mormon (and not independently as far I can tell without really spending a lot more time with it). And we already believe the material that comes out of the Book of Mormon. It is where it goes beyond that we are likely to find ourselves running into conflicts. So, my thought is that it's worth being very cautious of this sort of thing. </blockquote>		<blockquote>It's not surprising that it sounds good to us. It uses this language and these ideas from the Book of Mormon (and not independently as far I can tell without really spending a lot more time with it). And we already believe the material that comes out of the Book of Mormon. It is where it goes beyond that we are likely to find ourselves running into conflicts. So, my thought is that it's worth being very cautious of this sort of thing. </blockquote>

	==Evidences of authenticity?==		====Evidences of authenticity?====

	The ''Ang Aklatan'' website also offers a variety of "evidences" for the book's authenticity.		The ''Ang Aklatan'' website also offers a variety of "evidences" for the book's authenticity.
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	{{Critical sources box:Forgeries related to Mormonism/Ang Aklatan/CriticalSources}}		{{Critical sources box:Forgeries related to Mormonism/Ang Aklatan/CriticalSources}}


	{{endnotes sources}}		{{endnotes sources}}

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	[[Category:Questions]]		[[Category:Questions]]

GregSmith at 07:40, 17 May 2024

2024-05-17T07:40:23Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:40, 17 May 2024
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	{{Header}}		{{Header}}
	=~~Question:~~ What is the "Ang Aklatan," and does it have anything to do with the Book of Mormon?=		=What is the "Ang Aklatan," and does it have anything to do with the Book of Mormon?=
	==An analysis of the text demonstrates considerable dependence upon the Book of Mormon text itself. This suggests that the author/translator was responding to the modern Book of Mormon text==		==An analysis of the text demonstrates considerable dependence upon the Book of Mormon text itself. This suggests that the author/translator was responding to the modern Book of Mormon text==

GregSmith at 07:39, 17 May 2024

2024-05-17T07:39:57Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:39, 17 May 2024
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	{{Header}}		{{Header}}
	==Question: What is the "Ang Aklatan," and does it have anything to do with the Book of Mormon?==		=Question: What is the "Ang Aklatan," and does it have anything to do with the Book of Mormon?=
	===An analysis of the text demonstrates considerable dependence upon the Book of Mormon text itself. This suggests that the author/translator was responding to the modern Book of Mormon text===		==An analysis of the text demonstrates considerable dependence upon the Book of Mormon text itself. This suggests that the author/translator was responding to the modern Book of Mormon text==

	The source of this work says:		The source of this work says:
Line 23:		Line 23:
	However, in addition to these thematic issues, an analysis of the text demonstrates considerable dependence upon the Book of Mormon text itself. This suggests that the author/translator was responding to the modern Book of Mormon text.		However, in addition to these thematic issues, an analysis of the text demonstrates considerable dependence upon the Book of Mormon text itself. This suggests that the author/translator was responding to the modern Book of Mormon text.

	===Preparing the text for analysis===		==Preparing the text for analysis==
	FairMormon researcher Ben McGuire performed some textual analysis, and reported:		FairMormon researcher Ben McGuire performed some textual analysis, and reported:

Line 30:		Line 30:
	I took one of my simple tools to compare texts. What I do is create a database, and include the texts I want to compare. Then I strip out the numbers and the punctuation (a process called normalization). This leaves me with a sequence of words. Next, I break the text into manageable chunks called locutions. I did this with the Lesser Gospel Written by Buka (it does take a little time so I only used the one text). The first part of it reads: “Now during the eleventh year of King Linurang there”. This becomes “Now during the eleventh”, “during the eleventh year”, “the eleventh year of”, and so on. Once I have completed this, I make a frequency chart of all of these phrases (giving me a list of all the unique four word phrases in a text). I used four words—primarily because experience has shown me that this gives us a good working range of statistics.</blockquote>		I took one of my simple tools to compare texts. What I do is create a database, and include the texts I want to compare. Then I strip out the numbers and the punctuation (a process called normalization). This leaves me with a sequence of words. Next, I break the text into manageable chunks called locutions. I did this with the Lesser Gospel Written by Buka (it does take a little time so I only used the one text). The first part of it reads: “Now during the eleventh year of King Linurang there”. This becomes “Now during the eleventh”, “during the eleventh year”, “the eleventh year of”, and so on. Once I have completed this, I make a frequency chart of all of these phrases (giving me a list of all the unique four word phrases in a text). I used four words—primarily because experience has shown me that this gives us a good working range of statistics.</blockquote>

	===What can we learn from such analysis?===		==What can we learn from such analysis?==

	McGuire then describes how he interprets this data:		McGuire then describes how he interprets this data:
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	Of course, the Book of Mormon doesn't try to hide this, it makes it quite clear that it is quoting whole chapters from Isaiah. And it also identifies a major source in the Brass Plates (a copy of something like our Old Testament).</blockquote>		Of course, the Book of Mormon doesn't try to hide this, it makes it quite clear that it is quoting whole chapters from Isaiah. And it also identifies a major source in the Brass Plates (a copy of something like our Old Testament).</blockquote>

	===How close are the Book of Mormon and ''Ang Aklatan'' texts?===		==How close are the Book of Mormon and ''Ang Aklatan'' texts?==

	McGuire continues:		McGuire continues:
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	<blockquote>It's not surprising that it sounds good to us. It uses this language and these ideas from the Book of Mormon (and not independently as far I can tell without really spending a lot more time with it). And we already believe the material that comes out of the Book of Mormon. It is where it goes beyond that we are likely to find ourselves running into conflicts. So, my thought is that it's worth being very cautious of this sort of thing. </blockquote>		<blockquote>It's not surprising that it sounds good to us. It uses this language and these ideas from the Book of Mormon (and not independently as far I can tell without really spending a lot more time with it). And we already believe the material that comes out of the Book of Mormon. It is where it goes beyond that we are likely to find ourselves running into conflicts. So, my thought is that it's worth being very cautious of this sort of thing. </blockquote>

	===Evidences of authenticity?===		==Evidences of authenticity?==

	The ''Ang Aklatan'' website also offers a variety of "evidences" for the book's authenticity.		The ''Ang Aklatan'' website also offers a variety of "evidences" for the book's authenticity.

GregSmith at 04:36, 2 May 2024

2024-05-02T04:36:56Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:36, 2 May 2024
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	{{To learn more box:forgeries}}		{{To learn more box:forgeries}}

			{{Critical sources box:Forgeries related to Mormonism/Ang Aklatan/CriticalSources}}
	{{endnotes sources}}		{{endnotes sources}}

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	[[Category:Questions]]		[[Category:Questions]]

GregSmith at 22:37, 26 April 2024

2024-04-26T22:37:31Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:37, 26 April 2024
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	With all of the above in mind, the evidences from the website don't really work well. There is that metal plate which was translated in 2007. Not coincidentally, that was the same year that the first part of the Ang Aklatan was published. For this to work well as evidence, we would also need something to show that the text was actually written in 1987 (when it was alleged to have been written) instead of in 2007 when it was first published. The same is true of the alleged references to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. It would be a singular thing if it was written about in an ancient text, or even in a text written in 1987. Since the attacks occurred in 2001, they don't really matter as much for validating a text written in 2007.		With all of the above in mind, the evidences from the website don't really work well. There is that metal plate which was translated in 2007. Not coincidentally, that was the same year that the first part of the Ang Aklatan was published. For this to work well as evidence, we would also need something to show that the text was actually written in 1987 (when it was alleged to have been written) instead of in 2007 when it was first published. The same is true of the alleged references to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. It would be a singular thing if it was written about in an ancient text, or even in a text written in 1987. Since the attacks occurred in 2001, they don't really matter as much for validating a text written in 2007.

			{{To learn more box:forgeries}}

	{{endnotes sources}}		{{endnotes sources}}

GregSmith: /* top */Bot replace {{FairMormon}} with {{Main Page}} and remove extra lines around {{Header}}

2024-04-13T21:48:43Z

top: Bot replace {{FairMormon}} with {{Main Page}} and remove extra lines around {{Header}}

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GregSmith: /* Evidences of authenticity? */bot - tag "Questions"

2024-04-13T03:47:11Z

Evidences of authenticity?: bot - tag "Questions"

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DavidSmith: header

2023-11-28T23:25:21Z

header

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:25, 28 November 2023
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	{{FairMormon}}		{{FairMormon}}
	~~<onlyinclude>~~		{{Navigation Latter-day Saint history}}


			{{Header}}
	==Question: What is the "Ang Aklatan," and does it have anything to do with the Book of Mormon?==		==Question: What is the "Ang Aklatan," and does it have anything to do with the Book of Mormon?==
	===An analysis of the text demonstrates considerable dependence upon the Book of Mormon text itself. This suggests that the author/translator was responding to the modern Book of Mormon text===		===An analysis of the text demonstrates considerable dependence upon the Book of Mormon text itself. This suggests that the author/translator was responding to the modern Book of Mormon text===
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	With all of the above in mind, the evidences from the website don't really work well. There is that metal plate which was translated in 2007. Not coincidentally, that was the same year that the first part of the Ang Aklatan was published. For this to work well as evidence, we would also need something to show that the text was actually written in 1987 (when it was alleged to have been written) instead of in 2007 when it was first published. The same is true of the alleged references to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. It would be a singular thing if it was written about in an ancient text, or even in a text written in 1987. Since the attacks occurred in 2001, they don't really matter as much for validating a text written in 2007.		With all of the above in mind, the evidences from the website don't really work well. There is that metal plate which was translated in 2007. Not coincidentally, that was the same year that the first part of the Ang Aklatan was published. For this to work well as evidence, we would also need something to show that the text was actually written in 1987 (when it was alleged to have been written) instead of in 2007 when it was first published. The same is true of the alleged references to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. It would be a singular thing if it was written about in an ancient text, or even in a text written in 1987. Since the attacks occurred in 2001, they don't really matter as much for validating a text written in 2007.

	~~</onlyinclude>~~
	{{endnotes sources}}		{{endnotes sources}}

	~~{{FurtherReading}}~~



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DavidSmith: DavidSmith moved page Question: What is the "Ang Aklatan," and does it have anything to do with the Book of Mormon? to The Ang Aklatan: wiki update project

2023-11-20T23:04:31Z

DavidSmith moved page Question: What is the "Ang Aklatan," and does it have anything to do with the Book of Mormon? to The Ang Aklatan: wiki update project

← Older revision	Revision as of 23:04, 20 November 2023
(No difference)