Book of Mormon Jesus Killed Millions
The Book of Mormon Mormon Jesus killed millions of people at time of the crucifixion (3 Nephi 8-9), while the biblical Jesus is always loving and kind.
There is no indication in the Book of Mormon that the Nephites and Lamanites numbered in the millions and it never says how many people were slain during the destructions that occurred at the time of the crucifixion of Christ,[i] it is true that the Savior indicated that he had destroyed the wicked cities that had slain and cast out the prophets and that these were the more wicked ones who were destroyed (3 Nephi 9:1-15).
But the Bible also has the Lord destroying people in the flood, in the towns surrounding Sodom and Gomorrah, and ordering the Israelites to exterminate or expel the Canaanites from their land. We also read that the Lord will send angels to destroy the wicked at his second coming (Matthew 13:38-42; Revelation 14:10; 16:1). The apostle Paul wrote, “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). And what can be more telling than the following New Testament passage?
“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:26-31).
Clearly, the Jesus of the Bible and the Jesus described in the Book of Mormon are the same, the Lord who takes vengeance on the wicked and blesses the righteous.
[i] Terms like “city” and “great city” should not be understood in modern terms of cities with millions or even hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. The “cities” of the Bible were not as populous as modern cities and it is unreasonable to expect a higher population in Book of Mormon cities. In 1830, when the Book of Mormon was published, the population of New York City, the largest in the United States, was fewer than 250,000 inhabitants.