As bad as the Bible is as a guide for doing archeology, the Book of Mormon is DRASTICALLY worse.
Even funnier, in the early days of Mormonism, the oldest Bible texts recognized in the world were less than 1000 years old. Those early Mormons, if they thought about it (and some did), fully expected that if older Bible texts were discovered, they would prove the Catholics (mostly) had been editing and rewriting Scripture, and predictions/revelations Joseph Smith had made about the 'original' version of the Bible would be revealed correct. As it turns out, when earlier texts were recognized, Joseph Smith's predictions were proven false (GASP !!!!).
As a consequence, in the early Mormon Church, the Bible was on par with the book of Mormon. Nowadays, the Bible is in a distant 4th place behind BoM, Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrines and Covenants.
Joseph also edited his own version of the Bible, and revealed a REVELATION, the LDS Church would publish it. AFAIK, the LDS hierarchy still hasn't published it, but the RLDS (for the time being, Community of Christ) has printed it. I haven't encountered a copy yet, but I bet it's a howler.
Even funnier, in the early days of Mormonism, the oldest Bible texts recognized in the world were less than 1000 years old. Those early Mormons, if they thought about it (and some did), fully expected that if older Bible texts were discovered, they would prove the Catholics (mostly) had been editing and rewriting Scripture, and predictions/revelations Joseph Smith had made about the 'original' version of the Bible would be revealed correct. As it turns out, when earlier texts were recognized, Joseph Smith's predictions were proven false (GASP !!!!).
As a consequence, in the early Mormon Church, the Bible was on par with the book of Mormon. Nowadays, the Bible is in a distant 4th place behind BoM, Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrines and Covenants.
Joseph also edited his own version of the Bible, and revealed a REVELATION, the LDS Church would publish it. AFAIK, the LDS hierarchy still hasn't published it, but the RLDS (for the time being, Community of Christ) has printed it. I haven't encountered a copy yet, but I bet it's a howler.
