JOEL - JST Matthew 27:35 says:

"And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, (that is to say, a place of burial,)"

ROBERT - Where did the Nephites get the Higher Priesthood? Only those from the tribe of Levi could be conferred with the Higher Priesthood, and the Nephites were not from the tribe of Levi.

JOEL - The way we understand this is that the Nephites did not hold the lesser priesthoods, namely the Aaronic or Levitical priesthoods, because they were not descendents of Aaron or Levi. But all prophets from the beginning of time(including Lehi) had the higher or Melchizedek priesthood (Gen. 14:18, Ps. 110:4). This priesthood did not require decendancy from any particular person. Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, passed this priesthood to his son and so on until Lehi(1 Nephi 5:14) received it from his father.

ROBERT - How do you react to the common allegation that all the characters in the Book of Mormon act and sound the same, as if they were authored by the one induvidual (i.e. Joseph Smith). Although I know he was playing "devils advocate", BH Roberts in page 271 of "Studies of the Book of Mormon" noted that they (all BofM characters) were authors of "one mind".

JOEL - I think that the "one mind" similarity of the prophets of the Book of Mormon can be attributed to the fact that, being prophets, they were all of the "one mind" of God, writing and doing what He inspired them to write and do. Also, the primary purpose of the Book of Mormon was to testify of Christ. That is what Mormon had in mind as he compiled the final set of gold plates from all the thousands of plates that he accessed while writing it (See Words of Mormon). So he specifically chose records which would relate specifically to Christ or anything about His gospel and mission. The books before the Words of Mormon(1 Nephi to Omni) were pretty much word for word what Mormon found in the records he chose to include. But from the book of Mosiah on, Mormon only selected portions from the large plates often times paraphrasing in his own words what was said and often adding his own comments. So this can account for a lot of the similarity for at least half of the book. Personally, I don't see the Book of Mormon characters as any more similar than those who authored the New Testament. If you will check out studies a little more recent than BH Robert's report you will see how different they really are. A good report about this is found at this site:

ROBERT - Why did early LDS revelations claim Smith had only one gift to do?

JOEL - I assume what you are talking about is where in the Book of Commandments (1833 edition) it stated:

"...and he [Joseph Smith] has a gift to translate the book, and I have commanded him that he shall pretend to no other gift, for I will grant him no other gift." (BC 4:2)

In the Doctrine and Covenants(D&C 5:4) it was changed to:

"And you have a gift to translate the plates; and this is the first gift that I bestowed upon you; and I have commanded that you should pretend to no other gift until my purpose is fulfilled in this; for I will grant unto you no other gift until it is finished."

This was simply a correction that was made to clarify what was meant in the first version. The point of the scripture was that at first, Joseph's main gift in the restoration was to translate the Gold plates and that God would give him no other gift until he was finished with that.

This scripture is in agreement and fulfilment of a prophecy about Joseph Smith made by Lehi who said:

"And I will give unto him a commandment that he shall do none other work, save the work which I shall command him. And I will make him great in mine eyes; for he shall do my work." (2 Nep. 3:8)