Book of Mormon/Authorship theories/Epilepsy

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Criticism

Critics have claimed that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon while under the influence of an "epileptic fit," thus perpetuating a fraud without knowing it.

See also: Citations to the critical sources for these claims

Summary conclusion

The argument that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon during an epileptic fit and thus unknowingly propagated an untrue story is baseless and incongruent with any document of his life.

Supporting Data

The Book of Mormon was not started and completed in a single sitting. Rather, the book was translated in many small segments over an extended period of time. These segments were started at will and with various people as the prophet's scribes. Not one of these scribes ever noted any seizure symptoms during any part of the translation process. There are no accounts by anybody concerning symptoms of epilepsy during the prophet's life.

To think that Joseph had multiple seizures, only when translating, at will for the various starting points of each new section, without any of the multiple scribes noticing or at any non-translating time in his life is preposterous. Even the author himself admits on page 437 of his own book that there is no direct evidence of epilepsy from the prophet's life.