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Difference between revisions of "Criticism of Mormonism/Books/By His Own Hand upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri/Chapter 1"
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|claim=The author claims that Church growth in Kirtland "became stagnant" until Joseph acquired the papyri and translated them, thus impressing the Church with his ability as a seer. | |claim=The author claims that Church growth in Kirtland "became stagnant" until Joseph acquired the papyri and translated them, thus impressing the Church with his ability as a seer. | ||
| + | |authorsources=None cited. | ||
|response= | |response= | ||
*John Gee responds to this claim: | *John Gee responds to this claim: | ||
Revision as of 09:16, 14 March 2013
- REDIRECTTemplate:Test3
| A FAIR Analysis of: By His Own Hand upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri A work by author: Charles M. Larson
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Claims made in "Chapter 2: The Book of Abraham: A Timely Document" |
Claims made in "Chapter 1: How It All Began"
10
Claim
The author claims that the Book of Mormon was written "in a strange, long-forgotten language called Reformed Egyptian."
Author's source(s)
- Mormon 9:32
Response
- Moroni said that he was writing using a form of "reformed Egyptian," meaning that he was using a version of Egyptian characters that had been modified by his people over the years. He did not claim that their language was called "Reformed Egyptian."
- Observe in Mormon 9꞉32
And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.
11
Claim
The author states that Joseph's followers would ask "How do we really know the Book of Mormon is what you say?" and "Show us the plates — if there ever wereany!"
Author's source(s)
None cited.
Response
- Despite these statements appearing in quotes, they appear to be some sort of conjecture on the part of the author.
12
Claim
The author claims that Church growth in Kirtland "became stagnant" until Joseph acquired the papyri and translated them, thus impressing the Church with his ability as a seer.
Author's source(s)
None cited.
Response
- John Gee responds to this claim:
But the Kirtland apostasy took place in 1837-38, two years after Joseph Smith began work on the book of Abraham. Moreover, rather than stagnating, "the LDS population in Kirtland multiplied from about 100 in 1832 to over 1,286 in 1836."7 In Kirtland alone, the Church was nearly doubling annually at this time. This is stagnation? Larson provides no documentation for any of his claims here; his approach is pure, unsubstantiated speculation.
—John Gee, "A Tragedy of Errors. A review of 'By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri' by Charles M. Larson,' FARMS Review, Volume - 4, Issue - 1, Pages: 93-119 off-site