Criticism of Mormonism/Books/An Insider's View of Mormon Origins/Index

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Index to claims made in An Insider's View of Mormon Origins

A FAIR Analysis of: An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, a work by author: Grant Palmer

Use of sources

Claim Evaluation

An Insider's View of Mormon Origins

Response to claims made in An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, "Chapter 1: Joseph Smith as Translator/Revelator"

Jump to details:

• Response to claim: 1 - Illustrations show Joseph Smith translating the plates directly
• Response to claim: 2 - Joseph Smith used a seer stone that he placed in his hat
• Response to claim: 2-3 - The plates were often not nearby while Joseph translated them
• Response to claim: 6 - It is claimed that Oliver attempted to translate using a divining rod
• Response to claim: 6 - Oliver would ask questions of his divining rod in faith and it would move
• Response to claim: 7 - Alterations in a different handwriting on the 116 pages would have been readily apparent
• Response to claim: 8 - Joseph was brought to court three times for stone gazing
• Response to claim: 9 - Peter Ingersoll reported that he heard Joseph acknowledge to Isaac Hale that he was never able to see anything in his seer stone
• Response to claim: 9 - After he lost the manuscript, Joseph is claimed to have become more vague regarding the method of translation
• Response to claim: 9 - Joseph is claimed to have altered the Book of Mormon to modify the description of God and Jesus to be separate beings
• Response to claim: 10 - It is claimed that scholars have determined that Joseph consulted an open Bible during translation
• Response to claim: 10 - The book claims that Joseph copied errors from the King James Bible
• Response to claim: 11 - The author claims that none of Joseph's changes to the Bible have been supported by manuscript finds
• Response to claim: 12 - Joseph is said to have evolved his concept of the Father and Son
• Response to claim: 12 - The hieroglyphics next to facsimile 1 state that Hor is the deceased man lying on the altar
• Response to claim: 12 - Joseph is claimed to have used this papyrus as his source for Abraham 1 through 2:18
• Response to claim: 13 - Near facsimile 3, Hor's name appears at the top and bottom
• Response to claim: 17 - Joseph is claimed to have expanded Abraham's curse to include denial of priesthood ordination to blacks
• Response to claim: 19 - Joseph's interpretations have been shown by Egyptologists as a mis-reading of the papyri
• Response to claim: 21 - From 1820 to 1834 Joseph is claimed to have believed in one God
• Response to claim: 22-24 - Joseph's theology was said to have been influenced by Thomas Dick's Philosophy of a Future State
• Response to claim: 31 - Joseph claimed to have translated a portion of the Kinderhook plates
• Response to claim: 34-35 - Joseph is claimed to have translated a Greek psalter

Response to claims made in An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, "Chapter 2: Authorship of the Book of Mormon"

Jump to details:

• Response to claim: 39 - the church has encouraged a 'thorough and impartial examination' of the Book of Mormon, including questions regarding its authorship
• Response to claim: 40 - B.H. Roberts stated that Joseph Smith was intellectually capable of writing the Book of Mormon himself
• Response to claim: 40 - B.H. Roberts is claimed to have wondered if the Book of Mormon stories were just inspirational tales
• Response to claim: 41-42 - Joseph claimed that a skeleton found was that of a "white Lamanite" named Zelph
• Response to claim: 42 - Joseph reported that the Kinderhook Plates contained a genealogy back to Ham
• Response to claim: 42 - Joseph gave many descriptions of heroes and their treasures hidden in the New York hills
• Response to claim: 42 - B.H. Roberts concluded that Joseph Smith was capable of writing the Book of Mormon
• Response to claim: 48 - The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is the source of Alma 19
• Response to claim: 49 - "The evidence indicates that the Book of Mormon is in fact an amalgamation of ideas that were inspired by Joseph's own environment"
• Response to claim: 55 - The decapitation of Laban parallels the story of Judith in the Apocrypha
• Response to claim: 57 - The author claims that the LDS position is that the Lamanites are the principal ancestors of the American Indians
• Response to claim: 57, n38 - No Hebrew or Egyptian writing or language has been discovered in the New World
• Response to claim: 58, n40 - B.H. Roberts thought that View of the Hebrews could be a basis for the Book of Mormon
• Response to claim: 60 - Roberts concluded that a copy of View of the Hebrews could have been supplied by Oliver Cowdery
• Response to claim: 60-64 - B.H. Roberts' parallels between View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon
• Response to claim: 65-66 - Joseph Smith received a revelation to send people to Canada to sell the Book of Mormon copyright
• Response to claim: 66 - The writing of the 116 pages served as an "apprenticeship" to learning to write the Book of Mormon

Response to claims made in An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, "Chapter 3: The Bible in the Book of Mormon"

Jump to details:

• Response to claim: 70-71, n3 - Joseph Smith Sr.'s 1811 dreams are similar to Lehi's "first" vision and his "tree of life" dream
• Response to claim: 83 - "Cowdery may be the only witness who knew about this, and he neglected to mention it"
• Response to claim: 83, n14 - The Book of Mormon contains twenty-six full chapters from a 1769 edition of the KJV
• Response to claim: 86 - Response to claim: 86 - The author claims that 3 Nephi 17:10-21 was derived from the Bible using passages from Luke 7, John 11 and Mark 10
• Response to claim: 90 - The Aramaic word "raca" would not have been intelligible to a Nephite
• Response to claim: 90 - "Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain" refers to a Roman law and that it "would presumably have had no meaning in the New World"
• Response to claim: 90 - Three days of darkness occurred in the New World at Christ's death, as opposed to only three hours of darkness in Jerusalem

Response to claims made in An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, "Chapter 4: Evangelical Protestantism in the Book of Mormon"

Jump to details:

• Response to claim: 95-96, n1-2 - The author claims that elements from Joseph Smith's own life form the basis for a portion of the Book of Mormon
• Response to claim: 96 - The author believes that one would not expect to find "camp meeting" elements among ancient Americans
• Response to claim: 97, n6 - King Benjamin's farewell speech parallels that of Methodist leader Bishop M'Kendree
• Response to claim: 99-100, n7 - The story of King Benjamin’s sermon is similar to a Methodist camp meeting
• Response to claim: 110 - Joseph Smith was an “exhorter” at evening meetings
• Response to claim: 114, n32 - The Book of Mormon includes hundreds of popular phrases from frontier preaching
• Response to claim: 120 - The Book of Mormon teaches that all men are evil as a result of the Fall
• Response to claim: 121-122, n48 - Joseph is claimed to have evolved his view of the Godhead over time
• Response to claim: 124 - The Book of Mormon contains no information about temple ordinances, exaltation or baptism for the dead
• Response to claim: 124, n53 - Brigham Young said, "If the Book of Mormon were now to be re-written, in many instances it would materially differ from the present translation"
• Response to claim: 129-130, n64-66 - B.H. Roberts concluded that Joseph Smith created the anti-Christs Sherem, Nehor and Korihor
• Response to claim: 131 - many people believe in the truthfulness of their own religion because of similar confirming experiences
• Response to claim: 132, n68-69 - it is possible to feel "the spirit" even when listening to a hoax, such as Paul H. Dunn's war stories
• Response to claim: 132-133, n71 - the LDS church claims exclusive receipt of the Holy Ghost as a gift
• Response to claim: 133 - "This Spirit of love gives peace, comfort, prompts, and enhances belief in God, but abundant evidence also demonstrates that it is an unreliable means of proving truth"
• Response to claim: 133 - "Nor does the Spirit, which testifies of the Book of Mormon, confirm the historical reality of the book"

Response to claims made in An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, "Chapter 5: Moroni and 'The Golden Pot'"

Jump to details:

• Response to claim: 138 - The author claims that the story of "The Golden Pot" involves the copying and translation of ancestral records
• Response to claim: 139-142 - The author claims that Luman Walters likely informed Joseph Smith about the story of "The Golden Pot"
• Response to claim: 157 - Joseph was told to bring Emma to the hill Cumorah on "the next fall equinox"
• Response to claim: 157 - Joseph's father said that Joseph married Emma in order to ensure success in obtaining the plates
• Response to claim: 163 - Joseph regarded the autumnal equinox as a special day
• Response to claim: 172 - The author claims that Joseph's later narratives talk about a more biblical-type angel and that many of the "magical elements" of the Moroni story began disappearing around 1830

Response to claims made in An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, "Chapter 6: Witnesses to the Golden Plates"

Jump to details:

• Response to claim: 175 - The author claims that the Book of Mormon witnesses had a "magical mindset" and believed in "second sight"
• Response to claim: 175-176, n2-4 - The witnesses believed in the ability to see spirits and their dwelling places within the local hills
• Response to claim: 178, n7-8 - Martin Harris participated in his own "treasure adventures" after meeting Joseph Smith
• Response to claim: 178, n9-10 - Martin Harris said that he "informed Joseph Smith about the gold plates" and that he could see the gold plates through a cloth
• Response to claim: 179 - The author claims that the Whitmers all believed that they could see things with stones and dowsing sticks
• Response to claim: 179, n11-12 - The author claims that Oliver Cowdery was a treasure hunter and "rodsman" before he met Joseph Smith
• Response to claim: 179, n13 - Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris saw the plates in a vision before meeting Joseph Smith
• Response to claim: 181 - David and possibly John Whitmer owned seer stones
• Response to claim: 186 - According to the author, Brigham Young heard from the Smiths and believed all his life that "these treasures that are in the earth are carefully watched"
• Response to claim: 186 - The Smith's often told neighbors stories about treasures Joseph found in the earth
• Response to claim: 188 - Joseph claimed to know the location of Captain Kidd's treasure
• Response to claim: 191 - A number of witnesses saw a cave in the Hill Cumorah when the plates were returned to the angel
• Response to claim: 194 - Martin Harris said that marvelous things appeared to Hyrum, Joseph Sr. and Joseph Jr. while they were treasure hunting
• Response to claim: 194-195 - The gold plates that the "witnesses" saw are said to have disappeared when placed on the ground at the hill Cumorah
• Response to claim: 195 - The witnesses believed that there was a toad that turned into something else hiding in the box that held the plates
• Response to claim: 197, n57 - The author claims that the testimony of the Three Witnesses was of a vision rather than an actual visit by an angel
• Response to claim: 197-198, n58-61 - It is claimed that David Whitmer indicated that the visit of the angel was spiritual rather than real
• Response to claim: 198, n62-64 - Martin Harris claimed to see the plates with "the eye of faith"
• Response to claim: 200, n72-73 - David Whitmer is said to have claimed that he handled the plates in vision, but not physically
• Response to claim: 204, n83 - The author claims that the testimony of the Eight Witnesses does not actually describe a physical incident
• Response to claim: 206 - The Eight Witnesses are claimed to have "hesitated to sign" their testimony because their experience was not physical
• Response to claim: 206, n89 - The author claims that the plates were able to sink and glide through the ground and made noise as they were "rumbling" through the hill
• Response to claim: 206-207, n90 - Viewing the gold plates "too soon" would cause physical death
• Response to claim: 207, n91 - According to the author, declarations of the witnesses "sounded more physical than was intended"
• Response to claim: 207 - "These ideas may have been Joseph's inspiration for making a plate-like object to persuade belief"
• Response to claim: 211, n94 - Joseph is claimed to have appointed James Strang as his successor
• Response to claim: 208, n95 - James Strang also produced witnesses to metal plates
• Response to claim: 212, n105 - All the living witnesses except Oliver Cowdery accepted James Strang's leadership

Chapter 7

Summary: Claims made in "Chapter 7: Priesthood Restoration"

Jump to Subtopic:

• Response to claim: 216, n2 - the revelation received through the Urim and Thummim gave Joseph and Oliver the authority to baptize
• Response to claim: 218 (footnote) - "Joseph intended to keep his and Oliver's baptisms and receipt of authority to baptize from their enemies, not from devoted believers"
• Response to claim: 219 - An angelic ordination to the higher priesthood is not mentioned by Joseph at the time the church was organized
• Response to claim: 221 - The book claims that Alma received authority to baptize through the "Spirit" - not by laying on of hands
• Response to claim: 222, n12 - Authority is claimed to be received only through the "Spirit of the Lord" rather than by laying on of hands
• Response to claim: 225, n22 - The Whitmer family and Oliver Cowdery accepted Hiram Page's revelations as authoritative
• Response to claim: 225-226 - D&C 84 is claimed to not refer to the physical laying on of hands by an angel
• Response to claim: 226, n25 - The author claims that Joseph's statement that he had the priesthood conferred upon him by an angel is not "unequivocal"
• Response to claim: 227, n27-28 - The restoration of priesthood from an angel was a spiritual vision rather than a physical event
• Response to claim: 228 - The author claims that Joseph invented the story of the angel restoring the priesthood to counter Hurlbut's accusations
• Response to claim: 232 - The events surrounding the priesthood ordination are claimed to have been reinterpreted to bolster Joseph's status

Chapter 8

Summary: Claims made in "Chapter 8: The First Vision"

Jump to Subtopic:

• Response to claim: 239 - "The Book of Commandments...contains nothing on such important events as Joseph's first vision"
• Response to claim: 239 - The Book of Commandments states that it was the Book of Mormon that constituted Joseph's call to the work
• Response to claim: 239, n5 - Oliver Cowdery claimed that it was Moroni that called Joseph to the work rather than Jesus in the First Vision
• Response to claim: 239 - Joseph viewed his First Vision in "evangelical Protestant fashion" until 1838 and "viewed his epiphany" in this fashion until 1838
• Response to claim: 240, n7 - Joseph is claimed to "not yet mention the appearance of God the Father" in his 1835 First Vision account
• Response to claim: 240 - The author claims that Joseph rewrote his personal conversion experience in 1838 to satisfy institutional needs
• Response to claim: 240, n8 - The 1820 revival described by Joseph better fits the 1824-25 revival
• Response to claim: 242, n14 - William Smith said that the revival occurred in 1823
• Response to claim: 242, n15 - Oliver Cowdery said that the revival that affected Joseph came in 1823
• Response to claim: 245 "If his report that "all the sects...united to persecute me" were accurate, one would expect to find some hint of this in the local newspapers"
• Response to claim: 245, n27 - In 1838, Joseph is claimed to have shifted his calling from 1823 to 1820 because of apostasy in the Church
• Response to claim: 246, n31 - Martin Harris is claimed to have publicly stated that "none of the witnesses had physically seen or handled the plates" and that they had not seen them with their "natural eyes"
• Response to claim: 248, n44-45 - The author claims that Joseph wrote his 1838 narrative to secure his position and authority within the church
• Response to claim: 251 - Joseph moved his calling from 1823 to 1820 in order to disassociate himself from "troubling questions" regarding the Book of Mormon witnesses, who had left the Church
• Response to claim: 251-252 - The author claims that Joseph's motive for praying was different in the 1832 account than in the 1838 account
• Response to claim: 252 - The author claims that Joseph "knows that the pure gospel is not on the earth and therefore does not ask which church is right"
• Response to claim: 252 - "During the leadership crisis of April 1838, Joseph remembered a different purpose in going to pray"
• Response to claim: 253, n51 - Joseph is claimed to have "sought membership with the Methodists in Harmony, Pennsylvania" in 1828, well after he was instructed to join no churches in 1820

Conclusion

Summary: Claims made in "Conclusion"

Jump to Subtopic:

• Response to claim: 260 - The author claims that the witnesses did not literally view the gold plates
• Response to claim: 260 - The author claims that we have reinterpreted the witnesses' testimony to be "rational, impressive and unique"
• Response to claim: 261 - The author claims that the Church's foundational stories are inaccurate
• Response to claim: 263 - In many sacrament meetings, the tendency remains to simply mention Jesus' name and then talk about other matters rather than to discuss him and his ministry