Criticism of Mormonism/Books/The Changing World of Mormonism/Chapter 5


Chapter 4
A FAIR Analysis of:
Criticism of Mormonism/Books
A work by author: Jerald and Sandra Tanner
 Chapter 6

Claims made in Chapter 5: The Book of Mormon

Page Claim Response Author's sources

94
  • Brigham Young claimed that some of the Book of Mormon witnesses doubted that they had ever seen an angel.
  • Brigham

Young, Journal of Discourses 7:164.

94
  • Oliver Cowdery may have had doubts about his testimony.
  • Times and Seasons 1841 vol. 2, p.482

96
  • The witnesses to the Book of Mormon were "very gullible."

97
  • David Whitmer said that God told him to separate himself from among the Latter Day Saints.
  • An Address to All Believers in Christ, pp. 27-28

99-100
  • Some of the Book of Mormon witnesses later followed James Strang.
  • The witnesses never born the kind of testimony about Strang as they did about seeing and handling the plates.
  • James Strang
  •  [ATTENTION!]

103
  • Martin Harris changed his religion thirteen times.

108
  • Martin Harris said that he saw the plates with his "spiritual eyes."

108
  • David Whitmer said that he "handled the plates," but that he "did not touch nor handle the plates."
  • Saints Herald, 1882

108
  • Martin Harris said that the eight witnesses never saw the plates.
  • Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Winter, 1972, pp. 83-84

111
  • Material from the Presbyterian "Westminster Confession" is "probably" the source for Alma 40.
  • Westminster Confession; Alma 40

114
  • Joseph copied the name "Nephi" from the Apocrypha.
  •  [ATTENTION!]

115
  • The story of Moses leading the children of Israel out of Egypt was a source for the book of 1 Nephi.
  • Assertion is not an argument. The Tanners need evidence.
  • If this is so, where is the parting the sea? The ten plagues? The earth opening up to swallow the rebellious? Water from a rock? Manna from heaven? Joseph ignored the best, most dramatic parts.
  • Nephi consciously modeled his family on the Israelites, so some parallels are to be expected—only an initial belief that the book is a forgery makes this argument work. It is circular.
  • Book of Mormon plagiarized from the Bible

115
  • The Book of Mormon quotes Malachi many years before it was written.
  • The translation language may resemble Malachi, but the work is not attributed to Malachi. Joseph used entire chapters (e.g., 3 Nephi 12-14 based on biblical texts that he did not claim were quotations. If these are not a problem, then a resemblance to biblical language elsewhere is not either, since that is simply how Joseph translated.
  • Book of Mormon plagiarized from the Bible

116
  • The story of Lazarus being raised from the dead is a source for the story of Ammon.

118
  • The story of Alma was taken from the story of Paul.

119
  • The Book of Mormon contains material found in the New Testament.

122
  • In the Book of Mormon, Jesus quotes a paraphrase of Moses' words found in Acts 3:22-26.

123
  • The Greek terms "Alpha" and "Omega" appear in the Book of Mormon.

124
  • The Book of Mormon contains the Greek name Timothy.

125
  • Joseph Smith's mother said that he used to entertain them with stories about the ancient inhabitants of the American continent before he

translated the Book of Mormon.

  • History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, 1954 ed., p.83

127
  • B.H. Roberts concluded that the book View of the Hebrews could have provided a structural foundation for the Book of Mormon.

127
  • B.H. Roberts listed a number of parallels between View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon.

128
  • The Book of Mormon may have used Josiah Priest's book The Wonders of Nature as a source.

128-129
  • The Book of Mormon contains changes that altered the original meaning of the text.

132
  • It was claimed that the during the translation process that the proper spelling of words was given by the Lord.

133
  • Members of the Church have claimed that the Smithsonian uses the Book of Mormon in archaeological research.

139
  • Some Mormon archaeologists have begin to "face the truth" regarding Book of Mormon archeology by declaring that it is a "myth."
  • Book of Mormon archaeology
  • The same claim is made in One Nation Under Gods and is responded to here: [[One Nation Under Gods/Use of sources/No Book of Mormon

archaeology]]

  • Dee Green, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1969, pp.76-78

140-141
  • Mormon archaeologist Thomas Stuart Ferguson lost his testimony because he couldn't find any archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon.
  • Ferguson was not an archaeologist; he was an amateur with an inaccurate idea of what archaeology could accomplish.
  • John Gee, "The Hagiography of Doubting Thomas (Review of Quest for the Gold Plates: Thomas Stuart Ferguson's Archaeological Search for the Book of Mormon)," FARMS Review of Books 10/2 (1998): 158–183. off-site
  • Daniel C. Peterson and Matthew Roper, "Ein Heldenleben? On Thomas Stuart Ferguson as an Elias for Cultural Mormons (Review of: Quest for the Gold Plates: Thomas Stuart Ferguson’s Archaeological Search for the Book of Mormon)," FARMS Review 16/1 (2004): 175–220. off-site
  • Daniel C. Peterson, "On the New World Archaeological Foundation (Review of: Behind the Mask of Mormonism)," FARMS Review 16/1 (2004): 221–234. off-site
  •  [ATTENTION!]

141-142
  • Lehi would never have written using an Egyptian language. Jewish scriptures could not have been written in Egyptian.

144
  • None of the characters on the Anthon transcript bear any resemblance to known hieroglypics found in the New World.
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