Comments on: Book of Mormon Evidence

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 02:55:33 +0000

Chris,
I know this reply is a few years late, and you may never read this…. But I can’t help but notice you don’t follow your own advice. You see, if you really thought to research something in any capacity whatsoever, you would have at least read the Book of Mormon. You are only showing your ignorance by posting your comment here. Also, I’m assuming you wrote that on a computer. For future reference: a little spell check goes a long way. Read the book before you choose to tear it down. That way you will be accountable for your short sighted remarks.

By: Thaddeus

Thaddeus — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:40:09 +0000

Chris, our purpose on this website isn't to prove we're right. This post's aim was just to show that our beliefs are not baseless. If you would like references to published archeologists, anthropologists, linguists, and other respected scientists (both within and outside the LDS Church), please visit mi.byu.edu, fairlds.org, and MormonEvidence.com. They have extensive bibliographies.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:34:41 +0000

Congratulations on referancing your work from your religions own teachings and a web site claiming to have evidence but not having any REAL facts. Maybe you should learn to use science as evidence. Do you even know what scientific evidence is? Please if you are going to referance anything it should be from PUBLISHED BOOKS, but I guess its very easy to sit back and never expand your knowlage, its very easy to belive the silly stuff other people say, facts that people throw at you are generaly like Chinese whispers, no one takes the time to find things out for themselves they just leach knowlege off their close social group and base their opinions and belives off what others say. After all the only thing mormons need is faith right? Faith that what Mary told you at sunday school must be right!

Ah good old faith, the supression of all reason and logic. A way of just saying “I dont care about evidence I just belive it because I was told to” well imagine God doesnt exist, wouldnt faith be pretty stupid then?

By: Thaddeus

Thaddeus — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:35:37 +0000

Aaron, I think you may have missed my point. We don't base our beliefs on the scholarly evidence. Our basis for belief is answered prayer. The evidence serves to strengthen and support our faith in a secondary capacity. Still, the fact that olive culture is present in the book should make you wonder. How did Joseph know to include that and the dozens of other discoveries that are inconsistent with the 19th century composition hypothesis? We only hope this wonder will transform into curiosity which will in turn lead to investigating the Book of Mormon by reading it and praying yourself.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Sun, 17 May 2009 14:43:10 +0000

It does seem very strange that you can base 1/5 of your belief on the fact that Joseph Smith did not know anything about olive tree cultivation.

By: Thaddeus

Thaddeus — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:26:00 +0000

Thank you, Mike, because that was exactly my point in this article. Rational thought and scientific endeavor do indicate a less-gullible, less-error prone populace, but it's a long shot from inerrant.

That is why the Lord has not instituted science to answer the most important questions. He has given us a way to know through the Holy Spirit which is accessible to everyone, regardless of education level.

Regarding your quote from Dr. Barker, I agree that much of Mormon scholarship is biased because of the polarizing nature of the topic. And so is Dr. Barker's research. There are non-Mormons who do scholarship on Mormons with the sole purpose of attacking the Church. Surely their credibility is just as questionable.

By: Mike's 4 Tea

Mike's 4 Tea — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:16:00 +0000

It is a fallacy to assume that people have to be lacking in intelligence and education to believe error. There is not a man or woman who ever lived, apart from Jesus, who didn't hold to some suspect idea or another in an otherwise sensible and intelligent life. I always find the following quotes helpful in tying to reconcile intellgent Mormons with questionable aspects of Mormonism:

"Jason J. Barker, Director of the Southwest Institute for Orthodox Studies, Arlington, TX, in a paper entitled Who is the Representative Mormon Intellectual? Assessing Mormon Apologetics, examines the LDS educational philosophy. Whilst recognising that 'an increasing number of Latter-day Saints are currently active in mainstream academics', he goes on to quote Karl Sandberg, a Mormon and a French professor (emeritus) at Macalester College, who observes;

"There are Mormons who do scholarship in all of the various disciplines — they play by the same rules as everyone else, they participate in the same dynamics, and they produce the same kind of knowledge. This is not the case, however, when Mormons do scholarship about Mormonism or directly related subjects."

Barker goes on to explain that 'The primary reason for this discrepancy…is that Mormon-specific scholarship in the LDS Church is necessarily limited by the boundaries of Mormon orthodoxy and orthopraxy.” He quotes Sanburg further who elaborates;

"There are prominent examples of Mormon scholarship whose purpose appears to be that of giving scholarly permission to people to believe what they already believed on subjective grounds and of answering and repulsing any perceived attacks on the Church."