For those who deny that the Book of Mormon was received by the gift and power of God, an alternative explanation has to be created. For decades, the explanation was that Joseph Smith was too stupid and uneducated to have written the Book of Mormon, so someone else must have. For decades the claim was … Read more
One of the popular anti-Mormon arguments is that Joseph Smith stole Freemasonry to invent the temple endowment. The history and evidence do show that, like many influential men of the time including the Founding Fathers, Joseph Smith and several early Church leaders did join the Freemasons shortly before the Nauvoo Temple endowment. Nauvoo itself had … Read more
The Book of Mormon makes the claim that at least some of the ancestors of Native American Indians originally came from Jerusalem. If Native Americans originally came from ancient Israel, it would make sense that there would be some evidence of similarities. The book View of the Hebrews written by Ethan Smith in 1823 presents … Read more
The second principle of the gospel is repentance. To be happy in life, we must repent and accept the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Fixating on past errors and sorrows creates discontentment and ingratitude and limits our ability to grow. Happiness requires moving on from past wrongs and focusing on improving the present and the future. … Read more
The Rosetta Stone chapter in A Letter For My Wife feels an impressive piece of evidence. Showing a real artifact that was instrumental in understanding Egyptian. It’s something most people recognize, so it provides some assumed authority. Faulk uses it to imply that modern Egyptology settled the Book of Abraham question long ago because of … Read more
The reality is that we know very little with certainty about what the facsimiles in the Book of Abraham originally were or why they were considered significant in the ancient world. While scholars can identify the general type of Egyptian artwork they resemble, there is far more uncertainty surrounding who originally used them, how they … Read more
The GAEL (Grammar and Egyptian Alphabet) project found in the Kirtland Egyptian Papers are a collection of documents created between July and November 1835 that are closely connected to the early work surrounding the Book of Abraham. They include documents titled, The Egyptian Alphabet, the Egyptian Grammar, and the Egyptian Counting document, along with several … Read more
The Book of Abraham is a short book of scripture translated by Joseph Smith in 1835. The text presents itself as an ancient record connected to Abraham, containing teachings about covenant, priesthood, premortal existence, creation, and God’s relationship with humanity. It now appears in the Pearl of Great Price. Joseph Smith stated that the papyri … Read more
Critics of the Church cannot explain how the Book of Mormon came to be, how Joseph Smith produced inspired scripture, and that fact frustrates them. Because they cannot account for its existence on its own terms, they are always searching for an alternative explanation. The underlying assumption never changes. Surely Joseph Smith was not capable … Read more
Anti-Mormons claim that Joseph Smith supposedly wrote a private letter to Nancy Rigdon to justify immoral behavior as he was proposing marriage to her. The “happiness letter” originated, and the only reason we know about it is because of John C. Bennett. And even though the historical credibility of this letter is almost zero, it … Read more