Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Becoming Gods/Chapter 2

Chapter 1

A FAIR Analysis of: Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism A work by author: Richard Abanes

Chapter 3

Claim
Some Book of Mormon stories are simply reworked from the Bible or the Apocrypha.

Author's source(s)

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 62-63. ( Index of claims )

Response

•  Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact
• Book of Mormon plagiarized from the Apocrypha
• Book of Mormon/Plagiarism accusations/King James Bible

Claim
The 1839 history of the Church identified the angel who delivered the plates to Joseph as Nephi rather than Moroni.

Author's source(s)

• Joseph Smith 1839 History
• Millennial Star, vol. 3, no 12, pp. 53, 71.
• 1851 Pearl of Great Price, "Joseph Smith History," p. 41
• Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and His Progenitors for many Generations, p. 79.
• John C. Whitmer, "The Eight Witnesses," published in Andrew Jenson, HR, Oct. 1888, vol. 7, p. 621."

Response

• Moroni's visit/Nephi or Moroni

Claim
The name "Nephi" is related to "generic terms used by nineteenth-century occultists for spirit messengers."

Author's source(s)

• D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 198-199 ( Index of claims )

Response

•  Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact

Claim
Joseph used his seer stone to locate the plates.

Author's source(s)

• Martin Harris, Tiffany's Monthly interview, 1859.
• Hosea Stout, On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, Juanita Brooks, ed., vol. 2. p. 593.

Response

• Joseph Smith/Seer stones

Claim
Joseph Smith's vision of Moroni may have taken place through his seer stone.

Author's source(s)

• Steven C. Walker, "Joseph Smith: 'The Gift of Seeing,'" in Bryan Waterman ed., The Prophet Puzzle, p. 97.

Response

• Joseph Smith/Seer stones

Claim
The "golden book" was originally supposed to be about "hidden treasure" — the "religious twist" was added later.

Author's source(s)

• Parley Chase, letter to James T. Cobb, Apr. 3, 1879, in Wilhelm Wyl, Mormon Portraits Volume First: Joseph Smith the Prophet, His Family and Friends (Salt Lake City: Tribune Printing and Publishing Co., 1886), 276. , reprinted in Dan Vogel (editor), Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, 1996–2003), 5 vols, 3:135.
• Hiel Lewis, The Amboy Journal, Apr. 30, 1879, quoted in Wesley P. Walters, "The Mormon Prophet Attempts to Join the Methodists"

Response

•  The author's claim is false
• These supposed "early" accounts comes from hostile statements made forty to fifty years later!
  • Mark Ashurst-McGee, "Moroni as Angel and as Treasure Guardian," FARMS Review 18/1 (2006): 34–100. [{{{url}}} off-site] wiki
  • Larry E. Morris, "'I Should Have an Eye Single to the Glory of God’: Joseph Smith’s Account of the Angel and the Plates (Review of: "From Captain Kidd’s Treasure Ghost to the Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism")," FARMS Review 17/1 (2005): 11–82. off-site

Claim
Joseph translated the plates by looking at his seer stone in his hat. The plates were not nearby.

Author's source(s)

• Isaac Hale, "Mormonism," Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian, May 1, 1834, p. 1.

Response

• Book of Mormon translation method
• Joseph Smith/Seer stones

Claim
Each sentence and word in the 1830 Book of Mormon "had supposedly come directly from God."

Author's source(s)

• Joseph F. Smith, quoted by Oliver B. Huntington, Journal of Oliver Huntington, p. 168.

Response

•  Author(s) impose(s) own fundamentalism on the Saints
• Book of Mormon/Translation/Method

Claim
A voice from heaven proclaimed that the translation was correct, therefore no further editing should have been required.

Author's source(s)

• History of the Church, vol. 1, pp. 54-55.

Response

•  Author(s) impose(s) own fundamentalism on the Saints: a translation may be correct, and yet another way of expressing the idea may be equally (or more) correct. There is no such thing as a perfect or "one true" translation.
• Book of Mormon/Textual changes

Claim
The use of the word "synagogue" in the Book of Mormon is an anachronism.

Author's source(s)

• Book of Mormon, 1830 edition, p. 268
• Alma 16꞉13
• The New International Dictionary of the Bible, p. 972

Response

• Book of Mormon/Anachronisms/Synagogues

Claim
There are references to cows, oxen, horses, and goats in the New World hundreds of years before Christ.

Author's source(s)

• 1 Nephi 18꞉25
• Thomas D.S. Key, ""A Biologist Looks at the Book of Mormon,"" Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation, June 1985, XXX-VIII, p. 3."

Response

• Book of Mormon/Anachronisms/Animals

Claim
"LDS apologist John Sorenson has suggested that Smith mistranslated numerous words" from the gold plates and that "cattle and oxen should have been rendered deer and bison," and that "horses should also have been translated deer."

Author's source(s)

• John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, pp. 191-276, 299.

Response

•  The author's claim is false: Sorenson does not say they are a mistranslation. He says that linguistic patterns of naming new animals show us that the name of a familiar animal is often used to name a new animal that has only passing resemblance to the familiar creature.
• Book of Mormon/Anachronisms/Animals

Claim
The Book of Mormon "is simply a rehashing" of the speculation in the 19th century regarding Indian origins due to the presence of burial mounds "dotting the land."

Author's source(s)

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 34. ( Index of claims )

Response

• Book of Mormon/Geography/New World/Great Lakes geography/Mound Builders

Claim
Joseph Smith incorporated text from Josiah Priest's The Wonders of Nature into the Book of Mormon.

Author's source(s)

• Josiah Priest, The Wonders of Nature, 1825
• Abanes, p. 69
• The Tanners are the source of this comparison, although it is not explicitly stated by the author. The author does mention that the Tanners demonstrate that a copy of the book was available in the Manchester library."

Response

• Book of Mormon/Plagiarism accusations/The Wonders of Nature

Claim
Joseph Smith plagiarized Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews.

Author's source(s)

• Ethan Smith, View of the Hebrews, 1825
• David Persuitte, p. 107, 122
• Sandra Tanner, "Where Did Joseph Smith Get His Ideas for the Book of Mormon?"

Response

• Book of Mormon/Authorship theories/View of the Hebrews

Claim
Anyone who looked on the gold plates would die.

Author's source(s)

• Martin Harris, Tiffany's Monthly interview, 1859.

Response

• Viewing the gold plates would result in death?

Claim
The witnesses never actually physically saw the plates - they only saw them in visions.

Author's source(s)

• Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) 175-176. ( Index of claims )

Response

•  The author's claim is false
• Book of Mormon/Witnesses/Spiritual or literal

Claim
Martin Harris said that he never saw the plates with his "natural eyes."

Author's source(s)

• LDS apostle Stephen Burnett, letter to Lyman E. Johnson, April 15, 1838 reprinted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents 2:291

Response

•  Misrepresentation of source
• Book of Mormon/Witnesses/"Eye of Faith" and "Spiritual Eye" statements by Martin Harris

Claim
Cowdery, Whitmer and Harris's statements that they actually saw the plates only refer to times that the plates were either covered with a cloth or in a wooden box.

Author's source(s)

• Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) 198-199. ( Index of claims )
• Harris, Tiffany's Monthly interview, 1859."

Response

•  The author's claim is false
• Book of Mormon/Witnesses/Spiritual or literal

Claim
Martin Harris said that none of the eight witnesses had seen or handled the plates.

Author's source(s)

• Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) 204-206. ( Index of claims )

Response

• Book of Mormon/Witnesses/Spiritual or literal
• Eight witnesses
• John Whitmer: shown_to_me_by_a_supernatural_power

Claim
The Book of Mormon "can hardly be considered unique" since James Strang produced a set of plates that were seen by witnesses.

Author's source(s)

• Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) 208-212. ( Index of claims )

Response

• The author fails to tell us that the Strangite witnesses only testified about how the plates were found, and some of these witnesses (unlike the Book of Mormon witnesses) recanted later.
  • Strangite parallels for witnesses?
  • Book_of_Mormon/Witnesses

Claim
LDS defenders (apologists) have redefined many of the terms that Joseph Smith used in the Book of Mormon text: steel means iron, horses are deer, tents are huts, etc.

Author's source(s)

• Dan Vogel, Brent Metcalfe, American Apocrypha, p. xiii.

Response

•  Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact: the author quotes no "apologists," but only two critics.
•  The author's claim is false: LDS defenders argue that such terms have more than one meaning, and that ancient linguistic conventions sometimes apply old terms to new concepts. This version is a straw man and caricature of the argument, which the author has either not understood or misrepresented.
• Book of Mormon/Anachronisms

Claim
LDS scholars such as Dee F. Green have stated that Book of Mormon archaeology is a "myth."

Author's source(s)

• Dee F. Green, "Book of Mormon Archaeology: The Myths and the Alternatives," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 4 no. 3 (Summer 1969), 72-80.

Response

•  Misrepresentation of source: Green argued—in 1969—that the requisite work had not been done.
• Dee F. Green on Book of Mormon archaeology
• It is telling that the author must resort to a source that is at least 35 years old. A more current assessment is available:
  • John E. Clark, "'Archaeology, Relics, and Book of Mormon Belief'," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 14/2 (2005). [38–49] link
• Book of Mormon/Archaeology

Claim
Dr. Michael Coe stated that there was no Book of Mormon archaeology.

Author's source(s)

• Michael Coe, "Mormons and Archaeology: An Outside View," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Winter 1973), vol. 8, p. 44.

Response

• Book of Mormon/Lamanites/Relationship to Amerindians/Maya and Olmec

Claim
LDS scholar Terryl L. Givens "admitted" that no connection has been made between the Book of Mormon and cultures or civilizations in the Western hemisphere.

Author's source(s)

• Terryl L. Givens, By the Hand of Mormon, p. 155.

Response

• The author acknowledges in his endnote that Givens "however, also quoted BYU professor Daniel Peterson, who made a statement in support of the BOM's unique character."
• See Daniel C. Peterson, "Editor's Introduction: By What Measure Shall We Mete? (Review of Hodgson's Test)," FARMS Review of Books 2/1 (1990): vii–vii. off-site
• Book of Mormon/Lamanites/Relationship to Amerindians/Maya and Olmec

Claim
The limited geography theory "cannot bear rigorous scrutiny" and "does violence" to the text of the Book of Mormon.

Author's source(s)

• Vogel and Metcalfe, American Apocrypha, pp. viii-ix.
• Deanne G. Matheny, "Does the Shoe Fit? A critique of the Limited tehuantepec Geography," in New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology.

Response

•  Double standard: On p. 66, the author cited Green's opinion from 1969. Green argues that a limited geography should be given serious consideration, and that seeing all Amerindians as only Lamanites is a mistake not supported by the text. But, the author will not accept Green's view of this matter.
• Book of Mormon/Geography/New World/Limited Geography Theory

Claim
Apologists have suggested that "not a single early Mormon, including Joseph Smith, ever bothered reading the Book of Mormon 'closely enough to grasp the fact' " that the plates were not buried in the hill where the final Nephite battle occurred.

Author's source(s)

• John L. Sorenson and Matthew Roper, "Before DNA," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 12/1 (2003). [6–23] link, p. 10.

Response

• The author omits the line preceding the quoted phrase, where Sorenson and Roper indicate that "there is no evidence that in the early years any detailed thought was given to geography. Actually, the Book of Mormon was little referred to or used among church members in the first decades except as a confirming witness of the Bible. The writings or preaching of some of the best-informed church leaders of that day show that they did not read the text carefully on matters other than doctrine."
• Early members' preoccupations and interests were almost entirely doctrinal and theological. Since geography is incidental to the Book of Mormon's message, this is to be expected.
• If Joseph Smith was the author of the Book of Mormon, his ignorance on such points would be astonishing. Since he was only a translator, however, the fact that he was unaware of some of the book's nuances is unsurprising.

Claim
Joseph Smith said that the angel told him that all American Indians were "literal descendants of Abraham," but DNA has disproved this.

Author's source(s)

• Joseph Smith's 1835 account of the First Vision found in the Ohio Journal—1835-1836, Nov. 9, 1835, reprinted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, p. 44.
• Joseph Smith, Mar. 1, 1842, letter to John Wentworth, History of the Church, Vol. 4, p. 537.
• Meldrum, "Children of Lehi"

Response

•  Double standard: On p. 66, the author cited Green's opinion from 1969. Green argues that seeing all Amerindians as only Lamanites is a mistake not supported by the text. But, the author will not accept Green's view of this matter. Further, this is evidence for the position (which the author mocks on p. 67) that Joseph did not know his own book's contents.
•  Misrepresentation of source: all Amerindians are descendants of Lehi; they are not just descendants of Lehi:
• Book of Mormon/Lamanites/Relationship to Amerindians
• All Amerindians are descended from Lehi
• Book of Mormon/DNA evidence

Claim
Joseph Smith founded the "Restored Church" on the belief that all Native Americans were descendants of the Israelites.

Author's source(s)

• Oliver Cowdery's Speech to the Delawares. Parley P. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt.

Response

•  Misrepresentation of source: all Amerindians are descendants of Lehi; they are not just descendants of Lehi:
• Book of Mormon/Lamanites/Relationship to Amerindians
• All Amerindians are descended from Lehi

Claim
All modern Mormons believed that all inhabitants of the New World were descendants of the Lamanites until "science showed it to be erroneous."

Author's source(s)

• DC 54꞉8—"And thus you shall take your journey into the regions westward, unto the land of Missouri, unto the borders of the Lamanites"

Response

•  Internal contradiction: 66: The Green article argued in 1969 that Lehites were not the only source of Amerindian stock.
•  The author's claim is false: The Green article proves that "all modern Mormons" did not think this. There are also many other statements which show that this view was not universal:
  • Statements about Book of Mormon geography and peoples
• Book of Mormon/Geography/Borders of the Lamanites

Claim
The "updated LDS paradigm" claims that Nephites intermarried with non-Israelite natives, thus diluting their DNA.

Author's source(s)

• Cooper Johnson, DNA and the Book of Mormon, FAIR web site

Response

• While the LDS are not opposed to new insights and concepts in principle, this is not an example of such—statements show that this "updated paradigm" has had advocates for at least one hundred years: Statements about Book of Mormon geography and peoples
• Book of Mormon/Lamanites/Relationship to Amerindians

Claim
The LDS view has always been that Israelites were the first people to populate the Americas, since the land was "kept from the knowledge of other nations."

Author's source(s)

• 2 Nephi 1꞉6
• J. Reuben Clark, "Prophecies, Penalties, and Blessings," Improvement Era, July 1940, vol. xliii., no. 7 quoted in Bill McKeever, "DNA and the Book of Mormon Record," Mormonism Research Ministry.

Response

•  Internal contradiction: 66: The Green article argued in 1969 that Lehites were not the only source of Amerindian stock.
•  The author's claim is false: The Green article proves that "all modern Mormons" did not think this. There are also many other statements which show that this view was not universal: Statements about Book of Mormon geography and peoples
• Book of Mormon/Anachronisms/Demographics

Claim
Not many Christians actually believe that the world was created around 4000 B.C., or that the flood occurred around 2000 B.C. In fact, "[T]he majority of traditional Christians understand that the world is older than 6000 years," therefore the claim that the DNA argument is fundamentalist "suicide bombing" is false.

Author's source(s)

• No source is provided by the author for his claim that the "majority of Christians" understand that the world is older than 6000 years.
• Daniel C. Peterson, FAIR Conference, untitled lecture, Aug. 8, 2003, author's private notes.
• David Stewart, "DNA and the Book of Mormon"

Response

• The author ignores that many critics who use DNA evidence against the Book of Mormon do belong to denominations that advocate a Young Earth and/or a universal Noachian flood. The criticism is therefore valid as it applies to them.
• Fundamentalist "suicide bombing"

Claim
The Lamanites were supposed to become "white" once they converted en masse to Mormonism. This was to be accomplished by having LDS men take Indian wives.

Author's source(s)

• W.W. Phelps, "Revelation Received West of Jackson County, Missouri, July 17, 1831," reprinted in H. Michael Marquardt, The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text & Commentary, p. 375.

Response

• Polygamy/Lamanites to become "white and delightsome" through polygamous marriage

Claim
The phrase "white and delightsome" was changed to "pure and delightsome" in the Book of Mormon.

Author's source(s)

• 2 Nephi 30꞉6 (pre-1981 edition)

Response

•  History unclear or in error: The change was made by Joseph Smith in 1836; it was not made under the influence of science or DNA.
• Book of Mormon/Textual changes/"white" changed to "pure"

Claim
LDS leaders claimed that the alteration to the Book of Mormon had nothing to do with the Indians physically turning white. LDS leaders taught that the curse would one day be removed.

Author's source(s)

• No source provided.

Response

• Book of Mormon/Lamanites/Curse
• 2 Nephi 5꞉21

Claim
LDS apologists dismiss Church teachings in order to make Mormonism compatible with scientific findings.

Author's source(s)

• Author's opinion

Response

•  The author's claim is false: as shown above, leaders and members have not been of one mind on this issue about which there is no official Church position.
•  Misrepresentation of source: The author has failed to account for material in the sources he cites which disprove his claim.
• Mormonism and science

Claim
LDS apologist B.H. Roberts "reached a shocking conclusion" that that Book of Mormon wasn't authentic.

Author's source(s)

• B.H. Roberts, Studies of the Book of Mormon, p. 271, 243.

Response

•  The author's claim is false
•  Misrepresentation of source
• Book of Mormon/B.H. Roberts and "Studies of the Book of Mormon"

Claim
B.H. Roberts "had come to realize that the Book of Mormon was a nonhistorical document."

Author's source(s)

• Wesley P. Lloyd statement at www.lds-mormon.com/bhrlettr.shtml

Response

•  The author's claim is false
•  Misrepresentation of source
• Book of Mormon/B.H. Roberts' testimony

Claim
FARMS claims that Roberts was playing "devils advocate," but have never provided documentation to support this assertion. They only focus on his declarations that he made before he reached his "final conclusion."

Author's source(s)

• Truman G. Madsen, "B.H. Roberts and the Book of Mormon," BYU Studies (Summer 1979), volume 19, pp. 427-445.

Response

•  The author's claim is false: there are statements both before and after his conclusion, some within weeks of Roberts' death.
• Book of Mormon/B.H. Roberts' testimony
• Use of sources—Roberts and the Book of Mormon

Claim
Thomas Stuart Ferguson lost his testimony of the Book of Mormon after failing to find archaeological evidence.

Author's source(s)

• Thomas Stuart Ferguson, One fold and One Shepherd.
• Jerald and Sandra Tanner, "Ferguson's Two Faces," Salt Lake City Messenger #69, Sept. 1988, p. 3
• Ferguson letter dated Feb. 9, 1976.
• Ferguson letter dated Feb. 9, 1976.

Response

• Thomas Stuart Ferguson
• Book of Mormon archaeology

Claim
LDS scholars believe that Quetzalcoatl was Jesus Christ. However, Quetzalcoatl's association with a "feathered serpent" constitutes "snake worship," and is therefore inconsistent with worship of Jesus Christ.

Author's source(s)

• John L. Sorenson, "The Decline of the God Quetzalcoatl, " in Pressing Forward with the Book of Mormon, p. 234.
• Joseph Allen, Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon.
• Joseph Allen, "The White god Quetzalcoatl," Meridian Magazine, 2003.
• Adela Fernandez, Pre-Hispanic Gods of Mexico, p. 68
• Quetzalcoatl the Myth, www.weber.ucsd.edu.

Response

•  The author's claim is false: At best, some LDS scholars see Quetzalcoatl as a cultural memory or corruption of Christ's visit and teachings.
• Other LDS scholars, however, strongly disagree. For example:
  • Brant Gardner, "Where Much Is Promised, Less Is Given, A review of Decoding Ancient America: A Guide to the Archaeology of the Book of Mormon by Diane E. Wirth," FARMS Review 20/1 (2008): 15–32. off-site wiki
  • Brant Gardner, "A New Chronicler in the Old Style," FARMS Review 19/1 (2007): 13–22. off-site wiki
  • Brant Gardner, "The Other Stuff: Reading the Book of Mormon for Cultural Information (Review of: Nephite Culture and Society: Selected Papers)," FARMS Review of Books 13/2 (2001): 21–52. off-site
  • Brant A. Gardner, Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 6 Vols. (Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford Books, 2007), 4:1–.

• See also: Jesus Christ/Relationship to Quetzalcoatl