FAIR Study Aids/Gospel Doctrine/Book of Mormon/Lesson One

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Lesson 1: "The Keystone of our Religion"

LDS Lesson Manual

Gospel Doctrine Teacher's Manual - Lesson 1: The Keystone of Our Religion

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1. “The Keystone of our Religion”

a. Discuss how, for the same reasons, the Book of Mormon also plays a “keystone” role in our apologetic efforts – our defense of the Church will fail if we cannot adequately defend the Book of Mormon

b. At the same time, due to the nature of how the Book of Mormon came forth, evidence for the Book of Mormon also serves as evidence that (1) God exists, (2) Jesus Christ is the Savior and was resurrected, (3) that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet, and (4) that the Church he established is God’s Church. Thus, when we can bolster faith in the Book of Mormon, other concerns lose some of their potency.

2. Many Witnesses have Testified of the Book of Mormon

a. The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith

- Angel vs. Treasure Guardian: Some critics have claimed that Joseph Smith’s story of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon started out a money-digger’s yarn, with Moroni as a spirit guardian of buried treasure. Earliest sources better support the religious context (Mark Ashurst-McGee; Larry E. Morris). Furthermore, ancient motifs of angels delivering hidden books better fits the context of Joseph Smith’s story (John A. Tvedtnes)

- Evidence for metal records and the practice of hiding them and other important documents in stone boxes; sealed books, etc.

- Could also add insight from Elder Holland’s October 2009 GC talk about Joseph and Hyrum affirming the divinity of the Book of Mormon in the face of death.

b. The Three and Eight Witnesses

- Could discuss the different experiences of the two sets of witnesses, how they compliment and affirm each other.

- Share background information on each or some of the witnesses that show that they were honest and trustworthy.

- Talk about how none ever denied their testimony, despite the fact that some fell away.

- Comment of the Consistency of their testimony.

- Relevant Criticisms: the witnesses are superstitious or visionary and therefore not reliable; some reports show they only claimed to see them “with an eye of faith” (or “spiritual eyes”), “out of the body”, “in a vision”, etc.; attempts to pass the experience of the three witnesses off as a hallucination, hypnotic spell, or merely “visionary”; attempts to redefine the experience of the eight witnesses as “visionary”; fuss over the fact that Joseph wrote the signed statements in the Book of Mormon; complaints that “all witnesses” stood by their testimony is an exaggeration since we don’t have personal writings from all 11 affirming their testimony. (Essentially all of these have been dealt with by Richard Lloyd Anderson in his book, or the various articles he has written)

c. Other Witnesses

- Inform people about the little know stories of the “informal witnesses” such as William Smith, Lucy Mack Smith, Emma Smith, Mary Whitmer, Lucy Harris, Josiah Stowell, etc. Discuss how these experience help solidify the objective existence of real, tangible plates.

3. The Book of Mormon was Written for Our Day

a. Here the Manual points out that although the Book of Mormon is ancient, it was still written for our day. While this is true, it could also be pointed out that although the Book of Mormon was written for our day, it is still an ancient document. Meaning, that it should not be held to modern assumptions and expectations. While it is good to “liken” the scriptures to ourselves for spiritual and practical purposes, we should not subsequently impose our modern viewpoint onto the authors of the ancient text. Understanding this import concept helps resolve several criticisms against the text.

4. The Book of Mormon Can Bring us Nearer to God

a. Since the this refers us to the quote that also says the Book of Mormon is the “most correct” book, this could be a good time to discuss scriptural fallibility, pointing out that the Title Page warns about the “faults of men”(as do other verses in the Book of Mormon).

b. Also, since critics frequently use this quote when making a fuss over changes in the Book of Mormon, it might be a good time to introduce the Critical Text Project and Skousen’s Earliest Text edition of the Book of Mormon.

c. Finally, a discussion of what Joseph Smith actually meant by “most correct book” and how the critics are completely missing the mark may also be in order.

5. Additional Scholarly/Apologetic issues pertinent to the Introductory martial (Title Page, Introduction, etc.)

a. Joseph Smith said the Title Page was at the back of the plates. This is counterintuitive to our modern sensibilities, but exactly what should be expected from an ancient Near-Eastern document (William J. Hamblin).

b. The Introduction says that Book of Mormon peoples are “among” the ancestors of the Native Americans. This could be a doorway to discussing:

- “Others” in the Book of Mormon: This implies that others would have also been in the America’s before Columbus, and a close reading of the Book of Mormon text also suggests the presence of others (John Sorenson, Matt Roper, and others)

- The limited scope of Book of Mormon Geography: Book of Mormon people thus only occupied a small portion of the continent, a fact that is clear from a close reading of the text.

- DNA and the Book of Mormon: Point out that critics have used DNA to attack the Book of Mormon, but LDS scientists have shown that this criticism is ill-founded, and have provided several reasons why their DNA might disappear.

- While human genetics does not offer evidence of Near-Eastern contact, evidence from other fields, such as linguistics, do (Brian Stubbs). Could also point out evidence gathered by John Sorenson from botany, etc. and discuss the importance, as Sorenson points out, of using a holistic approach and not just relying on one type of evidence, like DNA.

- The Introduction talks about the translation by the “gift and power of God.” This could be a doorway to discussing different translation theories, and how we don’t know exactly what it means to translate by the “gift and power.” Discussion such as this may be necessary in conjunction with the discussion of changes and scriptural fallibility.