Why the flip-flop? Because all the previous explanations for a man-made book had failed.Ĭredit: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints So, the current argument being made is that Joseph Smith was a creative genius who read numerous books, such as “View of the Hebrews” and “The Late War Between the United States and Great Britain” and then copied ideas and stories from them. This, of course, is a total flip-flop, a 180-degree reversal from the original argument that Joseph was incapable, too ignorant to write such a book. Now, all of a sudden Joseph is a skilled, creative writer with genius intellect. These arguments, however, have been so thoroughly discredited that they are seldom mentioned anymore. The initial argument by the critics that the Book of Mormon was man-made was based on the premise that Joseph Smith was too unlearned and “ignorant” to write such a comprehensive work and therefore someone allegedly much more intelligent than he, such as Sidney Rigdon or Oliver Cowdery, must have authored it. Later, arguments arose that Joseph copied it from the Solomon Spaulding Manuscript or that he suffered from a mental disorder that somehow endowed him, an untrained writer, with superior writing skills. A natural question that arises at some point is whether or not this book is man-made or God-given. 2016.This year we will be studying the Book of Mormon as part of the “ Come, Follow Me” curriculum. Callister was serving as the general Sunday School president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when this talk was given on 1 Nov. The Spirit is the only witness that is sure and certain and infallible.” – Brother Callister
The Spirit is the decisive, determining factor-not archeology, not linguistics, not DNA, and certainly not the theories of man. The very Spirit that helps me know the Bible is true is the very same Spirit that helps me know the Book of Mormon is true. If I were to ask my good Christian friends how they unquestionably know the Bible is the word of God, I do not believe they would cite archeological discoveries or linguistic connections with ancient Hebrew or Greek as their prime evidence, but rather they would make reference to the Spirit. Joseph Smith’s wife, Emma, the person who knew him better than any other, confirms this conclusion: ‘Joseph Smith could neither write nor dictate a coherent and well-worded letter, let alone dictate a book like the Book of Mormon.’ It is one thing to have creative ideas, it is quite another to put them into a complex, but coherent and harmonious whole, inundated with majestic doctrinal truths, all done in a single draft in less than 90 days. The argument that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon is simply counter to the realities of life.
Once we have a foundational testimony of the Book of Mormon, then any question or challenge we confront in life, however difficult it may seem, can be approached with faith, not doubt.ĭoes the critic expect us to believe that Joseph searched out and studied all these resources on Native American life, inhaled the related conversations on the topic, winnowed out the irrelevant, organized the remainder into an intricate story involving hundreds of characters, numerous locations, detailed war strategies, and then that he dictated it with perfect recollection, without any notes whatsoever-no outline, no 3×5 cards, nothing-a fact acknowledged even among the critics? And during it all no one remembers him going to these libraries, bringing any such books home, having any conversation concerning this research or making any diary entries to the same. On the other hand, if its origin is God-given, then Joseph Smith was a prophet, and if he was a prophet then the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true.
“Because the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion, as described by Joseph Smith, the Church rises or falls on the truth of it.Īs a result, if the Book of Mormon can be proved to be man-made, then the Church is man-made. Read and listen to more BYU Speeches here: Subscribe to BYU Speeches for the latest videos: Many critics of the Book of Mormon have tried but failed to give a credible alternative to Joseph Smith’s testimony of it. The Book of Mormon: Man-Made or God-Given? | Tad R.
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