2004. Mormon apologists have come up with numerous explanations to account for this. Myth #1: The Mormon Church is the fastest growing religion in the world. Through the employment of some calculations, Read Putnam concluded that the plates were more akin to 50 pounds in weight (22.67kg). p. 84.; Kirkham, F. 1951.

Journalists have seen no problem using this phrase to describe all sorts of armed conflict be it large or small. The two men prayed and the “same vision” was opened to them (15). The problem is that Smith kept the objects concealed from view as they were usually said to have been covered with a cloth (22), placed in a box (23), or hidden behind a curtain (24). Hill, M. 1972. Archaeology: There is absolutely no archaeological evidence to directly support the Book of Mormon or the Nephites and Lamanites, who were supposed to have numbered in the millions. Eight other men besides the three mentioned above would also claim to have seen the plates. Your generous support makes the work of MRM possible. The witnesses Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris were informed that by faith they would receive a view of the plates (12). After he had left the other three men prayed and this time an angel stood before them holding the plates. The fact is, Joseph Smith died in a gun battle*using a pistol that was smuggled to him while incarcerated at Carthage jail. Brodie Revisited: A Reappraisal. Joseph turned around and knocked him down, then ran at the top of his speed” (5). I afterwards understood that two or three were wounded by these discharges, two of whom, I am informed, died” (John Taylor, vol.

Myth #5: Brigham Young never taught Adam was God. To date, nothing has been found to verify Book of Mormon sites. . *Some Mormons have objected to the use of the term “gun battle.” A “battle” can be a fight between as few as two persons. Brooke, J. Thus, given this background knowledge of the eyewitness, it is not particularly impressive that these men claimed to have seen an angel and receive visions corroborating Smith’s claims. While it is true that those who minister in the LDS Church on a local level (such as the bishop) are not remunerated, Doctrine and Covenants 42:71-73 says they should be. The likes of witchcraft and the supernatural were also quite at home in the lives of the earliest Mormons (21). The Church of the Latter-day Saints. The scientists, led b Given the testimonial evidence it can be taken with relative certainty that Smith possessed some kind of object akin to plates, whether they were plates exactly we will likely never know. When David Marks stopped at the Whitmers on March 1830, the eight witnesses “affirmed, that an angel had showed them certain plates of metal, having the appearance of gold that were dug out of the ground by one Joseph Smith.” They explained to Mark’s certain basic points about the Book of Mormon and its contents but claimed to have viewed the plates in vision only” (19). An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon. The Refiner’s Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844. p. 77. 8. Help others to learn by sharing with them what you have! 14.

6. 1994. & Harris, F. 1937. The fact is, there were more men than women in early Utah when polygamy was being practiced. 7, pp. p. 79. Dee F. Green, who had worked with Ferguson's New World Archaeological Foundation, was one of the first to openly criticize "Book of Mormon archaeology."

According to Robert N. Hullinger, the eight witnesses. Myth #7: Polygamy was necessary in early Utah because there were more women than men. Perhaps most striking in the list of provided names is that many of the men were related. The Keystone of Our Religion. 21. p. 179. The implied assumption in this theory, that there have been more females than male members in the Church, is not supported by existing evidence. The four Whitmers were also brothers to David Whitmer (17). Seven Claims of the Book of Mormon. The Smithsonian Institution has never used the Book of Mormon in any way as a scientific guide. Myth #3: Reading the Book of Mormon will tell you all about Mormon doctrine. According to the Mormon historian Marvin S. Hill, in an article response entitled Brodie Revisited: A Reappraisal. This story would seem to stretch credulity.

102-103). Roman Historian Thallus Mentions Darkness During Jesus’ Crucifixion. No “angel of God” laid the plates before them; no “voice of the Lord” told them to testify of what they saw… However, the eight did claim revelation in their conversations with others. The challenge for accepting these testimonies based on visions would be the same if an individual claimed to be an eyewitness to a murder and while providing his testimony in a court claimed that he seen the crime take place in a “vision.” One wouldn’t take such a testimony seriously, and perhaps for good reason. Register or Log in, choose your favorite forum and start posting or replying to topics. 2007. A look at the impossibility of following through on this statement. However, the likes of this was not particularly unusual for the eyewitnesses.

Hedges, A. 2. Despite Mormons holding to a number of religious texts, the Book of Mormon stands in as the word of God, includes many details and truths missing from the Bible, and is deemed the “keystone” of Mormonism (1). p. 108. The evidence is extremely contradictory in this area, but there is a possibility that the three witnesses saw the plates in vision only, for Stephen Burnett in a letter written in 1838, a few weeks after the event, described Martin Harris’ testimony to this effect: ‘When I came to hear Martin Harris state in public that he never saw the plates with his natural eyes only in vision or imagination, neither Oliver nor David .

p. 283. What was the approximate weight of the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated? Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 7(4): 83. Given Brodie’s assumptions, was there not deception here, if not collusion? BYU Studies Quarterly. However, this did not occur in the room where Smith was apparently translating the plates but rather in the woods.