Daniel Peterson's Article on Book of Mormon in Deseret News

[_Tator]

Bump for why me......

Brade's questions?

[_why me]

why me, will you address my questions?

What I am saying that it is quite an achievement if it were a fraud. The window of opportunity to expose this fraud was when all the suposed fraudsters were alive during the fraud. And many exmormons and critics tried to do this. But all failed. To my mind, david whitmer was the last and he had his testimony put on his tombstone.

[_Drifting]

why me, will you address my questions?

What I am saying that it is quite an achievement if it were a fraud. The window of opportunity to expose this fraud was when all the suposed fraudsters were alive at the during the fraud. And many tried to do this. But all failed. To my mind, david whitmer was the last and he had his testimony put on his tombstone.

Why Me, the evidence of it being a fraud can be seen throughout posts on this board. People like you choose not to see it. I suspect that people in Joseph's day were no different. Yes people joined the Church, but far far far more saw it for what it was and gave it a wide berth - and that is still the same today. The window of opportunity for showing its fraudulent nature is still wide open, even for you...

[_brade]

why me, will you address my questions?

What I am saying that it is quite an achievement if it were a fraud. The window of opportunity to expose this fraud was when all the suposed fraudsters were alive during the fraud. And many exmormons and critics tried to do this. But all failed. To my mind, david whitmer was the last and he had his testimony put on his tombstone.

Is the following statement true or false?

If the Mormon church were a fraud, then it wouldn't still exists.

Is the following statement true or false?

The Mormon church still exists.

[_Jaybear]

Emma Smith Bidamon's final years in Nauvoo were family-focused and private. She shared the Nauvoo House, her final home, with relatives and friends and basked in the love and care of her children and grandchildren. She continued to live her life with genteel qualities, meeting adversity and difficulty with grace and equanimity.

That's nice. Perhaps then it was Smith who brought out the evil in her.

In the end, it all ended well. Right? I don't expect Brigham or Emma to be perfect beings.

So the fact that Emma tried to poison Smith, twice, doesn't mean much to you. After all nobody is perfect.

But participate in a fraud that puts food on her table, a roof over her head, and money in her purse, nah, she would have to be a "sociopath."

Your moral compass needs some adjusting.

[_Jaybear]

These poor guys throughout their lives were asked to go over again and again what they saw and felt with their hands. If I were them, I don't think that I could have taken it.

You can't bring yourself to admit that your reasoning is inane, even though Brade has aptly demonstrated that fact.

But here you expect us to believe that you would admit under public pressure to having either been duped, or having lied.

Your strength is faith, and conviction or your belief, not logical reasoning. You should stay with what you know.

[_Themis]

If as you claim that emma was in on the fraud, what would you call her for allowing so many people to suffer because of it? What kind of person would allow people to trek to unknown lands with a man she had problems with knowing that it was all fake? And the suffering these people endured on their way to the then unknown valley?

I made no such claims, and even if she was, there may be to many factors to look at like pious frauds, self delusion, etc. You seem to think in only black and white. She wanted her son to lead the church, and I wouldn't doubt for her family to be remembered. She had no control on what BY group did. You believe what you want and continue to assert things you have no idea about. At least some of us can try to look at different possibilities. In the end it is speculation, but we need only look at other things like the Book of Mormon, Book of Abraham, etc to see the church is not true.

[_Themis]

These poor guys throughout their lives were asked to go over again and again what they saw and felt with their hands. If I were them, I don't think that I could have taken it. When one sees an angel one can describe it as seeing it through spiritual eyes. Why not? Sounds good and different from the past 30 times. Then back to the same old same old for the next 30 times when asked to give it again.

But on the deathbed, he was as clear as the sun on a sunny day about what he saw.

Actually the evidence in those instances were more an admission. People can also delude themselves and change their memories of past events. It's very common, and happens to all of us to some extent. Much unintentional. Joseph was skilled in getting people to see things that were not there, and he had people who were believers to begin with.

[_Drifting]

That's becuase you avoid other evidence which suggests that they did. Do you know how they would differentiate between the two. Particularly read up on glass looking.

These poor guys throughout their lives were asked to go over again and again what they saw and felt with their hands. If I were them, I don't think that I could have taken it. When one sees an angel one can describe it as seeing it through spiritual eyes. Why not? Sounds good and different from the past 30 times. Then back to the same old same old for the next 30 times when asked to give it again.

But on the deathbed, he was as clear as the sun on a sunny day about what he saw.

Yes, those poor guys. Being put through all that for a completely irrelevant artefact that played no identifiable role in the production of the Book of Mormon. Perhaps if they had been allowed to see and touch the hat and the rock it might have been more meaningful.