Rodney Meldrum: Loose cannon on the ship Mormon?

[_Mahonri]

Seems to me God could solve the problem and give members the answer in about thirty seconds.

Prophet: Where did the Book of Mormon take place?
God: Mesoamerica, or Northern USA.


Joseph Smith got the plates where they were buried in New York. What else do you need to know about where things happened? New York. Brigham said the site of the Manti Temple in Utah was dedicated by Book of Mormon prophets Centuries before. Two 'revealed locations' of Book of Mormon people. What else is there to know?

[_beastie]

And thus we see, yet again, that the purpose of FAIR is not to defend Mormonism. It's purpose is to defend Mormon apologetics.

This was a brilliant observation, and explains much about how FAIR/MAD works, although perhaps it needs to be updated" their purpose is to defend their own brand of Mormon apologetics.

It is clear that over the course of his short life Joseph enjoyed power, money, and women that he would likely not have enjoyed had he not taken up the role of prophet. The fact that he led a turbulent life has LDS people claiming that no one would have sustained a con for those results. Obviously he would have preferred a smoother path and more success, but he did what he knew how to do. And the fact that he was able to spin his treasure-seeking adventures into a religious racket yielding actual returns should not be ignored. Very few treasure seers saw more than a couple of bucks a day for their efforts. By those standards, Joseph's career was a success.

This is so obviously true that it takes a willful, deliberate choice to pretend otherwise.

Of course, he could have always eased his family's financial discomfort by finding a buried treasure for them in his peepstone, and hence negated this argument, couldn't he have? ;)

I also want to point out that Joseph Smith did have a history of at least trying to "make a get-away" when the going got too rough. (see his exodus from kirtland after the banking fiasco and his attempted exodus prior to his death)

[_truth dancer]

Seems to me God could solve the problem and give members the answer in about thirty seconds.

Prophet: Where did the Book of Mormon take place?
God: Mesoamerica, or Northern USA.


Joseph Smith got the plates where they were buried in New York. What else do you need to know about where things happened? New York. Brigham said the site of the Manti Temple in Utah was dedicated by Book of Mormon prophets Centuries before. Two 'revealed locations' of Book of Mormon people. What else is there to know?

Well, seems some apologists didn't get the memo! ;-)

Last I heard they were saying either Moroni walked from Mesoamerica to place the plates in the NY Hill Cumorah, OR Moroni placed the plates in a different Hill Cumorah in Mesoamerica and an angel brought them to the NY Hill Cumorah so Joseph Smith could find them.

~dancer~

[_guy sajer]

Of course, he could have always eased his family's financial discomfort by finding a buried treasure for them in his peepstone, and hence negated this argument, couldn't he have? ;)

If in fact Joseph Smith could find buried treasure using his peepstone, why the hell would he hire out for substantially less to find treasure for someone else? Why not just find the treasure himself and make him and his family rich?

It amazes me that anyone can see Joseph Smith's treasure hunting as anything other than what it was, a fraudulent activity in which he made claims about himself that he knew were not true in order to fleece people of his money.

Yes indeed, his treasure hunting days were a kind of 'training wheels' indeed, training wheels for the big con later on.