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

[_Drifting]

Having read the article I can't see the point of it.

There's no new research, no futher enlightenments, no further insights, no additional rebuttals to criticism. In actual fact it could have been written (maybe it was) five years ago.

Powder puff faith promotion being passed off as insight and scholarly journalism is DCP's stock in trade. This time, instead of sitting down and writing a proper article for Deserted News he has gone to his filing cabinet, pulled out an old Sacrament meeting talk, reworded and presented.

Lazy boy. Very lazy boy.

[_ludwigm]

He DID dupe 14 million (or 4-5-6 million) people, up to now. +11 doesn't count...

First we need a motive for the book.

The motive of the book was money and/or power.

Case closed - for me.

[_BartBurk]

He really only had to dupe Emma. And we all know how well Joseph was able to dupe Emma.

He had to dupe more people than just emma. He also had to dupe 11 other people, plus his brothers and sisters and parents. All convinced that he could not write this book himself.

The amount of paper involved would have been enormous for Joseph Smith. No one to my knowledge claimed that young joe was in the general store buying a lot of paper or pens or ink. Plus, there is the money angle and the time spent away from other work to write such a book. No one told of any disappearances for days on end. The writing of the book did not occur just with emma but with his parents and the cabin was just too small for such an undertaking. Now lets look at it this way: feathered pen, no electricity, inkwells, paper. Writing with a feathered pen was not an easy undertaking and it is quite sloppy with many blotches and ink stains on fingers. Not easy to wash off. When all the rough drafts are considered and rewrites, the time spent would be huge. And to carefully gather every crumbled paper, ink stain washed away, and broken pens etc, well, I don't think that he could go uncovered.

Don't you think there is any possibility that Emma was in on the plot from the beginning? It is likely Cowdrey was as well. The rest of the crowd consisted mainly of relatives of the Whitmers and Smiths except for Harris. And Harris was even duped into believing in Strang's revelation. The Witnesses don't stand up very well to scrutiny:

LDS leader James Strang claimed to be the true prophet that succeeded Joseph after he was killed. Many Mormons followed Strang after he sent a letter claiming he had received a revelation that he should be prophet.

The letter convinced most of Smith's family and several other prominent Mormons that Strang's claims were genuine. John Whitmer, David Whitmer, Martin Harris, Hiram Page, John E. Page, William E. McLellin, William Smith, Smith's first wife and widow, Emma Hale Smith, the sisters of Joseph Smith, William Marks, George Miller, and others, including Joseph Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith. Lucy wrote to Reuben Hedlock: "I am satisfied that Joseph appointed J.J. Strang. It is verily so."(ibid) According to William Smith, all of Joseph Smith's family (excepting Hyrum Smith's widow), endorsed Strang; (Palmer, 211)

Here we have all of the living Book of Mormon witnesses, except Oliver Cowdery, as well as most of Smith's family and several other prominent members of the early LDS church accept Strang's claim of being a prophet by merely reading his letter. How much credibility can we give these people when they accept someone so easily as a prophet who later turns out to be a fraud?

See http://mormonthink.com/witnessesweb.htm for the above information.

I believe there is a lot of evidence that Rigdon used a Solomon Spalding manuscript and had Smith and Cowdrey as front men. There are all kinds of possibilities which don't require an angel and gold plates.

Peterson's belief the Book of Mormon story occurred in Mesoamerica is problematic as well since the archaeology on the ground doesn't favor it. At least Meldrum's Heartland model has the benefit of dealing with Native Americans who didn't leave a lot of evidence behind.

[_sock puppet]

Have you not seen Rocky?

Don't get me wrong: there should be a Rocky religion!

By the way, neither was Mormonism a worldwide religion with millions of members when the Book of Mormon was produced, truth or fiction.

But it is now, because of the fruits of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. The fruits of the coming forth of Rocky are simply an awesome movie.

Rocky got sequels too!

At the end of the original Rocky, my bosom was definitely warmed, having seen the underdog go the distance even if he did lose!

[_sock puppet]

Does this prove that god had to be involved in writing of the Rocky screenplay and that it is true? (by the way, I have it on good authority that there has been as much archaeological evidence found to support the historicity of Rocky storyline as the storyline of the Book of Mormon. In both instances, the quantum of that evidence is bupkis.)

Rocky had a natural talent and he certainly became rich because of it. However, I don't see the comparisons. Did Rocky stick his head in a hat and write the screenplay? Or did he have a manucript complete with typewriter and paper and ballpoint pens? Plus, electricity? And was he writing this screenplay in secret or did he tell his parents his plans?

Also, if Joseph wrote the book we have no idea how long it took to write this book. Certainly the hat trick would be a trick. But he would have needed a manucript in the beginning. How long did it take for him to develop the story line? How long did it take to do the actual writing? When did he find time to do the actual writing? Why keep the novel a secret? Did he really want to found a new church? This could have been done without the Book of Mormon. And what happened to the orginal manucript?

The translation process was the end, not the beginning if he wrote the book. The whole process took some time to hatch. And there is nothing in the past to show that he was actively researching for this book.

JSJr produced the Book of Mormon the way he did because he wanted to Blair Witch Project it onto other people.

[_why me]

I believe there is a lot of evidence that Rigdon used a Solomon Spalding manuscript and had Smith and Cowdrey as front men. There are all kinds of possibilities which don't require an angel and gold plates.

Peterson's belief the Book of Mormon story occurred in Mesoamerica is problematic as well since the archaeology on the ground doesn't favor it. At least Meldrum's Heartland model has the benefit of dealing with Native Americans who didn't leave a lot of evidence behind.

Even if we look at the rigdon angle more people would need to be involved in the plot. Parly Pratt for one, plus rigdon. What we have with sidney is a plot that includes 14 people plus Joseph Smith. Quite a lot of people never to open their mouths about the fraud.

We also need to remember that if Joseph Smith did write the book, he did not do it during that moment when he was translating the book. He had to develop the plot earlier and keep it all in his head, not telling anyone about it. Quite a secret. But again, the amount of false starts and changes in plot tht would come from any writer writing a book would create quite a lot of paper. And not even leaving any clues would be a huge impossibility within a small area. We need to remember that the surrounding towns and the people of palmyra boycotted this book. The store where Joe was buying the materials for the book would have come forward with their own take on it.

Sidney also wrote the book in secret since his wife knew nothing about it. Why? To form a new church? Sidney did not need a book to do this. He had enough knowledge and experience to form his own church, be successful with less hardship, and have a good following.

[_why me]

The motive of the book was money and/or power.

Case closed - for me.

He failed miserably with making money and getting power.

To believe your angle we would need to believe that a young man of 19 or so, had great dreams for himself as a religious leader based on a book that he seemed to have no time to plan or write. Nor did he have the money to suddenly slack off of other work since his family needed him to bring home the bacon.

If a fraud, I would have given it up when the book was being boycotted by people. And then to suddenly face the mobs in palmyra and the surrounding area forcing me to flee to Ohio with the other small group of members would have given me the clue that all was not well.

[_marg]

Even if we look at the rigdon angle more people would need to be involved in the plot. Parly Pratt for one, plus rigdon. What we have with sidney is a plot that includes 14 people plus Joseph Smith. Quite a lot of people never to open their mouths about the fraud.

Not everyone needs to be fully informed to be involved. Even Smith might not have been fully informed as to where or how Rigdon got the manuscript.

We also need to remember that if Joseph Smith did write the book, he did not do it during that moment when he was translating the book. He had to develop the plot earlier and keep it all in his head, not telling anyone about it. Quite a secret.

Agreed..which supports a theory of other source material being used in the Book of Mormon preparation.

But again, the amount of false starts and changes in plot tht would come from any writer writing a book would create quite a lot of paper. And not even leaving any clues would be a huge impossibility within a small area.

Agreed making it seem likely someone other than Smith gave him source material to use for the Book of Mormon.

We need to remember that the surrounding towns and the people of palmyra boycotted this book. The store where Joe was buying the materials for the book would have come forward with their own take on it.

Any yet that never happened ..right?

Sidney also wrote the book in secret since his wife knew nothing about it. Why? To form a new church? Sidney did not need a book to do this. He had enough knowledge and experience to form his own church, be successful with less hardship, and have a good following.

The likelihood of a startup religion becoming successful increases if there is a sacred book involved.

[_why me]

Well, we at least know for sure that he did try and profit from selling the copyright...

It was difficult to find a publisher. Much pressure was being put on publishers by local people to have nothing to do with the book. Finally after Joseph put the money up front the book was printed. In the early days, the book needed to be financed. Money was not dropping out the trees.

If Joseph wanted money, he just needed to write the book as a novel, have it published and see what happens. No problems then with publishers or with the local people who would have then bought the book. And if successful, write another book. Much more simpler life could have been had by Joseph. He must have kicked himself in the butt going down the path he did.

And if sidney wrote the book, why would sidney allow Joseph to attempt to profit from his own work?

[_why me]

Any yet that never happened ..right?

.

It did happen. Plus the threats against Joseph Smith began with the people in the local areas. But no store owner came forward with receipts from Joseph purchasing paper, ink, feathered pens.