Well, I just finished The Holy War. I wouldn't have been able to make it through, except I listened to it in audiobook form (thanks to LibriVox.org for free audiobooks for public-domain works!) while I was doing things that I otherwise had to do anyway.
It is an overly-complicated Christian allegory filled with battles and intrigue, all of it absurdly two-dimensional (kind of like the Book of Mormon). It was a total waste of time to read except to disabuse me of the notion that the wars and intrigues in the Book of Mormon were original ideas of Joseph Smith. I think it is very likely that Joseph was familiar with The Holy War and it served as the inspiration for the lengthy accounts of wars in the Book of Mormon.
Are there any parts of the Book of Mormon that weren't already in plain view in Joseph Smith's environment prior to its dictation? I don't think so anymore.
fetchface wrote:Well, I just finished The Holy War. I wouldn't have been able to make it through, except I listened to it in audiobook form (thanks to LibriVox.org for free audiobooks for public-domain works!) while I was doing things that I otherwise had to do anyway.
It is an overly-complicated Christian allegory filled with battles and intrigue, all of it absurdly two-dimensional (kind of like the Book of Mormon). It was a total waste of time to read except to disabuse me of the notion that the wars and intrigues in the Book of Mormon were original ideas of Joseph Smith. I think it is very likely that Joseph was familiar with The Holy War and it served as the inspiration for the lengthy accounts of wars in the Book of Mormon.
Are there any parts of the Book of Mormon that weren't already in plain view in Joseph Smith's environment prior to its dictation? I don't think so anymore.
Is this a recent book or an old one? Who wrote it? When was it published? Thanks for sharing, fetchface.
"Petition wasn’t meant to start a witch hunt as I’ve said 6000 times." ~ Hanna Seariac, LDS apologist
fetchface wrote:Well, I just finished The Holy War. I wouldn't have been able to make it through, except I listened to it in audiobook form (thanks to LibriVox.org for free audiobooks for public-domain works!) while I was doing things that I otherwise had to do anyway.
It is an overly-complicated Christian allegory filled with battles and intrigue, all of it absurdly two-dimensional (kind of like the Book of Mormon). It was a total waste of time to read except to disabuse me of the notion that the wars and intrigues in the Book of Mormon were original ideas of Joseph Smith. I think it is very likely that Joseph was familiar with The Holy War and it served as the inspiration for the lengthy accounts of wars in the Book of Mormon.
Are there any parts of the Book of Mormon that weren't already in plain view in Joseph Smith's environment prior to its dictation? I don't think so anymore.
Is this a recent book or an old one? Who wrote it? When was it published? Thanks for sharing, fetchface.
Lemmie For example, re: Kishkumen’s first post this year: Tomorrow will be the 6th anniversary of our epic conversation on The Late War as a contemporary influence on the Book of Mormon. This thread was so hot that I received an email from BYU recommending that I slow down and conceding the basic point of influence. The author’s name will remain unknown.
Is anyone curious about that email from BYU? Not asking for the author Kish, but WOW. That seems like quite the email to receive. Any further details you could add would be fascinating.
This is exquisitely fascinating. I had forgotten about it, so Lemmie GOOD job in bringing it back to context and focus. Through the years, it just appears to me that more and more influences have been found for Joseph Smith to use, something I was never taught much of until after my mission. That's 19 full on years of brainwash man. ANd in the most impressionable years too....
Dr CamNC4Me
"Dr. Peterson and his Callithumpian cabal of BYU idiots have been marginalized by their own inevitable irrelevancy defending a fraud."
Philo Sofee wrote: This is exquisitely fascinating. I had forgotten about it, so Lemmie GOOD job in bringing it back to context and focus. Through the years, it just appears to me that more and more influences have been found for Joseph Smith to use, something I was never taught much of until after my mission. That's 19 full on years of brainwash man. And in the most impressionable years too....
Recently I have heard multiple different LDS scholars, some employed directly by the church, make statements like:
"We have to rethink how we understand the word "translate" when it comes to what Joseph Smith produced."
We don't have to rethink the definition of translate, we simple need to use a different word: 'plagiarize'.
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."
Lemmie For example, re: Kishkumen’s first post this year: Tomorrow will be the 6th anniversary of our epic conversation on The Late War as a contemporary influence on the Book of Mormon. This thread was so hot that I received an email from BYU recommending that I slow down and conceding the basic point of influence. The author’s name will remain unknown.
Is anyone curious about that email from BYU? Not asking for the author Kish, but WOW. That seems like quite the email to receive. Any further details you could add would be fascinating.
This is exquisitely fascinating. I had forgotten about it, so Lemmie GOOD job in bringing it back to context and focus. Through the years, it just appears to me that more and more influences have been found for Joseph Smith to use, something I was never taught much of until after my mission. That's 19 full on years of brainwash man. ANd in the most impressionable years too....
You’re quite welcome. Just knowing an email like that exists is pretty disturbing.
Is anyone curious about that email from BYU?
