To see my original post on this topic, click here.
In a break with tradition, this post does not address any specific passage of the Book of Mormon. Such posts are planned in the future and will resume at a later date.
In the past few weeks, I've gone from simply reading, comparing (to the Bible), and responding to the Book of Mormon to actually sitting down with Mormons and seeing what they think of it. The result has been surprising...and saddening. It is one thing to be surprised by how different someone's view is from your own, one thing to be startled by the conviction of their beliefs and the logical defenses they can make of what--from your own point of view--seems insupportable. I have experienced that sort of thing many times while doing Christian apologetics, often in approaching the views and arguments of an apologist whose perspective differs from mine. It is a moment when one gains a certain respect for others and has a chance to reflect on one's own views and consider them critically. It is quite another matter to be disappointed by someone else's beliefs. Sadly, that is where I find myself now. I had expected the Mormon missionaries I met with would be able to discuss and compare evidence and logical arguments. Not only were they unable to do so, but they also appeared unwilling to even try.
It comes down to a matter of how we know truth, how we recognize it when we see it. Mormonism offers a simple answer: we pray to God about it, and if we feel positively about something (so-called "spiritual testimony"), we know it is true. This is basically what every Mormon will tell you to do if you want to know that the Book of Mormon is true. They may point out similarities to the Bible, the supposed necessity of "priesthood," the good moral lessons of the book, or the improbability of the Book of Mormon being written a man as "young" and "uneducated" as Joseph Smith (who was really neither, being in his early 20's when the Book of Mormon was published and having attended a form of Bible school). But the one thing they will always come back to, the primary proof of their religion, is their "testimony" and the claim that anyone who prays to God about the Book of Mormon will receive similar "testimony" that it is true.
But the claim is false. I am living proof. I have prayed such a prayer (whether advisedly or unadvisedly, I let the reader judge), asking God to show me the truth about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith (Jr, his father was also named Joseph Smith). What I received was a vision of Joseph Smith as a con-man "treasure hunter" who found early on that human hearts were the greatest treasure of all, who composed the Book of Mormon to deceive them into following him, and in many cases succeeded. In the end, the vision concluded with what I hold to be God's own testimony: "He died with a gun in his hand, a pagan talisman in his pocket, and no god in his heart." This was hardly the testimony Mormon missionaries tell you to expect, and of course, I am not the only one who has failed to receive the expected answer (nor, very probably, received the opposite answer).
I have been curious how Mormons would respond to this. To my mind there was a very simple, easy, logical explanation which could be used to refute any such spiritual testimonies. After all, Mormons believe in Satan, and Satan is the Father of Lies, who can easily pass himself off as an "angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). It should be (and, considering the great many deceiving varieties of spirituality out there, is) very easy for him to manufacture a false spiritual experience, an invalid testimony. It is, after all, the explanation I would use to explain how the Mormon's own testimonies can affirm as gospel truth a book as transparently false as the Book of Mormon. Applying this to my own testimony would seem the logical counter, and would at least require some effort and some digging to refute. Instead the answer was, "You didn't pray hard enough, long enough, or sincerely enough." In the end, they say that I must make more effort to believe the Book of Mormon is true, and then God will show me that it is. It is a disappointing answer, but hardly a surprising one. It seems that even the most apparently "God-focused" aspect of Mormonism comes down, in the end, to human work.
All of this brings us to a question of epistemology: how do we recognize truth?
The Book of Mormon provides a consistent answer that is in keeping with Mormonism itself: you pray to God asking if it's true, while simultaneously "exercising faith" by believing that it's true (or in any case trying really hard to believe it's true). If this method is followed, it's not surprising that it generally produces strong subjective "spiritual testimonies." It could produce a true testimony of anything, since it is really a form of circular reasoning mixed with peer pressure from Mormon missionaries and "the faithful" to produce an effect that the con-artists of The Emperor's New Clothes would have been proud of. Basically, you start with the assumption that the Book of Mormon is true, try really hard to believe that it's true, and eventually you'll convince yourself. Even if you fail to, you won't dare admit it because then the Mormons will place the blame for your failed testimony squarely on you. Like in the fairy tale, if you can't hear from God that the Book of Mormon is true or see the "splendid colors" of the Emperor'r robes, it's really your own fault. This effect keeps people silent about doubts and shouting assurances they don't actually possess. Like all cults, the process shortly becomes self-sustaining, continuing to gobble up converts from within and without regardless of the veracity of its truth-claims.
The Bible provides a different answer:
The Book of Mormon fails the test. It lacks utterly the body of supporting evidence that the Bible has, and in fact flatly contradicts existing evidence (which is painfully obvious on the front of historical and archeological accuracy). It gives false prophesies, and is written by a man who made false prophesies. It leads to another god, who is really just an ascended man. It preaches a different gospel, of works, not grace. And finally, searching and comparing it with scripture does not show its truthfulness, but rather its error.
In a break with tradition, this post does not address any specific passage of the Book of Mormon. Such posts are planned in the future and will resume at a later date.
In the past few weeks, I've gone from simply reading, comparing (to the Bible), and responding to the Book of Mormon to actually sitting down with Mormons and seeing what they think of it. The result has been surprising...and saddening. It is one thing to be surprised by how different someone's view is from your own, one thing to be startled by the conviction of their beliefs and the logical defenses they can make of what--from your own point of view--seems insupportable. I have experienced that sort of thing many times while doing Christian apologetics, often in approaching the views and arguments of an apologist whose perspective differs from mine. It is a moment when one gains a certain respect for others and has a chance to reflect on one's own views and consider them critically. It is quite another matter to be disappointed by someone else's beliefs. Sadly, that is where I find myself now. I had expected the Mormon missionaries I met with would be able to discuss and compare evidence and logical arguments. Not only were they unable to do so, but they also appeared unwilling to even try.
It comes down to a matter of how we know truth, how we recognize it when we see it. Mormonism offers a simple answer: we pray to God about it, and if we feel positively about something (so-called "spiritual testimony"), we know it is true. This is basically what every Mormon will tell you to do if you want to know that the Book of Mormon is true. They may point out similarities to the Bible, the supposed necessity of "priesthood," the good moral lessons of the book, or the improbability of the Book of Mormon being written a man as "young" and "uneducated" as Joseph Smith (who was really neither, being in his early 20's when the Book of Mormon was published and having attended a form of Bible school). But the one thing they will always come back to, the primary proof of their religion, is their "testimony" and the claim that anyone who prays to God about the Book of Mormon will receive similar "testimony" that it is true.
But the claim is false. I am living proof. I have prayed such a prayer (whether advisedly or unadvisedly, I let the reader judge), asking God to show me the truth about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith (Jr, his father was also named Joseph Smith). What I received was a vision of Joseph Smith as a con-man "treasure hunter" who found early on that human hearts were the greatest treasure of all, who composed the Book of Mormon to deceive them into following him, and in many cases succeeded. In the end, the vision concluded with what I hold to be God's own testimony: "He died with a gun in his hand, a pagan talisman in his pocket, and no god in his heart." This was hardly the testimony Mormon missionaries tell you to expect, and of course, I am not the only one who has failed to receive the expected answer (nor, very probably, received the opposite answer).
I have been curious how Mormons would respond to this. To my mind there was a very simple, easy, logical explanation which could be used to refute any such spiritual testimonies. After all, Mormons believe in Satan, and Satan is the Father of Lies, who can easily pass himself off as an "angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). It should be (and, considering the great many deceiving varieties of spirituality out there, is) very easy for him to manufacture a false spiritual experience, an invalid testimony. It is, after all, the explanation I would use to explain how the Mormon's own testimonies can affirm as gospel truth a book as transparently false as the Book of Mormon. Applying this to my own testimony would seem the logical counter, and would at least require some effort and some digging to refute. Instead the answer was, "You didn't pray hard enough, long enough, or sincerely enough." In the end, they say that I must make more effort to believe the Book of Mormon is true, and then God will show me that it is. It is a disappointing answer, but hardly a surprising one. It seems that even the most apparently "God-focused" aspect of Mormonism comes down, in the end, to human work.
All of this brings us to a question of epistemology: how do we recognize truth?
The Book of Mormon provides a consistent answer that is in keeping with Mormonism itself: you pray to God asking if it's true, while simultaneously "exercising faith" by believing that it's true (or in any case trying really hard to believe it's true). If this method is followed, it's not surprising that it generally produces strong subjective "spiritual testimonies." It could produce a true testimony of anything, since it is really a form of circular reasoning mixed with peer pressure from Mormon missionaries and "the faithful" to produce an effect that the con-artists of The Emperor's New Clothes would have been proud of. Basically, you start with the assumption that the Book of Mormon is true, try really hard to believe that it's true, and eventually you'll convince yourself. Even if you fail to, you won't dare admit it because then the Mormons will place the blame for your failed testimony squarely on you. Like in the fairy tale, if you can't hear from God that the Book of Mormon is true or see the "splendid colors" of the Emperor'r robes, it's really your own fault. This effect keeps people silent about doubts and shouting assurances they don't actually possess. Like all cults, the process shortly becomes self-sustaining, continuing to gobble up converts from within and without regardless of the veracity of its truth-claims.
The Bible provides a different answer:
- Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. --1 Thes 5:20-21
- Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. --1 John 4:1
- And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?'--When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is the word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. --Deuteronomy 18:8
- If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, 'Let us go after other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. --Deuteronomy 13:1-3
- But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so say I now again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. --Galatians 1:8-9
- Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. --Acts 17:11
The Book of Mormon fails the test. It lacks utterly the body of supporting evidence that the Bible has, and in fact flatly contradicts existing evidence (which is painfully obvious on the front of historical and archeological accuracy). It gives false prophesies, and is written by a man who made false prophesies. It leads to another god, who is really just an ascended man. It preaches a different gospel, of works, not grace. And finally, searching and comparing it with scripture does not show its truthfulness, but rather its error.
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