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The Testimony of Joseph Smith
Hi guys,
I started reading the “Book of Mormon” today as a research project in view of writing a critique. I commenced by reading the testimony of the False Prophet Joseph Smith. I will write a more detailed review, possibly as a blog, later on – but let me offer one or two thoughts on Smith’s testimony.
When judging the Book of Mormon as a true document, written with a sincere Godly intent, one must look at the verifiability, testability, and ultimate falsifiability of the story. This is standard deductive reasoning. The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, for instance, was testified to by literally hundreds of witnesses – including many adverse witnesses which are well documented. Many of such men willingly gave their lives for the sake of the testimony they held in this regard.
The entire so-called “supplement” of the Book of Mormon lacks such verifiability, or falsifiability. It is predicated on the testimony of one man. When reading the opening pages of the book I was looking at three options:
1.The Book of Mormon is indeed inspired.
2.Joseph Smith was himself deceived by the Devil (possibly in the manner of 2 Corinthians 11:14, which speaks of Satan masquerading as an angel of light) but was writing with honest intent.
3.Joseph Smith was outright lying and deceiving his readers, seeking somehow personal gain.
The remarks of Joseph Smith in the book are riddled with hall marks of outright deception. It seems as though he is deliberately setting up a non-Falsifiable scenario.
Consider the following sentence:
“Again, he told me, that when I got those plates of which he had spoken—for the time that they should be obtained was not yet fulfilled—I should not show them to any person; neither the breastplate with the Urim and Thummim; only to those to whom I should be commanded to show them; if I did I should be destroyed.”
Fancy that – a non-verifiable hypothesis. The entire integrity of the testimony hinges on the account of this one man, with not one single external source to verify his claims.
And what of this remark taken from the introduction?
“We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost.”
This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, does it not? For one to pray earnestly that they will be shown that this book is indeed true, they would have to have first decided in their own minds that it was true anyway.
Another thing I noticed is that he gives far too much detail – either he has an exceptionally good recollection and observation skills or he is making it up as he goes along.
Both failed and deliberately vague prophecy also does not help his cause.
“...he informed me of great judgments which were coming upon the earth, with great desolations by famine, sword, and pestilence; and that these grievous judgments would come on the earth in this generation.”
I am not sure which world events he is referring to. There is definitely such desolations as those stated above, but history does not record a dramatic increase in such at the time predicted. If he is indeed lying, then he is either keeping his prophecy deliberately vague, or he knows that he will be dead before the people discover the prophecy was wrong and so was seeking personal gain at the time of writing.
Has anyone else read any of the Book of Mormon? What impressions did others get?
God bless,
Jonathan
I started reading the “Book of Mormon” today as a research project in view of writing a critique. I commenced by reading the testimony of the False Prophet Joseph Smith. I will write a more detailed review, possibly as a blog, later on – but let me offer one or two thoughts on Smith’s testimony.
When judging the Book of Mormon as a true document, written with a sincere Godly intent, one must look at the verifiability, testability, and ultimate falsifiability of the story. This is standard deductive reasoning. The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, for instance, was testified to by literally hundreds of witnesses – including many adverse witnesses which are well documented. Many of such men willingly gave their lives for the sake of the testimony they held in this regard.
The entire so-called “supplement” of the Book of Mormon lacks such verifiability, or falsifiability. It is predicated on the testimony of one man. When reading the opening pages of the book I was looking at three options:
1.The Book of Mormon is indeed inspired.
2.Joseph Smith was himself deceived by the Devil (possibly in the manner of 2 Corinthians 11:14, which speaks of Satan masquerading as an angel of light) but was writing with honest intent.
3.Joseph Smith was outright lying and deceiving his readers, seeking somehow personal gain.
The remarks of Joseph Smith in the book are riddled with hall marks of outright deception. It seems as though he is deliberately setting up a non-Falsifiable scenario.
Consider the following sentence:
“Again, he told me, that when I got those plates of which he had spoken—for the time that they should be obtained was not yet fulfilled—I should not show them to any person; neither the breastplate with the Urim and Thummim; only to those to whom I should be commanded to show them; if I did I should be destroyed.”
Fancy that – a non-verifiable hypothesis. The entire integrity of the testimony hinges on the account of this one man, with not one single external source to verify his claims.
And what of this remark taken from the introduction?
“We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost.”
This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, does it not? For one to pray earnestly that they will be shown that this book is indeed true, they would have to have first decided in their own minds that it was true anyway.
Another thing I noticed is that he gives far too much detail – either he has an exceptionally good recollection and observation skills or he is making it up as he goes along.
Both failed and deliberately vague prophecy also does not help his cause.
“...he informed me of great judgments which were coming upon the earth, with great desolations by famine, sword, and pestilence; and that these grievous judgments would come on the earth in this generation.”
I am not sure which world events he is referring to. There is definitely such desolations as those stated above, but history does not record a dramatic increase in such at the time predicted. If he is indeed lying, then he is either keeping his prophecy deliberately vague, or he knows that he will be dead before the people discover the prophecy was wrong and so was seeking personal gain at the time of writing.
Has anyone else read any of the Book of Mormon? What impressions did others get?
God bless,
Jonathan
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Craig on -
Any book, whether its the Book of Mormon, Koran, etc. claiming to be inspired, must be subject to the Holy Scriptures, not the other way around. Since the word of God was here first, subsequent writings must agree with what God has already revealed. The mormons are incorrect when they make the claim that the Book of Mormon is another gospel of Jesus Christ. in reality, its a false gospel. This book contradicts the Holy Scriptures in many places and thus must be rejected.
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Permalink Reply by christelle on -
Oh...I am cracking up right now.
My son has no knowledge of this thread...so this was just so ironic. There was just a commercial on TV I suppose...I didn't hear it, but my son did. He just came up to me and said "Hey mom! Type in 'what came first, the chicken or the egg?' on ask.mormon.org" I was like.."huh" and he laughed and said, "well they just said they have all of the answers on TV....I wanna know what came first, the chicken or the egg".
Lol....if ya'll knew Lane and his "propensity" towards sarcastic humor......the kid cracks me up.
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Permalink Reply by ActualMaureen on -
I think it is important that we understand where people of other faiths are coming from, so that we will not be deceived, and we will be well prepared to defend our faith against their deception. My street seems to be on the "beat" of the mormon missionaries. About once a month they come knocking on my door. The first couple of times I spoke with them, trying to be polite, I left the conversation feeling very frusterated. I felt that I had not done a satisfactory job defending my faith, and I had made my Lord seem weak. I was so shamed by this, I set out to figure this all out so that I was well prepared for the next visit.
First, just consider strategy. The reason I felt so frusterated after my conversations is that the mormon missionary is TRAINED to put you on the defensive. They ask leading questions about YOUR faith, so that they can counter your answers with their rehearsed responses. They LOVE to take Bible quotations out of context. They know that most people are ill equipped to defend their faith, which is a sad, sad fact.
What I have found, however, is that many mormons aren't prepared to defend their faith either. Many of them aren't even aware of some of the shadier teachings of their own church. Teachings that are so outrageous, they are jaw-dropping. For example the mormon church perpetuates racism by teaching that white babies are the incarnation of spirits who "fought well" in the "heavenly wars" and black babies are the incarnations of cowardly spirits who did not fight well.
Anyway, my point in all this is: the mormon church is deceptive. We must arm ourselves against this deception by KNOWING the reason for the hope that we have, by knowing our Bible better than they do, and by at least knowing the basic tennants of their faith.
I'm not intimidated by the mormon missionaries any more. I receive them with love and gently question them about their own faith. I tell them that I have no need for their revelations because the work of Christ is complete, and my faith is complete in Him. I need nothing else. I also tell them that I will pray for them. I notice that the novice missionary often leaves my door looking troubled.
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Permalink Reply by lindsey finestone on -
Hi Jonathon I was very interested to read of your study of the book of mormon ,we had two young men visit us 2 weeks ago from the mormon religon they came to discuss with us about the bible .I think they thought that they could possibly convert us but after we pointed out some facts they quickly left they visit people here all the time and i wonder how many people fall for their lies especially people not following Jesus .Keep up the good work we need to expose these people so that they dont steal any more souls ,God blessLindsey
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