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− | ==Criticism==
| + | #REDIRECT [[Question: Could Joseph Smith have written the Book of Mormon under the influence of an "epileptic fit?"]] |
− | Critics have claimed that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon while under the influence of an "epileptic fit," thus perpetuating a fraud without knowing it.
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− | ===Source(s) of the Criticism===
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− | *I. Wiley Woodbridge, ''The Founder of Mormonism'' (New York, 1902).
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− | ==Response==
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− | The Book of Mormon was not started and completed in a single sitting. Rather, the book was translated in many small segments over an extended period of time. These segments were started at will and with varied people as the prophet's scribes. Not one of these scribes ever noted any seizure symptoms during any part of the translation process, or during other times of his life. There are no accounts by anybody concerning symptoms of epilepsy during the prophet's life.
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− | To think that Joseph had multiple seizures, only when translating, at will for the various starting points of each new section, without any of the multiple scribes noticing or at any non-translating time in his life is preposterous. Even the author himself admits on page 437 of his own book that there is no direct evidence of epilepsy from the prophet's life.
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− | ==Conclusion==
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− | The argument that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon during an epileptic fit and thus unknowingly propagated an untrue story is baseless and incongruent with any document of his life.
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− | ==Further reading==
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− | ===FAIR wiki articles===
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− | *{{BoMAuthorshipWiki}}
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− | ===FAIR web site===
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− | {{BoMAuthorshipFAIR}}
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− | ===External links===
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− | *W. John Walsh and Monica Williams-Murphy, "Did Joseph Smith Suffer From Temporal Lobe Epilepsy?" ''lightplanet.com'' {{link|url=http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/response/qa/epilepsy.htm}}
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− | *{{BoMAuthorshipLinks}}
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− | ===Printed material===
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− | *{{BoMAuthorshipPrint}}
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− | * B.H. Roberts, "Counter Theories of Origin," ''New Witnesses for God'', Vol. 3, Chapter XLIV, 347–406.{{GL|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=211299}}
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