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==Response== | ==Response== | ||
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+ | It should be pointed out that even if Roberts ''had'' lost his testimony, this would represent nothing more than a personal tragedy for him. Truth is not determined by popular vote. | ||
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+ | Roberts was an able scholar, and he was not afraid to play 'devil's advocate' to strengthen the Church's defenses against its enemies. In a presentation on some potential Book of Mormon 'problems' prepared for the General Authorities, Roberts wrote a caution that subsequent critics have seen fit to ignore: | ||
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+ | :Let me say once and for all, so as to avoid what might otherwise call for repeated explanation, that what is herein set forth does not represent any conclusions of mine. This report [is] ... for the information of those who ought to know everything about it pro and con, as well that which has been produced against it as that which may be produced against it. I am taking the position that our faith is not only unshaken but unshakeable in the Book of Mormon, and therefore we can look without fear upon all that can be said against it. | ||
+ | :<small>— B. H. Roberts to the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, March 1923. </small> | ||
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+ | Roberts felt that faith in the Book of Mormon was a given, and so did not consider any 'negative' points to be of ultimate concern, though he did seek for answers to strengthen others. He was also willing to modify previous conceptions, such as when he concluded that the Book of Mormon was not a history of the only immigrants to the New World. | ||
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+ | In 1930, he enthused about the Book of Mormon a century after the Church's organization: | ||
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+ | :Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for God hath spoken. ... The Record of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim, the Book of Mormon, has been revealed and translated by the power of God, and supplies the world with a new witness for the Christ, and the truth and the fulness of the Gospel. | ||
+ | :<small>— Brigham H. Roberts, ''Conference Report'' (April 1930): 47. </small> | ||
==Conclusion== | ==Conclusion== |
This article is a draft. FairMormon editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.
Critics charge that the 'problems' with the Book of Mormon made Brigham H. Roberts (an early LDS apologist and member of the First Quorum of Seventy) lose his faith in the its historicity.
It should be pointed out that even if Roberts had lost his testimony, this would represent nothing more than a personal tragedy for him. Truth is not determined by popular vote.
Roberts was an able scholar, and he was not afraid to play 'devil's advocate' to strengthen the Church's defenses against its enemies. In a presentation on some potential Book of Mormon 'problems' prepared for the General Authorities, Roberts wrote a caution that subsequent critics have seen fit to ignore:
Roberts felt that faith in the Book of Mormon was a given, and so did not consider any 'negative' points to be of ultimate concern, though he did seek for answers to strengthen others. He was also willing to modify previous conceptions, such as when he concluded that the Book of Mormon was not a history of the only immigrants to the New World.
In 1930, he enthused about the Book of Mormon a century after the Church's organization:
The best argument against the claim that B.H. Roberts abandoned the Book of Mormon can be found in his last book, which he considered his masterwork. [B. H. Roberts, The Truth, the Way, the Life: An Elementary Treatise on Theology, edited by John W. Welch (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Studies, 1994).] Given Roberts' clear respect for the Book of Mormon in this volume, there can be little doubt that he continued to believe in and treasure it.
Ironically for the critics, many of the issues which drew Elder Roberts' attention have now been solved as more information about the ancient world has become available.
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