13

• It is claimed that "Mormons" exist in "two distinct groups:" Chapel Mormons and Internet Mormons.

• Internet Mormons vs. Chapel Mormons

• Jason Gallentine (a.k.a. "Dr. Shades"), "Internet Mormonism vs. Chapel Mormonism"

16

• The book "Gospel Principles" contains a 1978 copyright by the Church, but the author states that it contains a disclaimer that states that it is not an official publication of the Church, and that "the views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not represent the position of the Church."

• The title page of Gospel Principles:

GOSPEL PRINCIPLES

Published by
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Salt Lake City, Utah 1979.

• The next page:

Copyright (c) 1978 Corporation of the President
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
All Rights Reserved
Printed in the United States of America.

• We cannot find the disclaimer mentioned in Becoming Gods about Gospel Principles not being an official publication.

• Gospel Principles 1979 edition.

17, 331 n.35

• Latter-day Saints are said to "focus on a minor issue while dismissing the broader point that is being made by a critic of the church."

• "Celestial sex"

• The author uses as an example in the endnotes the alleged LDS belief in "Celestial Sex."

24

• Joseph's family is said to have survived by "money digging."

• Joseph Smith and money digging

• David Persuitte, Joseph Smith and the Origins of The Book of Mormon (2nd edition), (McFarland & Company, October 2000), 35 ( Index of claims )

24

• Joseph is claimed to have been adept at "occult ritual."

• Joseph Smith and the occult

• No actual reference given by the author: The note simply says "Smith was well-known as a money-digger throughout western New York and northern Pennsylvania."

24

• Joseph's neighbors thought that he was "an imposter, hypocrite and liar."

• The Hurlbut affidavits
• Lightplanet Response

• Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, OH, 1834). (Affidavits examined)

26

• The book claims that during the First Vision, Joseph was told that "all Christian creeds" were an abomination and that "all Christian teachers" were corrupt.

• This claim is also made in One Nation Under Gods:
• Individual versus organizational apostasy  ^{[needs work]}
• All churches were wrong

• No source provided.

26

• The book claims that many Latter-day Saints believe that "their salvation, to a limited degree, rests upon [Joseph] Smith."

• Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief

• In a note on page 332, the author says "I do not mean to say the Mormons hold Joseph Smith on an equal par with Jesus Christ. Smith holds a place just below Christ."
• Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Case Against Mormonism, 2 vols., (Salt Lake City, 1967), vol. 1, p. 75.
• Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, p. 302

26

• Bruce R. McConkie said that "we must turn to Joseph Smith to gain salvation."

• Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief

• Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah (SLC: Deseret Book, 1982), p. 334.

26

• Dallin Oaks said that "I have built my life on the testimony and mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith."

The book omits Elder Oaks' very next words:

In all of my reading and original research, I have never been dissuaded from my testimony of his prophetic calling and of the gospel and priesthood restoration the Lord initiated through him. I solemnly affirm the testimony Joseph Smith expressed in the famous Wentworth letter of 1842:

“… The standard of truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing, persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done” (Times and Seasons, 1 March 1842, 709; quoted in Daniel H. Ludlow, ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 5 vols. [1992], 4:1754).

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

• Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief

• Dallin Oaks, "Joseph, the Man and the Prophet," Ensign (May 1996): 71. off-site

27

• Joseph Smith is claimed to have been "harsh and violent."

• Personal failings of Joseph Smith

• No source provided.

27

• James E. Faust said that Joseph Smith "was the greatest prophet who ever lived upon the earth."

• Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief

• James E. Faust, "The Importance of Bearing Testimony," Liahona, Mar. 1997, p.3.

28

• The book asserts that Joseph Smith may have been a "pious fraud," who believed that he had been called of God while perpetrating fraud.

• Psychobiographical analysis of Joseph Smith
• This is the fallacy of probability

• Dan Vogel in Waterman, p. 50

28

• The author claims that Joseph Smith and other church leaders "often used deception to conceal their activities."

• Personal failings of Joseph Smith

• No source provided.

28

• Polygamy was practiced in secret and denied publicly.

• Joseph Smith and polygamy

• Times and Seasons, Mar 15, 1843, vol. 4, no. 9, p. 143

28

• Heber C. Kimball predicted that the world would someday see Joseph Smith as "a god."

• Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief
• Heber C. Kimball on Joseph as "a god"

• Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, 5:88.

28

• Brigham Young applied 1 John 4:3 to Joseph Smith.

• Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief
• Brigham Young applied 1 John 4:3 to Joseph Smith

• Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:176.

29

• LDS claim that Joseph Smith "told but one" First Vision.

• First Vision accounts
• Church publications have long described the multiple accounts of the First Vision:
  • Milton V. Backman, Jr., "Joseph Smith's Recitals of the First Vision," Ensign (January 1985): 8.off-site
  • Dean C. Jessee, "Early Accounts of Joseph Smith (1831–1839)," Brigham Young University Studies 9 no. 3 (1969), 275–294. PDF link
  • Dean C. Jessee, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, revised edition, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2002), 9–20.

• Preston Nibley, Joseph Smith the Prophet (SLC: Deseret News, 1944), p. 30.

30

• The 1832 account of the First Vision states that Joseph was in his "sixteenth year," and that he "probably meant when he was 16 years old.

• Different age provided in the 1832 text

• Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:28

30

• The 1832 First Vision account does not mention two personages.

• Only one Personage appears in the 1832 account
• This claim is also made in One Nation Under Gods:

• Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:28

30

• The 1832 First Vision account does not mention that "all the churches in Joseph's day were false."

• 1832 account doesn't forbid joining a church

• Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:28

31

• The book asserts that Joseph claimed that he learned about the errors in Christendom through personal Bible study several years before the First Vision.

• Contradiction about knowing all churches were wrong?

• Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:27

31

• Orson Pratt said that the two personages in the First Vision "declared themselves to be angels."

• Orson Pratt confused about "angel" or Father-Son

• Pratt in "Biography and Journal of William I. Appleby, Elder in the Church of Latter Day Saints," 1848 reprinted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, pp. 146-147.

31

• Church historian Andrew Jenson said that "The angel again forbade Joseph to join any of these churches."

• Andrew Jenson called personage an "angel"

• Andrew Jenson, "Joseph Smith, The Prophet," Jan. 1888, vol. 3, nos. 1-3, p. 355.

31

• It is claimed that Joseph dictated the 1838 account of the First Vision to counter the leadership crisis in Kirtland.

• 1838 account modified to offset leadership crisis?

• No source provided.

31

• The author asserts that the visit of Moroni was confused with the First Vision, and "was probably the real first vision."

• First Vision fabricated to give "Godly authority"

• No source provided.

34

• It is claimed that "[n]ot a single piece" of literature published in the 1830's mentions a visit by the Father and the Son.

• No reference to First Vision in 1830s publications?

• No source provided.

34

• Joseph's mother in her history said that the First Vision was of an angel.

• Prophet's mother said First Vision was of an "angel"

• Lucy Mack Smith, letter to Solomon Mack Jr., Jan. 6, 1831, reprinted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, p. 216.

34

• It is claimed that Joseph privately began reworking the story of seeing an angel into a vision of Christ.

• Oliver Cowdery not aware of First Vision in 1834-35

• Oliver Cowdery, Messenger and Advocate, Feb. 1835, vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 77-80.

34

• Without "Mormonism's so-called" Melchizedek Priesthood, no man can see God and live.

• D&C 84 says God not seen without priesthood

• DC 84꞉21-22

34

• Nobody knows "when or how" the Joseph received the Melchizedek Priesthood.

• Date of the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood

• Online reference to anti-Mormon site "lds-mormon.com"

34

• It is claimed that Joseph "had to backdate" the First Vision to 1820 in response to a leadership crisis.

• 1838 account modified to offset leadership crisis?

• Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) 251. ( Index of claims )

35

• It is claimed that the First Vision originally stated that the personages were angels.

• The "Angels" of the 1835 account

• William Smith, Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, p. 495.
• George A. Smith
• Lucy Smith
• Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 2:171.
• John Taylor, Journal of Discourses vol. ?, p. 167.
• Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, 6:29.

35

• The book asserts that there was no 1820 revival in Palmyra that converted "great multitudes" of people.

• Religious revivals in 1820

• Oliver Cowdery, Messenger and Advocate, Feb. 1835, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 42.

35

• Joseph Smith is claimed to have joined other churches after having been told that these churches were wrong.

• Joseph Smith joined other churches

• No source provided.

35, 342n79-80

• Newspapers reported in 1829 that Joseph Smith had a dream in 1827 about a spirit visiting him three times in one night.

• Joseph reported "a spirit" visiting in him in 1827

• From the Palmyra Freeman: Golden Bible, Niagra Courier, Aug. 27, 1829, vol. 2, no. 18.
• "The Gold Bible," Rochester Advertiser and Telegraph, Aug. 31, 1829.

35-36, 343n83

• It is claimed that Joseph Smith's First Vision may have been a dream of a "bloody ghost dressed as a Spaniard.

• These supposed "early" accounts comes from hostile statements made forty to fifty years later!
• The 1870 account from Lapham says only that "a man" with "bloody clothes" appeared in a dream. (He also says this is what Joseph Jr. told his father, so this is hearsay.)
  • Mark Ashurst-McGee, "Moroni as Angel and as Treasure Guardian," FARMS Review 18/1 (2006): 34–100. [{{{url}}} off-site] wiki
  • Larry E. Morris, "'I Should Have an Eye Single to the Glory of God’: Joseph Smith’s Account of the Angel and the Plates (Review of: "From Captain Kidd’s Treasure Ghost to the Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism")," FARMS Review 17/1 (2005): 11–82. off-site

• Hiel Lewis, letter to James T. Cobb, Amboy Journal, Apr. 30, 1879, reprinted in Wyl, pp. 79-80
• Fayette Lapham [May 1870], in Dan Vogel (editor), Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, 1996–2003), 5 vols, 1:459.
•  Citation error: the reference to the dream and bloody clothes is on p. 458.

36, 343n85

• Joseph Smith is claimed to have been an "occultist."

• Joseph Smith and the occult

• Lance S. Owens, "Joseph Smith: America's Hermetic Prophet," Gnosis, Spring 1995, no. 35, p. 60

36

• Early Mormons are said to have believed in "witchcraft."

• Early members believed in "witchcraft"
• William J. Hamblin, "'Everything Is Everything': Was Joseph Smith Influenced by Kabbalah? Review of Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection by Lance S. Owens," FARMS Review of Books 8/2 (1996): 251–325. off-site

• John L. Brooke, The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844, pp. 71-72.

36

• Joseph's mother talked about "magic circles" and the "faculty of Abrac."

• Lucy Mack Smith on "faculty of Abrac" and "magic circles"
• William J. Hamblin, "That Old Black Magic (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 225–394. [{{{url}}} off-site]

• Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, p. 285.

37, 344n93

• Joseph's family had a "magick dagger" that was owned by Hyrum Smith.

• Mars dagger
• William J. Hamblin, "That Old Black Magic (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 225–394. [{{{url}}} off-site]

• No source given.
• The endnote describes the dagger and its alleged importance to Joseph without acknowledging the source of the information.

37, 344n94

• Joseph's family had "three magick parchments." One of these was owned by Hyrum Smith.

• Magick parchments
• William J. Hamblin, "That Old Black Magic (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 225–394. [{{{url}}} off-site]

• No source given.
• The endnote mentions the ""Holiness to the Lord,"" the ""Saint Peter Bind Them,"" and the ""Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah"" parchments without showing how they are related to the Smith family.
• An indirect reference is made to the book Occult Sciences."

37, 344n95

• Joseph is claimed to have had a "Jupiter talisman" with him the day he died.

• Joseph Smith and Jupiter talisman

• No source given.
• The endnote simply states the date of Joseph's death.

38

• "Researchers of Mormonism" now believe that Joseph was influenced by "Jewish kabbalism."

• Joseph influenced by Kabbalah?
• William J. Hamblin, "'Everything Is Everything': Was Joseph Smith Influenced by Kabbalah? Review of Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection by Lance S. Owens," FARMS Review of Books 8/2 (1996): 251–325. off-site
• William J. Hamblin, Daniel C. Peterson, and George L. Mitton, "Mormon in the Fiery Furnace Or, Loftes Tryk Goes to Cambridge] (Review of The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844 by John L. Brooke)," FARMS Review of Books 6/2 (1994): 3–58. off-site

• No source provided.

38, 345n100

• Citing Quinn, Joseph is claimed to have considered the date April 6th to have "astrological significance" as the "DAY-FATAL-ITY."

 ^{[needs work]}

• The author provides no evidence for what Joseph believed about April 6.
• He fails to mention the one bit of evidence that we do have for what Joseph may have thought: DC 20꞉1 suggests that April 6 was seen as the date of Christ's birth.^[1]

• D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 76-79, 278-280 ( Index of claims )

38-39, 346 n. 104-109

• Joseph was arrested in 1826 for being a "disorderly person and an imposter."

• Joseph Smith's 1826 glasslooking trial

• Dan Vogel, "Rethinking the 1826 Judicial Decision," Mormon Scripture Studies: An E-Journal of Critical Thought.

39

• The author states that no "statements of repentance by Smith" for money digging have ever been found.

• Sam Katich, "Joseph Smith," www.fairlds.org/apol/morm201/m20117b.html

40, 348n123

• Gordon B. Hinckley is accused of having cited false documentation to support the story of an 1820 revival.

• Religious revivals in 1820/Gordon B. Hinckley cited false information
• Religious revivals in 1820

• Gordon B. Hinckley, Truth Restored, pp. 1-2.

42, 349n126

• The book asserts that there is no evidence that Joseph Smith was "persecuted" for telling the story of his vision between 1820 and 1824.

• 1832 account doesn't mention persecution

• Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, p. 29, 46-47.

42, 43 (sidebar)

• The author claims that contradictions in the Biblical stories of Paul's vision were "long ago resolved by scholars analyzing the Greek texts. The discrepancies in Paul's account involve modern ignorance of the Greek wording used."

• Modern scholars disagree with the author's resolution, and the rule which he appeals to is broken by the NT text more than it is observed. Even Acts violates the author's claimed 'solution' three times!
  • Do Greek scholars solve the discrepancies in Paul's vision accounts?

• W.E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, p. 544.

42

• The book states that Fawn Brodie's idea that the First Vision may have been "the elaboration of some half-remembered dream stimulated by the early revival excitement" is a satisfactory way to "explain things."

• Psychobiographical analysis of Joseph Smith

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 25. ( Index of claims )

44

• Fawn Brodie's idea that the First Vision may have been "created some time after 1830 when the need arose for a magnificent tradition to cancel out the stories of his fortune-telling and money-digging" "further weakens" Mormon claims.

• Psychobiographical analysis of Joseph Smith

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 25. ( Index of claims )

45, 351n144

• It is claimed that Joseph "continued practicing magick, divination, astrology, and soothsaying long after the LDS Church was founded in 1830."

• Joseph Smith and seer stones
• Joseph Smith and the occult

• No specific reference is provided.
• The note simply mentions that seer stones continued to be used after the Church was organized in 1830 - a fact that could be easily deduced from reading the Doctrine and Covenants.

46

• The book claims that Brigham Young used Oliver Cowdery's divining rod to point out the location where the temple would be built in Salt Lake City.

• Anthon H. Lund Journal, under July 5, 1901.
• "The Psychological Needs of Mormon Women," Sunstone, volume 6, number 2, page 67.
• D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 206 ( Index of claims )

46

• The book claims that Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball were given divining rods by Joseph Smith.

• Divining rods to Kimball and Young

• Anthon H. Lund Journal, under July 5, 1901.
• "The Psychological Needs of Mormon Women," Sunstone, volume 6, number 2, page 67.
• D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 206 ( Index of claims )

46

• Joseph received a revelation praising Oliver's gift of using his divining talents.

• Oliver Cowdery and the "rod of nature"

47, 352n155

• Citing Quinn, the book asserts that David B. Haight "reinvoked the astrological principle that people should 'do nothing without the assistance of the moon'."
• The book further claims that the phrase "do nothing without the assistance of the moon" was deleted when Elder Haight's talk was placed online (i.e. the online Ensign article).

•  The author's claim is false: The phrase does not appear in the recorded version of Elder Haight's talk either.
• Haight: Do nothing without the assistance of the moon?

• D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 291 ( Index of claims )

48

• It is claimed that Joseph continued to discover and use new seer stones.

• Joseph Smith and seer stones  ^{[needs work]}

• D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 200 ( Index of claims )

48

• Joseph is said to have "never stopped being" an occultist.

• Joseph Smith and the occult

• Author's conclusion.

49

• The author conclude that the activities of Joseph's family may have been "satanic."

• Joseph Smith and the occult

• Author's conclusion.

51, 353 n. 2, 354 n. 3

• Book of Mormon plagiarized from the Bible

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 62-63. ( Index of claims )

55

• Nephi or Moroni

• Joseph Smith 1839 History
• Messenger and Advocate, vol. 3, no 12, pp. 53, 71.
• 1851 Pearl of Great Price, "Joseph Smith History," p. 41
• Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and His Progenitors for many Generations, p. 79.
• John C. Whitmer, "The Eight Witnesses," published in Andrew Jenson, HR, Oct. 1888, vol. 7, p. 621."

56

• D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 198-199 ( Index of claims )

56, 357 n. 34

• Joseph Smith and seer stones

• Martin Harris, Tiffany's Monthly interview, 1859.
• Hosea Stout, On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, Juanita Brooks, ed., vol. 2. p. 593.

56, 357 n. 33

• Joseph Smith and seer stones

• Steven C. Walker, "Joseph Smith: 'The Gift of Seeing,'" in Bryan Waterman ed., The Prophet Puzzle, p. 97.

56, 357 n. 35, 36

•  The author's claim is false
• These supposed "early" accounts comes from hostile statements made forty to fifty years later!
  • Mark Ashurst-McGee, "Moroni as Angel and as Treasure Guardian," FARMS Review 18/1 (2006): 34–100. [{{{url}}} off-site] wiki
  • Larry E. Morris, "'I Should Have an Eye Single to the Glory of God’: Joseph Smith’s Account of the Angel and the Plates (Review of: "From Captain Kidd’s Treasure Ghost to the Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism")," FARMS Review 17/1 (2005): 11–82. off-site

• Parley Chase, letter to James T. Cobb, Apr. 3, 1879, in Wilhelm Wyl, Mormon Portraits Volume First: Joseph Smith the Prophet, His Family and Friends (Salt Lake City: Tribune Printing and Publishing Co., 1886), 276. , reprinted in Dan Vogel (editor), Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, 1996–2003), 5 vols, 3:135.
• Hiel Lewis, The Amboy Journal, Apr. 30, 1879, quoted in Wesley P. Walters, "The Mormon Prophet Attempts to Join the Methodists"

56

• Joseph Smith and seer stones

• Isaac Hale, "Mormonism," Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian, May 1, 1834, p. 1.

57, 358-9 n. 47

• Book of Mormon translation method

• Joseph F. Smith, quoted by Oliver B. Huntington, Journal of Oliver Huntington, p. 168.

57-58, 359 n. 49

• Book of Mormon textual changes

• History of the Church, vol. 1, pp. 54-55.

58, 359 n. 50, 51

• Book of Mormon anachronisms/Synagogues

• Book of Mormon, 1830 edition, p. 268
• Alma 16꞉13
• The New International Dictionary of the Bible, p. 972

58, 359n52-53

• Book of Mormon anachronisms/Animals

• 1 Nephi 18꞉25
• Thomas D.S. Key, ""A Biologist Looks at the Book of Mormon,"" Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation, June 1985, XXX-VIII, p. 3."

58, 359n53

• Book of Mormon anachronisms/Animals

• John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, pp. 191-276, 299.

58, 359n54

• Book of Mormon and the Mound Builders

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 34. ( Index of claims )

60, 360n58

• Book of Mormon plagiarism accusations/The Wonders of Nature

• Josiah Priest, The Wonders of Nature, 1825
• Abanes, p. 69
• The Tanners are the source of this comparison, although it is not explicitly stated by the author. The author does mention that the Tanners demonstrate that a copy of the book was available in the Manchester library."

60-61, 360n59-63

• Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews

• Ethan Smith, View of the Hebrews, 1825
• David Persuitte, p. 107, 122
• Sandra Tanner, "Where Did Joseph Smith Get His Ideas for the Book of Mormon?"

61

• Viewing the gold plates would result in death?

• Martin Harris, Tiffany's Monthly interview, 1859.

62, 361n69-72

• Book of Mormon witnesses/Spiritual or literal

• Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) 175-176. ( Index of claims )

64

• "Eye of Faith"/"Spiritual Eye" statements by Martin Harris

• LDS apostle Stephen Burnett, letter to Lyman E. Johnson, April 15, 1838 reprinted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents 2:291

64, 362n81-82

• Book of Mormon witnesses/Spiritual or literal

• Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) 198-199. ( Index of claims )
• Harris, Tiffany's Monthly interview, 1859."

64, 362n83-84

• Book of Mormon witnesses/Spiritual or literal
• Eight witnesses
• John Whitmer: shown_to_me_by_a_supernatural_power

• Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) 204-206. ( Index of claims )

65

• The book fails to tell us that the Strangite witnesses only testified about how the plates were found, and some of these witnesses (unlike the Book of Mormon witnesses) recanted later.
  • Strangite parallels for witnesses?
  • Book_of_Mormon_witnesses

• Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) 208-212. ( Index of claims )

65, 362n87

• Book of Mormon anachronisms

• Dan Vogel, Brent Metcalfe, American Apocrypha, p. xiii.

66, 362n88

• Book of Mormon archeology

• Dee F. Green, "Book of Mormon Archeology: The Myths and the Alternatives," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Summer 1969), vol. 4, pp. 72-80

66, 362n89

• Amerindians as Lamanites/Maya and Olmec

• Michael Coe, "Mormons and Archaeology: An Outside View," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Winter 1973), vol. 8, p. 44.

66, 363n92

• The author acknowledges in his endnote that Givens "however, also quoted BYU professor Daniel Peterson, who made a statement in support of the BOM's unique character."
• See Daniel C. Peterson, "Editor's Introduction: By What Measure Shall We Mete? (Review of Hodgson's Test)," FARMS Review of Books 2/1 (1990): vii–vii. off-site
• Amerindians as Lamanites/Maya and Olmec

• Terryl L. Givens, By the Hand of Mormon, p. 155.

67, 363n95-96

• Book of Mormon geography/New World/Limited Geography Theory

• Vogel and Metcalfe, American Apocrypha, pp. viii-ix.
• Deanne G. Matheny, "Does the Shoe Fit? A critique of the Limited tehuantepec Geography," in New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology.

67, 363n99

• The book omits the line preceding the quoted phrase, where Sorenson and Roper indicate that "there is no evidence that in the early years any detailed thought was given to geography. Actually, the Book of Mormon was little referred to or used among church members in the first decades except as a confirming witness of the Bible. The writings or preaching of some of the best-informed church leaders of that day show that they did not read the text carefully on matters other than doctrine."
• Early members' preoccupations and interests were almost entirely doctrinal and theological. Since geography is incidental to the Book of Mormon's message, this is to be expected.
• If Joseph Smith was the author of the Book of Mormon, his ignorance on such points would be astonishing. Since he was only a translator, however, the fact that he was unaware of some of the book's nuances is unsurprising.

• John L. Sorenson and Matthew Roper, "Before DNA," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 12/1 (2003). [6–23] link, p. 10.

70, 365 n.115

• Amerindians as Lamanites
• All Amerindians are descended from Lehi
• Book_of_Mormon_and_DNA_evidence

• Joseph Smith's 1835 account of the First Vision found in the Ohio Journal—1835-1836, Nov. 9, 1835, reprinted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, p. 44.
• Joseph Smith, Mar. 1, 1842, letter to John Wentworth, History of the Church, Vol. 4, p. 537.
• Meldrum, "Children of Lehi"

71, 365 n.120

• Amerindians as Lamanites
• All Amerindians are descended from Lehi

• Oliver Cowdery's Speech to the Delawares. Parley P. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt.

72, 366 n.127

• Book of Mormon geography/Borders of the Lamanites

• DC 54꞉8—"And thus you shall take your journey into the regions westward, unto the land of Missouri, unto the borders of the Lamanites"

72, 366 n.128

• Amerindians as Lamanites

• Cooper Johnson, DNA and the Book of Mormon, FAIR web site

72, 366 n.130

• Book of Mormon anachronisms/Demographics

• 2 Nephi 1꞉6
• J. Reuben Clark, "Prophecies, Penalties, and Blessings," Improvement Era, July 1940, vol. xliii., no. 7 quoted in Bill McKeever, "DNA and the Book of Mormon Record," Mormonism Research Ministry.

73, 367n131-135

• The book ignores that many critics who use DNA evidence against the Book of Mormon do belong to denominations that advocate a Young Earth and/or a universal Noachian flood. The criticism is therefore valid as it applies to them.
• Fundamentalist "suicide bombing"

• No source is provided by the author for his claim that the "majority of Christians" understand that the world is older than 6000 years.
• Daniel C. Peterson, FAIR Conference, untitled lecture, Aug. 8, 2003, author's private notes.
• David Stewart, "DNA and the Book of Mormon"

73, 367n136

• Native Americans to become "white and delightsome" through polygamous marriage?

• W.W. Phelps, "Revelation Received West of Jackson County, Missouri, July 17, 1831," reprinted in H. Michael Marquardt, The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text & Commentary, p. 375.

73, 367n137

• Book of Mormon textual changes/"white" changed to "pure"

• 2 Nephi 30꞉6 (pre-1981 edition)

73, 367n138

• Lamanite curse
• 2 Nephi 5꞉21

• No source provided.

74

• Mormonism and science

• Author's opinion

75, 368n142

• B.H. Roberts and "Studies of the Book of Mormon"

• B.H. Roberts, Studies of the Book of Mormon, p. 271, 243.

76, 368n143

• B.H. Roberts' testimony of the Book of Mormon

• Wesley P. Lloyd statement at www.lds-mormon.com/bhrlettr.shtml

76

• Did FARMS claim that B.H. Roberts was playing "devils advocate" when he wrote Studies of the Book of Mormon without providing any documentation to support this assertion?
• Did FARMS only focus on what Roberts said before he reached what the author calls his "final conclusion?"

• B.H. Roberts' testimony of the Book of Mormon
• Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Becoming Gods/Use of sources/Madsen-B.H. Roberts and the Book of Mormon

• Truman G. Madsen, "B.H. Roberts and the Book of Mormon," BYU Studies (Summer 1979), volume 19, pp. 427-445.

77 368n145-147

• John Gee, "The Hagiography of Doubting Thomas (Review of Quest for the Gold Plates: Thomas Stuart Ferguson's Archaeological Search for the Book of Mormon)," FARMS Review of Books 10/2 (1998): 158–183. off-site
• Daniel C. Peterson, "On the New World Archaeological Foundation (Review of: Behind the Mask of Mormonism)," FARMS Review 16/1 (2004): 221–234. off-site
• Daniel C. Peterson and Matthew Roper, "Ein Heldenleben? On Thomas Stuart Ferguson as an Elias for Cultural Mormons (Review of: Quest for the Gold Plates: Thomas Stuart Ferguson’s Archaeological Search for the Book of Mormon)," FARMS Review 16/1 (2004): 175–220. off-site

• Thomas Stuart Ferguson, One fold and One Shepherd.
• Jerald and Sandra Tanner, "Ferguson's Two Faces," Salt Lake City Messenger #69, Sept. 1988, p. 3
• Ferguson letter dated Feb. 9, 1976.
• Ferguson letter dated Feb. 9, 1976.

77 369n150-153

• Do LDS scholars believe that Quetzalcoatl was Jesus Christ?
• The book asserts that Quetzalcoatl's association with a "feathered serpent" constitutes "snake worship," and is therefore inconsistent with worship of Jesus Christ.

• Quetzalcoatl and Jesus Christ

• John L. Sorenson, "The Decline of the God Quetzalcoatl, " in Pressing Forward with the Book of Mormon, p. 234.
• Joseph Allen, Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon.
• Joseph Allen, "The White god Quetzalcoatl," Meridian Magazine, 2003.
• Adela Fernandez, Pre-Hispanic Gods of Mexico, p. 68
• Quetzalcoatl the Myth, www.weber.ucsd.edu.

84, 370n9-11

• The book asserts that the revelations in the Book of Commandments were modified because they were "showing their age," "contained outdated information," "included erroneous statements" and "abandoned doctrines." Some of the revelations "revealed too much information about LDS beliefs."

• The revelations were "showing their age" between 1833 and 1835???
• Doctrine and Covenants textual changes

• Karl F. Best, "Changes in the Revelations, 1833-1835," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Spring 1992), vol. 25, no. 1, p. 90.
• H. Michael Marquardt, The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text & Commentary, p. 17.

85, 371n14

• The book asserts that Latter-day Saints view divine truth as "not absolute or fixed" but rather as "changeable, flexible."

• Changing doctrine

• Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, (New York:HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), 249. ( Index of claims )

87, 370n23

• Did Joseph receive a "false revelation" through his seer stone to go to Toronto, Canada to sell the Book of Mormon copyright?

• Did Joseph Smith attempt to sell the Book of Mormon copyright?

• David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ.

87, 371n25

• The book claims that some of the modified revelations had their meanings "reversed."

• Doctrine and Covenants textual changes

• D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Signature Books, 1994), 5.

89, 372n28

• Joseph modified the revelation now found in D&C 5:4 to add additional gifts. This is claimed to imply that after translating the Book of Mormon he was not supposed to become a prophet or organize a Church.

• Doctrine and Covenants textual changes

• Karl F. Best, "Changes in the Revelations, 1833-1835," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Spring 1992), vol. 25, no.1, p. 98.

89, 372n29-30

• Did Joseph modify what is now D&C 8:6-9 to hide Oliver Cowdery's use of a divining rod?

• Oliver Cowdery and the "rod of nature"

• D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 206 ( Index of claims )
• H. Michael Marquardt, The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text & Commentary, pp. 14-15.

90, 372n34, 375n35

• It is claimed that Apostle William E. McLellin left the Church because he was "shaken by the changes made in the revelations."

• This explanation (as shown by the dates of the material cited) came long after the fact. The book does not tell us that McLellin said at his excommunication hearing that:

...he said he had no confidence in the presidency of the Church; consequently, he had quit praying and keeping the commandments of the Lord, and indulged himself in his sinful lusts. It was from what he had heard that he believed the presidency had got out of the way, and not from anything that he had seen himself.^[2]

• McLellin had previously been excommunicated for spending time with "a certain harlot" while on a mission.^[3] He had also been out of fellowship for "writing a letter which "cast…censure upon the [first] presidency."^[4]
• McLellin: Examining the Witness
• Doctrine and Covenants textual changes

• "The Early History of the Saints and Their Enemies," Sept. 28, 1875, Salt Lake Daily Tribune, Dec. 5, 1878
• William McLellin, Saint's Herald, vol. 17, pp. 556-557.

90

• The book asserts that Latter-day Saints claim that Biblical writers also modified their revelations, but cannot provide data to support this.
• It is stated that this is an "argument from silence."

• Argument from silence?

• Stephen W. Gibson, One-Minute Answers to Anti-Mormon Question, p. 82

94

• The book claims that when Joseph Smith turned the "Book of Breathings" into the "Book of Abraham," that Joseph claimed that the "Book of the Dead" had been written by Joseph of Egypt.

• Hiding Book of the Dead connection?
• Book of Abraham/Papyri

• No source provided.

94-98

• The restoration of the missing portions of Facsimile 1 were said to be "terribly wrong."

• Book of Abraham/Papyri

• Charles M. Larson, By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri, 2nd ed., (Grand Rapids, MI: Institute for Religious Research, 1992), .

99

• LDS apologists' main purpose is claimed to be to explain away "any and all criticisms that might damage the validity of Smith's writings."

• Apologetics

• Author's opinion.

100

• It is claimed that documents show how the hieroglyphs from the papyri were matched to the Book of Abraham text, and that one or two words in Egyptian were expanded to entire paragraphs in English.

• Kirtland Egyptian Papers

• Richard L. Bushman, "Joseph Smith as Translator, in Waterman, p. 81.

109

• Do Latter-day Saints practice polytheism—the belief in a plurality of gods?

• Polytheism

• Definition of "polytheism" taken from Vergilius Ferm, ed., The Encyclopedia of Religion, p. 774.

112 n25-26

• Do Latter-day Saints "redefine" monotheism to be the worship of one "primary or supreme god above all other gods."

• Polytheism

• The author adds the endnote: "LDS theology recognized that other supreme gods exist for other universes and world. But Mormons contend that we have nothing to do with these gods."
• John Widtsoe, A Rational Theology, p. 67.
• Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 11:41.
• Joseph Smith, Lecture on Faith, Lecture 2, paragraph 2.

114

• The book asserts that early Biblical quotes used by Latter-day Saints to support "tritheism" only "superficially" support their position, and that upon closer examination do not provide this support.

• Godhead and the Trinity

• No source provided.

114

• Do Latter-day Saints worship the Godhead as "one god."

• Godhead and the Trinity

• No source provided.

115, 379n47-48

• The book asserts that the concep of the Trinity is "one of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith" and is at the "heart of the Christian conception of God."

• The Saints are trinitarians, just not Nicene trinitarians:
• Godhead and the Trinity
  • Nicene trinitarianism not part of early Christian beliefs
  • Non-LDS scholars on Nicea and the Bible

• Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 226.
• Stanley Grenz, Theology for the Community of God, p. 99.

130

• Is the Latter-day Saint belief in the "eternality of matter" actually a "pagan" belief?

• Creatio ex nihilo

• Source not provided.

130

• Is the Latter-day Saint belief in the "pre-existence of spirits" actually a "pagan" belief?

• Terryl Givens, "When Souls Had Wings: What the Western Tradition Has to teach Us About Pre-Existence," FAIR Conference 2007 off-site

• The author claims that this is derived from "pure Greek philosophy."

130

• Is the Latter-day Saint concept of "human deification" actually a "pagan" belief?

• Deification of man

• Source not provided.

136

• Corporeality of God

• Author's opinion.

136

• God is a man?

• Numbers 23꞉19
• 1 Samuel 15꞉29
• Hosea 11꞉9

137

• God is a Spirit

• John 4꞉24
• Luke 24꞉39
• Gordon B. Hinckley, "The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," Ensign, Oct. 5, 1986.

149

• "Son of Man" or "son of a man?"

• No source given.

154

• "Celestial sex"

• Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 750.

156, 394 n. 28-31

• Heavenly Mother

• Milton R. Hunter, The Gospel Through the Ages, p. 98.
• Cannon, in Daniel H. Ludlow, vol. 2, p. 961.
• Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 516.
• Gordon B. Hinckley, "Daughters of God," Ensign, Nov. 1991, p. 100.

157

• "Celestial sex"

• Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 11:123.

162

• Heavenly Mother

• Jeremiah 7꞉17-19
• Jeremiah 44꞉17-19
• Jeremiah 44꞉25-27

183

• This claim is false.
• 1 Nephi 11꞉18-21
• Jesus Christ's conception

• Isaiah 7꞉14

184

•  Author's quote: "Until recently, the common belief clearly implied throughout the history of Mormonism...was that Jesus' conception occurred via sexual intercourse between Heavenly Father (Elohim) and Mary."

• The Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ's conception

• Luke 1꞉35
• 1 Nephi 11꞉14
• 1 Nephi 11꞉16-18
• 1 Nephi 11꞉20
• 1 Nephi 11꞉24
• 1 Nephi 11꞉26-28
• 1 Nephi 11꞉32-33

185, 405n41

• This is the author's conclusion. The author wants to talk about a "sexual union" again, but the statement he uses in his citation in the endnotes says nothing about redefining "virgin" to mean a woman who has never known a mortal man. It is certainly true that Latter-day Saints believe Jesus Christ to be the literal son of our Heavenly Father, but the author takes liberties in drawing his conclusions about the event.
• Jesus Christ's conception

• Joseph F. Smith, Charles Penrose, "Message of the First Presidency," vol. 5, p. 34. "...his unique status in the flesh as the offspring of a mortal mother and of an immortal, or resurrected and glorified, Father"

187, 406n54-55

• This statement is false.
• Atonement not carried out on the cross

• Cky Carrigan, "Did Jesus Christ Die on the Cross to Pay for Our Sins?: A Survey of Mormon Teachings on the Atonement of Christ," Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Ministries to New Religions, Biola University, Jan. 25, 2003.

201

• Three degrees of glory
• Human deification/theosis

• Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, "Those who obtain exaltation will gain all power and thus themselves be omnipotent...Godhood is to have the character, possess the attributes, and enjoy the perfections which the Father has. It is to do what he does, have the powers resident in him, and live as he lives."

201

• 2 Corinthians 12:2
• 1 Corinthians 15:40-41
• Three degrees of glory not biblical

• DC 76

205

• Deification of man

• Isaiah 43
• 1 Timothy 2꞉5
• James 2꞉19

213

• The concept of deification derived from Greek philosophy?

225

• "Celestial sex"

• Melodie Moench Charles, "The Need for a New Mormon Heaven," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Fall 1988, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 77-78. The reference to "sexual union" comes from Melodie Moench Charles.

226

• 1835 Doctrine and Covenants denies polygamy

• D&C CI:4 (1835 edition), p. 251.

233, 422n47

• Polygamy a requirement for exaltation

• J.W. Musser, "The New And Everlasting Covenant Of Marriage: An Interpretation Of Celestial Marriage, Plural Marriage, Polygamy."

233, 422n48-49

• The only men who become gods are those that practice polygamy?

• Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 11:268-269

237

• This statement is false. The sources quoted in the endnotes do not say anything about "conjugal visits" to women to whom Joseph was sealed who already had husbands for time.
• Joseph Smith and polygamy

• Richard S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), 62.
• Jedediah Grant, Journal of Discourses 2:14.

237, 424n71

• Full details: Wyatt, "Zina and Her Men."

• Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997), 20, 48-49. ( Index of claims )

237, 425n73-75

•  The author's claim is false
• This claim is also made in One Nation Under Gods:
• Grant's quote (see right) is about consecrating everything to God's service: money, wives, etc. It does not sanction "wife swapping."

• Jedediah M. Grant, Journal of Discourses 2:14.
• Lee, Confessions of John D. Lee, p. 165
• C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 1, p. 73.

237

• See p. 244
• Polygamy not Biblical

• Author's interpretation.

239, n. 80-83

• Was Jesus a polygamist

• Jedediah M. Grant, Journal of Discourses 1:346.
• Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses 2:210.
• Orson Pratt, "Celestial Marriage," The Seer, vol. 1, no. 11, p. 172.

240

• Book of Mormon condemns polygamy

• Jacob 1꞉15
• Jacob 2꞉24-27
• Jacob 3꞉5
• The author does not mention Jacob 2꞉30, which states "For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things" as the reason that Latter-day Saints "deny that this is the case."

241

• Jesus Christ/Deification before mortality

241

• Holy Ghost/Divinity without a body

244

•  The author's claim is false
• This claim is false; levirate marriage was mandated by the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 25:5-6).
• Even if true, this claim is immaterial. God did not condemn the practice of plural marriage in the Bible. If it was everywhere and always forbidden, God could and would have done so. Early Christian authors understood this.
• Polygamy_not_Biblical
• No biblical mandate for plural marriage?

• No source given.

245, n97

• Polygamy after the Manifesto

• 1911 telegram to Reed Smoot from Joseph F. Smith, Apr. 1, 1911.

255, 434n15

• Did early LDS leaders denounce Christianity?

• Joseph Smith, EJ", vol. 1, no. 4, p. 60 www.solomonspalding.com/docs/eldjur04.htm
• Joseph Smith, History of the Church 5:218.
• Orson Pratt, "Baptism for the Remission of Sins," The Seer, p. 255.
• Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, 2:196.
• Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 5:73.
• Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 5:89-90.
• Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 5:229.
• John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 2:25.
• Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:171.
• Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:199.
• John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 13:225.
• Andrew Jenson, Collected Discourses 2:150.
• B.H. Roberts, The Mormon Doctrine of Diety, p. 116.
• Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pp. 132, 246, 269, 314-315.

256

• Great and abominable church

• 1 Nephi 13꞉4-9
• 1 Nephi 13꞉24-29
• 1 Nephi 14꞉10-13
• D&C 19-21

257

• Did early LDS leaders denounce Christianity?

• Author's opinion

262, 440n46

• Polytheism
• The "Mormon Jesus" versus the "Traditional Jesus"

• Source not specified.

262, 440n46

• Jesus Christ is the brother of Satan
• The "Mormon Jesus" versus the "Traditional Jesus"

• No source specified.

262, 440n46

• The "Mormon Jesus" versus the "Traditional Jesus"

• Source not specified.

262, 440n46

• Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief
• The "Mormon Jesus" versus the "Traditional Jesus"

• Source not specified.

268

• No complete apostasy?

• 2 Peter 2꞉1-2
• Acts 20꞉29-30
• 2 Timothy 4꞉3-5
• 2 Timothy 1꞉15
• 2 Thessalonians 2꞉3
• 2 Thessalonians 2꞉7

273

• Baptism for the dead

• No source given.

273, 441n96

•  Author's quote: "Interestingly, when BYU professor Robert L. Millet attempted to justify baptism for the dead using the Corinthians verse, he actually changed the second sentence of biblical text, replacing the word 'they' with 'we.' The substitution, of course, makes it seem as if Paul was saying that he and all the Corinthians were baptizing the dead." (emphasis added)

•  The author's claim is false: The book accuses professor Millet of deceptively changing a word to misrepresent a Biblical verse. In reality, Millet clearly prefaces this change with the heading "Interpretations of Paul’s Words."
• For more detail on this claim, see Changing Biblical text

• • Robert L. Millet, "I Have a Question," Ensign, Aug. 1987, p. 19.

274-276

• Hebrews 7 and the Aaronic Priesthood
• Christians don't need a mediating priesthood?
• Is There a "Priesthood of All Believers"?

• Hebrews 7-10

276-279

• Priesthood non-transferable?
• Jesus is the only Melchizedek priesthood holder
• Bible teachings about priesthood

• Hebrews 7꞉24
• D. Guthrie and J.A. Motyer, eds., The Eerdman's Bible Commentary, p. 1241.

Sites we recommend:

• Mormon Scholars Testify: Messages of faith from scholars who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints