Difference between revisions of "Criticism of Mormonism/Books/No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith/Chapter 4"

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===Chapter 4: A Marvelous Work and a Wonder===
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__NOTOC__
{| valign="top" border="1" style="width:100%; font-size:85%"
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{{FAIRAnalysisHeader
!width="5%"|Page
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|title=[[../../]]
!width="40%"|Claim
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|author=Fawn Brodie
!width="30%"|Response
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|noauthor=
!width="25%"|[[Use of sources]]
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|section=[[../../Index|Index of claims]]: Claims made in "Chapter 4: A Marvelous Work and a Wonder"
|-
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|previous=[[../Chapter 3|Claims made in "Chapter 3: Red Sons of Israel"]]
|
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|next=[[../Chapter 5|Claims made in "Chapter 5: Witnesses for God"]]
 +
|notes={{AuthorsDisclaimer}}
 +
}}
 +
===Claims made in "Chapter 4: A Marvelous Work and a Wonder"===
 +
 
 
====53====
 
====53====
||Joseph warned Martin Harris that God's wrath would strike him down if he examined the plates or looked at him while he was translating.
+
{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
 +
*Joseph warned Martin Harris that God's wrath would strike him down if he examined the plates or looked at him while he was translating.
 +
|response=
 
*[[Viewing gold plates would result in death|Viewing the gold plates would result in death?]]
 
*[[Viewing gold plates would result in death|Viewing the gold plates would result in death?]]
||
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|authorsources=
 
*No source provided.
 
*No source provided.
|-
+
}}
|
 
 
====53====
 
====53====
||Harris once tried to trick Joseph by substituting an ordinary stone for the seer stone.
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{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
 +
*Harris once tried to trick Joseph by substituting an ordinary stone for the seer stone.
 +
|response=
 
*[[Joseph Smith and seer stones]]
 
*[[Joseph Smith and seer stones]]
||
+
|authorsources=
 
*Summary of Martin Harris' sermon in Salt Lake City, September 4, 1870, ''Historical Record'', Vol. VI, p. 216.
 
*Summary of Martin Harris' sermon in Salt Lake City, September 4, 1870, ''Historical Record'', Vol. VI, p. 216.
|-
+
}}
|
 
 
====54====
 
====54====
||Lucy Harris stole the manuscript and "neither pleas nor blows could make her divulge its hiding place."
+
{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
 +
*Lucy Harris stole the manuscript and "neither pleas nor blows could make her divulge its hiding place."
 +
|response=
 
*Lucy states in the Hurlbut affidavits that her husband "has whipped, kicked, and turned me out of the house." Despite the fact that Lucy Harris makes no mention of the lost 116 pages of manuscript from the ''Book of Mormon'', Fawn Brodie actually concludes that Harris beat his wife in order to get her to divulge what she had done with the lost 116 pages of manuscript.
 
*Lucy states in the Hurlbut affidavits that her husband "has whipped, kicked, and turned me out of the house." Despite the fact that Lucy Harris makes no mention of the lost 116 pages of manuscript from the ''Book of Mormon'', Fawn Brodie actually concludes that Harris beat his wife in order to get her to divulge what she had done with the lost 116 pages of manuscript.
 
*[[The Hurlbut affidavits#Lucy Harris|The Hurlbut affidavits—Lucy Harris]]
 
*[[The Hurlbut affidavits#Lucy Harris|The Hurlbut affidavits—Lucy Harris]]
||
+
|authorsources=
 
*Author's speculation.  
 
*Author's speculation.  
|-
+
}}
|
 
 
====54====
 
====54====
||Joseph realized that he could not duplicate the 116 pages exactly.
+
{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
 +
*Joseph realized that he could not duplicate the 116 pages exactly.
 +
|response=
 
*{{MindReading}}
 
*{{MindReading}}
 
*[[The lost 116 pages of The Book of Lehi]]
 
*[[The lost 116 pages of The Book of Lehi]]
||
+
|authorsources=
 
*Author's conjecture.
 
*Author's conjecture.
|-
+
}}
|
 
 
====55====
 
====55====
||Joseph's family was counting on sales of the Book of Mormon to prevent foreclosure on their farm.
+
{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
 +
*Joseph's family was counting on sales of the Book of Mormon to prevent foreclosure on their farm.
 +
|response=
 
*{{MindReading}}: the author presents no evidence for this claim.
 
*{{MindReading}}: the author presents no evidence for this claim.
||
+
|authorsources=
 
* {{attn}}
 
* {{attn}}
|-
+
}}
|
 
 
====55====
 
====55====
||Once Joseph had translated the small plates of Nephi, he could go back to the old plates and carry on.
+
{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
 +
*Once Joseph had translated the small plates of Nephi, he could go back to the old plates and carry on.
 +
|response=
 
* {{HistoricalError}}: Joseph likely continued to translate the large plates, and only finished with the small plates at the end.
 
* {{HistoricalError}}: Joseph likely continued to translate the large plates, and only finished with the small plates at the end.
 
* [[Book_of_Mormon_translation_chronology|Book of Mormon translation chronology]]
 
* [[Book_of_Mormon_translation_chronology|Book of Mormon translation chronology]]
||
+
|authorsources=
 
* {{attn}}
 
* {{attn}}
|-
+
}}
|
 
 
 
 
====58====
 
====58====
||The Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon were "chiefly those chapters from Isaiah mentioned in Ethan Smith's ''View of the Hebrews."
+
{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
 +
*The Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon were "chiefly those chapters from Isaiah mentioned in Ethan Smith's ''View of the Hebrews."
 +
|response=
 
*{{FalseStatement}}: ''View of the Hebrews'' Chapter 2 quotes Deuteronomy 30; Isaiah 11, 18, 60, 65; Jeremiah 16, 23, 30-31, 35-37; Zephaniah 3; Amos 9; Hosea and Joel. Out of these, only Isaiah 11 appears in the Book of Mormon.
 
*{{FalseStatement}}: ''View of the Hebrews'' Chapter 2 quotes Deuteronomy 30; Isaiah 11, 18, 60, 65; Jeremiah 16, 23, 30-31, 35-37; Zephaniah 3; Amos 9; Hosea and Joel. Out of these, only Isaiah 11 appears in the Book of Mormon.
 
*See also Jeff Lindsay, [http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/response/qa/bom_plagerize_view.htm Did Joseph Smith plagiarize from View of the Hebrews when writing the Book of Mormon?]
 
*See also Jeff Lindsay, [http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/response/qa/bom_plagerize_view.htm Did Joseph Smith plagiarize from View of the Hebrews when writing the Book of Mormon?]
 
*[[Book_of_Mormon_and_View_of_the_Hebrews/Analysis_of_scripture_use|Analysis of Isaiah usage in Book of Mormon and ''View of the Hebrews'']]
 
*[[Book_of_Mormon_and_View_of_the_Hebrews/Analysis_of_scripture_use|Analysis of Isaiah usage in Book of Mormon and ''View of the Hebrews'']]
 
*[[Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews]]  
 
*[[Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews]]  
||
+
|authorsources=
 
 
 
*No source provided.
 
*No source provided.
|-
+
}}
|
 
 
 
 
====58====
 
====58====
||Joseph was careful to modify primarily the italicized interpolation in the King James text.
+
{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
 +
*Joseph was careful to modify primarily the italicized interpolation in the King James text.
 +
|response=
 
*[[Book_of_Mormon_translation_method/Mainly_italics_altered|Mainly the italics altered?]]
 
*[[Book_of_Mormon_translation_method/Mainly_italics_altered|Mainly the italics altered?]]
||
+
|authorsources=
 
*Author's conjecture.
 
*Author's conjecture.
|-
+
}}
|
 
  
 
====58====
 
====58====
||Joseph incorporated one of his father's dreams into the Book of Mormon
+
{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
 +
*Joseph incorporated one of his father's dreams into the Book of Mormon
 +
|response=
 
*[[Joseph Smith, Sr.'s dream and Lehi's vision]]
 
*[[Joseph Smith, Sr.'s dream and Lehi's vision]]
||
+
|authorsources=
 
*Lucy Smith, ''Biographical Sketches'', pp. 58-9.
 
*Lucy Smith, ''Biographical Sketches'', pp. 58-9.
|-
+
}}
|
 
 
====59====
 
====59====
||Early in the writing Joseph vigorously attacked the Catholic Church as the "great and abominable church" and the "whore of all the earth"
+
{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
 +
*Early in the writing Joseph vigorously attacked the Catholic Church as the "great and abominable church" and the "whore of all the earth"
 +
|response=
 
*{{SourceDistortion}}: [[Great and abominable church]]
 
*{{SourceDistortion}}: [[Great and abominable church]]
||
+
|authorsources=
 
*Source not provided.
 
*Source not provided.
|-
+
}}
<!--
 
|
 
 
====60====
 
====60====
||Lucy Smith's stories about the Golden Bible had converted Oliver Cowdery.
+
{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
||
+
*Lucy Smith's stories about the Golden Bible had converted Oliver Cowdery.
 +
|response=
 +
|authorsources=
 
*Author's conjecture.
 
*Author's conjecture.
|-
+
}}
-->
 
|
 
  
 
====62====
 
====62====
||Joseph Smith's lack of education is "a favorite thesis designed to prove the authenticity" of the Book of Mormon.
+
{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
 +
*Joseph Smith's lack of education is "a favorite thesis designed to prove the authenticity" of the Book of Mormon.
 +
|response=
 
*[[Book of Mormon authorship theories]]
 
*[[Book of Mormon authorship theories]]
||
+
|authorsources=
 
*Author's opinion.
 
*Author's opinion.
|-
+
}}
|
 
 
====62-63====
 
====62-63====
||Joseph Smith borrowed many stories from the Bible.
+
{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
 +
*Joseph Smith borrowed many stories from the Bible.
 +
|response=
 
*[[Book of Mormon plagiarized from the Bible]]
 
*[[Book of Mormon plagiarized from the Bible]]
||
+
|authorsources=
 
*Author's opinion.
 
*Author's opinion.
|-
+
}}
|
 
 
====63====
 
====63====
||Joseph's sentence structure in the Book of Mormon was "loose-jointed, like an earthworm hacked into segments that crawl away alive and whole."
+
{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
 +
*Joseph's sentence structure in the Book of Mormon was "loose-jointed, like an earthworm hacked into segments that crawl away alive and whole."
 +
|response=
 
*[[Chiasmus]]
 
*[[Chiasmus]]
||
+
|authorsources=
 
*Author's opinion.
 
*Author's opinion.
|-
+
}}
|
 
 
====65====
 
====65====
||The story of the Gadianton band reflects the anti-Masonic feelings in New York at the time that the Book of Mormon was produced.
+
{{IndexClaim
||
+
|claim=
 +
*The story of the Gadianton band reflects the anti-Masonic feelings in New York at the time that the Book of Mormon was produced.
 +
|response=
 
*[[Book of Mormon anachronisms/Gadianton masons]]
 
*[[Book of Mormon anachronisms/Gadianton masons]]
||
+
|authorsources=
 
*No source given.
 
*No source given.
 
*Author's conjecture.
 
*Author's conjecture.
|}
+
}}

Revision as of 22:55, 26 January 2010


A FAIR Analysis of:
Criticism of Mormonism/Books
A work by author: Fawn Brodie

Claims made in "Chapter 4: A Marvelous Work and a Wonder"

53

Claim
  • Joseph warned Martin Harris that God's wrath would strike him down if he examined the plates or looked at him while he was translating.

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

53

Claim
  • Harris once tried to trick Joseph by substituting an ordinary stone for the seer stone.

Author's source(s)
  • Summary of Martin Harris' sermon in Salt Lake City, September 4, 1870, Historical Record, Vol. VI, p. 216.
Response

54

Claim
  • Lucy Harris stole the manuscript and "neither pleas nor blows could make her divulge its hiding place."

Author's source(s)
  • Author's speculation.
Response
  • Lucy states in the Hurlbut affidavits that her husband "has whipped, kicked, and turned me out of the house." Despite the fact that Lucy Harris makes no mention of the lost 116 pages of manuscript from the Book of Mormon, Fawn Brodie actually concludes that Harris beat his wife in order to get her to divulge what she had done with the lost 116 pages of manuscript.
  • The Hurlbut affidavits—Lucy Harris

54

Claim
  • Joseph realized that he could not duplicate the 116 pages exactly.

Author's source(s)
  • Author's conjecture.
Response

55

Claim
  • Joseph's family was counting on sales of the Book of Mormon to prevent foreclosure on their farm.

Author's source(s)
  •  [ATTENTION!]
Response
  •  Mind reading: author has no way of knowing this.: the author presents no evidence for this claim.

55

Claim
  • Once Joseph had translated the small plates of Nephi, he could go back to the old plates and carry on.

Author's source(s)
  •  [ATTENTION!]
Response

58

Claim
  • The Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon were "chiefly those chapters from Isaiah mentioned in Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

58

Claim
  • Joseph was careful to modify primarily the italicized interpolation in the King James text.

Author's source(s)
  • Author's conjecture.
Response

58

Claim
  • Joseph incorporated one of his father's dreams into the Book of Mormon

Author's source(s)
  • Lucy Smith, Biographical Sketches, pp. 58-9.
Response

59

Claim
  • Early in the writing Joseph vigorously attacked the Catholic Church as the "great and abominable church" and the "whore of all the earth"

Author's source(s)
  • Source not provided.
Response

60

Claim
  • Lucy Smith's stories about the Golden Bible had converted Oliver Cowdery.

Author's source(s)
  • Author's conjecture.
Response
 FAIR WIKI EDITORS: Check sources

62

Claim
  • Joseph Smith's lack of education is "a favorite thesis designed to prove the authenticity" of the Book of Mormon.

Author's source(s)
  • Author's opinion.
Response

62-63

Claim
  • Joseph Smith borrowed many stories from the Bible.

Author's source(s)
  • Author's opinion.
Response

63

Claim
  • Joseph's sentence structure in the Book of Mormon was "loose-jointed, like an earthworm hacked into segments that crawl away alive and whole."

Author's source(s)
  • Author's opinion.
Response

65

Claim
  • The story of the Gadianton band reflects the anti-Masonic feelings in New York at the time that the Book of Mormon was produced.

Author's source(s)
  • No source given.
  • Author's conjecture.
Response