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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Becoming Gods/Index
< Criticism of Mormonism | Books | Becoming Gods
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A FAIR Analysis of: Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Becoming Gods A work by author: Richard Abanes
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Index—p. 2 |
Index to claims made in Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism p. 1 of 2
This is an index of claims made in this work with links to corresponding responses within the FAIRwiki. An effort has been made to provide the author's original sources where possible.
Claims made in Preface: "Can't We All Just Get Along?"
Page | Claim | Response | Author's sources |
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13 |
Mormons exist in "two distinct groups:" Chapel Mormons and Internet Mormons. |
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15 |
The Journal of Discourses was viewed on par with the Standard Works by early Church members. |
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16 |
"Gospel Principles" is published by the Church, but contains a disclaimer that states that it is not an official publication of the Church. |
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17, 331n35 |
Mormons "focus on a minor issue while dismissing the broader point that is being made by a critic of the church." |
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Claims made in Chapter 1: God's Latter-Day Prophet
Page | Claim | Response | Author's sources |
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24 |
Joseph's family survived by "money digging." |
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24 |
Joseph was adept at "occult ritual." |
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24 |
Joseph's neighbors thought that he was "an imposter, hypocrite and liar." |
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26 |
During the First Vision, Joseph was told that "all Christian creeds" were an abomination and that "all Christian teachers" were corrupt. |
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26 |
Many Mormons believe that "their salvation, to a limited degree, rests upon Smith." |
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26 |
Bruce R. McConkie said that "we must turn to Joseph Smith to gain salvation." |
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26 |
Dallin Oaks said that "I have built my life on the testimony and mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith." |
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27 |
Joseph Smith was "harsh and violent." |
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27 |
James E. Faust said that Joseph Smith "was the greatest prophet who ever lived upon the earth." |
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28 |
Joseph Smith may have been a "pious fraud," who believed that he had been called of God while perpetrating fraud. |
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28 |
Joseph Smith and other church leaders "often used deception to conceal their activities." |
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28 |
Polygamy was practiced in secret and denied publicly. |
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28 |
Heber C. Kimball predicted that the world would someday see Joseph Smith as "a god." |
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28 |
Brigham Young applied 1 John 4:3 to Joseph Smith. |
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29 |
LDS claim that Joseph Smith "told but one" First Vision. |
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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. |
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30 |
The 1832 account does not mention two personages. |
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30 |
The 1832 account does not mention that "all the churches in Joseph's day were false." |
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31 |
Joseph claimed that he learned about the errors in Christendom through personal Bible study several years before the First Vision. |
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31 |
Orson Pratt said that the two personages "declared themselves to be angels." |
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31 |
Church historian Andrew Jenson said that "The angel again forbade Joseph to join any of these churches." |
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31 |
Joseph dictated the 1838 account of the First Vision to counter the leadership crisis in Kirtland. |
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31 |
The visit of Moroni was confused with the First Vision, and "was probably the real first vision." |
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34 |
"Not a single piece" of literature published in the 1830's mentions a visit by the Father and the Son. |
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34 |
Joseph's mother said that the First Vision was of an angel. |
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34 |
Joseph privately began reworking the story of seeing an angel into a vision of Christ. |
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34 |
Without "Mormonism's so-called" Melchizedek Priesthood, no man can see God and live. | ||
34 |
Nobody knows "when or how" the Joseph received the Melchizedek Priesthood. |
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34 |
Joseph "had to backdate" the First Vision to 1820 in response to a leadership crisis. |
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35 |
The First Vision originally stated that the personages were angels. |
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35 |
There was no 1820 revival in Palmyra that converted "great multitudes" of people. |
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35, 342n78, 348n130 |
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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. |
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35-36, 343n83 |
Joseph Smiths First Vision may have been a dream of a "bloody ghost dressed as a Spaniard. |
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36, 343n85 |
Joseph Smith was an "occultist." |
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36 |
Early Mormons believed in "witchcraft." |
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36 |
Joseph's mother talked about "magic circles" and the "faculty of Abrac." |
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37, 344n93 |
Joseph's family had a "magick dagger" that was owned by Hyrum Smith. |
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37, 344n94 |
Joseph's family had "three magick parchments." One of these was owned by Hyrum Smith. |
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37, 344n95 |
Joseph had a "Jupiter talisman" with him the day he died. |
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38 |
"Researchers of Mormonism" now believe that Joseph was influenced by "Jewish kabbalism." |
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38 |
Joseph considered the date April 6th to have "astrological significance." |
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38-39, 346 n. 104-109 |
Joseph was arrested in 1826 for being a "disorderly person and an imposter." |
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39 |
No "statements of repentance by Smith" for money digging have ever been found. |
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40, 348n123 |
Gordon B. Hinckley cited false documentation to support the story of an 1820 revival. |
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42, 349n126 |
There is no evidence that Joseph Smith was "persecuted" for telling the story of his vision between 1820 and 1824. |
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42, 43 (sidebar) |
Contradictions in the 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." |
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42 |
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." |
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44 |
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. |
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45, 351 n. 144 |
Joseph "continued practicing magick, divination, astrology, and soothsaying long after the LDS Church was founded in 1830." |
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46 |
Brigham Young used Oliver Cowdery's divining rod to point out the location where the temple would be built in Salt Lake City. |
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46 |
Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball were given divining rods by Joseph Smith. |
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46 |
Joseph received a revelation praising Oliver's gift of using his divining talents. |
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48 |
Joseph continued to discover and use new seer stones. |
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48 |
Joseph "never stopped being" an occultist. |
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49 |
The activities of Joseph's family may have been "satanic." |
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Claims made in Chapter 2: And it Came to Pass
Page | Claim | Response | Use of sources |
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51, 353n2, 354n3 |
Some Book of Mormon stories are simply reworked from the Bible or the Apocrypha. |
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55, 355n28 |
The 1839 history of the Church identified the angel who delivered the plates to Joseph as Nephi rather than Moroni. |
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56 |
The name "Nephi" is related to "generic terms used by nineteenth-century occultists for spirit messengers." |
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56, 357n34 |
Joseph used his seer stone to locate the plates. |
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56, 357n33 |
Joseph Smith's vision of Moroni may have taken place through his seer stone. |
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56, 357n35-36 |
The "golden book" was originally supposed to be about "hidden treasure" — the "religious twist" was added later. |
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56 |
Joseph translated the plates by looking at his seer stone in his hat. The plates were not nearby. |
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57, 358-9n47 |
Each sentence and word in the 1830 Book of Mormon "had supposedly come directly from God." |
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57-58, 359n49 |
A voice from heaven proclaimed that the translation was correct, therefore no further editing should have been required. |
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58, 359n50-51 |
The use of the word "synagogue" in the Book of Mormon is an anachronism. |
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58, 359n52-53 |
There are references to cows, oxen, horses, and goats in the New World hundreds of years before Christ. |
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58, 359n53 |
"LDS apologist John Sorenson has suggested that Smith mistranslated numerous words" from the gold plates and that "cattle and oxen should have been rendered deer and bison," and that "horses should also have been translated deer." |
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58, 359n54 |
The Book of Mormon "is simply a rehashing" of the speculation in the 19th century regarding Indian origins due to the presence of burial mounds "dotting the land." |
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60, 360n58 |
Joseph Smith incorporated text from Josiah Priest's The Wonders of Nature into the Book of Mormon. |
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60-61, 360n59-63 |
Joseph Smith plagiarized Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews. |
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61 |
Anyone who looked on the gold plates would die. |
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62, 361n69-72 |
The witnesses never actually physically saw the plates - they only saw them in visions. |
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64 |
Martin Harris said that he never saw the plates with his "natural eyes." |
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64, 362n81-82 |
Cowdery, Whitmer and Harris's statements that they actually saw the plates only refer to times that the plates were either covered with a cloth or in a wooden box. |
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64, 362n83-84 |
Martin Harris said that none of the eight witnesses had seen or handled the plates. |
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65 |
The Book of Mormon "can hardly be considered unique" since James Strang produced a set of plates that were seen by witnesses. |
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65, 362n87 |
LDS defenders (apologists) have redefined many of the terms that Joseph Smith used in the Book of Mormon text: steel means iron, horses are deer, tents are huts, etc. |
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66, 362n88 |
LDS scholars such as Dee F. Green have stated that Book of Mormon archaeology is a "myth." |
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66, 362n89 |
Dr. Michael Coe stated that there was no Book of Mormon archaeology. |
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66, 363n92 |
LDS scholar Terryl L. Givens "admitted" that no connection has been made between the Book of Mormon and cultures or civilizations in the Western hemisphere. |
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67, 363n95-96 |
The limited geography theory "cannot bear rigorous scrutiny" and "does violence" to the text of the Book of Mormon. |
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67, 363n99 |
Apologists have suggested that "not a single early Mormon, including Joseph Smith, ever bothered reading the Book of Mormon 'closely enough to grasp the fact' " that the plates were not buried in the hill where the final Nephite battle occurred. |
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70, 365n115 |
Joseph Smith said that the angel told him that all American Indians were "literal descendants of Abraham," but DNA has disproved this. |
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71, 365n120 |
Joseph Smith founded the "Restored Church" on the belief that all Native Americans were descendants of the Israelites. |
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72, 366 n.127 |
All modern Mormons believed that all inhabitants of the New World were descendants of the Lamanites until "science showed it to be erroneous." |
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72, 366n128 |
The "updated LDS paradigm" claims that Nephites intermarried with non-Israelite natives, thus diluting their DNA. |
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72, 366n130 |
The LDS view has always been that Israelites were the first people to populate the Americas, since the land was "kept from the knowledge of other nations." |
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73, 367n131-135 |
Not many Christians actually believe that the world was created around 4000 B.C., or that the flood occurred around 2000 B.C. In fact, "[T]he majority of traditional Christians understand that the world is older than 6000 years," therefore the claim that the DNA argument is fundamentalist "suicide bombing" is false. |
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73, 367n136 |
The Lamanites were supposed to become "white" once they converted en masse to Mormonism. This was to be accomplished by having LDS men take Indian wives. |
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73, 367n137 |
The phrase "white and delightsome" was changed to "pure and delightsome" in the Book of Mormon. |
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73, 367n138 |
LDS leaders claimed that the alteration to the Book of Mormon had nothing to do with the Indians physically turning white. LDS leaders taught that the curse would one day be removed. |
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74 |
LDS apologists dismiss Church teachings in order to make Mormonism compatible with scientific findings. |
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75, 368n142 |
LDS apologist B.H. Roberts "reached a shocking conclusion" that that Book of Mormon wasn't authentic. |
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76, 368n143 |
B.H. Roberts "had come to realize that the Book of Mormon was a nonhistorical document." |
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76 |
FARMS claims that Roberts was playing "devils advocate," but have never provided documentation to support this assertion. They only focus on his declarations that he made before he reached his "final conclusion." |
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77 368n145-147 |
Thomas Stuart Ferguson lost his testimony of the Book of Mormon after failing to find archaeological evidence. |
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77 369n150-153 |
LDS scholars believe that Quetzalcoatl was Jesus Christ. However, Quetzalcoatl's association with a "feathered serpent" constitutes "snake worship," and is therefore inconsistent with worship of Jesus Christ. |
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Claims made in Chapter 3: Thus Saith Joseph
Page | Claim | Response | Author's sources |
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84, 370n9-11 |
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." |
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85, 371n14 |
Mormons view divine truth as "not absolute or fixed; it is changeable, flexible." |
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87, 370n23 |
Joseph received a "false revelation" through his seer stone to go to Toronto, Canada to sell the Book of Mormon copyright. |
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87, 371n25 |
Some of the modified revelations had their meanings "reversed." |
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89, 372n28 |
Joseph modified the revelation now found in D&C 5:4 to add additional gifts. After translating the Book of Mormon he was not supposed to become a prophet or organize a Church. |
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89, 372n29-30 |
Joseph modified what is now D&C 8:6-9 to hide Oliver Cowdery's use of a divining rod. |
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90, 372n34, 375n35 |
Apostle William E. McLellin left the Church because he was "shaken by the changes made in the revelations." |
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90 |
Mormons claim that Biblical writers modified revelations, but cannot provide data to support this. This is an "argument from silence." |
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94 |
Joseph Smith turned the "Book of Breathings" into the "Book of Abraham." Joseph claimed that the "Book of the Dead" had been written by Joseph of Egypt. |
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94-98 |
The restoration of the missing portions of Facsimile 1 were "terribly wrong." |
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99 |
LDS apologists' main purpose is to explain away "any and all criticisms that might damage the validity of Smith's writings." |
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100 |
Documents show how the hieroglyphs from the papyri were matched to the Book of Abraham text. One or two words in Egyptian were expanded to entire paragraphs in English. |
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Endnotes
- [note] John Franklin Hall, "April 6," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, (New York, Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 1:61–62.
- [note] Katich cites Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Urbana and Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press; Reprint edition, 1987), 74. ISBN 0252060121.
- [note] "History of William E. McLellin," Millennial Star 26 (1864), 808.; see also Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 volumes, edited by Brigham H. Roberts, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1957), 3:31. Volume 3 link
- [note] D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Signature Books, 1994), 44.
- [note] "History of William E. McLellin," Millennial Star 26 (1864), 808.; see also Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 volumes, edited by Brigham H. Roberts, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1957), 3:31. Volume 3 link
Further reading
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{{To learn more box:responses to: 8: The Mormon Proposition}} | To learn more box:responses to: 8: The Mormon Proposition | edit |
{{To learn more box:''Under the Banner of Heaven''}} | To learn more about responses to: Under the Banner of Heaven | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Robert Price}} | To learn more about responses to: Robert Price | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Ankerberg and Weldon}} | To learn more about responses to: Ankerberg and Weldon | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Ashamed of Joseph}} | To learn more about responses to: Ashamed of Joseph | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Beckwith and Moser}} | To learn more about responses to: Beckwith and Moser | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Beckwith and Parrish}} | To learn more about responses to: Beckwith and Parrish | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Benjamin Park}} | To learn more about responses to: Benjamin Park | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Bible versus Joseph Smith}} | To learn more about responses to: Bible versus Joseph Smith | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Bible versus Book of Mormon}} | To learn more about responses to: Bible versus Book of Mormon | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: ''Big Love''}} | To learn more about responses to: Big Love | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Brett Metcalfe}} | To learn more about responses to: Brett Metcalfe | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Bill Maher}} | To learn more about responses to: Bill Maher | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Bruce H. Porter}} | To learn more about responses to: Bruce H. Porter | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Carol Wang Shutter}} | To learn more about responses to: Carol Wang Shutter | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: CES Letter}} | To learn more about responses to: CES Letter | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Charles Larson}} | To learn more about responses to: Charles Larson | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Christopher Nemelka}} | To learn more about responses to: Christopher Nemelka | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Colby Townshed}} | To learn more about responses to: Colby Townshed | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Contender Ministries}} | To learn more about responses to: Contender Ministries | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Crane and Crane}} | To learn more about responses to: Crane and Crane | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: D. Michael Quinn}} | To learn more about responses to: D. Michael Quinn | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Dan Vogel}} | To learn more about responses to: Dan Vogel | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: David John Buerger}} | To learn more about responses to: David John Buerger | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: David Persuitte}} | To learn more about responses to: David Persuitte | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Denver Snuffer}} | To learn more about responses to: Denver Snuffer | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Dick Bauer}} | To learn more about responses to: Dick Bauer | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Duwayne R Anderson}} | To learn more about responses to: Duwayne R Anderson | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Earl Wunderli}} | To learn more about responses to: Earl Wunderli | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Ed Decker}} | To learn more about responses to: Ed Decker | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Erikson and Giesler}} | To learn more about responses to: Erikson and Giesler | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Ernest Taves}} | To learn more about responses to: Ernest Taves | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Fawn Brodie}} | To learn more about responses to: Fawn Brodie | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: George D Smith}} | To learn more about responses to: George D Smith | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Grant Palmer}} | To learn more about responses to: Grant Palmer | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Hank Hanegraaff}} | To learn more about responses to: Hank Hanegraaff | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Hurlbut-Howe}} | To learn more about responses to: Hurlbut-Howe | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: James Brooke}} | To learn more about responses to: James Brooke | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: James Spencer}} | To learn more about responses to: James Spencer | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: James White}} | To learn more about responses to: James White | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Jerald and Sandra Tanner}} | To learn more about responses to: Jerald and Sandra Tanner | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Jesus Christ-Joseph Smith or Search for the Truth DVD}} | To learn more about responses to: Jesus Christ-Joseph Smith or Search for the Truth DVD | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: John Dehlin}} | To learn more about responses to: John Dehlin | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Jonathan Neville}} | To learn more about responses to: Jonathan Neville | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Kurt Van Gorden}} | To learn more about responses to: Kurt Van Gorden | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Laura King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery}} | To learn more about responses to: Laura King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Loftes Tryk aka Lofte Payne}} | To learn more about responses to: Loftes Tryk aka Lofte Payne | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Luke WIlson}} | To learn more about responses to: Luke WIlson | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Marquardt and Walters}} | To learn more about responses to: Marquardt and Walters | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Martha Beck}} | To learn more about responses to: Martha Beck | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Mcgregor Ministries}} | To learn more about responses to: Mcgregor Ministries | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: McKeever and Johnson}} | To learn more about responses to: McKeever and Johnson | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: New Approaches}} | To learn more about responses to: New Approaches to the Book of Mormon | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Richard Abanes}} | To learn more about responses to: Richard Abanes | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Richard Van Wagoner}} | To learn more about responses to: Richard Van Wagoner | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Richard and Joan Ostling}} | To learn more about responses to: Richard and Joan Ostling | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Rick Grunger}} | To learn more about responses to: Rick Grunger | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Robert Ritner}} | To learn more about responses to: Robert Ritner | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Rod Meldrum}} | To learn more about responses to: Rod Meldrum | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Roger I Anderson}} | To learn more about responses to: Roger I Anderson | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Ronald V. Huggins}} | To learn more about responses to: Ronald V. Huggins | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Sally Denton}} | To learn more about responses to: Sally Denton | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Simon Southerton}} | To learn more about responses to: Simon Southerton | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Thomas Murphy}} | To learn more about responses to: Thomas Murphy | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Todd Compton}} | To learn more about responses to: Todd Compton | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Vernal Holley}} | To learn more about responses to: Vernal Holley | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Walter Martin}} | To learn more about responses to: Walter Martin | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Wesley Walters}} | To learn more about responses to: Wesley Walters | edit |
{{To learn more box:responses to: Will Bagley}} | To learn more about responses to: Will Bagley | edit |
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