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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church/Chapter 1
< Criticism of Mormonism | Books | Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church
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Contents
- 1 Response to claims made in "Chapter 1: A Chosen Race in a Promised Land"
- 1.3 Claim
- Reversals of doctrine regarding polygamy and regarding Blacks and the priesthood were "painful and damaging" to the Church.
- The idea that the words of living prophets supersede the words of dead prophets has been "recently" promoted.
- Mormon doctrine is "fluid and changeable."
- The Nephites raise "herds of cattle, goats and horses."
- The Nephites raise Old World wheat and barley.
- The Nephites construct a temple that is "similar in splendor" to Solomon's.
- The Nephites are skilled in the use of metals such as iron, copper, brass, gold and silver.
- The Nephites use steel to fashion swords, breastplates, and arm and head shields.
- The Nephites built defensive mounds around their cities.
- The Lamanites vastly outnumber the Nephites.
- The "skin of blackness" is occasionally removed from the Lamanites when they are righteous, and returns to the Lamanites when they become unrighteous.
- The Book of Mormon links the color of a person's skin to morality.
- The Book of Mormon promotes the view that the "white race" is superior.
- In 1966 the Book of Abraham papyri were discovered.
- The translation of the papyri does not resemble the Book of Abraham.
- The denial of the priesthood to the Blacks was based upon the Book of Abraham.
- The Church publicly taught racist principles in the 1950's.
- The 1978 revelation allowing all men to hold the priesthood came in response to "public pressure."
- Many General Authorities believed that the priesthood prohibition would remain in place until Christ's return.
- Passages in the Book of Mormon were rewritten to "tone down references to skin color."
- LDS scripture states that those with lighter skin color "are favored because of what they did as spirits in a pre-earth life."
Response to claims made in "Chapter 1: A Chosen Race in a Promised Land"
| Introduction | A FAIR Analysis of: Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church A work by author: Simon G. Southerton
|
Chapter 2 |
3
Claim
- Attempts to describe Mormon doctrine are "fraught with peril."
Author's source(s) - Author's opinion.
- Prejudicial or loaded language
- Church doctrine/Changing
3
Claim
- Reversals of doctrine regarding polygamy and regarding Blacks and the priesthood were "painful and damaging" to the Church.
Author's source(s) - Author's opinion.
- No examples of the "pain" and "damage" are provided.
4
Claim
- The idea that the words of living prophets supersede the words of dead prophets has been "recently" promoted.
Author's source(s) - No source given.
- Absurd claim: This has always been the doctrine of the Church:
- [When invited by Joseph Smith], Brother Brigham took the stand, and he took the Bible, and laid it down; he took the Book of Mormon, and laid it down; and he took the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and laid it down before him, and he said: "There is the written word of God to us, concerning the work of God from the beginning of the world, almost, to our day. And now,' said he, 'when compared with the living oracles those books are nothing to me; those books do not convey the word of God direct to us now, as do the words of a Prophet or a man bearing the Holy Priesthood in our day and generation. I would rather have the living oracles than all the writing in the books.' That was the course he pursued. When he was through, Brother Joseph said to the congregation, "Brother Brigham has told you the word of the Lord, and he has told you the truth.'"[1]
- If living prophets outrank scriptures, then living prophets clearly supersede dead prophets: whether written or spoken.
- Church doctrine/Changing
4
Claim
- Mormon doctrine is "fluid and changeable."
Author's source(s) - No source given.
7-8
Claim
- The Nephites raise "herds of cattle, goats and horses."
Author's source(s) - No source given.
8
Claim
- The Nephites raise Old World wheat and barley.
Author's source(s) - No source given.
8
Claim
- The Nephites construct a temple that is "similar in splendor" to Solomon's.
Author's source(s) - No source given.
- Common source used is 2 Nephi 5꞉16
- The author's claim is false: Nephi explicitly says that he uses Solomon's temple as a model, but "it [was] not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon's temple" (2 Nephi 5꞉16).
- Book of Mormon anachronisms—Temple in New World
8
Claim
- The Nephites are skilled in the use of metals such as iron, copper, brass, gold and silver.
Author's source(s) - No source given.
8
Claim
- The Nephites use steel to fashion swords, breastplates, and arm and head shields.
Author's source(s) - No source given.
- The author's claim is false: "steel" is applied to two Old World weapons (Nephi's bow and the sword of Laban). Only in Ether are swords made of steel (Ether 7꞉9). Nephites are said to use steel (Jarom 1꞉8), but it is never described for breastplates, arm, or head shields.
- The author is again shown to be woefully ignorant of the Book of Mormon text.
- Book of Mormon anachronisms—Metals—Swords
8
Claim
- The Nephites built defensive mounds around their cities.
Author's source(s) - No source given.
8
Claim
- The Lamanites vastly outnumber the Nephites.
Author's source(s) - No source given.
8
Claim
- The "skin of blackness" is occasionally removed from the Lamanites when they are righteous, and returns to the Lamanites when they become unrighteous.
Author's source(s) - No source given
- Presentism or anachronism: the author (like many members) reads the text through modern lenses, instead of as an ancient document.
- Lamanite curse—literal versus metaphorical
- Latter-day Saint culture/Skin color in LDS thought
8
Claim
- The Book of Mormon links the color of a person's skin to morality.
Author's source(s) - 2 Nephi 5꞉21
- Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, March 1835
- Presentism or anachronism: the author (like many members) reads the text through modern lenses, instead of as an ancient document.
- Parts of the Book of Mormon directly repudiate this attitude (e.g., Jacob 3꞉8-9).
- Lamanite curse—literal versus metaphorical
- Latter-day Saint culture/Skin color in LDS thought
9
Claim
- The Book of Mormon promotes the view that the "white race" is superior.
Author's source(s) - No source given.
- Presentism or anachronism: the author (like many members) reads the text through modern lenses, instead of as an ancient document.
- Parts of the Book of Mormon directly repudiate this attitude (e.g., Jacob 3꞉8-9, 2 Nephi 26꞉33).
- Lamanite curse—literal versus metaphorical
- Latter-day Saint culture/Skin color in LDS thought
10
Claim
- In 1966 the Book of Abraham papyri were discovered.
Author's source(s) - 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), no pg. given.
- Only critical work is cited; no engagement with LDS scholarship on the topic occurs.
- Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri
10
Claim
- The translation of the papyri does not resemble the Book of Abraham.
Author's source(s) - Larson, 1992
- Hugh Nibley announced this in the Church magazine within two months of the papyri being given to the Church.
- Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Church disclosure of "Book of the Dead"
10
Claim
- The denial of the priesthood to the Blacks was based upon the Book of Abraham.
Author's source(s) - No source given.
- History unclear or in error: The use of Abraham as a proof text was a relatively late development.
- Blacks and the priesthood—Origin of the priesthood ban
- LDS scripture and the priesthood ban
10-11
Claim
- The Church publicly taught racist principles in the 1950's.
Author's source(s) - Mark E. Petersen, "Race Problems—As They Affect the Church," Talk given at Brigham Young University on Aug. 27, 1954
- Some leaders taught ideas that would now be seen as racist. Others did not.
- Author(s) impose(s) own fundamentalism on the Saints
- Racist statements by Church leaders
Logical Fallacy: Tu Quoque/Appeal to Hypocrisy—The author tries to discredit the validity of someone's position by asserting their failure to act consistently.
The author is determined to represent LDS leaders as either bumbling, ill-informed, manipulative, or overwhelmed. The author never acknowledges that the LDS do not believe in infallibility in their leaders. The author finally admits on p. 205 that there is no official geography—why, then, does he bother to reiterate the views of various leaders as if this were some kind of problem? Since even he agrees there is no official geography, what difference does it make if members and leaders are of differing views, or if they even change their minds?
11
Claim
- The 1978 revelation allowing all men to hold the priesthood came in response to "public pressure."
Author's source(s) - No source given.
- Mind reading: author has no way of knowing this.
- The author's claim is false: social and public pressure was low at the time.
- Blacks and the priesthood—Social pressure
12
Claim
- Many General Authorities believed that the priesthood prohibition would remain in place until Christ's return.
Author's source(s) - No source given.
- Author(s) impose(s) own fundamentalism on the Saints: the Saints do not believe in infallibility of members or leaders.
- Blacks and the priesthood
12
Claim
- Passages in the Book of Mormon were rewritten to "tone down references to skin color."
Author's source(s) Response
- The author's claim is false: This change was made by Joseph Smith in 1836.
- Book of Mormon textual changes—"white" changed to "pure"
12
Claim
- LDS scripture states that those with lighter skin color "are favored because of what they did as spirits in a pre-earth life."
Author's source(s) - No source given.
- The author's claim is false: This statement is false—there is no LDS scripture that makes this statement.
- Some LDS drew this conclusion, but it is not in the scripture. It has also been repudiated.
- LDS scripture and the priesthood ban
- Blacks and the priesthood—Pre-existence
Notes
- ↑ Wilford Woodruff, Conference Report (October 1897), 18-19.