Criticism of Mormonism/Websites/MormonThink/Translation of the Book of Mormon/Sources and links

Source analysis of MormonThink page "Translation of the Book of Mormon"

MormonThink's practice of copying blocks of text from a variety of websites produces a very confusing citation scheme. In many cases, citation links simply lead back to the main page of an anti-Mormon website without providing a path to the actual source document. This page lists the actual cited sources and provides links to them where possible. Since MormonThink does not provide a consistent citation list, we identify quotes using the first few words.

Primary sources

  • "In writing for your father I frequently wrote day after day..."
    • Emma Smith Bidamon Interview with Joseph Smith III, February 1879, cited in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, Vol. 1. p. 541.
    • The website does not provide this citation.
  • "Smith's wife Emma supported Harris's and Whitmer's versions of the story..."
    • Personal interview Emma Smith-Bidamon gave to a committee of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1879, cited in Robert N. Hullinger, Joseph Smith's Response to Skepticism, pp. 9-10.
  • "I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated..."
    • David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ (Richmond, MO: n.p., 1887), 12.
    • Misdirected link—The citation "4" does not link to the text of the actual source document, but instead links to the main page of the anti-Mormon countercult site "Mormons in Transition"
    • The actual source document may be read on the neutral site Wikisource here: An Address to All Believers in Christ.
  • "I, as well as all of my father's family, Smith's wife, Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris, were present during the translation..."
    • Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, p. 12. Also, Interview given to Kansas City Journal, June 5, 1881, reprinted in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Journal of History, vol. 8, (1910), pp. 299-300.
    • Misdirected link—The citation "5" does not link to the text of the actual source document, but instead links to the main page of the anti-Mormon countercult site "Mormons in Transition"
  • "Martin Harris related an incident that occurred during the time..."
    • Edward Stevenson, "One of the Three Witnesses," Millennial Star, Vol. 44:86-87.
    • Misdirected link—The citation "7" does not link to the text of the actual source document, but instead links to the main page of the anti-Mormon countercult site "Mormons in Transition"
  • "chocolate-colored, somewhat egg-shaped stone which the Prophet found while digging a well..."
    • B. H. Roberts, Comprehensive History of the Church, 1:129.
  • "By aid of the Seer Stone, sentences would appear..."
    • B. H. Roberts, Comprehensive History of the Church, 1:29.
  • "The manner in which he pretended to read and interpret..."
    • Hale, Isaac (1834), "Affidavit of Isaac Hale", in Howe, Eber Dudley, Mormonism Unvailed, Painesville, Ohio: Telegraph Press, pp. 262–66.
    • Misdirected link—The citation "8" does not link to the text of the actual source document, but instead links to the main page of the anti-Mormon site "Mormons in Transition"
  • "{{{1}}}..."
    • Testimony of Mrs. Comfort Godfrey Flinders, Utah Pioneer Biographies, vol. 10, p.65, Genealogical Society of Utah, as cited in an unpublished manuscript by LaMar Petersen
  • "Warrant issued upon written complaint upon oath of Peter G. Bridgeman..."
  • Joseph Smith's 1826 court transcript; see Abanes, One Nation Under Gods, p. 501
  • ""if this court record is authentic it is the most damning evidence}}
    • Hugh Nibley, The Myth Makers
  • "the term Urim and Thummim (first used by W. W. Phelps in 1833), which is generally associated with the Nephite interpreters..."
    • Stephen Ricks
    • The website does not provide this citation.

Critical works

  • Changing World of Mormonism
  • Mormonism: Shadow or Reality by Jerald and Sandra Tanner. Chapter 4, page 77.
  • Mormonism and the Magic World View, Michael Quinn
  • An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, Chapter 1, Grant Palmer
  • Joseph Smith's Bainbridge, N.Y., Court Trials, Wesley P. Walters, pp. 129-131
  • Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record, Michael Marquardt

Positive works

  • Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 120

Neutral works

  • Dialogue, Volume 15, No 2 summer 1982, pg 48-68


Critical links

Positive links

Broken links

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