Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Becoming Gods/Chapter 3

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Chapter 2

A FAIR Analysis of: Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism A work by author: Richard Abanes

Chapter 4

Claim
The revelations in the Book of Commandments were modified because they were "showing their age," "contained outdated information," "included erroneous statements" and "abandoned doctrines."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."

Author's source(s)

• 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.

Response

•  Absurd claim: The revelations were "showing their age" between 1833 and 1835?
• Doctrine and Covenants/Textual changes

Claim
Mormons view divine truth as "not absolute or fixed; it is changeable, flexible."

Author's source(s)

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

Response

•  The author's claim is false: Latter-day Saints realize that their understanding of divine truth may grow and be enhanced, but this does not mean that the truth is changeable or flexible.
•  Quotes another author's opinion as if it were fact: once again, only a hostile author is cited; there are no quotes from LDS sources used to explore their supposed view.
• Church doctrine/Changing

Claim
Joseph received a "false revelation" through his seer stone to go to Toronto, Canada to sell the Book of Mormon copyright.

Author's source(s)

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

Response

•  History unclear or in error
• Book of Mormon/Attempt to sell copyright

Claim
Some of the modified revelations had their meanings "reversed."

Author's source(s)

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

Response

• Doctrine and Covenants/Textual changes

Claim
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.

Author's source(s)

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

Response

• Doctrine and Covenants/Textual changes

Claim
Joseph modified what is now D&C 8:6-9 to hide Oliver Cowdery's use of a divining rod.

Author's source(s)

• 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.

Response

•  Mind reading: author has no way of knowing this.
• Doctrine and Covenants/Oliver Cowdery and the "rod of nature"

Claim
Apostle William E. McLellin left the Church because he was "shaken by the changes made in the revelations."

Author's source(s)

• "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.

Response

• This explanation (as shown by the dates of the material cited) came long after the fact. The author 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.^[1]

• McLellin had previously been excommunicated for spending time with "a certain harlot" while on a mission.^[2] He had also been out of fellowship for "writing a letter which "cast…censure upon the [first] presidency."^[3]
• McLellin: Examining the Witness
• Doctrine_and_Covenants/Textual_changes

Claim
Mormons claim that Biblical writers modified revelations, but cannot provide data to support this. This is an "argument from silence."

Author's source(s)

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

Response

• Argument from silence?

Claim
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.

Author's source(s)

• No source provided.

Response

• Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Church disclosure of "Book of the Dead"
• Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri

Claim
The restoration of the missing portions of Facsimile 1 were "terribly wrong."

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), .

Response

• Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri

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

Author's source(s)

• Author's opinion.

Response

• Apologetics

Claim
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.

Author's source(s)

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

Response

• Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri/Kirtland Egyptian Papers

== Notes ==

1. [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
2. [note]  D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Signature Books, 1994), 44.
3. [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