Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?

Craig Criddle, Environmental Professor at Stanford, demonstrates that the Book of Mormon is actually the work of Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery and Parley Pratt working on the foundation of Solomon Spalding (A Manuscript Found).  Dr. Criddle (not an evangelical) uses statistical analysis to get a literary fingerprint of various authors based on common phrases used.  He is the co-author of The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry.  Here is an in-depth article by Dr. Criddle on Rigdon.  

This chart shows Spalding’s literary signature in the Book of Mormon (the RED lines).  The long lines in 2^nd Nephi represent passages taken from the Bible.

Notice the occurrence of unique Spalding phrases (this vid @ 4:23):

Judge W. Lang, Cowdery’s law partner said,

The plates were never translated and could not be, and were never intended to be.  What is claimed to be a translation is "The Manuscript Found" worked over by C. [Cowdery]  He was the best scholar among them. ...  Rigdon got the original [of Spalding’s historical novel] at the job printing office in Pittsburgh ... Without going into detail or disclosing a confidential word, I can say to you that I do know, as well as can now be known, that C. revised the manuscript and that [Joseph] Smith and Rigdon approved of it before it became the Book of Mormon.

Here is a chart from Dr. Criddle portraying the origin of the Book of Mormon.  The detail is not clear – this is just to show the complexity of how the Book of Mormon was created (this vid @ 5:33):

Check out this vid from Christian authors explaining the Spalding origin of the Book of Mormon.

You’ll love this testimony of an ex-BYU Professor who became a Christian.  The author of Is the Mormon my Brother? is featured in this broadcast.

This farcical song from the Tony award winning musical The Book of Mormon is a hoot!  Our prior blog on LDS teaching examined Kolob.

Planet Kolob – Chariot of the gods?

              *** UPDATE ***

Be sure to catch our latest video.  We tackle a potpourri of topics:  Thunder & C-14, Tree Rings & Ammonites,  Norman Macbeth (Darwin Retried), OMNI magazine & censorship ... #Rubio #NormanMacbeth #Darwin #AltMed #TreeRings

Hotep = B @ ☮

Are Mormons Christian?  Are there infinitely many gods?  According to Mormonism, Elohim lives on planet Kolob with his goddess wives and they procreate a plethora of spirit children evolving into godhood.

In 1973 the Osmonds put out a record, The Plan, promoting Mormon teaching regarding Kolob and was actually recorded in Kolob studios in Los Angeles.

Mormons (LDS) teach that there are many gods (polytheism), but the one true real God says,

I am GOD, the only God there is. Besides me there are no real gods. I’m the one who armed you for this work, though you don’t even know me (Is. 45:5, MSG).

Some Mormons hold that there are infinitely many gods. [1]

LDS teach that man may become god, but the true message from heaven corrects this fallacy:

Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God (Ps. 90:2).

Mormons hold that the Father, Son & Holy Ghost are 3 gods. [2]

The Book of Mormon is very confused on the Fall and Adam & Eve:

… if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. … And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin. … Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy. (2 Nephi 2:22-25, emphasis added).

Mormons hold that there are 3 Nephites (supposed Jews who came to America) who are around 2,000 years old!! [3]

Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? by Cowdrey, Davis and Vanick, provide strong evidence that the Book of Mormon was based on a work of historical fiction, A Manuscript Found by Solomon Spalding.  Walter Martin also supported this explanation.  Reviewer William Moore of Pittsburgh summarizes: 

Many of these troubling details would probably never have come to light had it not been for the efforts of Joseph Smith's prime antagonist, a man with the unlikely name of Doctor Philastus Hurlbut. (Doctor, by the way, was his name, not his title.) Shortly after joining the Ohio Mormons in 1832, Hurlbut was sent on a missionary journey to the area of Erie, PA. There he began to encounter people who seemed to be aware of the contents of The Book of Mormon even though they had never seen a copy. Upon inquiring, Hurlbut quickly learned that all of these folks had one thing in common--some of them were members of Solomon Spalding's family, and others were his friends and neighbors from the time he had lived in the area nearly 20 years before. All of them expressed familiarity with the fictional novel Spalding had been writing, and all said it was the same, or much the same, as Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon.

Craig Criddle (Environmental Professor at Stanford) provides powerful evidence that the Book of Mormon is the work of Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery and Parley Pratt working on the basic writing of Solomon Spalding.

Before the temple ceremonies changed in 1990, Christian preachers and Biblical Theology were mocked in the endowment ceremony. [4]  Joseph Smith predicted that a temple would be built in his lifetime in western Missouri, but this never happened.  Joseph Smith was a false prophet (Dt. 18:20-22).

LDS teach salvation by works, but the one and only real God says,

Yet wherever men did accept him [Jesus] he gave them the power to become sons of God. These were the men who truly believed in him, and their birth depended not on natural descent nor on any physical impulse or plan of man, but on God (Jn. 1:12, 13, Philips).

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:4-7). 

Gladys Knight converted to Mormonism in 1997. [5]  What irony, considering this passage from the Book of Mormon:

And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them (2 Nephi 5:21, emphasis added).

According to LDS apostle John Widtsoe, “Since we have a Father, who is our God, we must also have a mother, who possesses the attributes of Godhood.” [6]  Should Mormons then pray to their Heavenly Mother?  Jesus taught otherwise (Mt. 6:9).

The original Battlestar Galactica was based on Mormon teaching. [7]

Bill McKeever’s Mormonism Research Ministry (founded in 1979) is a great resource.  Anthropologist Thomas Murphy and molecular biologist Simon Southerton have shown that Native American DNA does not support a Jewish heritage.  In The Mormon Mirage, Latayne Scott, a former Mormon, documents inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the faith she once loved.  If there is only ONE real God, who is the Intelligent Designer?

Speaking of planets, how old is the Earth?  Is Darwinism valid?  How does the Renaissance of Catastrophism relate to the age of the world?  Is your favorite planet thousands or billions of years old?  Discover the shocking evidence in this powerful new book, YES – Young Earth Science by Jay Hall (at Amazon.com). 

Here are some cool Zazzle items on Young Earth Science (YES):

Notes:
1)  What’s With the Dudes at the Door? by Kevin Johnson and James White (Bethany House, Minneapolis, MN, 1998), p. 77.
2)  Ibid. p. 75.
3)  Ibid. p. 105.
4)  Ibid. p. 121.
5)  Religions of the Stars by Richard Abanes (Bethany House, Minneapolis, MN, 2009), p. 52.
6)  Ibid. p. 55.
7)  Ibid. p. 61.

Unshackled Apologetics

Unshackled! is a radio drama series produced by Pacific Garden Mission, in Chicago, Illinois, that first aired in 1950.  It is the longest-running radio drama in history (sorry, Johnny Dollar).

Well known evangelist and creation supporter Ray Comfort (and friend of Kirk Cameron) had his conversion story featured on Unshackled! 

WayneSpencer (M.S. Physics), who writes extensively on astronomy topics, had this to say:

The truth of Christianity is … born out in the real life experience of Christians who live by it.  Christian faith has a long track record for over 2000 years now of making positive changes in the personal lives of people.  So the reasons for having faith in the Bible are not merely intellectual, but also revolve around people experiencing God changing their lives and making life more meaningful for them.  It is usually the life of a Christian lived out with integrity that is more persuasive to most people, when it counts, than a logical argument.

C. E. M. Joad (d. 1953) was the head of the Philosophy Dept. at the University of London and was a long time critic of Christianity, but finally said, “I now believe that the balance of reasonable considerations tells heavily in favor of the religious, even of the Christian view of the world.”  Joad had appeared on BBC radio attacking Christianity in the 1940’s, but later wrote The Recovery of Belief in 1952.

Bishop John Subhan came to Jesus from a Muslim background.  When he read the Gospel the second time he came to see that is was the true Injil.  He was convinced that it was God’s Word and divine revelation.  He saw a dramatic difference between reading the New Testament and the effect of reciting the Qur’an. [1]

Have you ever heard a new convert say, “I wonder if Genesis One through Eleven is really true?”  The lost, who do not know Jesus, have not experienced regeneration and don’t have the assurance through the Holy Spirit that the Bible is true.

R. C. Sproul states, “The Scripture objectively gives evidence that it is the Word of God.  The Spirit … gives us the quiet assurance that the evidence is certain.” [2]  The Westminster Confession concludes, “… our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts. (ch. 1, sec. 5).  Sproul, Gerstner and Lindsley proclaim, “… the Spirit of God persuades and assures us of the infallible truth and divine authority of the Word of God.” [3]

For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.  And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit …  For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth … (1 Thes. 1:5-8).

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Rom. 8:15, 16).

How does God give us assurance of our adoption?  Through the Bible!

These things [the book of 1 John] I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. …  And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life (1 Jn. 5:13, 20).

Glenn Beck and other Mormons claim to have had a dramatic conversion experience.  Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? by Cowdrey, Davis and Vanick, provide strong evidence that the Book of Mormon was based on a work of historical fiction, A Manuscript Found.  The Book of Mormon has been changed many times.  Beck’s evidence for Early American Jewish influence is better explained by Phoenecians traveling to the New World.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things (Phil. 4:8).

How can we think on what’s true if we don’t know the true truth?

Frank Turek, while debating Christopher Hitchens at Virginia Commonwealth University, on the topic of theism said, “I’m giving a probability argument … you can’t prove beyond any doubt that there’s a God.  I’m giving probability …  I’m giving cosmological, teleological, moral, consciousness, reason, mathematics [arguments].” [4]  Turek should have stated that as Christians we know God is there and Jesus is Lord (cf. Jn. 7:17).

Notes:

1)  Evidence that Demands a Verdict (Vol. 1) by Josh McDowell (Here’s Life Pub., San Bernardino, CA, 1979), p. 351.
2)  “The Internal Testimony of the Holy Spirit” by R. C. Sproul in Inerrancy ed. by Norman Geisler (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1980), p. 342.
3)  Classical Apologetics by R. C. Sproul, John Gerstner and Arthur Lindsley (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1984), p. 171.
4)  See this debate at 1:14:00.