by admin on November 16th, 2009
Lightning Strikes Twice: Review of Jehovah and the World of the Old Testament[1] by TB Spackman
In 2006, Deseret Book published Jesus Christ and the World of the New Testament to widespread approval.[2] Jehovah and the World of the Old Testament (or WOT), a sequel of sorts, has appeared recently, a few fortuitous months before the Gospel Doctrine calendar changes over to the Old Testament as the course of study. WOT is clearly meant to parallel World of the New Testament, from the title to the layout and organization. However, the Old Testament is not the New, and the three authors of WOT faced a much tougher assignment. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book reviews, LDS Scriptures, Lesson Aids | 5 Comments »
by Steven Danderson on April 11th, 2009
Just before my wife and I went on vacation last week, My wife happened upon a book titled, Cults: Secret Sects and False Prophets, by Robert Schroeder [London: Carlton Books, 2007]. This book was purchased by a local college library, and my wife, who is also a college librarian wonders whatever possessed that school to buy such a BAD book.
All in all, pages 44-45 of this book is a typical, anti-Mormon screed, full of all manner of errors. Unlike the Church, Mr. Schroeder capitalized the d in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Perhaps this is the least serious error.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Anti-Mormon critics, Doctrine, LDS History, LDS Scriptures | 59 Comments »
by Steven Danderson on December 14th, 2008
I recently perfunctorily read a new study written by three Stanford University professors, titled “Reassessing authorship of the Book of Mormon using delta and nearest shrunken centroid classification,” and published in the latest issue of the journal, Literary and Linguistic Computing. While I admit to being disturbed by the article, it is not for the reason they would like it to be. I teach statistics at America’s largest privately-owned university, and, frankly, I see so many problems, I’m not sure where to begin.
To start, they were not exhaustive in alleged authors. In this regard, the “study” is not unlike choosing five National Football League (NFL) teams at random (and two Canadian Football League (CFL) teams as a “control”), and stating that the one with the best won-lost percentage won the Super Bowl. Choosing the best of an woefully incomplete list tells the reader nothing about “Who really wrote the Book of Mormon”–the Stanford authors’ clucking agreement with the authors of the book by that name notwithstanding–just as not checking out ALL NFL teams says nothing about the winner of the Super Bowl.
For one thing, Joseph Smith’s writings were missing from this study. I can imagine that even many anti-Mormons would be upset at crowning Solomon Spaulding’s Manuscript Story as the true Book of Mormon, if it were demonstrated that Joseph Smith’s letters or journal was a better match!
Moreover, the authors alleged by Latter-day Saints are VERY conspicuous by their absence. While I admit that there are no other samples of Mormon’s or Alma’s or Nephi’s writing than what is found in the Book of Mormon, the Book does extensively quote Jesus Christ–and not just the rerun of the Sermon on the Mount!
Why is the New Testament missing from this study? Surely, if Solomon Spaulding were the author of III Nephi 9-12; 15-21; 23; 26-30, rather than the Saviour, wouldn’t testing His words in the New Testament put the final nail in the coffin burying Mormonism? However,whether or not Jesus’ New Testament statements are a match with His alleged words in the Book of Mormon, these authors have made sure that the reader would never know it. What are they afraid of–that the Gospels would be a match?
It gets worse. As I read the results, not one of the works studied had more similarities with the Book of Mormon than dissimilarities. Their choice of Spaulding’s manuscript as the true source of the Book of Mormon, then, is like taking the last place team in each division of the NFL and congratulating the best of them for winning the Super Bowl. Just as every last place team is disqualified from the playoffs, let alone winning the Super Bowl, a manuscript with more dissimilarities than likenesses to the the Book of Mormon should also be disqualified from consideration.
In short, this game is rigged, and such a misuse of scholarship offends me as a teacher of statistics, as a Latter-day Saint, as a Christian, and as a fair-minded person. The fact that this pseudo-scholarship is in reality a poorly-reasoned anti-Mormon bromide makes it worse.
Posted in Anti-Mormon critics, Book of Mormon, LDS History, LDS Scriptures, News stories, Uncategorized | 51 Comments »
by Steven Danderson on October 11th, 2008
Twenty-eight years ago, I was introduced to Heavenly Father’s Church, through the auspices of ”Uncle Sam.” One thing that those drill sergeants shoved into our heads were the General Orders:
- I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when properly relieved.
- I will obey my special orders and perform all of my duties in a military manner.
- I will report violations of my special orders, emergencies, and anything not covered in my instructions to the commander of the relief.
Events of the past few years have me re-reading the Book of Mormon, as Mormon implies that he is writing it for our benefit, because we’re going through the same thing [Mormon 8:35-36].
In California, the Church seems willing to make a “last stand” on the issue of homosexual marriage–which is part of a concerted effort to make the behaviour seem normal, rather than the sin that it is. Sadly, it appears that this is a fight that the Church will lose–if not at the polls, then in the courts, ratified at the polls when people elect those who appoint the anti-Mormon and anti-Evangelical judges. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Anti-Mormon critics, Book of Mormon, Doctrine, General, LDS History, LDS Scriptures, News stories, Politics, Polygamy | 105 Comments »
by Steven Danderson on October 5th, 2008
Recently, much has been made of FAIR taking issue with a DVD and fireside presentation of a theory which claims that the Book of Mormon events were based in the upper Great Lakes region. While that theory may be right, the proponents of the Great Lakes theory bear the burden of showing that it is so.
While I shan’t go deeply into the that theory, let me briefly state why I am unconvinced by the evidence thus far presented, in spite of the fact that an emeritus General Authority is convinced: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book of Mormon, Doctrine, General, LDS History, LDS Scriptures, News from FAIR | 38 Comments »
by Greg Smith on September 9th, 2008
In another thread, one poster wrote:
If you don’t agree with me on Cumorah being our best strating point, I would be very open to hearing what you consider to be the best piece of evidence or the best witness to call upon as the most solid to date.
To which I responded:
In my opinion, it is a huge problem to start with ANY physical location. You’re already making assumptions, no matter how hard we try. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book of Mormon, LDS Scriptures | 106 Comments »
by Steven Danderson on August 9th, 2008
One week ago, I celebrated the twenty-eighth anniversary of my baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One reason for my baptism was the fact that I saw the various hallmarks of the ancient Church I gleaned from studying ancient Roman history that were absent from the other Churches I attended.
In my early days as a member of the Church, I had thought, like James Talmage in his book, The Great Apostasy, that the Roman Catholic Church had fallen away from the true Christian Church, and that other non-LDS Christian Churches were corruptions of a corruptions. I have found that my opinions have, …, um, …, evolved. Rather than being the Great Apostasy, I now regard the Roman Catholic and other non-LDS Christian Churches as pious humans’ valiant attempts to salvage true Christianity from the Great Apostasy; attempts that were, for the most part, successful–significantly more successful than I had previously thought.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book of Mormon, Doctrine, General, LDS History, LDS Scriptures | 97 Comments »
by Steven Danderson on July 18th, 2008
Once in a while, somebody writes to FAIR, taking issue with something one of us writes. While the correspondent may be right, that person bears the burden of showing that it is so. If the evidence that person presents is persuasive, we alter our opinions accordingly. Otherwise, it will remain on our “not proven” list.
Some time ago, FAIR received an email from a gentleman who took issue with my article, “Adding up the Book of Mormon Peoples.” In sum, he stated that a 2.6% average growth rate would get the Book of Mormon numbers–without the need for immigration, which he claimed was contrary to what the Lord commanded. While this brother might be right about the growth rate (He is right about the mathematics!), to assume that would (to me) make the Book of Mormon events too miraculous where it doesn’t need to be.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Book of Mormon, Doctrine, General, LDS Scriptures | 20 Comments »
by Keller on June 19th, 2008
John Gee started his presentation on the Book of Abraham by detailing the provenance of the collection of some mummies and papyri taken as spoils in Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt. The items were shipped to America and put in a traveling pay-per-view show. Various buyers bought pieces of the collection, most notably the father of John Wilkes Booth. The Mormons in Kirtland also purchased a number of scrolls and mummies. Part of the Mormon collection ended up being burned in the 1871 Chicago fire and some of it ended up in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met knew what they had. Dr. Gee showed us a 1948 publication that associated their collection with Joseph Smith. Not wanting to caught in the cross hairs of a religious controversy, the Met officials arranged for the papyrus to be turned over to the Church of Jesus Christ. You can read about this transferal in Gee’s latest article in the FARMS Review.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in LDS Scriptures | 4 Comments »
