A Great Fraud

“Well, it's either true or false. If it's false, we're engaged in a great fraud. If it's true, it's the most important thing in the world... Joseph went into the [Sacred] Grove; he saw the Father and the Son; he talked with them; the Book of Mormon was translated from the plates; the priesthood was restored by those who held it anciently. That's our claim...”

- Prophet Gordon B Hinckley

This week I’ll be discussing “the most important thing in the world”, by focusing on the fundamental truth claims of the Church; The First Vision, The Book of Mormon, and the Priesthood. It shouldn’t be a surprise to members that there are several versions of The First Vision. This disconcerting issue is discussed on lds.org under Gospel Topic Essays. However, I find it more troubling to know that Joseph Smith’s story might just be a patchwork of plagiarisms. At the time and place where Joseph was growing up it wasn’t uncommon for someone to claim a miraculous supernatural revelation. Creative attention seekers would try to one up each other’s amazing stories. A couple serious issues come to light when you realize many of these stories proceeded Joseph’s story and also includes very similar or exact wording. The following web page elaborates in more depth these comparisons, mormonhandbook.com/home/first-vision-plagiarized.html

As for The Book of Mormon there is concern that the witnesses didn’t physically see the golden plates and Joseph just used a regular rock he found as a kid and looked at it in a hat to translate the Book. Aside from physical plates and the translation process, let’s examine the historical evidence - there is yet to be discovered any archaeological or geographical evidence. The Book of Mormon describes tales of thriving civilizations, great wars, and large cities. However, not a single artifact or ancient structure has been found. In fact, The Book uses a number of anachronisms. These are things that didn’t exist at the time in history. If Romeo had called Juliet on his iPhone it would be an anachronism. The Book of Mormon mentions Horses, Elephants, Chariots, Swords, Silk, and many other things that didn’t exist anywhere on the ancient American continent. A huge mistake like this is expected from a creative but uneducated kid, not an inspired prophet of God. A complete article of Book of Mormon Anachronisms can be found here, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anachronisms_in_the_Book_of_Mormon . We are promised to know the truth of the Book if we pray, but many righteous followers have never felt that spirit. Also, by using a similar faith, many Muslims have gained a testimony of the Quran’s truth claims. Same goes for other different religions and their corresponding scriptures. To verify the truth of one particular scripture, one must also falsify all other scriptures claimed as true.

The priesthood is supposedly the power and authority of God given to men and would certainly give credibility to the Church. According to Mormon doctrine the priesthood was first restored in 1829, but historically no one heard about it until 1832. Much like the First Vision the story, the priesthood was backdated and elaborated on after revisions. The Book of Commandments predates Doctrine & Covenants, but the fundamentally critical ordination of the priesthood isn’t mentioned in that book. And there were no witnesses; just Joseph and Oliver playing make-believe in the woods together.

These disturbing issues are worsened when we examine other aspects of Joseph Smith’s life; his extensive criminal history, creativity and secrets, pedophilic polygamy, Mistranslation of The Book of Abraham and Kinderhook Plates Hoax, and blatant plagiarism of the Free Masons fraternity rituals. Considering that the Mormon religion is either a great fraud or the most important thing in life, I studied and prayed with extreme intensity to know with reasonable certainty if it’s true. I received a similar answer that thousands of other ex-Mormons have received - a void of comforting spirit and a heavy feeling of being betrayed and deceived by the most convincing fraud in the world. But now I’m a happy freethinking individual unburdened by dogmatic tyranny hoping to help others see the truth.