The Book of Mormon

I have often said, “Most people check their brains at the door, when they enter the church doors.” I mean by that statement that, when it comes to religion, otherwise intelligent, even brilliant men and women, will receive the most ludicrous teachings imaginable, even from men of very highly questionable (to be extremely polite) character.

            That fact could not be more evident than it is in the ease with which Mormonism has slithered into the religious world with approval. Multitudes who would cringe at hearing a person openly deny that Jesus Christ is God, the second person of the holy trinity, will travel great distances to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing, and find it “spiritually uplifting.”

            I have no interest in identifying all the heresies of Mormonism. It is no worse and no better than any other system of freewill/works religion. In fact, its acceptance as a “Christian” church by so many “mainstream religions” should not be surprising. They may wear different costumes and perform different, even bizarre, religious ceremonies, but they essentially teach exactly the same thing — “will worship” (Col. 2:23). I write this article because the Mormon Church has, in recent years, promoted the book of Mormon (Joseph Smith’s drivel), with great success, as “another revelation of Jesus Christ.” You have probably seen their television ads. You may have even received your own free copy of the waste paper. But, unless I am mistaken, most who read these lines have no idea how the book of Mormon came into being. Let me tell you.

Golden Plates

In 1823 Joseph Smith (the farm boy who started the Mormon sect) claimed that an angel gave him a set of gold plates in a stone box, which he quickly hid in a birch log in the woods, three miles from his home in Palmyra, NY. He claimed the plates were “six inches wide and eight inches long and not quite so thick as common tin. They were filled with engraving, in Egyptian characters and bound together in a volume, as the leaves of a book with three rings running through the whole. The volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters on the unsealed part were small, and beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction and much skill in the art of engraving.” Smith, a young man with no formal education, claimed that once he carried the plates home, he translated them (from Egyptian hieroglyphics!) into the book of Mormon. Later, he wrote “that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

More Bizarre

Ridiculous as all that is, Smith’s story is even more bizarre.  He claimed that when he went to retrieve the plates from the birch log, he wrapped them in his “linen frock,” placed them under his arm, and started home. Suddenly, his mother  wrote  in her biography of her son, “as he was jumping over a log, a man sprang up from behind it, and gave him a heavy blow with a gun. Joseph turned around and knocked him down, then ran at the top of his speed. About half a mile further he was attacked again in the same manner as before; he knocked this man down in like manner as the former, and ran on again; and before he reached home he was assaulted the third time. In striking the last one he dislocated his thumb, which, however, he did not notice until he came within sight of the house, when he threw himself down in the corner of the fence in order to recover his breath. As soon as he was able, he arose and came to the house.”

Not Likely

Now, take a minute to analyze that. The mere weight of the plates makes the story incredible. The plates, Smith claimed, were made of gold. He described them as being six inches wide, eight inches long, and about six inches thick. Remember, gold is very heavy (Imaginary gold weighs considerably less.); and it is a very soft metal. Those plates would have to weigh at least two hundred pounds! The monument on the hill in New York, where Smith claimed to find them, shows him kneeling, as he received the two hundred pound plates with outstretched arms from an angel. Too bad he never got a chance to go to the Olympics!

            Now, imagine Smith wrapping his linen shirt around this two hundred pound block of gold plates, tucking it under his arm and strolling off towards home, three miles away! Next, try to picture him, running through the woods, jumping over logs, and knocking down not one or two, but three assailants as he ran, all the while with the two hundred pounds of gold tucked securely under his arm! I defy any man on earth to perform the task. I would not want anyone to get hurt. So leave out the assailants, if you try.

            No one has ever seen the plates, except Mr. Smith. Once he had finished translating them. He gave them back to his angel. Either there must have been an awful lot of strong weed growing in those Palmyra woods, or Mr. Smith was simply a liar. But anyone who believes his story has just checked his brains at the door!