“Book of Mormon origins and the historical record”

Today’s installment of my weekly Deseret News column (“Defending the Faith”) has appeared:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865655015/Book-of-Mormon-origins-and-the-historical-record.html

As is often the case, the comments are a tad frustrating.  The first comment, for example, triumphantly assumes two “facts” that, if true, would seem to count against the Book of Mormon — each one of which I’ve expressly written about, each one of which isn’t true.

Sometimes (I know this for a fact, because it’s frequently obvious; one commenter even candidly admitted it), those who comment haven’t even read the column itself before they challenge me.  They simply see my name or the title and then recite their mantra.

Many times, they don’t even address the topic of the column.  (Peterson:  “The Book of Mormon contains seemingly authentic material, in its description of Lehi’s journey from Jerusalem to Old World Bountiful, about the microgeography of ancient Arabia — material that he almost certainly didn’t know and couldn’t have known.”  Critic:  “Joseph Smith was a polygamist!”)

Even more exasperating to me, though, are the cases where they simply reassert one or more of the very propositions that my column denies, most probably because they haven’t read it, or haven’t read it carefully, and because they’re simply reacting in knee-jerk fashion to what they’ve guessed is the article’s subject.  (Peterson:  “The Book of Mormon contains seemingly authentic material, in its description of Lehi’s journey from Jerusalem to Old World Bountiful, about the microgeography of ancient Arabia — material that he almost certainly didn’t know and couldn’t have known.”  Critic:  “If there were any evidence for the Book of Mormon, Peterson would present some.  But there isn’t any.”  Or, Peterson:  “The witnesses to the Book of Mormon never denied their testimonies, but remained faithful until their deaths.”  Critic:  “Why doesn’t Peterson mention the fact that several of the witnesses denied their testimonies?”)