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<\/a>(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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For one of the manuscripts that I\u2019m tinkering with, I\u2019m trying to outline the issues and options as clearly as I can, for myself and for readers. \u00a0Here\u2019s a hasty first try, which follows a lengthy summation \u2014 still under construction \u2014 of various items of evidence and several distinct lines of argument:<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It seems unlikely that Joseph was consciously deceptive. Let\u2019s examine the various possibilities under this heading:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n It seems unlikely that he was consciously and dishonorably deceptive and working alone.<\/span><\/p>\n There is good reason to believe that he was an honest, sincere person who was seeking to do the will of God.<\/span><\/p>\n The Book of Mormon and many of his other revelations and doctrines seem beyond his capacity to produce.<\/span><\/p>\n The Book of Mormon was clearly written by multiple authors, not including Joseph Smith.<\/span><\/p>\n Others shared in and witnessed his revelations.<\/span><\/p>\n It seems unlikely that he was consciously though idealistically deceptive and working alone.<\/span><\/p>\n The Book of Mormon and many of his other revelations and doctrines seem beyond his capacity to produce.<\/span><\/p>\n The Book of Mormon was clearly written by multiple authors, not including Joseph Smith.<\/span><\/p>\n Others shared in and witnessed his revelations.<\/span><\/p>\n It seems unlikely that he was consciously and dishonorably deceptive, working in company with co-conspirators.<\/span><\/p>\n There is good reason to believe that he was an honest, sincere person who was seeking to do the will of God.<\/span><\/p>\n The Book of Mormon and many of the other revelations and doctrines of Mormonism<\/a> seem beyond any nineteenth century individual or group\u2019s capacity to produce.<\/span><\/p>\n No suggested alternative author of the Book of Mormon matches its wordprints.<\/span><\/p>\n No evidence points to any other alternative authors.<\/span><\/p>\n The kind of multiple authorship evidenced in the Book of Mormon is difficult to imagine from any conspiracy.<\/span><\/p>\n Nobody claimed responsibility for Joseph\u2019s revelations, doctrines, and documents.<\/span><\/p>\n No motive for such a conspiracy is evident.<\/span><\/p>\n The conspiracy would have had to be extensive, and it is difficult to imagine that such a conspiracy would leave no traces and have no leaks.<\/span><\/p>\n It seems unlikely that he was consciously though idealistically deceptive, working in company with co-conspirators.<\/span><\/p>\n The Book of Mormon and many of the other revelations and doctrines of Mormonism seem beyond any nineteenth century individual or group\u2019s capacity to produce.<\/span><\/p>\n No suggested alternative author of the Book of Mormon matches its wordprints.<\/span><\/p>\n No evidence points to any other alternative authors.<\/span><\/p>\n The kind of multiple authorship evidenced in the Book of Mormon is difficult to imagine from any conspiracy.<\/span><\/p>\n Nobody claimed responsibility for Joseph\u2019s revelations, doctrines, and documents.<\/span><\/p>\n The conspiracy would have had to be extensive, and it is difficult to imagine that such a conspiracy would leave no traces and have no leaks.<\/span><\/p>\n It is unlikely that Joseph Smith was a madman or in any other sense sincere but deceived.<\/span><\/p>\n There is no evidence that he was insane.<\/span><\/p>\n The Book of Mormon and many of his other revelations and doctrines seem beyond his capacity to produce.<\/span><\/p>\n The Book of Mormon was clearly written by multiple authors, not including Joseph Smith.<\/span><\/p>\n Others shared in and witnessed his revelations.<\/span><\/p>\n Tangible objects such as the golden plates, the Urim and Thummim, the breast plate, the stone box in the hill, were observed by other people, and cannot, therefore, plausibly be described as originating in hallucination.<\/span><\/p>\n Sincere prayer to God is evidenced at almost every stage (e.g., before the First Vision, before the encounter with Moroni, before the experience of the Three Witnesses), making satanic deception a difficult thesis to maintain.<\/span><\/p>\n It seems that the proposition that Joseph was a true prophet is the only one left standing, since the others face insuperable difficulties. Moreover, it is supported by an abundance of eyewitness and inferential evidence.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an interview with the non-LDS historian Max Perry Mueller\u00a0that some might find of interest:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Book of Mormon and racial reconciliation\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n He was on the BYU campus on Wednesday for a small presentation, to which he invited me. \u00a0Unfortunately, although I thought I would be able to attend, in the end I could not.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Ten days ago, I posted an item about another interview with Dr. Mueller that had appeared in The Atlantic<\/em>:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Mormons Aspired to Be a \u2018White and Delightsome\u2019 People\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And here\u2019s a prior item of mine regarding Max Perry Mueller:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Why I Went Back to Church'\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n We attended a concert tonight by the extraordinarily interesting (and Grammy Award-winning) vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth<\/a>. \u00a0I was surprised to learn from one of our sons (who joined us at the concert) that,\u00a0among\u00a0the members of the group, is the violinist and composer Caroline Shaw<\/a>, who is the youngest person ever to win a Pulitzer Prize for music. \u00a0Having studied at Rice and at Yale, she\u2019s now a doctoral candidate at Princeton University. \u00a0I can\u2019t help but wonder what it must be like for the music faculty of Princeton to have a Pulitzer Prize-winning graduate student. \u00a0It would, I think, be somewhat strange. \u00a0There could be, I can well imagine, status issues.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 For one of the manuscripts that I\u2019m tinkering with, I\u2019m trying to outline the issues and options as clearly as I can, for myself and for readers. \u00a0Here\u2019s a hasty first try, which follows a lengthy summation \u2014 still under construction \u2014 of various items of evidence and several distinct lines of argument: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n