{"id":75663,"date":"2019-07-02T14:48:45","date_gmt":"2019-07-02T20:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=75663"},"modified":"2019-07-02T14:48:45","modified_gmt":"2019-07-02T20:48:45","slug":"belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html","title":{"rendered":"Belief in the Historicity of the Book of Mormon, and Some of the Fruit that Such Belief Yields"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_75666\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75666\" style=\"width: 597px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2019\/07\/Location_Sierra_Leone_AU_Africa.svg_.png\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-75666\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2019\/07\/Location_Sierra_Leone_AU_Africa.svg_.png\" alt=\"It's where the darker blue is.\" width=\"597\" height=\"554\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-75666\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Where on earth is Sierra Leone? \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain map)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I was really pleased to see this:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org\/article\/gospel-literacy-program-launched-sierra-leone\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cGospel Literacy Program Launched in Sierra Leone to Strengthen Families:\u00a0Sister Bingham says \u2018learners become leaders\u2019\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Feel free, if you\u2019re so inclined, to add it to your <em>Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cReligion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>, which, by the point, should long since have been bursting at the seams.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re interested in learning more about the many crimes and offenses committed specifically by the <a href='https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/library\/mormonism' target='_blank'>Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>, this might be a good place to begin your reading (in either English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, or Arabic):<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latterdaysaintcharities.org\/pages\/2018-lds-charities-annual-report\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201c2018 LDS CHARITIES ANNUAL REPORT\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There is, alas, reason for some concern on other fronts:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mormanity.blogspot.com\/2019\/07\/the-new-hauglid-and-jensen-podcast-from.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cThe New Hauglid and Jensen Podcast from the Maxwell Institute: A Window into the Personal Views of the Editors of the JSP Volume on the Book of Abraham\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A mainstay of arguments for the \u201cHeartland model\u201d of the geography of the Book of Mormon comes under criticism:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nevillenevilleland.com\/2019\/07\/letter-vii-has-nothing-to-do-with.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cLetter VII has nothing to do with Oliver Cowdery being \u2018truthful'\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I wonder whether this is actually so. \u00a0Perhaps:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ldsliving.com\/How-Norman-Rockwell-Drew-Inspiration-from-an-Article-of-Faith\/s\/91060?utm_source=ldsliving&amp;utm_medium=email\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cHow This Patriotic Norman Rockwell Painting Was Inspired by Joseph Smith\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s an article from a past issue of <em>Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em> that you may possibly have missed:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mormoninterpreter.com\/et-incarnatus-est-the-imperative-for-book-of-mormon-historicity\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cEt Incarnatus Est:\u00a0The Imperative for Book of Mormon Historicity\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>Abstract<\/strong><em>: Some have come to insist that the Book of Mormon should be read as inspired fiction, which is to say that readers, including Latter-day Saints, should abandon any belief in the Book of Mormon as an authentic ancient text and instead should see it as an inspired frontier novel written by Joseph Smith that may act as scripture for those who follow his teachings. This paper provides reasoning to reject this proposition as not only logically incoherent but also theologically impotent.\u00a0It raises the objection that this position fundamentally undercuts the credibility of Joseph Smith. The Prophet\u2019s direct claims concerning the coming forth of the Book of Mormon as well as how the Book of Mormon presents itself to the world do not easily permit any leeway for a \u201cmiddle ground\u201d on this matter.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #333399;\">The Book of Mormon must be read as an ancient,\u00a0not as a modern book. Its mission, as described by\u00a0the book itself, depends in great measure for\u00a0its efficacy on its genuine antiquity. \u00a0(Hugh Nibley)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 I was really pleased to see this: \u00a0 \u201cGospel Literacy Program Launched in Sierra Leone to Strengthen Families:\u00a0Sister Bingham says \u2018learners become leaders\u2019\u201d \u00a0 Feel free, if you\u2019re so inclined, to add it to your Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cReligion Poisons Everything\u201d File, which, by the point, should long since have been bursting at [&hellip;]<\/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-75663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Belief in the Historicity of the Book of Mormon, and Some of the Fruit that Such Belief Yields<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&nbsp; &nbsp; I was really pleased to see this: &nbsp; &quot;Gospel Literacy Program Launched in Sierra Leone to Strengthen Families:\u00a0Sister Bingham says\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Belief in the Historicity of the Book of Mormon, and Some of the Fruit that Such Belief Yields\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; &nbsp; I was really pleased to see this: &nbsp; &quot;Gospel Literacy Program Launched in Sierra Leone to Strengthen Families:\u00a0Sister Bingham says\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-02T20:48:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2019\/07\/Location_Sierra_Leone_AU_Africa.svg_.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html\",\"name\":\"Belief in the Historicity of the Book of Mormon, and Some of the Fruit that Such Belief Yields\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-02T20:48:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-02T20:48:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"&nbsp; &nbsp; I was really pleased to see this: &nbsp; \\\"Gospel Literacy Program Launched in Sierra Leone to Strengthen Families:\u00a0Sister Bingham says\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Belief in the Historicity of the Book of Mormon, and Some of the Fruit that Such Belief Yields\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Belief in the Historicity of the Book of Mormon, and Some of the Fruit that Such Belief Yields","description":"&nbsp; &nbsp; I was really pleased to see this: &nbsp; \"Gospel Literacy Program Launched in Sierra Leone to Strengthen Families:\u00a0Sister Bingham says","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Belief in the Historicity of the Book of Mormon, and Some of the Fruit that Such Belief Yields","og_description":"&nbsp; &nbsp; I was really pleased to see this: &nbsp; \"Gospel Literacy Program Launched in Sierra Leone to Strengthen Families:\u00a0Sister Bingham says","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2019-07-02T20:48:45+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2019\/07\/Location_Sierra_Leone_AU_Africa.svg_.png"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html","name":"Belief in the Historicity of the Book of Mormon, and Some of the Fruit that Such Belief Yields","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-07-02T20:48:45+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-02T20:48:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"&nbsp; &nbsp; I was really pleased to see this: &nbsp; \"Gospel Literacy Program Launched in Sierra Leone to Strengthen Families:\u00a0Sister Bingham says","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/07\/belief-in-the-historicity-of-the-book-of-mormon-and-some-of-the-fruit-that-such-belief-yields.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Belief in the Historicity of the Book of Mormon, and Some of the Fruit that Such Belief Yields"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75663\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}