Part 1 - Introduction

The Book of Mormon is a book Mormons revere as scripture along side the King James version of the Bible.  However, while the Bible is clearly of ancient origin, the Book of Mormon was completely unknown to the world until its publication in 1830, making its claims of ancient origin rather dubious.  Mormon leaders have staked their truth claims on the authenticity of Book of Mormon.  Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, called it the "keystone" of the religion.  Subsequent Mormon leaders have echoed this idea, saying that Mormonism stands or falls on the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  Gordon B. Hinckley, a recent Mormon president, said on several occasions that it's either all true or it's the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on mankind.

The Book of Mormon tells the story of a family who traveled by ship from Jerusalem to the Americas around 600 B.C. and settled there.  Their descendents split into two factions which eventually became the Nephites and the Lamanites.  Much of the rest of the book tells about wars between these two nations.  The Nephites were righteous and the Lamanites were wicked.  Because of the wickedness of the Lamanites, they were cursed with dark skin.  Eventually, around 400 A.D., the Nephites were all wiped out by the Lamanites.  The Nephites had also become wicked so God allowed the Lamanites to destroy them.  However, many of the Lamanites survived and became the Native Americans we know today.  The introduction of the Book of Mormon used to say that Lamanites are the principle ancestors of the American Indians until recently when the text was changed to say that the Lamanites are among the ancestors of the American Indians, which was likely a response to DNA analysis showing no connection between Native Americans and people of the middle east.

My personal story with Mormonism is centered around the Book of Mormon.  When other aspects of the faith began to cause me concerns, I took comfort in believing that the critics could not touch the Book of Mormon.  The Book of Mormon propped up my faith when other supports were failing.  When I finally began to examine the Book of Mormon claims more objectively, my faith in the book crumbled, along with my faith in Mormonism as a whole.  The Mormon leaders set me up for this with their "keystone" rhetoric and their insistence on Book of Mormon historicity.  Had they allowed me to interpret the Book of Mormon allegorically, I might have salvaged a portion of my faith.  I quickly learned, however, that I could not be a fully practicing Mormon without accepting the Book of Mormon as literal history.  My bishop at the time even asked me to resign my membership so as to not confuse my children into thinking that my views were endorsed by the church.

I plan to write as many posts as necessary to tell the story of my personal investigation of the Book of Mormon. I discovered that there are multiple converging lines of evidence demonstrating that the Book of Mormon is an early 19th century creation, not a translation of an ancient record.  For each point I cover, I will also present an apologetic response if one is available.  I will aim to be as fair and objective as I can.  After all, I fully believed in the Book of Mormon for most of my life and I have not forgotten my reasons for this.

I do not wish to cast aspersions on those who find value in practicing Mormonism.  This series of posts is only meant to illuminate my own journey, my own discoveries, and my own conclusions.  As long as the practice of Mormonism requires a belief in Book of Mormon historicity, I cannot, in good conscience, continue with it.  I am personally convinced that the Book of Mormon cannot possibly be a genuine translation of an ancient record of a people who actually existed in the Americas from 600 B.C to 421 A.D as it claims, for reasons which I will give in subsequent posts.

The audience for these posts is admittedly small.  Believing Mormons probably will not want to hear what I have to say, or they will believe that they have already heard it all before and have dismissed it, or they may think that smarter people than me know about all these issues and still believe.  For most people in the world, I am preaching to the choir.  Active Mormons constitute less than 0.1 percent of the world's population.  The rest either have no interest at all, or they are as convinced as I am already.  These posts are aimed at those somewhere in the middle who are interested, but willing to let the evidence speak for itself.  I did not set out to lose my faith, but mainly to supplement it.  However, I was willing to examine the evidence with an open mind to see where it would lead.  These posts will describe where it led for me.