FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Category:MormonThink
Responses to claims made on the critical website MormonThink.com
Pages in category "MormonThink"
The following 155 pages are in this category, out of 423 total.
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- Question: Were the Isaiah passages in the Book of Mormon simply plagiarized from the King James Bible?
- Question: Were there any similar cases under Illinois adultery statute which demonstrate that Joseph was not breaking the law?
- Question: Were there not enough people available in Nephi's time to build a temple "after the manner of the temple of Solomon"?
- Question: What archaeological evidence might be considered the minimal irrefutable proof needed to convince a non-believing world of the authenticity of the Nephite scripture?
- Question: What are the "curse of Cain" and the "curse of Ham"?
- Question: What are the differences between the Endowment and Freemasonry?
- Question: What are the differences between the Strangite witness statements and those of the Three and Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon?
- Question: What are the Hurlbut affidavits?
- Question: What are the Kinderhook Plates?
- Question: What are the Kirtland Egyptian Papers?
- Question: What are the Lectures on Faith?
- Question: What are the Nephite interpreters?
- Question: What are the reasons for the changes to the Doctrine and Covenants?
- Question: What are the similarities and differences between ''View of the Hebrews'' and the Book of Mormon?
- Question: What are the two 1835 First Vision accounts that refer to angels?
- Question: What changes have been made to the ''Gospel Principles'' manual regarding the question of death on the earth before the Fall of Adam?
- Question: What changes were made to the 1837 edition of the Book of Mormon?
- Question: What changes were made to the Doctrine and Covenants?
- Question: What criticisms are associated with the Kirtland Egyptian Papers?
- Question: What criticisms are associated with the temple ritual and its relationship to Freemasonry?
- Question: What criticisms are raised with regard to Book of Mormon archaeology compared to that of the Bible?
- Question: What criticisms are related to Oliver Cowdery's 1834-1835 history of the Church?
- Question: What did B.H. Roberts say about ''View of the Hebrews'' and the Book of Mormon?
- Question: What did Church leaders after Brigham Young think of the priesthood ban?
- Question: What did David Whitmer's associates say about his character?
- Question: What did Joseph Smith say about efforts that were made to steal the gold plates from him?
- Question: What did Martin Harris's non-Mormon associates say about his character?
- Question: What did Oliver Cowdery's associates say about his character?
- Question: What did Orson Hyde, the husband of Marinda Nancy Johnson, know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the Book of Mormon witnesses mean when they used the word "supernatural" to describe their experiences?
- Question: What did the husband of Elizabeth Davis know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Elvira Annie Cowles know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Esther Dutcher know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Lucinda Pendleton Morgan Harris know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Mary Elizabeth Rollins know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Mary Heron know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Patty Bartlett know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Presendia L. Huntington know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Ruth Vose Sayers know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Sarah Ann Whitney know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Sarah Kingsley know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Sylvia Sessions know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the husband of Zina D. Huntington know about her sealing to Joseph Smith for eternity?
- Question: What did the other witnesses say regarding "spiritual" versus "natural" viewing of the plates?
- Question: What do the Hurlbut affidavits say about the Spalding manuscript and the Book of Mormon?
- Question: What do we find in Mesoamerican archaeology with respect to place names, such as city names?
- Question: What do we find when we turn to the records of the ancient (i.e. before A.D. 400) Americas?
- Question: What do we know about the origin of the priesthood ban on Church members of African descent?
- Question: What does Joseph's attempt to translate the Kinderhook Plates tell us about his "gift of translation?"
- Question: What does Lecture 5 of the Lectures on Faith say about the nature of God?
- Question: What does the Church teach investigators and members regarding the method by which the Book of Mormon was produced?
- Question: What does the Church teach on the subject of death before the Fall of Adam?
- Question: What events resulted in Joseph Smith's 1826 court appearance in South Bainbridge?
- Question: What evidence of religious excitement is there from non-Mormon sources?
- Question: What happened to Josiah Stowell? Did he conclude he had been defrauded after the court hearing?
- Question: What is Joseph Smith's 1826 South Bainbridge "trial" for "glasslooking"?
- Question: What is the Church's stance on the theory of organic evolution?
- Question: What is the difference between Joseph Smith's first vision and other reported visions of God at the time?
- Question: What is the light which comes from the presence of God?
- Question: What is the origin of the modern horse in the New World?
- Question: What is the provenance of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers?
- Question: What is the publication history of the Kirtland Egyptian Papers?
- Question: What message does the Book of Mormon translation painting convey?
- Question: What religious excitement was occurring in Palmyra in 1820?
- Question: What role do horses ''not'' play in the Book of Mormon?
- Question: What was Joseph Smith's motivation for going to the grove to pray in 1820?
- Question: What was the nature of Joseph Smith's "polyandrous" marriages?
- Question: What was the real purpose of the letter written by Joseph Smith to the parents of Sarah Ann Whitney?
- Question: What was the state of things on the Earth prior to the placement of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden?
- Question: When did a biblical curse become associated with the "Hamites?"
- Question: When did Joseph Smith demonstrate knowledge of the elements of the endowment ritual?
- Question: When did the "mark of Cain" become associated with black skin?
- Question: When Joseph performed his inspired translation of the Bible, why didn't he rewrite the creation account in Genesis to read more like that in the Book of Abraham?
- Question: When was Lucy Mack Smith baptized?
- Question: Where can I learn more about the Sidney Rigdon/Solomon Spalding authorship theory?
- Question: Where did 19th-Century Latter-day Saints believe that Freemasonry came from?
- Question: Which method of translation was more "believable": seer stone or Nephite interpreters?
- Question: Who is the author of ''History of the Church''?
- Question: Who made the changes to the Doctrine and Covenants?
- Question: Why are horses considered an anachronism in the Book of Mormon?
- Question: Why are many of the quotes from Isaiah in the Book of Mormon identical to those in the King James Bible?
- Question: Why are people concerned about Church artwork?
- Question: Why did Brigham Young initiate the priesthood ban?
- Question: Why did Elder Boyd K. Packer state that "Some things that are true are not very useful"?
- Question: Why did Joseph keep the doctrine of plural marriage private?
- Question: Why did Joseph Smith make changes to the Book of Mormon such as modifying "God" to read "the Son of God"?
- Question: Why did Joseph Smith say "I had not been married scarcely five minutes...before it was reported that I had seven wives"?
- Question: Why did Joseph Smith say that the Book of Mormon was the "most correct book"?
- Question: Why did Joseph Smith state the he was visited by two personages and then just five days later say that he was visited by angels?
- Question: Why did Mark E. Petersen say that blacks would go the the Celestial Kingdom as servants?
- Question: Why did the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants include a statement of marriage that denied the practice of polygamy at a time when some were actually practicing it?
- Question: Why did the Prophet construct the 1832 narrative in a manner such as to exclude explicit mention of the Father's appearance?
- Question: Why didn't Joseph ''say'' that his family didn't wake up during Moroni's visit?
- Question: Why does "Nahom" constitute archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon?
- Question: Why does ''History of the Church'' say that Joseph Smith said "I have translated a portion of them..."?
- Question: Why does Church artwork portray Joseph as being alone during Moroni's visit?
- Question: Why does Joseph Smith state in his 1832 First Vision account that he was in his "16th year" of age?
- Question: Why does Joseph Smith's 1832 account of the First Vision not mention two personages?
- Question: Why does Joseph Smith's 9 November 1835 account of the First Vision mention "many angels?"
- Question: Why does the Book of Mormon match the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible so closely?
- Question: Why does the Church teach that the flood was a global event?
- Question: Why doesn't the art match details which have been repeatedly spelled out in Church publications?
- Question: Why don't potential pre-Columbian horse remains in the New World receive greater attention from scientists?
- Question: Why is ''History of the Church'' written in first-person, as if Joseph Smith himself wrote it?
- Question: Why is confidentiality associated with the temple ordinances?
- Question: Why is the "white stone" that we are to receive upon entry to the Celestial kingdom not discussed extensively in Sunday School?
- Question: Why is the name "Lucifer" used to represent Satan in Latter-day Saint scriptures and the temple ceremony?
- Question: Why is the statement of William Clayton regarding the Kinderhook Plates in ''History of the Church'' written as if Joseph Smith himself said it?
- Question: Why was Joseph fined if he wasn't found guilty of anything?
- Question: Why was the phrase "white and delightsome" changed to "pure and delightsome" in the 1840 edition of the Book of Mormon?
- Question: Why were some plural marriages performed after the Manifesto?
- Question: Why would Joseph Smith incorporate Masonic elements into the temple ritual?
- Question: Why would Martin Harris use the phrases "eye of faith" or "spiritual eye" to describe his visionary experience?
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- Seminary Manual (2013): "Joseph Smith emphasized different aspects of his vision in his multiple accounts"
- Similarities between ancient and modern temple rituals
- Sorenson: Horse bones in Yucatan "considered to be pre-Columbian on the basis of depth of burial and degree of mineralization"
- Source:Anderson:Confirming Records of Moroni's Coming:Improvement Era:73 9:This wording in the present Pearl of Great Price is modified from the first printing, in which the messenger was identified as "Nephi"
- Source:Ashurst-McGee"A Pathway to Prophethood:This argument falls short theoretically. For those who do not believe in Joseph's visions, there was nothing to wake anyone anyway.
- Source:Benajah Williams:July 1820:Had a two Days meeting at Sq Bakers in Richmond
- Source:Brown:Nahom and the "Eastward" Turn:JBMS 12:1
- Source:Chicago Times:1875:Three times David Whitmer has been at the Hill Cumorah and seen the casket that contained the tablets and seerstone
- Source:Christofferson:The Prophet Joseph Smith:BYUI Devotional:2013:Critics have also claimed that there were no religious revivals in the Palmyra, New York, area in 1820
- Source:Christofferson:The Prophet Joseph Smith:BYUI Devotional:2013:The June 1839 Manuscript History of the Church says it was Nephi who appeared to Joseph Smith in 1823 rather than Moroni
- Source:Damrosch:The Narrative Covenant:Naham means "to mourn"
- Source:Echoes:Ch5:29:Lehi's desert journey and Joseph Smith
- Source:Gardner:Joseph the Seer:2009 FAIR Conference:long before golden plates complicated his position as a local seer
- Source:Gardner:The Gift and the Power:it’s stone that becomes the trigger that allows the seer to do what the seer does
- Source:Gospel Topics:Book of Mormon Translation:According to these accounts, Joseph placed either the interpreters or the seer stone in a hat
- Source:Gospel Topics:Book of Mormon Translation:These two instruments—the interpreters and the seer stone—were apparently interchangeable
- Source:Gospel Topics:The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage:Joseph F. Smith broke the law
- Source:Gospel Topics:The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage:Reed Smoot hearings
- Source:Gospel Topics:The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage:The Second Manifesto
- Source:Hinckley:Deseret News:2002:What the church requires is only belief that Adam was the first man of what we would call the human race
- Source:James H. Reeves:Palmyra Courier:24 May 1872:Martin Harris "quite skeptical, as well as superstitious"
- Source:Marcus B. Nash:Joseph Smith Memorial Devotional:June 2013:This was dictated, word by word, as he looked into instruments the Lord prepared for him, using a hat to shield his eyes from extraneous light
- Source:Nelson:A Treasured Testament:Ensign:July 1993:The details of this miraculous method of translation are still not fully known. Yet we do have a few precious insights
- Source:Nibley:CW06:Ch19:9:Mourning by the daughters of Ishmael
- Source:Nicholson:The Spectacles, The Stone:This essay focuses primarily on the methods and instruments used in the translation process
- Source:Palmyra Register:28 June 1820:5 July 1820:It was far from our intention to charge the Methodists with retailing ardent spirits while professedly met for the worship of their God
- Source:Revelations in Context:The Word of Wisdom:it required time to wind down practices that were so deeply ingrained
- Source:Ricks:Some Notes on Book of Mormon Names:Interpreter:Three altar inscriptions containing NHM
- Spiritual manifestations at the dedication of the Kirtland temple
- Stephen H. Webb: "Evidence That Demands Our Amazement... Joseph Smith was a remarkable person"
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- Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2007): "The doctrines and principles relating to plural marriage were revealed to Joseph Smith as early as 1831"
- The temple garment
- Truman Madsen: "Among readers who came to the Book of Mormon with hard, skeptical assumptions, B.H. Roberts is notable"
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- W.W. Phelps (1833): "through the aid of a pair of Interpreters, or spectacles—(known, perhaps, in ancient days as Teraphim, or Urim and Thummim)"
- Wikipedia: Mammoths "were members of the family Elephantidae"
- William Smith (1883): "he escaped to the house and brought the plates with him, wrapped up in a tow frock. He could not permit us to see them, because he said the angel told him not to do so"
- William Smith (1884): "When the plates were brought in they were wrapped up in a tow frock. My father then put them into a pillow case. Father said, 'What, Joseph, can we not see them?'"
- William Smith (1893): "I did not see them uncovered, but I handled them and hefted them while wrapped in a tow frock and judged them to have weighed about sixty pounds"
- Woodruff (1842): "The Lord is Blessing Joseph with Power to reveal the mysteries of the kingdom of God; to translate through the urim & Thummim Ancient records & Hyeroglyphics as old as Abraham or Adam"
- Word of Wisdom/Joseph Smith used tea