When I grew up the main apologetic approach to the authenticity of the BOM was how Joe couldn't have authored the book due to his lack of formal education owing to his farm boy upbringing.

Studying Joe's life and examining his achievements gives the impression of a highly intelligent and well informed person.

Does anyone have any information to refute the ignorant farm boy story?

His parents were School teachers

Joseph had a lot of help from Sidney Rigdon, who was in Samuel Spaulding's congregation. Joe and his money digging friends were literally thick as thieves. All conjecture aside, the BoM and BoA are known fabrications because of rock solid scientific evidence. Not because of someone's "feelings".

I was told at a Summer Fireside, by one of the Stake Presidents (at the time) claimed that Smith was illiterate. He also said that should add to our testimony of the BoM because it was God himself that had helped him to write the book.

Interesting since it was written that Smith read the Bible (along) and came upon a line in James that "inspired him to pray."

Also, the BoM is very similar to the Views of the Hebrews by Ethan Smith who lived near Joseph Smith.
Think about it...

His personal letters show him to be mostly literate. He was clearly imaginative and charismatic to some. Other reports of him at the time claimed he was pretty transparent and he and his followers were generally loathsome.

As others said his other writings show he was literate.

From contemporary diaries, such as his mother's, there were accounts of him coming up with elaborate stories in his youth. Seems like he was a sort of story-telling savant.

One thing to keep in mind the original manuscript had tons of grammatical errors that the publisher corrected in the first edition, and many other corrections have been applied over the years.
http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/3913intro.htm

Joe didn't write the original manuscript or the copy used for the printer. However, documents on josephsmithpapers show that Joe wrote and spelled about as well as Oliver. Oliver was a school teacher. Joe's dad and brother also taught school, they had books in the home, etc... Joe didn't have a lot of formal schooling, but that was common for the time. He wasn't the uneducated idiot that TSCC claims.

TBMs know that Joe dictated the book. So, they're not just arguing that he wasn't educated enough to write a book, they're arguing that he didn't have the imagination and/or couldn't even speak in coherent sentences. TBMs might counter that he had the imagination, but lacked the knowledge of ancient America, etc... However, we know that he got pretty much every detail wrong. Emma told the story about Joe not even knowing Jerusalem had a city wall during the "translation".

“When he stopped for any purpose at any time he would, when he commenced again, begin where he left off without any hesitation, and one time while he was translating he stopped suddenly, pale as a sheet, and said, ‘Emma, did Jerusalem have walls around it?’ When I answered, ‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘Oh! [I didn’t know.] I was afraid I had been deceived.’ He had such a limited knowledge of history at that time that he did not even know that Jerusalem was surrounded by walls.” (Edmund C. Briggs, “A Visit to Nauvoo in 1856,” Journal of History, Jan. 1916, p.

This is pretty hard to believe since, pretty early on, Joe seemed to know more about the Bible than 99% of TBMs today. Even if he didn't know, Joe supposedly saw God and Jesus, Moroni had given him the plates, etc... He thought he had been deceived? What?!

Emma also claimed that Joe couldn't even read the name Sarah. Bullshit! Emma was a liar just like Joe.

Well we all know the BOM is BS. But we don't have the "gold plates" ( I know.. No such thing) to compare it too. But there are a million other things that point to it being made up crap.

But we do have the original papyrus the BOA was "translated" from. It proves without a shadow of doubt, that the BOA was not translated from it. So that leaves JS making it all up. If he could write the BOA then he could (and did) write the BOA.

Simple as that.

Oops.. BOM.

He was not "formally" educated. However he was highly intelligent and could read his "Marks" as good as any modern con-man. Do not be misled by the lack of educational merit badges. They are not the only criteria by which to judge.

Of course we have information. These older discussions will help:


http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1645818

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1663937

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1829084

He was from one of the most progressive areas of the country. They were building the Erie Canal, everyone was going to be millionaires, lots of smart, hardworking, thrifty, opinionated, business savvy investors hunting around for treasure. Abolitionists, temperance followers, and liberals everywhere. In fact old Joe was a democrat. There was a library close by with a collection of all the most important works, even by today's standards I'm sure.

Even today the whole nation and world looks up to New York Yankees for leadership and intelligence. They practically run this country (remember the recent cock fight between Clinton and Trump, need I say more?)

No, you don't need to say anymore. Ever. I'm inviting you to never write another post on this forum again.

Because of Trump vs frump?

Let's compare JS's FORMAL education with that of one of his
contemporaries. Abraham Lincoln had only 9 months of formal
education.

How did A.L. become a lawyer (too lazy to look it up just now!)

Most lawyers of the time didn't go to law school. Most just trained under experienced lawyers. In Illinois, all you needed to become a lawyer was to "obtain a certificate procured from the court of an Illinois county certifying to the applicant's good moral character." Lincoln got his from the Illinois Supreme Court. So, Joe was educated enough to be a lawyer, but I doubt any judges would have vouched for his "good moral character".

Oliver Cowdery became a lawyer in Ohio after ditching Joe. He also didn't attend law school. Check out this article:

https://www.lds.org/church/news/law-school-honors-oliver-cowdery-first-lds-attorney?lang=eng

The BYU law school honored Oliver as the first LDS attorney...even though he was actually the first exmormon attorney.

IIRC, he had more formal education than Benjamin Franklin.

Why don't you read for yourself in the Joseph Smith papers? The earlier ones were written by Joseph Smith Jr. himself.

http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-1832-1834/2

Thanks for the replies.

It never occurred to me that although he was fairly illiterate his penmanship was pretty good. In indicating he must have had some formal schooling, probably from his parents.

I was aware he studied Jewish, Egyptian, German.

It is clear that his works were anachronistic​, indicating that he had no divinely inspired powers.

I wondered if there was a compendium of what he would have needed to know, and evidence of him studying it, to produce what he did.

Looking at the Joseph Smith Papers, his handwriting (cursive) indicates that indeed, he was educated and very intelligent. Sometimes, the direction of his handwriting leans upward, indicating that at the moment he was writing that particular page, he was feeling positive. His writing has a slant that leans to the right,which shows that he was very outgoing; not a shy one at all! He has a lot of what are called "arcades", which shows control and covering up. If I didn't already know about his history, his handwriting is very revealing.

Joseph was clearly well educated for the times. His mother bragged that they never neglected his education. His father was a sometime school teacher. His brother was on the debate team. Illiterate people don't have beautiful penmanship.

My question is, why then did he need a scribe? Gives an opportunity for some corroboration? Adds a witness? Gives two voices instead of one? Joseph was smart and knew the power of two.

And, why the laborious translation technique when God, his omniscience, is involved?