Have you ever wondered why the Church sticks so closely by the BOM? It doesn't really teach anything specific about the "Restored Gospel," or Church doctrine at all. If it is not meant to teach about the Church, then what is the purpose of it? Here are a few ideas; what do you think? More ideas?

1. It's about Christ, so it becomes in theory naturally attractive to Christians in general.

2. It emphasizes obedience and faith above all else; the two main points that keep people in the Church.

3. Reading the BOM is a mind-numbing experience. You get used to hearing long, run-on sentences, hard-to-follow stories, and repetitive language that becomes almost a mantra (all reasons, probably, that members find the BOM comforting and relaxing). If you can turn off your critical thinking enough to accept the BOM then you can probably accept other doctrine without really thinking about it, and maybe even talk yourself into a spiritual experience.

I see its 'success' as being in the same arena as all the faithful praising the naked emperor's new clothes, and as such, it wouldn't matter what it was about. At heart, it's a 'means test'.

Of course, the powers-that-be do care about the book's credibility, which is why it is still undergoing revision.

The phrase "they did girdle their loins"

If the book is true, then Joe was a prophet, and TSCC is the one true church. That's not really a sound argument to begin with, but they convince members that if they felt good about the BoM when they were 8 then they should cling to that. Ignore any inconsistencies and troubling history, 'cause that good feeling was the spirit! I know some very smart mormons that have given hundreds of thousands of dollars, and thousands of hours of service, that are spending their retirement years serving missions, indexing, and doing temple "work" all because they felt good about the book as kids or when they converted. Their testimonies are no deeper than that...and they've never prayed again with questions...a Mormon just believes.

Ding ding ding we have a winner. Without the book there would be no profit or prophet in the first place.

The BOM served a historic purpose acting as a proof token. I'm not convinced Joseph thought this all out as rather worked on the book with Cowdrey and then realised that rather than selling it - because they couldn't it could serve them as a means to settling long held doctrinal questions - thus Mormonism really started to take off.

With regard to its value, well it is hard to nail down. For example, if you read Shakespeare or Philosophy they too are difficult to read. Last night i sat reading Leviathan again, it's hard because of the language, the meaning of words has changed, and the structures are no longer the same. But you press on because you remain convinced 'something deep' is in there - which with some of these works that is true. But also with the BOM as you often 'see beyond the mark' and find meaning in it that exists purely by chance and speculation.

Thus suddenly the BOM is far deeper and couldn't have possibly been the work of Smith because of the hidden meanings.

I think whilst we all expect TSCC to continue to decline i'd like to add one random possibility....

What if something is found that plays into LDS hands. For example, we know there are pyramids in central and south America. We know that TSCC used to point to these and leverage the link to pyramids in the ME.

So, what if something, anything is found that inadvertently serves as a 'proof' for mormonism, maybe even a strong proof based on nothing more than a black swan level of random coincidence. A stone found in Bolivia marking the death of the chief General Alma for example, as much as we'd all argue coincidence, the right kind of coincidence would give them soooo much mileage - just look at the BS they pull over NHM in the desert.

My point being, whilst it looks like they are in decline, totally random things happen that could inadvertently through them a huge line.

lilburne Wrote:
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> So, what if something, anything is found that
> inadvertently serves as a 'proof' for mormonism,
> maybe even a strong proof based on nothing more
> than a black swan level of random coincidence.

Like the "NHM" inscription from the middle east?

:)

Kind of like if something is unearthed that proves the world is flat, that will show all the round earthers. Fair enough, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on that showing up anytime soon. It takes more than a spoonful of dirt to outweigh a mountain.

lilburne Wrote:

> What if something is found that plays into LDS
> hands. For example, we know there are pyramids in
> central and south America. We know that TSCC used
> to point to these and leverage the link to
> pyramids in the ME.

Well, here's late-breaking news! Dirt fishers have just dug some hoards of old Almaic coins!

see http://nowscape.com/mormon/momoney.htm

"Modern analysis shows that Seons of gold are an amalgam of about 66% gold, 32% copper and 2% silver, antimony and arsenic (for hardening), with traces of mercury and miracium92."

* "A Limnah of gold was the value of them all." (stated in Alma Alma [11:4-10], of the Book of Mormon) -- how to make change for a Limnah ?

* "And an Onti was as great as them all". -- Some Mormon Scholars have communicated to Translated-correctly.com that these Almic references indicate that Limnahs and ontis could be exchanged for any and all coins whatsoever, as well as for a number of day's wages, and for any measure of barley."

So lilburn's "What if?" has now come to pass. Doubts re the BoM's authenticity can now be laid to rest.

Take a gander at all those graphics on nowscape.com

The original purpose was to make money. That's why they tried to sell the copyright in Canada.

The Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the gospel,
except for the priesthood, temple ordinances, church organization, polygamy, church programs, one standard view of the godhead, .....

Well, it's too thick to prop up a wobbly table leg...

I think JS just wanted to distinguish his church from other churches by inventing the Native American/Jesus in America angle. People who settled on the east coast of North America in the early 1800s, or who had parents who settled in the 1700s, heard stories about and also encountered the indigenous peoples who populated the area. I think people were very intrigued with the origins of the indigenous peoples and were curious about a "second bible" that JS claimed took place in America and was supposedly a history of the indigenous peoples, including a visit from Jesus Christ himself! I also read somewhere - don't know how true it is - that Joseph Smith was trying to enlist the Native Americans to join his army to overthrow the US government. Maybe he thought the Native peoples would want to join a church that was based on their culture. I don't think many Native Americans joined the Mormon church, though.

To TBM's its the milk before the meat. How can we get people to believe us that god commanded us to have 600 wives each? Let's get them to believe that there were jews in america first. How can we get them to believe that they'll build their own planet and have spirit sex forever but have to give up coffee or else they can't have family in the next life? Let's get them to believe that jesus came to the americas first.
Get them nodding their heads then spring that on them and they'll keep nodding their heads. Old sales tactic. Pretty see-through approach if you ask me.

It makes good kindling to get the burn barrel going.