Ever wander why Joseph Smith made up the book of Mormon? It is rascist and boring,like so many names and in old English? You can't find any evidence for this myth anywhere! But of course missionaries and members say I prayed about it and it is true!it is more of trying to get people in

All Joseph was qualified for and most of what work was available was hard physical labor. Perpetrating the scam of acquiring and translating the book helped give him years living off others work and interest in his claims.

His entire life was one big dodge of labor and anything else he could come up with to increase his comfort.

Yep or could have been for attention, he and his father was involved with the occult and he was a 33 freemason, made one of the most hateful money hungry cults ever!

Fame.
Fortune.
Tail end.
It worked.

The best answer I've seen to this is the conspiracy very convincingly described in the work by Craig Criddle at mormonleaks.com

Basically, Sidney Rigdon and his acolytes came up with most of the BOM in order to found a new church but needed a person to "sell" it.

Enter JS Jr., who had already proven his talents at convincing the gullible with his money-digging. But the force of JS's personality proved too strong, eclipsing (and even excommunicating) the original conspirators.

Check it out. It's the most convincing hypothesis (backed by considerable evidence) that I've seen.

Tom in Paris

Soft Machine Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The best answer I've seen to this is the
> conspiracy very convincingly described in the work
> by Craig Criddle at mormonleaks.com
>
> Basically, Sidney Rigdon and his acolytes came up
> with most of the BOM in order to found a new
> church but needed a person to "sell" it.
>
> Enter JS Jr., who had already proven his talents
> at convincing the gullible with his money-digging.
> But the force of JS's personality proved too
> strong, eclipsing (and even excommunicating) the
> original conspirators.
>
> Check it out. It's the most convincing hypothesis
> (backed by considerable evidence) that I've seen.
>
> Tom in Paris


Also read "Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon" by Wayne Cowdrey, Howard A Davis and Arthur Vanick. Very detailed and well documented book.

I agree that the mormonleaks.com website presents a well-documented picture about the creation of the BOM. I'm wondering if anyone knows about the last two episodes of the story, if they're still being made. I haven't read "Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon" but it sounds like a good read as well. Bottom line is there were a number of people involved in writing the Book of Mormon, all with somewhat different motives, but who were all willing to lie and cover up the story in order to get what they wanted. I think that debunking the BOM is huge in changing people's minds in the church. For me, there were parts of the BOM that were very powerful in my life as a mormon, Alma 32 for instance. The war chapters, Isaiah chapters, and cureloms and cumoms not so much, but there are parts that I felt really spoke to me. Knowing that it was Sidney Rigdon or Oliver Cowdery or whoever else might have actually written it who was really doing the speaking can go a long way, I think, in breaking people's shelves.

Valiant wrote: “I’m wondering if anyone knows about the last two episodes of the story,if they’re still being made.”

The seventh episode at mormonleaks.com is essentially complete, and has been reviewed by some of the posters on this board (for which I am very grateful), but we still need time to get it in the slide show format needed for posting.

If you’d like to review Episode 7, please contact me at bomauthorship@mac.com, and I’ll send you a pdf version.

Craig Criddle

Everyone here is right, but this could not have been done without the collaborative effort of many.
You have the resources of at least 13 men, to cover all facets of diverse personalities and needs.
Of course, js was the one central charisma figure that pulled it together, go out and put his as the public face and energy. But he could not have done it all by himself.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2017 08:59AM by itzbeen20.

Simple Answer:

He was a con-man
Who found the ultimate con

The Bunco Squad would have a hard time making a case on The Mormon Church. Money digging on the other hand, would be a "slam" dunk.

I don't think the idea for Book of Mormon just came out of the blue while Smith was having a shower like most of our great ideas come from. "Oh, I know. I'll write a book about the Indians!"

Joe was a story teller early on his mother bragged. Often about he Indians. Joe was clearly charismatic and had a deep need to be adulated. He lived in a time of much religious fervor. Many were speculating on the Native Americans being the lost tribes. Joe needed a better scam than what he had going as a glass looker and gold digger. He met some likeminded people like Sydney. They were pulled in by his charm. He needed their expertise, their connections. They heard his stories. "Hmmnn," they said. They built on them. It became an informal think tank. They started writing some. It grew. Joe took the idea and ran with it. He had a way of making it his own no matter who contributed. So easy in the end with the Bible as a model to write the "sequel." So easy to lift a little of this and a little of that from many sources. So easy to see a "use" for this tome.

I think it was just a lot of random ingredients that finally got stirred. Joe knew how to grow an idea no matter whose idea it was. Joe knew how to sell something that didn't exist. Now he had something that did exist--the Mormon Bible. You gotta have a gimmick. That is what makes it all work. Joe knew.


Anyway that is my theory that sort of goes with the others. A scheming mind is a fertile mind and the BoM is what came out. If it hadn't been that, it would have been something else.

It beat farming.

Decades ago I read a parody of a Robert Frost poem that ended like this:

"Old Bob!" I exclaimed, "You got nothing to say,
"However it scans!" His reply was disarming:
"Son, I'm one of the last to make poetry pay,
"And it doesn't pay much---but it sure beats farming!"

A farm boy without much formal education, no good connections, and no capital to invest, Joseph Smith in the society he was born into stood little or no chance of rising into the ranks of the elite white men who ran everything there was to run.

He didn't want to pursue farming, merchant activities, or manufacturing stuff (the Industrial Revolution was getting going in America) for many years perhaps until he amassed a fortune. He wanted wealth and fame quickly to satisfy his ambitions and eliminate his poverty.

So I guess he fell in with these guys, Rigdon et al., and put this book together as a hoax that tied in with contemporary fantasies about pre-Columbian settlements, and one thing led to another, and before he knew it, he was a cult leader.

"You've got" not "You got"!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
plus:

1. easy work rather than farming
2. power
3. young girls and women
4. fame
5. seeking religious adoration and top position from being the top dog, the so-called prophet
6. political position
7. and more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Considering that Joseph Smith "received a revelation" to sell the Book of Mormon in Canada he probably thought it would make him lots of money.

Nobody bought the copy right to the Book of Mormon so Joseph gave himself more power and authority with each new revelation he made up.

The same reason evey other man makes up a religon, for money,
for power, for sex.

I remember reading the book of mormon when I was about ten or eleven years old because my parents and church leaders wanted me to and would hound me about it. My mom would say "oh your the most amazing little scripture reader!" But really I absolutely hated it it was boring as hell and I only read it because family and church leaders made me feel like I wasn't a good person if I didn't read it. I plastered a fake happy grin on my face but in reality I dreaded reading that boring thing!

I did kind of like the lds bible & book of mormon cartoon kids shows anyone remember those? I mean definitely not my first pick of a show to watch now days but they were a lot more exciting than reading the actual book of mormon. Plus it was the only thing I was allowed towatch on Sundays back then so at least it was SOMETHING! Haha