On Thursday, the Fourth of July, I’ll be attending a luncheon at the Independence, Missouri Stake Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offered by the Hill Park Ward. Shortly after the 1 PM lunch, I’ll be giving a presentation on Book of Mormon evidences for about 45 minutes or so. The title of my presentation is “A Journey of Faith Strengthened with Knowledge of the Book of Mormon.”
Some topics I will touch upon include:
- Why does evidence matter? Why did we need witnesses for the Book of Mormon? Why does knowledge in addition to faith matter to the Lord? How can scholarship help us minister?
- Reliable vs. unreliable sources, strong vs. weak or fake evidence, sound vs. flawed scholarship, and the tentative nature of human wisdom.
- Coping with attacks on the Book of Mormon, and the useful things we can learn from the critics.
- A fascinating trend: weaknesses becoming strengths (examples: Bethlehem vs Jerusalem, alleged plagiarism and a lesson from Words of Gad the Seer)
- Useful indicators: explanatory power and convergence of independent evidences
- The witnesses: an abundance of evidences
- The Arabian Peninsula: powerful convergence
- Basic treasures: stone boxes, metal plates, and the brass plates
- The language of the Book of Mormon: multiple voices, incredibly consistent, inconsistent with Joseph’s language, rich in surprises (chiasmus and other ancient literary devices, strong Early Modern English influence beyond the KJV, and bewildering connections to the Book of Moses)
- Suggestions for your journey of faith strengthened with knowledge of the Book of Mormon, including knowledge of evidences and insights from scholarship.
The presentation will be broadcast via the Hill Park Ward’s Zoom account that can be accessed via the Church’s website and in the Gospel Stream app. Go to the Church’s website at https://churchofjesuschrist.org/media/broadcasts and enter event code 429836. The site shows that this begins at 12:50, but I believe my presentation will actually begin around 1:50.
I’m currently in Nauvoo, where I was so fortunate to see a rehearsal of the Nauvoo pageant last night. Love the expanded offerings for visitors to this remarkable site of Church history. And what a beautiful temple!
Looking forward to seeing the video.
All things have evidence for and against. What is interesting is what rational conclusions can be made from the scales of evidence.
Remember, faith is believe in something when the scales lack inputs. Confirmation bias is rejecting the scales results despite the abundance of input.
What you have here is confirmation bias. There is nothing wrong with that as along you are honest about declaring it. That is why we have something called recusing oneself to allow those with judicial temperament to respect the rationality of a system as greater than oneself.
Was your presentation recorded? If so, is it possible to view it online?
It was recorded via Zoom, but I just discovered that the recording expired already. Sorry! But I may redo it as a video presentation. Thanks for asking.
The plates were taken back because God did not want too much evidence, just a little. So again, I really interested in seeing the video and the explanation of why God is wrong to not want evidence.
oh brother this I gotta see!
Both BH Roberts, and his modern day equivalent Richard Bushman, declared the Church’s narrative is not true. Both were/are active, but unlike Jeff, they honor the covenants are refuse to lie.
For Roberts, are you speaking about his theory of Book of Mormon translation?
When accusing someone of lying, it’s considered good form to both explain what the lie is and demonstrate that it was a lie. Fine to disagree, but accusing others of being liars when they see something differently is not an effective way to deal with people or to defend what you think is truth.