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| Book of Mormon Quotes, Critics, and Rebuttals! | ||
| Some quick quotes, criticisms, and answers for serious students of the Book of Mormon. The truly amazing thing about most of these refutations to the critics is that the majority of these facts were not known to scientists, much less to Joseph Smith, in 1829 when the Book of Mormon was translated. Thus, many of the criticisms become, in light of recent scientific discoveries, proofs! |
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| The Quote | The Criticism | The Refutation |
| Alma 1:29 They began to be exceedingly rich, having... silk and fine-twined linen, and all manner of good homely cloth. |
Critics like to point out that there was no linen in pre-Columbian meso-america. | Conquistador Bernal Diaz described the henequin cloth of Montezuma's culture as "like linen." - Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Translation by Alfred Maudslay, 1956 |
| Alma 1:29 They began to be exceedingly rich, having... silk and fine-twined linen, and all manner of good homely cloth. |
Same passage, different criticism: Critics also like to point out there couldn't have been silk in meso-America, either. | 1. Silk from insect cocoons was spun into cloth in ancient meso-America. (Johnson, "Basketry and Textiles", 1967) 2. Silklike fibers were harvested from the Ceiba ("silk cotten") tree of Yucatan. (Francesco Saverino Clavigero, "History of Mexico", 1817) 3. Cloth was woven from pita floja ("silk-grass" - aecmea magdalenae)- (Felix W. McBride, Smithsonian Institute 1917) |
| Alma 7:10 He shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers. |
Critics allege this is a grievous error. Even a child should know Jesus was born in Bethlehem! How could Joseph Smith, in 1829, have blundered so? | The famous Amarna Letters and the Tell El-Amarna Tablets (discovered in 1887) identify the "Land of Jersualem" as a district encompassing some 500 square kilometers, to include Bethlehem. |
| Alma 17:39 Bearing the arms which had been smitten off... of those who sought to slay him; and they were carried in unto the king for a testimony of the things which they had done. |
Critics claim that armies and soldiers of the Near East in biblical times did not engage in the taking of body parts of their enemies. | The Gates of Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC) are decorated with scenes of Assyryan troops cuttng of the heads, feet and hands of their enemies. (Yigael Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands, 1963) |
| Helaman 3:7 The people who went forth became excedingly expert in the working of cement. |
"Aha!" exclaim the critics! Another blunder! Everyone knows cement was not used by meso-American cultures! | The Temple of Teotihuacan has extensive cement slabs, and cement appears at Cerro de Texcotzingo, Tula, Palenque, Tikal, Copan, Uxmal, and Chitzen Itza. (David S. Hyman, Calcareous Cements in Prehispanic Mesoamerican Building Construction, 1970) |
| Ether 9:19 And they also had horses, and asses, and there were elephants and cureloms and cumoms; all of which were useful unto man..." |
The critics say, "Surely Joseph Smith should have known that there were no elephants in the Americas! | Stelae B, Copas, Mexico clearly shows ancient meso-americans with elephants. Critics refuse to believe they are elephants, since everyone knows there couldn't have been any! You be the judge. Take a look. |
| "Reformed Egyptian, Revisited: Actually, this is my favorite retort to those critics who claim that there is no such thing as "reformed egyptian." The fact of the matter is, you are reading a sort of reformed egyptian right now! Also, it was not uncommon then, nor is it today, to use the alphabet of one culture to write in the language of another. Much of the Bible was written in Aramaic and Greek. |
A form of hieroglyphic writing existed in Egypt which was used by the priests is known as hieratic writing. It is much simpler and the characters take on a flowing form, like our script. This type of writing was used in letters, in the keeping of accounts, the writing of psalms, deeds, etc.... The Phoenicians took the one feature of Egyptian writing which could be universally applied, disentangled it from the jumbled mass of signs and pictures, made of it a unit, and created thereform a system, or method, of writing based upon an alphabet. They achieved the greatest step forward in the art of writing. Because of its obvious simplicity and its universal application, this form of alphabetic writing quickly spread. It was carried everywhere. It spread over the whole Asiatic continent. It found its way to Crete, to Thera, to Greece, to Italy. It passed on into Europe and firmly established itself there. It became, in a word, the writing system of the whole civilized world." (The Customs Of Mankind, by Lillian Eichler, 1924, pp.288, & 291.) |
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Book of Mormon Photo Evidence |
More Amazing Photos (Pg 2) |
Even More Photos (Pg 3)
Home Page | LDS Links | Answering the Critics | DNA Evidence | Discussion Forum The Double Standard | Recommended Books | Official LDS Site | Contact Us |
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© 2007 Mike Sageloff