Annotated Book of Mormon
Evaluated According To My Current Knowledge

If I could ask them one question about

the Church’s Book of Mormon, Come Follow Me, Lesson 1
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For Dec. 30 - Jan. 5, 2020
Book of Mormon Title Page - Brief Explanation

This is the first week of the Book of Mormon Come Follow Me Lessons. For those still attending these classes or sitting with family discussing this, I want to offer the one question I might ask to generate thought and to get a better understanding of what believers think about things.

My one question this week would be: “Why are these Sunday School chairs so uncomfortable?”

But seriously, this week my question might be:

“Why were the golden plates needed when Joseph didn’t actually use them for the translation?”

Things to consider:

• We know he used a rock (and the spectacles early on) in a hat for the translation (Church essay, Book of Mormon Translation)
• Moroni and Mormon carried and buried the plates, for what reason?
• Joseph says he had to run and fight off attackers who wanted the plates (Church History in the Fulness of Times Student Manual, Chapter 4)

Some speculate he needed the plates as a physical prop to promote the faith necessary for translation. Really? But as a young man he had enough faith to be visited and instructed by the angel Moroni, right? Wasn’t he about 14 years old when his faith was so strong he not only visited with Jesus, but was graced by the presence of God the Father? Why would such a person need a prop? If he needed a prop, why don’t ordinary folks like us get a lot more help to promote our faith?

Honorable mention
I thought I might ask something to get at the reliability of the Three and Eight Witnesses accounts, but I think it’s a little more difficult to get your mind around the problems with them. But, if you feel prompted, maybe something like, “If the witnesses are such good evidence, why don’t we consider the witnesses for the plates of James Strang’s ‘Book of the Law of the Lord’ as evidence for the book’s truth?” (Wikipedia James Strang article) Or, “Why don’t we believe the witnesses who testified of the supernatural events associated with Ellen White’s (prophetess of the Seventh Day Adventist Church) visions?”

• The witnesses of the BoM plates were all close associates of Joseph.
• We know others testified for Joseph of things that are undeniably false (fist annotation at Testimony of Eight Witnesses.
• False memories can be implanted by strangers (this video).
• Studies indicate a known, respected person in someone’s life would be more capable of shaping a person’s memory (this article).

Have fun studying the Book of Mormon in the Come Follow Me program this year!

Love you all!
A-BoM

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