Tag Archives: Book of Mormon series

Did the gold plates exist?

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I have generally celebrated the success of “The Book of Mormon” musical. I enjoy irreverent satire, and the musical’s creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have finely calibrated their satiric sights for over a decade with “South Park.”

That said, the musical did get several things wrong about Mormonism, especially where its history and theology are concerned. The musical was guilty of the fashionable claim that Joseph Smith never let anyone see or handle the gold plates, instead (quickly and conveniently) returning them to the angel Moroni. The implication, of course, is that Joseph Smith never had the gold plates; a point Stone and Parker also belabored in the South Park episode “All About Mormons.”

The story of Mormonism’s origins and the gold plates is vastly more nuanced, however. In this post, I’ll argue that Joseph Smith actually had gold plates (or a passable substitute). Contrary to popular belief outside of Mormonism, Smith did reveal the gold plates to a number people—namely the 11 witnesses, but a few others as well.

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Deutero-Isaiah in the Book of Mormon

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Few books have had so profound an impact on Judeo-Christian religious thought as Isaiah. It was once assumed by believers that the book was the unified work of a sole author, an eighth-century BC prophet named Isaiah who lived in the Kingdom of Judah. This view is still popular among the Christian and Jewish laity. But the true authorship of Isaiah has been the subject of considerable controversy.

The first to challenge the unity of Isaiah came from Jewish writer Moses Ibn Gekatilla in the second century AD. Modern critical scholarship of the book of Isaiah, however, didn’t begin for another 1,600 years. In 1789, Johann Doederlein argued that chapters 40-66 of Isaiah were actually the work of a post-exilic author—the so-called ‘Deutero (Second) Isaiah.’

Doederlein’s theory that there were at least two authors of the book of Isaiah is now held as a truism by the majority of Bible scholars. (Some posit a ‘Trito (Third) Isaiah’ who wrote chapters 56-66.) I won’t review all of the reasons why scholars reject the unity of Isaiah, but it’s important to briefly discuss a few.

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Why I won’t pray about the Book of Mormon

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A few months ago, while at USU, I invited the missionaries over to my apartment for a discussion. I told them that I had several non-Mormon roommates who may be interested in learning about Mormonism, so we scheduled a meeting time. As soon as the missionaries arrived for the appointment, my roommates were all (suddenly and suspiciously) unavailable. That left me and another ex-Mormon friend alone with the missionaries.

Missionaries don’t typically meet with former members, because we are not the most receptive audience for the church’s message. But my friend and I were respectful, and we listened to them give their spiel and bear their testimonies. The junior missionary then asked if we’d pray about the Book of Mormon to find out whether it’s true. “Probably not.” was my terse reply.

That sounds closed-minded, I’m sure. Allow me to explain the reasons behind my answer.

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