A stack of issues on a scale vs a single issue about a warm feeling: • Zero archeological or DNA evidence to support the Book of Mormon's claims • Joseph's "translation" of the Book of Abraham scrolls bears no relation at all to what the scrolls actually say. • Joseph's 14 year old "wives", and his 15 year old ones, and his 16 year old ones, and his "wives" who were still married to other men • Dark skin is how God marks sinners. When they repent they become "white and delightsome". • To prove that a man has the initiative and intelligence needed to become a god, he must accept without question everything "the brethren" say. • Oh, and the best a woman can ever hope for is to be one of a man-god's multiple wives, pumping out spiritual babies. • Drastically differing versions of the First Vision story • Temple ceremony, garments, and secret handshakes copied from Free Masonry • Kinderhook plates • Book of Mormon contradicts later Mormon teachings (about nature of the Trinity, Plan of Salvation, and many others). • Place names in the Book of Mormon strikingly similar to place names near where Joseph grew up • Events in the Book of Mormon strikingly similar to those described in "View of the Hebrews" • For years church leaders denied negative claims about Joseph Smith, and even excommunicated members who talked about them, yet they now admit those claims are true. • And many many more vs • I prayed about it and got a warm feeling in my heart.
“The power of the positive moral emotions to uplift & transform people has long been known... an emotion that I have begun to call "elevation." Elevation is elicited by acts of virtue or moral beauty; it causes warm, open feelings in the chest; and it motivates people to behave more virtuously themselves.” - Jonathan Haidt, Elevation and the Positive Psychology of Morality (2003) Author, Social Psychologist, Professor of Ethical Leadership