Martin Harris - wasmormon.org

Joseph Smith was a Glass Looking Treasure Digger

“The treasure-seeking stories of Joseph Smith’s youth have done more than cast a shadow on his character. They supply a secular explanation for his extraordinary religious claims... The response of Mormon historians in the 1970s was to deny almost everything... Not only the Smiths but also many of their neighbors were looking for treasure in Palmyra in the 1820s. It may not have been the most uplifting activity, and some scoffed, but it was something like reading astrological charts today—a little goofy but harmless. The only harm came when someone tried to deceive others to get gain. That was why Joseph Smith was put on trial.” - Richard Bushman, LDS Historian | wasmormon.org

Today, the fact that Joseph Smith was involved in treasure digging is undisputed, yet still hardly common knowledge among members of the church. This is likely due to the historic denials from church leadership on Joseph and any such occult practices. The church has sought to distance itself from the strange magic practices of the …

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“Three of us took some tools to go to the hill and hunt for more boxes of gold or something, and indeed we found a stone box. We got quite excited about it and dug carefully around it, and by some unseen power it slipped back into the hill.” - Martin Harris, One of the Three Witnesses, Scribe to Joseph Smith, Book of Mormon Financier The Last Testimony of Martin Harris, The Instructor, October 1930, Vol 65, No 10 | wasmormon.org — “Three of us took some tools to go to the hill and hunt for more boxes of gold or something, and indeed we found a stone box. We got quite excited about it and dug carefully around it, and by some unseen power it slipped back into the hill.” - Martin Harris, One of the Three Witnesses, Scribe to Joseph Smith, Book of Mormon Financier The Last Testimony of Martin Harris, The Instructor, October 1930, Vol 65, No 10

How Could Mormonism Not Be True?

"Imagine writing a book (grammatical changes in parenthesis): • About an (imaginary) ancient civilization. • There must be no research of any kind (because it is imaginary). • It must be 531 pages and more than 300,000 (269,320) words. • There must only be grammatical (3,913) changes to the first edition. • It must be written in the (pseudo) style of various authors. • (No unbiased) Archeological evidence supports it. • (Only) Intellectuals & scholars accept the truth of it (who are paid to). • You must finish writing it in 65 (working) days (over 2.5 years). • Volunteer missionaries witness the truth of it (with sales tactics and emotional manipulation)." How Can It Not Be True? The Book of Mormon (parenthesis added) Video from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | wasmormon.org

The church published a video on YouTube and other social media channels making seemingly outrageous and impossible-to-fake claims about the Book of Mormon with the conclusion “How can it not be true?” Here is the content of the video: Imagine writing a book: How can it not be true? This mirrors the famous Hugh Nibley …

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The Strange Hidden First Vision Account of 1832

"Joseph Smith evidently wrote his history on the first three leaves of the book in summer 1832." "These three leaves were later cut from the volume but have since been reattached." The 1832 First Vision Account is displayed with visible tape to reattach it back into the journal in the Joseph Smith Papers Project.

There are multiple accounts of Joseph Smith’s “first vision”. This is a fact and today the church admits it. The church wants to dismiss these different accounts though by claiming that they really aren’t different because they tell the same consistent story. The details are in fact very different though. The earliest version of this …

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Joseph Smith Confirms His Seer Stone Is Nonsense

"[Joseph Smith] told [me] his gift in seeing with a stone and hat... this 'peeping' was all damned nonsense." - Alva Hale, Emma's Brother, Joseph's Brother-in-law | wasmormon.org

Joseph was in trouble with the law for treasure digging with Josiah Stowell. It seems he was working out a pivot in his life and transitioning from treasure-digging to becoming a religious leader. As he learns that you can get into serious trouble taking people’s money and leading a treasure dig with a peep stone …

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Joseph Smith’s Peep Stone Translation Method Renders The Gold Plates Useless

"It implies it’s like darkening a room when we show slides. It implies that there is an image appearing in that stone and the light would make it more difficult to see that image. So, that implies a translation that’s a reading and so gives us a little clue about the whole translation process. But it also raises the strange question, ‘What in the world are the plates for? Why do we need them on the table if they are just wrapped up into a cloth while he looks into a seer stone?’" - Richard Bushman, Mormon Historian | wasmormon.org

If Joseph Smith used a rock (seer stone or peep stone) in his hat as the main translation process, as the church is slowly teaching today, how do we call it a translation? If he didn’t use the gold plates to produce the Book of Mormon, why did he even have them? Why were they …

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Church Historians Attempt Normalizing Strange Seer Stone In Hat Translation Method

"it sounds a little bit strange to then think of it as Joseph Smith looking at a stone in a hat" Mason Kamana Allred, volume editor at the Joseph Smith Papers Project | wasmormon.org

Mason Allred and Mark Ashurst-McGee discuss the various historical accounts of the Book of Mormon translation process, including accounts of Joseph Smith using a Seer Stone to translate the ancient record and accounts of Joseph Smith using the Urim and Thummim in a video posted on the “Church History/Latter-day Saint History” YouTube account, the official …

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Fanny Alger, Joseph Smith’s “dirty, nasty, filthy affair” Teen Bride

"A dirty, nasty, filthy affair of his and Fanny Alger's was talked over in which I strictly declared that I had never deserted from the truth in the matter, and as I supposed was admitted by himself." Oliver Cowdery regarding Joseph Smith and Fanny Alger

What Happened between Fanny Alger and Joseph Smith? As a young woman, Fanny Alger was a servant in Joseph Smith’s house. She lived with the family for a time while also serving as a maid. Joseph Smith and Fanny got very close. Multiple accounts exist of Emma Smith, Joseph’s wife catching Joseph celestializing (sexually involved) …

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Retrofitting Revelation For The Mormon Church Official Name

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - hyphenated and even though in all-caps, with a lower case 'd' in Latter-day.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints With all the hubbub about referring to the church by the proper name, as directed by church president Russell Nelson, let’s stop and look at what the church name is. Why does the official name of the church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) contain …

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What is the CES Letter? Is it True/Safe to Read?

CES Letter is one Latter-day Saint's honest quest to get official answers from the LDS Church on its troubling origins, history, and practices. Jeremy Runnells was offered an opportunity to discuss his own doubts with a director of the Church Educational System (CES) and was assured that his doubts could be resolved. After reading Jeremy's letter, the director promised him a response. No response ever came.

The CES Letter is a collection of questions, concerns, and doubts about the Mormon church’s truth claims addressed to a Church Education System Director from Jeremy Runnels. Learn about the background, the effects and rebuttals and some of the contents.

Canonized Lies About Charles Anthon

The Book of Mormon is purportedly “translated” from the gold plates which Joseph Smith discovered in the hill Cumorah. These writings of the gold plates were in “Reformed Egyptian”. At the time no Egyptian language was translatable, but Joseph could translate them with his seer stone in a hat. In order to prove that the …

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Murder Among the Mormons, Mark Hofmann fooling the Mormon Church

Mark W. Hofmann, left, and LDS Church leaders N. Eldon Tanner, Spencer W. Kimball, Marion G. Romney, Boyd K. Packer and Gordon B. Hinckley examine the "Anthon Transcript" on April 22, 1980.

The latest Mormon-related Netflix hit is live and trending. Murder among the Mormons discusses Mark Hofmann and his selling of forged historical documents. The documentary also covers Hofmann being guilty of making pipe bombs and using them to murder Steve Christensen and Kathy Sheets in 1985. Hofmann feels trapped by his own forgeries and is …

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