Rough Stone Rolling - wasmormon.org

Richard Bushman, Mormon Historian, Concedes to CES Letter Truths on CES Letters Podcast

I think that may make some people nervous, that the church is trying to cover up the truth. How would you help them through something that might cause dissonance like that? “You just have to accept the fact that they didn't want to be made to look silly. Who wants to be made to look silly? So, if Joseph's associated with the wrong class of people, you do your best to make him look better. It wasn't a real lie. It was just subordinating, or retelling the story. Who doesn't retell the stories of their lives to make them look better?” - Richard Bushman, LDS Historian | Interview on CES Letters (Study & Faith) Podcast | wasmormon.org

Richard Bushman concedes to many points Jeremy Runnells brought up in the CES Letter in a discussion on the CES Letters podcast. CES Letters has no affiliation with the CES Letter, but is the latest attempt to debunk it. Richard Bushman is asked a series of questions stemming from the CES Letter, and responds to …

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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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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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Fred Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight

Fred lived as dedicated to the church as anyone could. He watched respected people leave the church and he was curious about why they left. So, he followed up with some research and collected issues onto his shelf, but he was able to reconcile them over time with his faith and would not deny the …

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Personal Mormon Faith Crisis Report – Faith Crisis Profiles

This faith crisis report next lists many anonymous faith crisis profiles each detailing the exit story of the member (along with precious statistics and demographics the church cares deeply about such as household income). Not to be confused with the actual faith crisis profiles shared on wasmormon.org.

Dominant Narrative of Church is Not True

For the Church to remain strong it has to reconstruct its narrative. The dominant narrative is not true; it can’t be sustained. - Richard Bushman, Mormon Historian & Stake President

Prominent LDS historian Richard Bushman and famed author of Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling notes, “I think that for the Church to remain strong, it has to reconstruct its narrative. The dominant narrative is not true; it can’t be sustained. The Church has to absorb all this new information or it will be on very shaky grounds …

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