When my faith was struggling about a decade ago, one of the things that helped me most was discovering the growing body of evidence for the Book of Mormon and for the people who lived on this land during Book of Mormon times.
I already had a spiritual testimony of the Book of Mormon from personal revelation—feeling the Spirit again and again while reading, studying, and sharing it with you, with our children, in our ward, and as a missionary—but there were still moments of doubt, and moments where I just couldn’t fully feel the spirit of the words of those prophets because of those doubts.
Seeing the physical evidence including ancient mounds, fortifications, and artifacts that date to Book of Mormon times, seeing the ancient Hebrew poetry and old world writing styles that Joseph Smith could not have known strenthen my faith. And we have faith in the scriptures as we read them it opens our minds and hearts to revelation through the spirit.
I believe the Book of Mormon is a real record of people who lived on this land thousands of years ago.They were real men and women who worshipped God, faced trials, built families, and lived their faith just as we strive to do today.
Physical evidence may not change hearts or actions, but it can confirm faith and provide assurance.
In this category I will share evidence of the truth of the Book of Mormon as an authentic book of scripture that was written by real people and translated through Joseph Smith by the gift and power of God.
Almost immediately after the Church was organized in the spring of 1830, Joseph began his “Bible Translation.” Like the Book of Mormon translation, this was not a translation in the typical sense we think of today. Joseph did not know ancient Hebrew, Greek, or Latin, and he likely did not even have any physical manuscripts … Read more
Royal Skousen was a professor of linguistics and English at Brigham Young University and the longtime editor of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. He spent decades examining the original manuscript and the printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon, working directly from the earliest surviving textual evidence rather than later recollections or theological assumptions. … Read more
I listened to this Stick of Joseph podcast this morning where a group broke down the statistical probability that Joseph Smith could have “written the Book of Mormon.” When you actually look at the data, the naturalistic explanation collapses. Joseph was a 24-year-old subsistence farmer with a second-grade education, no literary training, and not a … Read more
My freshman year at Ricks College was awesome. I had so much fun and grew so much. Living away from home in an environment like that was such a great experience for someone on their own for the first time. All my roommates and friends in the ward were either people who had just returned … Read more
The miraculous translation of the Book of Mormon is one of the greatest evidences of its authenticity and divine origin. That an unlearned young man who struggled to write a coherent letter could dictate a complex, 500-plus-page volume in sixty-five working days is astounding. He did this while newly married, maintaining a household, working to … Read more