In this category I strive to provide factual responses to the arguments used that challenge doctrines and teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made in the letters. I look at the claims being made, explain the motive behind them, where those arguments fall short, and provides context that helps remove confusion for me. The purpose of this category is to support honest seekers looking to rebuild faith by working through doubts with a different perspective of what is really going on.
The Rosetta Stone chapter in A Letter For My Wife feels an impressive piece of evidence. Showing a real artifact that was instrumental in understanding Egyptian. It’s something most people recognize, so it provides some assumed authority. Faulk uses it to imply that modern Egyptology settled the Book of Abraham question long ago because of … Read more
Facsimile 1 is the only portion of the Egyptian materials Joseph Smith received in 1835 for which any physical fragments still survive today. The mummies, the long scroll, the small scroll, and other papyri described by eyewitnesses in Nauvoo were either destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 or lost sometime afterward. What remains … Read more
The reality is that we know very little with certainty about what the facsimiles in the Book of Abraham originally were or why they were considered significant in the ancient world. While scholars can identify the general type of Egyptian artwork they resemble, there is far more uncertainty surrounding who originally used them, how they … Read more
The Book of Abraham is often discussed in terms of controversy. The papyrus Joseph Smith used during the translation was lost for more than a century. When a portion of that papyrus later resurfaced, it appeared at a time when scholars had a far better understanding of the Egyptian language. Modern scholars give a different … Read more
The GAEL (Grammar and Egyptian Alphabet) project found in the Kirtland Egyptian Papers are a collection of documents created between July and November 1835 that are closely connected to the early work surrounding the Book of Abraham. They include documents titled, The Egyptian Alphabet, the Egyptian Grammar, and the Egyptian Counting document, along with several … Read more
The Book of Abraham is a short book of scripture translated by Joseph Smith in 1835. The text presents itself as an ancient record connected to Abraham, containing teachings about covenant, priesthood, premortal existence, creation, and God’s relationship with humanity. It now appears in the Pearl of Great Price. Joseph Smith stated that the papyri … Read more
Critics of the Church cannot explain how the Book of Mormon came to be, how Joseph Smith produced inspired scripture, and that fact frustrates them. Because they cannot account for its existence on its own terms, they are always searching for an alternative explanation. The underlying assumption never changes. Surely Joseph Smith was not capable … Read more
I write this letter to my friend, Nancy Rigdon, in hopes that it may help to bring her peace and happiness during her struggles trying to find truth. Nancy Rigdon is the fictitious X-handle of a person I don’t really know. Just someone I have had brief conversations with about trying to understand Joseph Smith’s … Read more
Critics of the Church argue that because Joseph Smith practiced plural marriage, he could not have been a prophet. That conclusion depends on modern assumptions about what “marriage” is and how it works. The Assumptions Behind the Criticism Assumption 1: Polygamy Is Never Ordained of God This assumption starts by deciding in advance that polygamy … Read more
The Kinderhook plates are a small un-noteworthy blip in the story of Joseph Smith’s very complex and full life. Because they have nothing to do with revelation, there is no doctrine that comes from them and no real benefit to studying them. There is simply no reason for them to ever come up in normal … Read more