Book of mormonauthorship theoriesoverview fairmormon. Though many scientists have disproven this theory, many conspiracy theorists believe that aircraft trails are. Blumell, senior historical associate, church historical department historically, the most popular anti mormon or non mormon explanation of the origin of the book of mormon has been that it was based on a manuscript written by solomon spaulding. Additionally, author jack monnet has written several books and articles placing modern conspiracy theories squarely within an lds context. Some claim that sidney rigdon authored the book of mormon, and conspired with joseph smith well ahead of time to compose it and start a religion. Reason, logic, insanity and mormon intellectualism. These accusations stem from a misunderstanding of the churchs history and of revelations received by the prophets of the book of mormon and of the church. Who really wrote the book of mormon the critics and. Naturalistic explanations of the origin of the book of. The nonbelievers guide to the book of mormon audiobook. Secret combinations, suspense, mystery and intrigue behind the zion curtain. Both the book of mormon and modern prophets have affirmed the reality of secret combinations.
Are there conspiracy theories about the lds church. The evidence for ancient origins, edited by noel b. An overzealous individual trying to expand his version of missionary work had an assistant, even the brother of joseph smith, and the two succeeded despite numerous. No evidence to support conspiracy theory politifact. Covid19 the pandemic sweeping the globe was deliberately started by the church of jesus christ of latterday saints the mormons to. One of the conspiracy theories that gained traction after the solomon. Spaldingrigdon theory of book of mormon authorship wikipedia. The mormon history conspiracy rational faiths mormon blog. If you know of conspiracy theories in mormonism not mentioned here, please add them in the text box at the bottom of this page. I recently went to the new church history library, found a printed version of the talk, scanned it and made a transcript which is now published on.
Spaldingrigdon theory proves the book of mormon is false. Passionateformerly moderatenow liberal mormon but the liberal deviseth liberal things. The mormon leader joseph smith, the founder of mormonism, declared his book of mormon to be the most correct of any book on earth. The book of mormon records the visit of jesus christ to people in the americas following his resurrection. The mormon conspiracy is a very comprehensive volume. Previously it has only been available online as an mp3 audio recording.
Of course, the explanatory power and logical consistency of conspiracy theories can be very seductive. Strange mormon ufo alien stories the millennial star. In 1991, john sorenson of byu, the dean of book of mormon geography, created a book called the geography of. Mormons and extreme conservatismconspiracy theorists. Ok so ive mentioned this before in a post, but due to my work i get to listen in on a lot of phone calls from all over the country. In spite of its weaknesses, this theory continues to surface from time to time even in our day. One of the conspiracy theories that gained traction in the early years of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints was the spaldingrigdon. Unconventional book of mormon geography theories mormon. The mormon conspiracy is a very comprehensive volume dealing with issues that most others, who have written about the mormon church. I visited with matt brown and heard that he did an incredible powerpoint presentation and i simply pray for the spirit of the lord so ill have the power behind the powerpoint.
Would you respond to the theories that the book of mormon is based on the spaulding manuscript or on ethan smiths view of the hebrews. Top 10 embarrassments of the mormon religion listverse. Fabricating war, a mormon conspiracy theory war makes money war profiteering has an old history, it goes way back, so far back that i think youd struggle to find the first war profiteer. When i first encountered the book of mormon, i assumed it was a hoax.
And no good conspiracy theory is complete without the illuminati. A fascinated nonbeliever, steinberg spent a year and a half on a personal quest, traveling the path laid out by josephs epic. That said, we can recognize chestertons description of insanity in the logic of conspiracy theories. Critical theories that sidney rigdon was a book of mormon author or coconspirator summary. Not sure what the whole thing is about, but making things up about the purely imaginary interplanetary conspiracy theories doesnt seem unethical. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. This dazzling book makes a significant contribution to mormon studies, as well as to american religious and political history by explaining for the first time the reconciliation of the mormon church and the broader political culture in the early twentieth century. For almost 200 years now, critics have been scrambling to prove that the book of mormon is nothing but a work of fiction. I have seen the acts of conspiring men and women myself. Other informative books about mormons and the lds mormon conspiracy the keystone of mormonism by arza evans click on the mormon book to buy it at summary. With the advent of the internet, however, more and more mormons are finding these troubling facts and facing a faith crisis. But there is one that i heard firsthand when i was a missionary. The spaldingrigdon theory of book of mormon authorship is the theory that the book of mormon was plagiarized in part from an unpublished manuscript written by solomon spalding.
The book of mormon warns america, was given by elder ezra taft benson on may 21, 1968, to the byu student body. The book of mormon is a religious record of three groups of people who migrated from the old world to the american continents. Book of mormonauthorship theoriesspalding manuscript. A limited geography model for the book of mormon is one of several theories by latter day saint movement scholars that the books narrative was a historical record of people in a limited geographical region, rather than of the entire western hemisphere as believed by some early latter day saints. A faithful yet unique perspective from members of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints. The most preposterous of stories starts with kolob that so many nonmormon and some mormon jokes come from. Would you respond to the theories that the book of mormon is based.
Mormon is allegedly a prophethistorian who was the native american believed by mormons to have written the book of mormon the main religious text of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints mormonism. Since the book of mormon was first published, many have been unwilling to accept joseph smiths account of how it was produced. The spaldingrigdon theory of book of mormon authorship is the theory that the book of mormon was plagiarized in part from an unpublished manuscript. This article describes the origin of the myth that the book of mormon events occurred in south america. Critics have explored a number of issues, including 1 whether joseph smith actually had golden plates, or whether the. There is a small group of critics who hold to the theory that the production of the book of mormon was a conspiracy involving sidney rigdon, joseph smith, oliver cowdery and others.
Exmormon behindcurtain wrote in 20 that mormons were obviously illuminati because the illuminati supposedly has a hold of the cia, and mormons are in the cia. Its much scarier to understand that a confluence of myriads of factors can cause disaster. And along this line i would highly recommend to you the book none dare call it conspiracy by gary allen. Glenn beck, cleon skousen, secret combinations, and conspiracy theories. Most outlandish mormon conspiracy theories umormonnomore93065 posted about a seminary teacher claiming the ark of the covenant was in the salt lake temple, and that got me wondering what other outlandish conspiracy theories get spread around the church on top of the doctrines. Some claim that joseph smith either plagiarized or relied upon a manuscript by solomon spaulding to write the book of mormon. Mormon conspiracy mormonism, the mormon church, beliefs. I just had a call and the person was very obviously mormon its a utah based company so there are a lot of mormons on calls. One of the earliest theories of book of mormon authorship was that joseph plagiarized the unpublished manuscript of a novel written by the reverend solomon spalding. The book of mormon warns america, are you listening. If youre going to go for conspiracy theories, i guess youve got to start at the top. Chestertons book orthodoxy, wherein he describes the logic of insanity, to be a particularly powerful in describing the kind of logic typical of conspiracy theories.
One of the conspiracy theories that gained traction in the early years of. This paper will examine how the book of mormon and its repudiation of secret combinations influences modern lds political thought generally, as well the specific adoption of a conspiratorial worldview. The theory first appeared in print in the book mormonism unvailed, published in 1834 by e. Fabricating war, a mormon conspiracy theory the church. Beck, like skousen before him, is trying to identify secret combinations like those chronicled in the book of mormon. Meldrum frequently relies on paranoia or conspiracy theories to explain why his model has not been accepted. There have been some who have accused the mormon church, formally known as the church of jesus christ of latterday saints, of conspiring to take over the government of the united states of america. Mormonism is a religion less than two centuries old, but in this short time it has managed to accrue a long list of embarrassments which the church leaders would prefer were kept.
The story of how it came about is rather fantastic, after all, and the simplest explanation is that the book was a deliberate deception. Consider, for example, one of the longestlasting and most pervasive conspiracies of. For generations, the lds church has engaged in a wellorchestrated conspiracy to suppress troubling aspects of its history. The book includes three egyptianlooking illustrations done by reuben hedlock, a professional engraver who copied them from the actual papyri. The book of abraham, with its illustrations, is now included in the pearl of great price, one of the mormon churchs five books of scripture. Conspiracy theory a conspiracy theory materializes when one observes the controlling practices of the mormon church, also known as the church of latterday saints. Most of them ive heard third hand so its hard to know if they are actually believed by anyone. Summary of problems with rod meldrums heartland theory. Since there is no proof of anything of the sort he has been reduced to groping about for any little perceived evidence that crosses his consciousness. Conspiracy theories that combine religion and politics date far back in history. This conspiracy theory is documented in the book the mormon conspiracy which shows how the latterday saints church lds is organized to restrict individual freedoms, individual thought, independence and democracy. Today the book of mormon, one of the most widely circulating works of american literature, continues to cause controversy which is why most of us know very little about the story it tells. O n this episode of those conspiracy guys we dive deep into the history of one of the most popular religions in the us that is widely spreading around the world and came from the mind of one man with his face in a big hat, joseph smith and the history of the mormons.
Ex mormon behindcurtain wrote in 20 that mormons were obviously illuminati because the illuminati supposedly has a hold of the cia, and mormons are in the cia. An expert on jfk conspiracy theories, jim marrs is a bestselling author, former journalist and police reporter, and one of the most prominent researchers in the genre of conspiracy theory. The five most hilarious antimormon conspiracy theories. Let me mention briefly that there are real conspiracies. Another more recent theory, also open to criticism, suggests that joseph smith used ethan smiths no relation view of the hebrews, which was published during.
A strident letter mailed to voters in late december 2007 attacked mitt romney and the mormon faith, also known as the church of jesus christ of. The christian conspiracies that keep evangelicals on trump. There is no conspiracy theory in the book of mormon it is a conspiracy fact. King cyrus lived more than five hundred years before christ and figured in prophecies of the old testament mentioned in 2 chronicles and the book of ezra, and. Its been over a year since someone posted something on book of mormon geography, so i think its about time. Spaldingrigdon theory of book of mormon authorship. Most of you believe that the book of mormon occurred in central america, right. A conspiracy theory, which holds that joseph smith had the help of someone like sidney rigdon in creating the book as a conscious fraud, probably borrowing from some other source, such as the spalding manuscript. The top 40 conspiracy theorists a complete list exemplore. For many, worse than discovering these difficult truths is wrestling with the fact their church has.
Would you respond to the theories that the book of mormon. This includes attacks on byu, lds scholars, lds who offer a different model, the national science foundation, the national association of science, the american association for the advancement of science, dna researchers on mutation rates and dating haplotype x2a, elder james e. Like the great and abominable church of book of mormon prophecy, the secret combinations of the last days are archetypal. The mormon lds church conspiracy to rule the us government and the world is generally unknown by most americans. These groups were led by prophets who recorded their religious and secular histories on metal plates.
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