Mormons and Mormonism

I love Mormons.  I’m alarmed and bewildered by Mormonism.  With the burgeoning cohort of on-line and in-print “Ex-Mo” expositions, how can intelligent, ethically and morally principled folks remain snared by Joseph Smith Jr.’s bogus “Religion”?

Methodical examination of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints extends back three-quarters of a century.  No Man Knows My History earned author and historian Fawn M. Brodie’s excommunication.  More recently, Grant H. Palmer’s An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins and Jeremy Runnell’s CES Letter explore and expose myriad fallacies in LDS history and doctrine.  Given the current flood of internet and print exposé, why revisit it?   

To spread the word!  For two centuries, generation after generation, day after day, LDS History and Doctrine have poured like concrete into trusting minds.  Relentless hammering with contravening truths causes cracks and leaks in the dogmatic dam.

Following are selected, perhaps easily overlooked, facts refuting The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints’ validity.

• Smith’s Book of Abraham and other Egyptian “translations” are universally recognized as bogus.  Hence, throwing Divine Inspiration or Guidance behind all of Joseph Smith Jr.s’ writing out the window.
• Joseph claims the Book of Mormon was written in “reformed Egyptian.”  As I understand, the Lamanite’s and Nephite’s lineage went to Lehi, a Jew whose language and culture extend back millennia.  How did Western Hemisphere BOM writers dump Hebrew for a language no linguist ever heard of?
• The Book of Mormon’s book, chapter, verse format is identical to Joseph Smith Jr.’s King James Bible, published a millennia after the BOM!
• In An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins, Grant H. Palmer cites ten instance were The Book of Mormon’s wording is identical or an obvious paraphrasing of the Bible’s.
• In “Swords and Spears” I write, “The Book of Mormon mentions ‘sword’ 157 times; ‘brass,’ ‘iron,’ ‘copper, even ‘steel’ 68 times. But no metal implement–of war or otherwise–predating Columbus has ever been unearthed in the Western Hemisphere, not one rusty pin! “  
• In the BOM “money” occurs fourteen times.  Think about it!  Creation and management of money demands the operation and coordination of a robust central government and all it entails.   
• In the Western Hemisphere predating Columbus, no evidence of the wheel exists.  If I were Father Lehi, after dragging my steamer trunk up the beach, I’d say, “We need a wagon, a wheelbarrow.  We need wheels!”
• And on and on  .  .  . 

Hopefully, the expanding Ex-Mo movement will continue tweaking the curiosity and educating thoughtful LDS members.