Ok, I am going to share a bit about my journey out of Mormonism, prompted by a comment yesterday from Shematwater.
I have always been interested in History and growing up Mormon, history is a big part of church teachings. As I got on my mission, I faced many questions that revolved around the Church’s history. I began intensive study of the history of the church, especially regarding the practice of polygamy as most of the questions I faced revolved around the practice. Having training as a historian, I learned one of the most important jobs of a historian, to evaluate your sources. Being a missionary and being limited to sources available to missionaries, I found my research questions seemed to generate more questions and not arrive at any answers.
Growing up in Utah, doing genealogy, you quickly learn how prevalent the practice of polygamy was. Most of the official church sources, however, try to downplay how important polygamy was to Mormon religious practice, putting forth figures as low as 3% according to some Mormon-published sources. Most other sources (both Mormon and non-Mormon) put the figure at around 33% that entered into the practice (and according to Lowell Bennion from the University of Utah, some settlements like St. George had as many as half the population enter into the practice). Even those who themselves didn’t enter into polygamist marriages were connected to the practice, most through family connections to someone who was. This was one of the first indications to me that what the Church said about its history was not what really happened.
As I returned home, I continued my education in History. As I learned of incidents like the Mountain Meadows Massacre, it quickly became evident that the Church was hardly forthcoming in dealing with their history. At this time, I was also exposed to the work of B. H. Roberts. Roberts is interesting because he was a General Authority, so he had no axe to grind with Mormonism, unlike sources like John C. Bennett. Roberts basically concluded in his work about the Book of Mormon that more or less, Joseph Smith plagiarized large portions of the Book of Mormon text. Reading Robert’s conclusion, I was struck when he said that the truth of the Church stood or fell on the claim of Joseph Smith that the Book of Mormon was a history of people of ancient America that he received on gold plates.
I have always been interested in Mesoamerican civilization, particularly the Maya. Many, if not most Mormons, believe that the civilizations of Mesoamerica were the same civilizations as those described in the Book of Mormon. First, according to the Book of Mormon, the Nephite/Lamanite group arrived in the New World. Looking at the civilization described in the Book of Mormon and comparing that to any civilization in the New World proves that Joseph Smith either made it all up, based on others’ work, or that some way, some how, God managed to hide all traces of an ancient civilization numbering in the millions. Now, I am not going to go through all the traits of a civilization as described in the Book of Mormon that do not exist, but I will describe some of the most glaring. First, the absence of iron metallurgy. Mormon apologists have argued that iron deteriorate and that’s why no Nephite swords have been found. First, according to the Book of Mormon, the Nephite civilization was roughly analogous to the Romans (600 BC to 400 AD). Roman iron implements still exist. We have Roman swords, armor, coins, nails, etc. Even then, it is still plausible that these iron implements could be gone. What archaeologists really look for in dealing with iron metallurgy is evidence of first iron mining. Mine tailings don’t erode. Evidence of mining for iron ore will exist for thousands of years. Also, the in the smelting process, the byproducts, or slag are left behind. Slag does not erode. Based on the chemical composition of the slag, archaeologists can tell the components of the metal that was smelted. The only evidence of pre-Columbian iron metallurgy in the New World exists at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, a site conclusively liked to Vikings. So either God hid all evidence of iron metallurgy in the New World, or it never existed. If it never existed then either God somehow caused Joseph Smith to mistranslate the Book of Mormon or it never existed and Joseph Smith made it all up. What’s the simplest explanation?
Looking at the Book of Mormon, the culture described has little resemblance to anything in Mesoamerica at the time described. Especially with the decryption of the Mayan written language, we now understand much more about Mayan civilization. Little, if anything, fits the descriptions of the Book of Mormon. It’s just not there and never was.
So by B.H. Roberts’ own admission the Church stands and falls on Joseph Smith’s translation. I will not even get into the story of the Book of Abraham, but again, more proof that Joseph Smith made it up as he went along. These things, after much study, pray, and pain was at the root of why I no longer believe in Mormonism. I just could not ignore these glaring errors that formed the basis of faith. I could not perform the mental gymnastics required to keep smiling while I knew it was all bullshit.
