anyone interested in the origins of the Book of Mormon

[_Jersey Girl]

Hi Jersey Girl,

There is No evidence that Sidney Rigdon was a participant in the bringing forth of the Book of Moses. Please Check out and See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Moses
http://scriptures.LDS.org/en/pgp/introduction
http://www.lightplanet.com/Mormons/basi ... moses.html
http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no78.ht ... AT%20PRICE
http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no78.ht ... R%20JOSEPH

Sidney Rigdon was though a participant in helping bringing forth a few of the Sections within the Doctrine and Covenants.

Brackite,

MormonWiki disagrees...

http://www.mormonwiki.com/Mormonism/Sidney_Rigdon

"Almost immediately after joining the Church, Rigdon left for New York in order to meet Joseph Smith. He soon began work as a scribe for Joseph Smith for the translation of the Bible and for parts of the Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price."

Jersey Girl

[_Brackite]

Thanks Jersey Girl!

[_The Dude]

...ought to be keeping an eye out for uncle dale's latest threads on the aptly named MAD board. They're doozies. I think he's been saving them up.

That man needs to get his arse in gear and get a book published instead of spending time on MAD, frankly. I'd be the first in line to buy it.

And I would be right behind you, Beastie.

The basis of Uncle Dale's threads for the last week or so have been a response to Richard Bushman's biography, which glossed over the Sidney Rigdon/Cambellite link as breezily as our friend Brackite. Uncle Dale is using this as a platform to lay out a number of hints and clues that point towards this connection. I, for one, have long been mystified that Joseph Smith could have come up with the Book of Mormon all on his own, and maybe even off the top of his head (i.e. automatic writing... a pseudo-theory, if you ask me). I don't like conspiracy theories, but I like them more than angels and golden bibles (another pseudo-theory that explains exactly nothing). One way or another, the Book of Mormon is a production of 19th century minds.

Here are the threads to look at, even if you only read Dale's opening posts. Presumably this will someday be a whopper of a book review, and hopefully Bushman will have the balls (or the humility) to account for his discrepancies.

An Alternative Look At Bushman's Joseph Smith Bio, let The Unk know where you see mistakes

Bushman Reconsidered -- Reconsidered, d'Unk's call for corrections grows louder

Honest Scholarship, Or Mormon Mythology?, The Bushman book review continues...

Mormon Mistakes - Spalding's Manuscript Not-found, now we finally get to some of the meat, folks

Mormons Wrong: What Fairchild Really Concluded, cheer up friends, only two more to go after this one

Mormonism's 600 Pound Gorilla, just one more to follow - I promise - cross my heart

As a bonus, you will notice a number of lovely responses from Charity. ;)

[_The Dude]

Oh crap, none of those links work. Is MAD still playing those lame games, or did I do something wrong.

Well, if you are really interested and you have access, you can find them I guess.

[_Jersey Girl]

Oh crap, none of those links work. Is MAD still playing those lame games, or did I do something wrong.

Well, if you are really interested and you have access, you can find them I guess.

No you didn't do anything wrong and yes, the lame games continue.

Jersey Girl

[_Jersey Girl]

Thanks Jersey Girl!

Brackite,

I believe that is also covered in Joseph Smith: Rough Rolling Stone by Richard L. Bushman.

Jersey Girl

[_truth dancer]

I haven't visited FAIR/MAD for some time so will have to go read up. I do recall Uncle Dale giving some hints that there would be some pretty cool information coming! I guess it is here! :-)

The guy certainly knows his stuff! I mean he seriously knows his stuff!

~dancer~

[_harmony]

I haven't visited FAIR/MAD for some time so will have to go read up. I do recall Uncle Dale giving some hints that there would be some pretty cool information coming! I guess it is here! :-)

The guy certainly knows his stuff! I mean he seriously knows his stuff!

~dancer~

He's spent a lifetime studying it.

[_Jason Bourne]

I'll read Wade's article tomorrow.

There are a couple of points I find compelling - one is that Rigdon denied knowing a thing about the Book of Mormon before his conversion, and that is a pretty obvious lie. (I'll try to find my references on that tomorrow).

Also, it seems to me that once Smith firmly took the leadership of the new church and Rigdon's influence diminished, he began to expand into theology that is not only outside the Book of Mormon, but sometimes even contradictory to it.

While there may not be (yet) a "smoking gun" showing Rigdon and Smith working together, certainly the physical and relationship connections make it quite feasible.

Von Wagner notes in his Rigdon BIO that Sidney did here of the Book of Mormon through various news reports before his conversion, but that seems rather limited. Interestingly Van Wagner does not make the Spalding/Rigdon connection at all and even dismissed it. He has a chapter on this in the book.

As for Rigdon's influence Van Wagner thinks that Sidney had a major influence on Joseph and the Church doctrine from the law of consecration, the New Jerusalem, High Priests and two priesthoods, Theology at least to 1835 and the Lectures on Faith and so on. He seemed to fall into disfavor in the late 1830's and early 1840's.

[_Jason Bourne]

Hi Beastie,

To be honest here, I pretty much find Uncle Dale's Posts over there about the origins of the Book of Mormon kind of boring. in my opinion, There is not too much evidence evidence linking Sidney Rigdon with the origins of the Book of Mormon. I don't find there being hardly any evidence that Sidney Rigdon knew Joseph Smith before the Year of 1830. Here is a link to an Article that our friend Wade here, wrote a while ago: http://www.scn.org/~bp760/visit.htm

What do you say to those who acknowledge a fairly length of time when the whereabouts of Joseph Smith are unaccounted for? I'm just curious if you don't think that Joseph Smith and Rigdon's path's could have crossed during that time period.

Jersey Girl

What lengthy time where the whereabouts fo Joseph Smith are unaccounted for? Examples please.