“The worst religious text I have ever read.”

[drumdude]

A never-Mo atheist decided to read the Book of Mormon from as neutral a place as you can expect. His glowing review?

“Like chewing flavorless gum for a month.”

As much as DCP loves to harp on the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, he has to crawl, stumble, and peer meekly over the giant boulder that is the non-Mormon apathy to this wet rag. Shakespeare it is not.

https://youtu.be/TDIBzFdEjkM

[Rivendale]

Since the banning of Gemili that place is a tombstone that not even Axil can revive. Of course John Pack pulls up his trousers and fills the void with .....I have never figured that out.

[Doctor Scratch]

16k+ views compared to barely over a hundred for Interpreter. I mean: where does one begin? If you are the Interpreter board, what is it that you talk about? Back in the good ol’ days, Bill Hamblin would show up to meetings wearing a Beavis T-shirt and the hardcore Mopologists would talk about how they were going to clobber such-and-such critic. What now, though? Do they just talk about DCP’s travels, and what he ate?

[Alphus and Omegus]

A never-Mo atheist decided to read the Book of Mormon from as neutral a place as you can expect. His glowing review?

“Like chewing flavorless gum for a month.”

As much as DCP loves to harp on the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, he has to crawl, stumble, and peer meekly over the giant boulder that is the non-Mormon apathy to this wet rag. Shakespeare it is not.

https://youtu.be/TDIBzFdEjkM

Apologists also are totally lying when they claim Smith had only a few months to write it. We have no idea how long he was doing it before he officially started, what he did immediately after the Martin Harris scandal, or whether he had source texts. The first edition reads like a backwoods Bible fan fiction.

[Gadianton]

I watched most of it. The Diet Coke part was funny. His criticisms are totally justifiable. Can anyone at Interpreter say that a first time reader is unjustified in making those observations? If the Interpreter people weren't already Mormon and encountering it for the first time, do they think they'd react much differently?

The part I found most interesting was near the end, when he mentioned all the really cool and intelligent Mormons he'd met, and how they fall over themselves to promote the Book of Mormon -- he just has to read it! There's a disconnect there. Why are they so optimistic about the outcome?

I have an explanation for this. It's not that any of those Mormons really spend so much time reading the book themselves or have a powerful connection to the book, and they probably haven't really thought through what the outcome will be getting an atheist YouTuber to read it.

I remember before my mission, I worked up the nerve to give a Book of Mormon to my supervisor at a temp job before I quit, and I bore witness of it and promised it would change his life. But did I really believe any of that? Not really. It's all about overcoming the challenge of testifying. The relief of going through with it, and now it's over. Even though at the time I think I was reading Nibley books, I certainly wasn't reading the Book of Mormon nightly or even ever. I read part of it for the BYU class, and prior to that, the only time I ever read it was every couple of years, mom and dad would decide we're going to read from it as a family, and so I'd literally suffer through that and read my five or six verses, sometimes even sarcastically and get in trouble. But those stretches of family reading might last 3 weeks at a time before fizzling, and a year or so later we try again. But, I surely believed it was my duty to tell other people about it, and testify of it, and so when it came to my mind that my boss was struggling, I knew it was the right thing to do. It was a lot of preparation for me to get the book (in Spanish) and then go over it a hundred times in my head how I was going to do this, and then to go through with it.

So this guy I gave the book to, who I lost touch with thereafter, is thinking, wow, this guy is totally into this book and believes in it so much and reads it constantly. Reality is that I had been conditioned my whole if to believe the most important thing a person can do is promote it; to tell people it will change their life, while never reading it myself, and having no examples of it changing anyone's life (outside of church movies).

[Moksha]

So it doesn't read like The Desiderata. Big deal. MG points out that clocks can be individually set for different times, seasons, and stories.

[MG 2.0]

I watched most of it. The Diet Coke part was funny. His criticisms are totally justifiable. Can anyone at Interpreter say that a first time reader is unjustified in making those observations? If the Interpreter people weren't already Mormon and encountering it for the first time, do they think they'd react much differently?

The part I found most interesting was near the end, when he mentioned all the really cool and intelligent Mormons he'd met, and how they fall over themselves to promote the Book of Mormon -- he just has to read it! There's a disconnect there. Why are they so optimistic about the outcome?

I have an explanation for this. It's not that any of those Mormons really spend so much time reading the book themselves or have a powerful connection to the book, and they probably haven't really thought through what the outcome will be getting an atheist YouTuber to read it.

I remember before my mission, I worked up the nerve to give a Book of Mormon to my supervisor at a temp job before I quit, and I bore witness of it and promised it would change his life. But did I really believe any of that? Not really. It's all about overcoming the challenge of testifying. The relief of going through with it, and now it's over. Even though at the time I think I was reading Nibley books, I certainly wasn't reading the Book of Mormon nightly or even ever. I read part of it for the BYU class, and prior to that, the only time I ever read it was every couple of years, mom and dad would decide we're going to read from it as a family, and so I'd literally suffer through that and read my five or six verses, sometimes even sarcastically and get in trouble. But those stretches of family reading might last 3 weeks at a time before fizzling, and a year or so later we try again. But, I surely believed it was my duty to tell other people about it, and testify of it, and so when it came to my mind that my boss was struggling, I knew it was the right thing to do. It was a lot of preparation for me to get the book (in Spanish) and then go over it a hundred times in my head how I was going to do this, and then to go through with it.

So this guy I gave the book to, who I lost touch with thereafter, is thinking, wow, this guy is totally into this book and believes in it so much and reads it constantly. Reality is that I had been conditioned my whole if to believe the most important thing a person can do is promote it; to tell people it will change their life, while never reading it myself, and having no examples of it changing anyone's life (outside of church movies).

I'm assuming that since then you've read it a few times?

Regards,
MG

[MG 2.0]

A never-Mo atheist decided to read the Book of Mormon from as neutral a place as you can expect. His glowing review?

“Like chewing flavorless gum for a month.”

As much as DCP loves to harp on the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, he has to crawl, stumble, and peer meekly over the giant boulder that is the non-Mormon apathy to this wet rag. Shakespeare it is not.

https://youtu.be/TDIBzFdEjkM

Apologists also are totally lying when they claim Smith had only a few months to write it.

You know this, how? References?

Regards,
MG

[Moksha]

I'm assuming that since then you've read it a few times?

Regards,
MG

Gadianton is a scholar. I could see him taking on reading challenges and being the first in his class to complete the assignment.

[drumdude]

Apologists also are totally lying when they claim Smith had only a few months to write it.

You know this, how? References?

Regards,
MG

1828 (April)- Joseph begins translating the Book of Lehi using a stone in his hat with Martin Harris as scribe; The same method he used for treasure digging (Compare JSH 1:62)

1828 (June)- Lucy Harris disposes of the first 116 pages of the Book of Mormon suggesting that if Joseph actually had golden plates and the “gift of translation” that he could easily re-translate the work

1828 (July)- Joseph receives revelation that gift of translation is taken away for a season

1828 (Sept)- Joseph resumes translation with Emma as scribe; No revelation or instruction from God to do so; He doesn't start again at the beginning of the Book of Mormon with the Book of Lehi; Skips 1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, Jacob Enos, Jarom, Omni and Words of Mormon; Continues where he left off chronologically at the end of the Book of Lehi, the beginning of Mosiah

1829 (April)- Joseph begins “rapid-fire” translation with Oliver Cowdery as scribe

1829 (May)- Joseph receives revelation not to re-translate Book of Lehi and to replace it with Books of Nephi; God tells Joseph that NOW his gift of translating is “restored”

1829 (June)- Book of Mormon translation completed (D&C 17); Monotheistic theology (Testimony of the 3 Witnesses, 2 Nephi 31:21, Mosiah 15:1-5; Mormon 9:12; Ether 3:14, Mormon 7:7, Text changed to “Son of God” in 1837: 1 Nephi 11:18, 21, 32, 13:40); No mention of First Vision, angelic priesthood restoration, plan of salvation, temple ordinances or other critical elements needed for salvation; Condemns polygamy (Jacob 1:15, 2:25, 2:27, Mosiah 11:2, Ether 10:5)

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/ ... asic?pli=1