http://www.pfo.org/bomchllg.htm Challenging the Book of Mormon, by Stephen F. Cannon
An interesting website which exposes the Book of Mormon as not only a fraud, but quite absurd, really. Here are some excerpts from it. The indented quotes come from a Mormon apologist's website on which a challenge is issued to anyone to prove that the Book of Mormon is not authentic.
Mormon Fraud
Because of the sustained program to legitimize this book and promulgate it as divine revelation and sacred history, we must expose its fraudulent nature, and broadcast that fact to the world!
It is really not all that difficult to prove Mr. Smith a fraud. That he copied from the KJV Bible is undeniable. That he made unjustified alterations to the verses he copied is also undeniable. That he copied from other sources available to him in his time and area is evidentially sound. Also, as I pointed out earlier, even though the BOM does contain Joseph Smith’s doctrine, the majority of that doctrine runs contrary to what the LDS church teaches and believes today.
"You must invite the ablest scholars and experts to examine the text with care, and you must strive diligently to see that your book gets into the hands of those eager to prove it a forgery, and who are most competent to expose every flaw in it."
And expose them they have; the erroneous history, the heavy borrowing from both biblical and non-biblical sources, the anachronisms, the important changes, the lack of archaeological confirmation, the lack of geographical confirmation, not to mention the fantastic narratives that have no basis in reality (that is, the gigantic battles, the impossible voyages etc.) proves it to be a very flawed volume.
As to the authentic nature of Joseph’s narration, again we have a major disconnect. Smith mentions that the Nephites had chariots seven times in the BOM, four times weapons and implements of steel are mentioned, and twice are mentioned elephants and two animals known as cureloms and cumoms.
I have found no evidence that the pre-Colombian inhabitants of this continent ever used wheeled conveyances of any kind, let alone two-wheeled vehicles. Also, “Iron working was unknown in the New World until the arrival of the Europeans.”19
Without a knowledge of iron working, there is no steel manufacturing, hence, no steel swords. While almost everyone knows what elephants are, and there is zero evidence that the pre-Colombian MesoAmericans knew what they were, let alone had any. Further, there is no one alive today who can identify a curelom or a cumom. The idea that any of this can stand up under scrutiny is absurd.
Because there is such a generous paper trail, excellent archaeological background, and competent scholarship, it is not difficult to expose the Book of Mormon for what it really is.
The only thing that perpetuates the book is the constant appeal to some supernatural experience that validates its truth claims in the face of reason and evidence to the contrary.
This inner feeling becomes the ultimate test of truth, not just of the BOM, but for all spiritual truth. Despite protestations to the contrary, in the final analysis, a subjective inner feeling becomes the ultimate arbiter of truth for LDS believers. This is faith to a Mormon believer. Unfortunately it is a blind leap or credulous faith. It is a faith that flies in the face of reason, that accepts a version of the truth in spite of all evidence rather than a biblical faith of accepting the truth because of good and sufficient reasons.
At this point, we must address the dilemma that has faced the LDS people from the beginning. Because the prophet and founder of their church placed so much initial importance25 on the Book of Mormon, and taught that it was divine revelation and sacred history, it is impossible to repudiate one and not the other. For this reason, these “thousands of great men” have had to suspend logic, and the laws of evidence, in order to “keep” the BOM so that they might “keep” the entirety of the LDS belief. This is why the inward “testimony” becomes so very important. When the laws of evidence and logic show that the BOM is a concoction of a rural 19th century New Englander, then one can always rely on the “burning in the bosom” that is supposed to be a manifestation of the Holy Ghost telling you that the Book of Mormon is true, and if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph was right, and if Joseph was right then he was a prophet, and if a prophet then the entire LDS fabric is sound.
Reference is here made to the three witnesses who testified to seeing the golden plates upon which was written the contents of the BOM, all under the auspices of an angel. Their testimony can be found in the front of the book. All three of the witnesses left the church, with Oliver Cowdery and David Witmer never returning. Martin Harris, however, did eventually come back to the fold, but was thereafter under a cloud. The claim of the LDS church is that none of the witnesses ever denied their testimony, although there seems to be some evidence to the contrary.
In the 26-volume collection of some of the early addresses of Mormon prophets known as Journal of Discourses, there is this enlightening statement,
“Some of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, who had handled the plates and conversed with the angels of God, were afterwards left to doubt and disbelieve that they had ever seen an angel” (see Vol. 7., pg. 164).
Next we are treated to a description of the Lord’s revelation for building “barges” to get Jared and his associates across the ocean. I offer the below description without comment. It is up to the reader to judge the absurdity of the narrative.
Ether 2:16-21 — “And the Lord said: Go to work and build, after the manner of barges which ye have hitherto built. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did go to work, and also his brethren, and built barges after the manner which they had built, according to the instructions of the Lord. And they were small, and they were light upon the water, even like unto the lightness of a fowl upon the water. And they were built after a manner that they were exceedingly tight, even that they would hold water like unto a dish; and the bottom thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the sides thereof were tight like unto a dish; and the ends thereof were peaked; and the top thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the length thereof was the length of a tree; and the door thereof, when it was shut, was tight like unto a dish. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, I have performed the work which thou hast commanded me, and I have made the barges according as thou hast directed me. And behold, O Lord, in them there is no light; whither shall we steer? And also we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which is in them; therefore we shall perish. And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: Behold, thou shalt make a hole in the top, and also in the bottom; and when thou shalt suffer for air thou shalt unstop the hole and receive air. And if it be so that the water come in upon thee, behold, ye shall stop the hole, that ye may not perish in the flood. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did so, according as the Lord had commanded.”
Next, I offer a couple of examples of the impossible. Close to the end of the book of Ether, we find ourselves in the New World. Again we find ourselves in what is to become upper New York State, near a hill that will one day be named Cumorah and once again we are witnesses to an epic battle. The descendants of Jared (led by King Coriantumr) are about to be annihilated by the armies of an evil king named Shiz. Coriantumr is wounded and carried away to recuperate. Here we pick up the story:
Ether 15:1-2 — “And it came to pass when Coriantumr had recovered of his wounds, he began to remember the words which Ether had spoken unto him. He saw that there had been slain by the sword already nearly two millions of his people, and he began to sorrow in his heart; yea, there had been slain two millions of mighty men, and also their wives and their children.”
Even if only half of the two million mighty men had only one wife and one child, that would put the casualty list at four million, and that doesn’t account for fatalities in Shiz’s army! This number matches about one half of all the military deaths of World War I.
And all without benefit of modern weapons or a war of many years duration! Unbelievable!