The Book of Mormon couldn't have been written without the help of God.

Reasons to agree: +3

1. It is hard to produce a totally unique, consistent story with solid spiritual beliefs that inspire people.
2. The Book of Mormon is very helpful to millions of people.
3. The Book of Mormon is relevant today. -1
4. The fact that there are many similarities between modern gangs and the Gadianton Robbers contributes to the belief that the Book of Mormon is relevant today.

Reasons to agree: -2

1. Most of the relevant parts in the BOM are copied from the Bible
2. Most of the war stories in the BOM have very limited application to modern-day life.

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +4

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: -1

Total: 3

Reasons to disagree: -2

1. Smith had lots of help on the BOM. First from his wife. Then Oliver Cowdry 
2. The BOM is not a totally unique story +13
1. Reasons to agree: +1
1. There are many similarities between the BOM and View of the Hebrews by Ethan Smith: +13
1. Reasons to agree: +12


1. both have extensive quotations from the prophecies of Isaiah in the Old Testament; 


2. Both have the Israelite origin of the American Indian; 


3. Both have the future gathering of Israel and restoration of the Ten Lost Tribes; 


4. Both have the peopling of the New World from the Old via a long journey northward, which encountered "seas" of "many waters;" 


5. Both have a religious motive for the migration; 


6. Both have the division of the migrants into civilized and uncivilized groups with long wars between them and the eventual 


7. Both have destruction of the civilized by the uncivilized; 


8. Both have the assumption that all native peoples were descended from Israelites and their languages from Hebrew; 


9. Both have the burial of a "lost book" with "yellow leaves;" 


10. Both have the description of extensive military fortifications with military observatories or "watch towers" overlooking them; 


11. Both have a change from monarchy to republican forms of government, and 


12. Both have the preaching of the gospel in ancient America.




2. Website that agree: +1




1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_Book_of_Mormon

Score:

# of reasons to disagree: +2
# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 1 + 12 + 1 = 14
Total: 16

Total Idea Score: 2 - 16 = -14

Anachronisms:

• DNA analysis proves that Native Americans are not descendants of Israel, like the Book of Mormon and LDS Prophets have taught. +7
• The Book of Mormon mentions several animals, plants, and technologies for which there is no evidence in pre-Columbian history. +7
• God wouldn’t have changed native American DNA as a way to test our faith with designed implausibility. +5
  
  

Value of Concepts in the Book:

• There are lots of good concepts in the Book of Mormon. +3
  
  
• There are lots of bad concepts in the Book of Mormon. +3
• The Book of Mormon is racist. +0
• There are fewer deep life improving concepts in the book of Mormon, and more damaging concepts, than the average book of similar length. +3

Origins

• Joseph Smith did not translate the Book of Mormon from ancient scriptures with assistance from God.  +15
• There are a lot of good explanations for how the book of Mormon was written that don’t involve God. +15
• There are too many historical problems with the book of Mormon to say that it is true or inspired. +12
• The Book of Mormon borrows too much from the Bible. +6
• Joseph Smith did not translate the Book of Mormon from ancient scriptures with assistance from God.

Testimony

• There are a lot of good explanations for how the book of Mormon was written that don’t involve God. +15
• There are so many problems with the Book of Mormon that you should doubt spiritual feeling you think you have when reading it.

• The LDS church lies about Joseph Smith

The LDS church lies about Joseph Smith

Reasons to agree: +2

1. My mission president told us that Joseph Smith never consummated any of his marriages to any of his wives but Emma. However, I've heard that, when the re-organized church was saying he never practiced Polygamy, Brigham Young got sworn affidavits from women in Utah, that he consummated their relationship  That they were married in every sense of the word. 


2. Not telling all the truth, and letting people make up their own minds is a form of lying. If the church really wanted to be 100% honest, like the 10 commandments teach, they should frankley admit Joseph Smiths mistakes.

Reasons to disagree: -0

1.  

Score:

# of reasons to agree: 2

# of reasons to disagree: -0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to disagree: -0

Total Idea Score: 0

Website that agree: +2

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Joseph_Smith's_wives. I grew up in the church in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. I never knew any of this stuff.


2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_Latter_Day_Saint_polygamy

Websites that disagree: -2

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change

Joseph Smith said that Emma was an elect Lady, while Brigham Young said she would be damned to Hell

Reasons to agree

1. D&C 25 says: "Behold, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou art an elect lady, whom I have called".


2. "Emma took that revelation (on polygamy).... she went to the fireplace, and put it in, and put the candle under it and burnt it , and the thought that was the end of it, and she will be damned as sure as she is a living woman." Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol 17, p 159

Reasons to disagree

1.  

Images That agree

Images That disagree

1. 
   

Scriptures that agree

1. 
   
   

Scriptures that disagree

1.  

Interest of those who agree: +

Interest of those who disagree: -

Common Interest:

Opposing Interest:

Videos That agree

1.  

Videos That disagree

1.  

Website that agree

1. 
   
   

Websites that disagree

1. 
   
   

Score:

# of reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree: -0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree with reasons to agree: 0

Total Idea Score: 0

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change

The contradictions in Joseph Smith's stories should lead us to question the truthfulness of the Church

Reasons to agree

1. 
   
   

Reasons to disagree

1.  Contradictions are the fault of Joseph Smith's scribes

Scriptures that agree

1. 
   
   

Scriptures that disagree

1.  

Interest of those who agree

1. 
   
   

Interest of those who disagree

1.  

Common Interest

1. 
   
   

Opposing Interest

1.  

Videos That agree

1. 
   
   

Images That agree

1. 

Website that agree

1. 
   
   

Websites that disagree

1. 
   
   

http://www.mormonthink.com/nephiweb.htm

Score:

# of reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree: -0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree with reasons to agree: 0

Total Idea Score: 0

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change

Joseph Smith written explanations of the 1st visions contain significant contradiction

Reasons to agree

1. The fact that the different versions of the vision include different visitations indicates that the story is not true.


2. The 1832 version of the story says that only one personage, Jesus Christ, appeared to him.


3. The 1838 version of the story says that God and Jesus Christ appeared to him.

Reasons to disagree

1.  

Scriptures that agree

1. 
   
   

Scriptures that disagree

1.  

Interest of those who agree

1. 
   
   

Interest of those who disagree

1.  

Common Interest

1. 
   
   

Opposing Interest

1.  

Videos That agree

1. 
   
   

Images That agree

1. 

Images that disagree:

1. 
   
   

Score:

# of reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree: -0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree with reasons to agree: 0

Total Idea Score: 0

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change

Joseph Smith's contradicted stories of the 1st vision should lead us to question his accuracy

Reasons to agree

1. Joseph Smith written explanations of the 1st visions contain significant contradictions. 

Reasons to disagree

1.  

Scriptures that agree

1. 
   
   

Scriptures that disagree

1.  

Interest of those who agree

1. 
   
   

Interest of those who disagree

1.  

Common Interest

1. 
   
   

Opposing Interest

1.  

Videos That agree

1. 
   
   

Images That agree

1. 
   
   

Score:

# of reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree: -0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree with reasons to agree: 0

Total Idea Score: 0

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change

Joseph Smith written explanations of the 1st visions contain significant contradictions

Reasons to agree

1. The official 

Reasons to disagree

1.  

Scriptures that agree

1. 
   
   

Scriptures that disagree

1.  

Interest of those who agree

1. 
   
   

Interest of those who disagree

1.  

Common Interest

1. 
   
   

Opposing Interest

1.  

Videos That agree

1. 
   
   

Images That agree

1. 
   
   

Score:

# of reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree: -0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree with reasons to agree: 0

Total Idea Score: 0

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change

Joseph Smith did not really see God and Jesus Christ in the "Sacred Grove"

Reasons to agree

1. Joseph Smith's contradicted stories of the 1st vision should lead us to question his accuracy. 


2. If Joseph Smith really had seen God and Jesus Christ he would have written about it sooner than 1832, 11 years after its alleged occurrence.

Reasons to disagree

1.  

Scriptures that agree

1. 
   
   

Scriptures that disagree

1.  

Interest of those who agree

1. 
   
   

Interest of those who disagree

1.  

Common Interest

1. 
   
   

Opposing Interest

1.  

Videos That agree

1. 
   
   

Images That agree

1. 
   
   

Score:

# of reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree: -0

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree with reasons to agree: 0

Total Idea Score: 0

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change

Joseph said he was visited by an angel in his room, but he couldn't have, because he shared the room with his brothers, and they would have seeing it. -2

Reasons to agree: +1

1. Joseph intentionally misled people about his "visit" by the angel Moroni.

Reasons to disagree: -3

1. If you believe Joseph had a supernatural experience, he could have had a real vision from God, but it could have been while he slept.


2. God has to modify you in order to be able to see spiritual things. LDS people people call this being translated. We cannot, under normal circumstances, perceive spiritual matter or things with normal vision. (D&C 131:7-8) Joseph had to be blessed to hear and see a divine messenger. Others were not so blessed, and so would hear and see nothing. If God can send an angel he can keep the audience to that which he wishes.


3. You don't have to assume that God actively dulled his family member's senses in order to have an Angel speak to Joseph, only that Joseph's senses were enriched.

Reasons to agree: +1

Reasons to disagree: -3

Score: -2

Joseph Smith lied about an Angel visiting him -2

Reasons to agree: +1

1. Joseph said he was visited by an angel in his room, but he couldn't have, because he shared the room with his brothers, and they would have seeing it. -3

Reasons to disagree

1. 
   

Reasons to agree: +1

Reasons to disagree: -0

Reasons to disagree with reasons to agree: -3

Reasons to agree: +1 -3 = -2

If Joseph Smith told big lies than the Mormon church must not be inspired

Reasons to disagree

1. Scholars don't believe that Paul really wrote all the books attributed to him. If lies about your church's founding mean that your church is wrong, then no Christian churches are true. 

The fact that cool doctrines didn't come from the Church until educated people joined the Mormon church leads you to believe that Joseph Smith might not have been the author of these doctrines

Reasons to disagree

1. Its a nice idea, but no one came forward and said, Joseph Smith's ideas about the pre-mortal existence, baptisms for the dead, the quorum of the 12 apostles, or anything else, really came from them, did they?

Joseph Smith had relationships with women so much younger than him, that it shows that he did not value them as intellectual or spiritual beings +3

Reasons to agree: +4

1. Joseph was 38 when he married Helen Mar Kimball who was only 14. She continued to live with her parents, and never married lived with Joseph. When she grew up she married someone else, and never seemed to have had sex with Joseph. They were trying to just seal people to each other, but still it seems weird that Joseph would seal her to him as a wife. Why didn't he just adopt her as a daughter?


2. Joseph Smith was 28 when he had an affair, or a plural marriage with Fanny Alger who was 16.


3. Joseph Smith was 37 when he married Sarah Ann Whitney who was 17 years old.


4. Statements by William Law and Eliza R. Snow indicate that the marriages included sexual intimacy.[121][122] "Joseph was very free in his talk about his women. He told me one day of a certain girl and remarked, that she had given him more pleasure than any girl he had ever enjoyed. I told him it was horrible to talk like this." - Joseph Smith's close confidant and LDS Church First Councilor, William Law, Interview in Salt Lake Tribune, July 31, 188. When Heber C. Kimball asked Sister Eliza R. Snow the question if she was not a virgin although married to Joseph Smith, she replied, "I thought you knew Joseph Smith better than that." - Stake President Angus M. Cannon, statement of interview with Joseph III, 23, LDS archives.

Reasons to disagree: -1

1. No DNA evidence exist that Joseph Smith fathered any other children than with his wife Emma. Most historians agree that Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, taught and practiced polygamy during his ministry, and married several dozen women during his lifetime, even though Smith, and the leading quorums of his church, publicly denied he taught or practiced it.[1][2][3] Additionally, after his death, several women were "sealed" to him.[4]

If you say that Joseph Smith was evil, then you have to say that many of the Popes were evil

Reasons to agree

1. Many of the Popes did bad things. 

Reasons to disagree

1. According to the same logic you would condemn all the apostles for the greed of Judas and the cowardice of Peter

Score:

# of reasons to agree: +13

# of reasons to disagree: -1

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: +0

# of reasons to disagree with reasons to agree: -0

Total Idea Score: +12

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change.

There is more reason to say that Joseph Smith had bad motivation than Moses

Reasons to agree

1. Moses, to the best of our knowledge, never used it position as a way to increase the number of his sexual partners.

Reasons to disagree

1. Moses killed an Egyptian. If you applied the same methods of judging Moses, that some want you to judge Joseph Smith then he would not come out looking to good.

Saying Joseph Smith was power hungry is like saying Moses is power hungry

Reasons to agree:

1. Power does not always corrupt.
2. People can have noble motives to lead.

Reasons to disagree:

1. There is more reason to say that Joseph Smith had bad motivation than Moses.

Joseph Smith seemed to like power -1

Reasons to agree:

1. Joseph liked dressing in Military uniforms. 


2. Joseph ran for president. 

Reasons to disagree:

1. Saying Joseph Smith was power hungry is like saying Moses is power hungry. +2

Score:

# of reasons to agree: 2

# of reasons to disagree: -1

# of reasons to agree with reasons to agree: 0

# of reasons to disagree with reasons to agree: -2

Total Idea Score: -1

Don't like the score? It is easy to change the score. Just post a reason to agree or disagree with the overall idea, or any of the reasons and the score will change

Images That agree

 

Images That disagree

Scriptures that agree

1. 
   
   

Scriptures that disagree

1.  

Interest of those who agree

1. 
   
   

Interest of those who disagree

1.  

Common Interest

1. 
   
   

Opposing Interest

1.  

Videos That agree

1.  

Videos That disagree

1.  

Website that agree

1. 
   
   

Websites that disagree

1.