A challenge to Book of Mormon historicity is the anachronistic nature of content in the Book of Mormon from the New Testament, teachings about Jesus Christ, and especially specific Christian topics of debate in the modern era. This post is part 1 of 2 covering the seemingly ‘too 19th century sounding’ 2 Nephi 9. […]

      Remind them that James did not say, If any of you lack wisdom, let him Google.     Elder M. Russell Ballard emphasized a message many in the world of LDS apologetics have been repeating recently.  Speaking to seminary teachers and CES employees ‘An Evening with Elder M. Russell Ballard’ Feb. 26, […]

  Just thirty years ago, the idea of the Book of Mormon as non-historical inspired scripture brought forth through the mind of Joseph Smith and not an actual, literal history of ancient American prophets was a heretical notion.  Now, among some progressive LDS scholars and thinkers the idea is gaining traction.  There seems to be […]

  A common apologetic response to questions about the church is to tell the questioner to lower his/her expectations. This didn’t use to be a common response. In the past, the church and apologists had taken a literal/fundamentalistic approach to historical issues, and the answer would be to defend the historical fact. Now, as historical […]

  Nephi’s journey out of Jerusalem and the Exodus have many parallels.  Enough that you might wonder if this is really true history.   In 1 Nephi 17:12-14, Nephi explains some details about their trip from Jerusalem to the promised land.   12 For the Lord had not hitherto suffered that we should make much fire, as […]