Criticism of Mormonism/Books/An Insider's View of Mormon Origins/Use of sources

FAIR Answers Wiki Table of Contents

Source Analysis, Sorted by Page Number

Index of Claims

A FAIR Analysis of: An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, a work by author: Grant Palmer

Source interpretation
The author claims that Joseph copied the story of Lamoni from the story of Lazarus in the Bible.

Author's source(s)

Source Analysis
 FAIR WIKI EDITORS: Check sources

• It sounds as if the author has done some serious research here, and no source is cited for this data. It seems evident, however, that the author's research involved simply reading Jerald and Sandra Tanner's analysis (and corresponding use of italicization and ellipses) of the verses which he compares. This article shows a detailed comparison of the author's work with the Tanner's analysis.
• For a detailed response, see: To copy or not to copy?

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Source interpretation
The book makes the following claim:

Oliver was Joseph's main scribe day after day and perhaps the only one who really knew if a Bible was consulted. Oliver is silent on the matter. In fact, a Bible would have been needed only when quoting long passages; so again, Cowdery may be the only witness who knew about this, and he neglected to mention it. (emphasis added)

Author's source(s)

Source Analysis
 FAIR WIKI EDITORS: Check sources

• Incredibly, in his zeal to provide supporting evidence for his theory that Joseph Smith consulted a King James Bible during the translation of the Book of Mormon, the author attempts to make Oliver Cowdery a "silent witness" for the prosecution by implying that he neglected to mention it!
• For a detailed response, see: The silent witness?

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Source interpretation
In an attempt to show that the story The Golden Pot served as inspiration to Joseph Smith to make up a story about translating the gold plates, the author inserts the word in brackets into a quote taken from the book: " These he [Lindhorst] wishes to have copied [and translated] properly..."

Author's source(s)

Source Analysis
 FAIR WIKI EDITORS: Check sources

• In his attempt to show a correlation between a passage from The Golden Pot and the story of the translation of the Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith, the author actually creates the correlation himself" by adding the words "and translated" to a phrase about copying manuscripts.
• For a detailed response, see: "Copying" becomes "translation"

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Source interpretation
The author claims that Oliver Cowdery was a treasure hunter and "rodsman" prior to meeting Joseph Smith by claiming an association of Oliver's father with a local group of "rodsmen."

Author's source(s)

Source Analysis
 FAIR WIKI EDITORS: Check sources

• The author's source actually states, "Yet, there is no evidence which directly attributes Cowdery's rod to his father."
• For a detailed response, see: The use of the rod

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Source interpretation
The book makes the following claim:

Far removed from our own modern empiricism, the world view of the witnesses is difficult for us to grasp. The gold plates they saw and handled disappeared when placed on Cumorah's ground.[54] The witnesses believed that a toad hiding in the stone box became an apparition that struck Joseph on the head.[55] (emphasis added)

Author's source(s)

Source Analysis
 FAIR WIKI EDITORS: Check sources

• We know of the three and eight witnesses of the gold plates. The problem here is that the author has created an entire new class of "witnesses" based upon third-hand accounts.
• For a detailed response, see: Redefining the "witnesses"

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