Is the Book of Mormon Divinely Inspired? w/ @thoughtfulfaith2020 and @TheCounselofTrent

Jacob Hansen, of Thoughtful Faith, and Trent Horn, of The Counsel of Trent, debate the Book of Mormon. A wide ranging debate that touches archeology, witness accounts, the life of Joseph Smith, and more. You don't want to miss out!

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Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:55 Summary of the book of Mormon
3:30 Evidence for Mormonism
10:13 Eye witnesses
11:50 Divinely Inspired
15:00 Wrap up argument
17:59 Geographical references being wrong in the book of Mormon
21:06 Joseph Smith was a false profit
26:25 Plagiarizing the Bible
31:07 The Catholic argument against the book of Mormonism
32:55 Jacob’s rebuttal
40:05 Trent’s rebuttal
47:05 Jacob‘s second rebuttal
51:24 Trent’s second rebuttal
55:30 Halfway Break
1:01:23 Jacob’s Cross Examination
1:16:45 Trent’s Cross Examination
1:33:00 Mormons being racist
1:34:50 Christianity evidence
1:37:04 The apostles, being corrupted
1:39:38 Proving something is divinely inspired
1:42:20 Mormon Beliefs about the Bible
1:44:50 Was Joseph Smith’s Honest
1:46:56 Validity of Joseph Smith as a True Prophet
1:50:28 Trent’s Sources and Arguments
1:52:52 Church of the Lamb & Devil
1:55:54 Concept of Personal Universes
1:59:23 Confusion Within the Mormon Church
2:02:40 Assessing the Divine Inspiration of the Book of Mormon
2:05:37 Jacob’s closing argument
2:10:15 Trent’s closing argument
2:15:30 Wrap up

[cristinamz]

Props to the Mormon guy, it takes courage to come onto a Catholic setting to debate a Catholic. Thank you for doing that.

[danielcrouse]

I grew up Mormon and even served a mission. I am so grateful for the foundation my LDS upbringing gave me. I converted to Anglicanism almost 4 years ago now, and I became Catholic a year ago.

[ThoinFrostaxe]

Catholic convert from the Baptist faith here. One of the best compliments I’ve gotten was when a new coworker assumed I was LDS because of my positivity. Although I don’t believe in their theology, most LDS folks are upbeat, wholesome, friendly people. I love my LDS brothers and sisters!

[loudogg]

As a Latter Day Saint, I think Matt Fradd was an excellent and very fair moderator. That’s not always the case when stepping in with those of different beliefs. Thanks for the fairness and decency Matt!

[Electross]

Hello. Latter-Day Saint Christian here. I have 100% love and appreciation for my Catholic brothers and sisters. It's so great to see that we can debate beliefs with respect and kindness. True followers of Christ put kindness, respect, patience, love, humility, and charity as a higher priority than proving a point or being right.

[kevinmauer]

Having gone to high school as a Protestant in Lehi, Utah, I can say that the fruits of Mormonism in my own life were my journey to Catholicism. My LDS friends and community were lovely. They nurtured my love for Christ and gave me a deep desire for the Truth. Like many of my peers, I ultimately found it in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church led by the bishops in communion with the Bishop of Rome.

I live back in Utah today with my young family, and I can't think of a better place on earth to raise our kids. Their friends will challenge them to understand what they believe and why, and most will come from stable and moral families.

[BATAngTABA]

One of Trent's best debate opponents by far!

[countryboyred]

Went in thinking Trent would wipe the floor with this guy. By the end of the debate I was shocked at how good the Mormon guy did. Good stuff guys.

[nwkitesurfer]

Thanks for hosting. I'm truly grateful to both Trent and Jacob for participating in this debate. I hope all three of you left friends.

[James_Wisniewski]

It's rare for me to see a debate like this where I know and respect both debaters. Glad you could get both of these cool dudes on.

[SamHollidayV]

Catholic here, but that was about a good an opening debate argument as I’ve ever heard.

Edit: from purely a rhetorical perspective, obviously I remain unconvinced of Mormonism.

[ryrylamby]

Former Mormon, now Catholic. This was fantastic! I was baptized into the Catholic church this last Easter and I haven't looked back, best thing that has happened to me. Fellow Catholics, please pray for members of the LDS faith. Many of my friends have left the LDS church and now don't know where to turn.

[cadenza]

So glad you guys did this! May it open the door to many more Catholic-LDS debates in the future. Thank you!

[TakeTheHighground]

Mormons are my favorite heretics 😜 Seriously, I appreciate this debate.

[jonathanfairchild]

As a Catholic, I gotta say that traveling to Utah was an absolute treat! The people there were extremely friendly and welcoming. Also the cities were much cleaner and seemed safer than most places. While I don’t have any data to back that up it did feel like a wonderful place to raise a family. One of the things that blew my mind was I saw kids riding their bikes and hanging out in the out doors like you never see elsewhere. There is much to admire about the LDS even if I think their religion is false.

[reillydevine]

Matt did a great job moderating. Jacob did awesome, Trent is his usual solid self. Can't wait for more discussions about this stuff!

[danielstark]

I've got a pretty crazy prediction:

All the Mormons will think that Jacob won
All the Catholics (and mainstream Christians) will think that Trent won

[ijn]

As a latter-day saint I was worried about Matt moderating this after his comments on the book of Mormon. I actually left with more respect for him which I wasn't expecting.

[tvsnow]

Matt, thank you for hosting and moderating this. No matter which side we agree with or that we think “won, ” I think we can all agree we’d love to see more of these Catholic-Latter-day Saint discussions. I loved every second.

[rynnola]

As a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints I have so much love and respect for my catholic brothers and sisters. I served a 2 year mission in Maryland and the people who showed me the most love and kindness were those of the catholic faith. While they definitely never wanted to engage with anything we were teaching, the mutual respect we had for one another was truly remarkable.