5 Reasons to Doubt the Book of Mormon

In this episode Trent shares arguments from his recent debate against the Book of Mormon.

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Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:20 - 1. The Evidence for the Book of Mormon isn't Impressive
04:40 - 2. Book of Mormon Geography is Abysmal
07:20 - 3. Joseph Smith was a False Prophet
11:50 - 4. The Book of Mormon's Very Human Elements
16:05 - 5. Catholicism is True. So the Book of Mormon is False

[thisis_chavez]

Prayers for the conversion of all Non-Christians

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us

[yohanneslong]

There is a reason the founder of Mormonism is called "American Muhammad"

[ApostolicZoomer]

Funny you mentioned it, I was at a hotel last week and they had a Book of Mormon in the room. I picked it up just to see what it was like, and I swear every other sentence started with “And it came to pass” lol

[InTheCloudsFilm]

"tapirs, which are kinda like big weird lookin pigs" this is my favorite Trent Horn quote.

[PantalonRouge]

Some missionaries gave me the Book of Mormon and asked for my thoughts. When I said it didn’t resonate to me and that I wasn't that impressed with its claims, they claimed I hadn’t opened my heart enough. It felt like they wouldn’t be satisfied unless I gave a glowing review, which seemed manipulative.

[trevoradams]

The major claim of Islam is that no one could create a book like the Quran, that you know it’s true when you read it—exactly like JS with the BoM. And so many overlaps with violent history, political nature of the religion, convenient/manipulative revelations to justify its founder’s indiscretions, polygamy, etc… If these religions post-date Christianity by many centuries and supposed to be a revival of the true faith, why are the moral teachings/behaviors of their founders set to a lower standard? What is added the Christianity didn’t already have in a more developed form?

[eastonsaccount]

Joseph Smith said it himself…that he “would be a 2nd Muhammad to this generation”

[johncox]

If the Church that Jesus founded became apostate and disappeared for 1900 years, it would indicate that Jesus lied to us when He said "I will not leave you nor forsake you". I know Jesus didn't lie to us but Joseph Smith definitely did.

[bman]

Trent says explicitly that “Man can’t become God” at 8:50

I wish he said that in a more nuanced manner because one of the most famous quotes in the Church Fathers is “God became man, so that MAN MIGHT BECOME GOD” St. Athanasius of Alexandria. Theosis/Deification is Catholic dogma. This must be distinguished from Mormon doctrine, because God was not once a man, and theosis doesn’t entail the saints becoming God in such a way where there is no real distinction or merely a modal distinction between them and the divine essence, but it is still accurate to say that the saints become God. They “partake of the divine nature” and at the end of time God will “be all in all.”

[dboan]

Former LDS, now Catholic . . . thanks for doing this Trent!

[jean-pierreghayad]

It feels like Trent felt guilty of being too respectful towards Mormonism in a recent interview 😂. Respect for obliterating this false religion. Thank you for doing what you do and God bless you.

[bayreuth]

I was raised Mormon but decided to leave when I was 20. The argument that Joseph Smith could not have written the Book of Mormon because he was an uneducated farm boy doesn't work for many reasons but here is one of them: the First Vision Account, which was written by J Smith without inspiration from God (as Mormons acknowledge), is very well written. In fact, Harold Bloom described it as a masterpiece. Therefore, we _know_ that Joseph Smith could write very well since he wrote the First Vision Account. Its by no means implausible then that he could have written the BofM, which is in places tremendously boring and repetitive.

[bayreuth]

I have a simple argument against Mormonism: Joseph Smith claimed that God is "an exalted man" and that there is an "eternal ring of the gods"; but we know that God is _not_ an "exalted man"; therefore Mormonism is false. All of the great world religions recognise that God is a transcendent reality outside of all of our categories and we have good reasons to suppose that such a reality exists. The Mormon 'god' is (in the final analysis) another contingent, that is, dependent, being (since he depends on another 'god' and obedience to law) and therefore is no divinity at all.

[Sousabird]

“All men have heard of the Mormon Bible, but few except the 'elect' have seen it, or, at least, taken the trouble to read it. I brought away a copy from Salt Lake. The book is a curiosity to me, it is such a pretentious affair, and yet so 'slow', so sleepy; such an insipid mess of inspiration. It is chloroform in print. If Joseph Smith composed this book, the act was a miracle — keeping awake while he did it was, at any rate.”

-- Mark Twain

[realbobphilips]

Anyone else reminded of South Park. “Martin Harris dumb dumb dumb Lucy Harris Smart”

[nasquamastudios]

The idea that there is "no archeological evidence for the BoM" is simply false, as Jacob Hansen explained in reference to the old world archeology that lines up SHOCKINGLY well with the events described in the BoM (Nahom, Ishmael's grave, Bountiful in modern day Oman, etc.). We may not know exactly where the BoM events took place in the new world, but that's not reason to just entirely dismiss the historical claims of the BoM, especially considering that the wet, jungle environment of the new world is far less forgiving to archeological artifacts than the dry, arid environment of the Middle East AND the fact that barely any archeological research has been done in the new world compared to places like the Middle East or Europe.

[isaiahdryg]

I grew up LDS and my searching eventually led me to wanting to start my Catechism in the Catholic Church. I will say, despite their heretical teachings, Mormons that i grew up with exemplify how Jesus would want us to live. Big families, church goers, patriarchal and traditional. Which is better than other churches have done(cough cough, gay flags in Protestant churches). Good people that have been led astray

[bayreuth]

You should mention not only the fact that Joseph Smith practiced polygamy but also that he practiced polyandry. The LDS Church, in its Gospel Topics Essays, has even admitted that Smith practiced polyandry. I suspect that polyandry will make even more of an impact on people than polygamy.

[jerichojesanreyes]

I have great respect for Trent, but I think he is being so defensive because he underestimated Jacob during the debate.

[michaeljefferies]

Also with chariots, there is no evidence native Americans used wheels, or that wheels even would've been helpful given much of central America's mountainous terrain.