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Anyone follow Royal Skousen? Any credence to his claims that he has nearly proven the truth of the BoM? I don’t know if you can prove the Book of Mormon. The proof that many people seek varies incredibly. I take people’s proof of the bible as my base for this. Many people believe the bible for multiple reasons 1) They were raised with it. It was the scripture of their fore fathers. 2)They find hope in the message or lessons to guide their lives. 3) There is a place on the world map that mirrors the places in the bible. Scholars,people of non-christian belief are not sold by those proofs. For every one of those proofs, they have a response that sheds a doubt. Belief in the bible, then, is personal choice or conviction.
To me the Book of Mormon falls in the same category. 1) I was raised with it. It was the scriptures of my fore fathers. 2) I find a message that inspires me and lessons that guide my life. A number three has yet to exist and if it ever does, it won’t change for me the first two proofs that it works for me.
All of that said, if Royal Skousen can find a strong placement for it, I believe it may help people who have walked away from the book because it had no evidence. I wish him luck.
Good points mom3. We believe mainly because it’s familiar and it works. A friend who is a bit “middle way” once said “yes, of course you could find another sacred text that works. But it might take you another 30 years to find it and develop the same relationship that you already have with the Book of Mormon and the other scriptures.” Skousen isn’t looking for a mapped location. He’s looking for evidence inside the original text. He’s saying “I think I can prove Joseph/other men didn’t write it on his own.”
That’s fine. I don’t think he did either. I think he was inspired and dictated by revelation. I think the original source remains the divine. But I don’t think that means everything that has been done/said since is right or divine. That’s part of my ‘coping mechanism’ – accepting partial divinity and the definite influence of fallibility.
When I was a branch president I experienced both. Some divine guidance mixed with my own perspectives and mistakes. I don’t expect more senior church leaders to be any different. Which is why I celebrate a buffet approach. But I try to include God in helping me fill my plate.
johnh wrote:Anyone follow Royal Skousen? Any credence to his claims that he has nearly proven the truth of the BoM?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW65LrdubZ0&feature=youtu.be I listened to this and there is no statement of proving the BOM.
Couple of interesting points.
1) He talks about the Isaiah chapters and at one point the scribe put in an “at” when there should have been an “that.” Also these chapters were given without punctuation just as the rest of the BOM and the type setter had to return the punctuation. If this is true then JS was dictating the text to a scribe just as with the rest of the BOM. This creates a problem for me in my assumptions of how this process happened. Not very clear cut. Was it spirit writing? That puts a label on it but doesn’t help to explain it.
2) Bro. Skousen says that there is no evidence of divine intervention to prevent errors at all levels of the transcription/publication process. The transmission process after the words left the mouth of JS was decidedly human.
My issue with Skousen is his belief that the 16thC language in the BoM proves Joseph wasn’t the author. I don’t see how that proves anything. mackay11 wrote:My issue with Skousen is his belief that the 16thC language in the BoM proves Joseph wasn’t the author. I don’t see how that proves anything.
It’s easy to make the connection if that’s what you want to with your emotionsal mind. If it helps you make sense of something. Logically that is a different case, but 99% of what drives human decisions is emotions. Not facts or truth. It’s why
Anyone can have a testimony about anything. I’m not belittling or bejudging when I say that. If it helps you to make sense of something and give meaning to your life your emotions will make that leap.
It helps us cope with the unknown. For different people that will be different.
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