PorterGolden:
Please understand that this message board is not to debate doctrines and proselytize. See the rules regarding this.
And actually, like you, I am not a Christian.
I am Jewish.
But the issue here is history not belief. And history is either true or false, not subjective and based upon personal testimonies. You seem confused about this.
Christians rely upon a history that is well-recorded. There were certainly Christians in the First Century and they did form a religion almost 2,000 years ago by all accounts.
Thus you offer a false and evasive argument.
Again, the point here is really rather simple.
The "Book of Mormon" is the totally fictional composition of Joseph Smith. And nothing you have said either disputes this and/or offers any objective historical evidence to substantiate its bizarre claims about some supposed history that never took place within the Western Hemisphere.
Christians can at least rely upon a body of historical evidence that places their history back to the First Century.
Mormon history actually begins only with Joseph Smith in the 1800s.
There were never any Nephites, Laminites etc. And that claimed history should be easier to prove, since it supposedly ended about 400 AD.
The anachronisms within the Smith stories are almost comical and they clearly indicate his limited education.
And then there is the so-called "Book of Abraham," which Smith claimed was based upon his translation/study of an Egyptian papyri, later proven to be nothing more than an ancient pagan religious text--by receipts of sale, notes and museum records.
See [
www.irr.org]
Smith's ability to translate anything with his fabled "seer stone" was thus shattered amidst the historical evidence surrounding his supposed "Book of Abraham."
B.H. Roberts, perhaps the leading Mormon apologist, acknowledged the inherent historical problems of the "Book of Mormon." He stated there was essentially no way to explain away its historical anachronisms.
Perhaps that's why Mormon leaders so often appear to focus their energy on suppressing information, rather than obtaining objective physical evidence to back up their historical claims.
See [
www.culteducation.com]
And also [
www.culteducation.com]