Category: Mesoamerica
Ancient American Goggles and the Nephite/Jaredite “Interpreters,” Part 2
My previous post, “Don’t Google ‘Spectacles,’ Google ‘Goggles’: The Nephite ‘Interpreters’ as a Book of Mormon Anachronism” (hereafter Part 1), raised the possibility that ancient Mesoamerican “goggles,” sometimes depicted as…
Don’t Google “Spectacles,” Google “Goggles”: The Nephite “Interpreters” as a Book of Mormon Anachronism
When Joseph Smith received the gold plates of the Book of Mormon, he also apparently obtained the Nephite/Jaredite “interpreters,” said to be like “spectacles,” that could be used to assist…
Evidence At Last: The Many Aspects of John Lloyd Stephens’ Work That Strengthened Mormons in the 1840s
A delightful trend in modern Book of Mormon criticism today is to scour books, articles, and maps for information that hypothetically could have aided Joseph Smith in fabricating many of…
In Defense of Dr. John E. Clark’s “Ludicrous” Assessment of Early Criticism of the Book of Mormon
Dr. John E. Clark’s presentation on archaeology and the Book of Mormon, the subject of a recent post here, has been taken to task by one of our critics for…
Evaluating Book of Mormon Claims: Where Do We Stand after 187 Years?
After 187 years of critics poking fun at the Book of Mormon and exposing its weaknesses, today it seems to be the established view of numerous highly educated elites that…
Stone Boxes on Display in Mexico City
In March, my work duties took me to Mexico City, where one evening I had a little time to rush through the National Museum of Anthropology. One thing that was…
Cement at Teotihuacan
For those of you interested in the issue of cement in the Book of Mormon, here are some photos I took earlier this year at Teotihuacan near Mexico City, where…
Don’t Forget Cement
I continue to be intrigued by the way that “ridiculous” elements in the Book of Mormon eventually become significant evidences of authenticity. The mention of cement in Helaman 3 is…
Helaman 3 and the Problem of Deforestation
Brant Gardner has an excellent essay on Helaman chapter 3 and the issue of cement manufacture that addresses a particular problem with the famous passage at Helaman 3:6,7 referring to…
Volcanoes and the Book of Mormon: More Than Just Smoke
With all the recent excitement over discoveries in the Arabian Peninsula that shed light on First Nephi and the Book of Mormon, some critics have made progress in qualifying their…
