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Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon — could you duplicate this writing fete?
by Elder Glen L. Rudd

Occasionally you hear someone say, “I could believe your LDS doctrine if I just didn’t have to swallow the story about Joseph Smith being a man of God and that he translated the Book of Mormon from some golden plates which he claimed he found on a hillside.”  It is even possible that you, yourself, have doubted his story.  Let us consider some facts or conditions that must be complied with in order for you or someone else to produce a similar book or record under comparable conditions:

1. You must be between the ages of 23 and 24.
2. You cannot be a college graduate.  In fact, you can have only three years of formal schooling.
3. Whatever you write must be on the basis of what you know.
4. You must write a book with 239 chapters, with 54 of the chapters being about wars, 21 about history, 55 about prophecy, 71 about doctrines, 17 about missionaries, and 21 about the mission of Jesus Christ.
5. You must write a history of an ancient country, such as Tibet for example, covering the period from 600 B.C. to 421 A.D.
6. You must include in your writings the history of two distinct and separate nations, along with histories of different contemporary nations or groups of people.
7. Your writings must describe the religious, economic, social, and political cultures and institutions of these two nations.
8. You must weave into your history the religion of Jesus Christ and the pattern of Christian living.
9. You must produce this record, covering a period of over one thousand years, in approximately 80 days.
10. When you have finished, you must not make any changes in the text.  The first edition must stand forever.
11. You are to dictate the words of this record to a stenographer.  After taking a break for food or rest, you must never ask the stenographer to have the last paragraph of sentence read back to you.
12. Your history or record must be long, approximately 522 pages with over 150 words per page.
13. You must add 180 proper nouns to the English language (William Shakespeare added 30).
14. You must announce that your ‘smooth narrative’ is not fiction, but true, sacred history.
15. In fact, your book must fulfill Bible prophecies regarding exactly the manner in which it will come forth, to whom it is given, and its purposes and accomplishments.
16. You must publish this record to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, declaring it to be the Word of God.
17. You must include with the record itself this marvelous promise: “And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, He will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.”
18. Tens and hundreds of thousands of people must bear record to the world for the coming decades, that they know the record to be true.  They must bear witness that thy have put the book’s promise to the test and found it to be true, and that the truth was manifest unto them by the power of the Holy Ghost.
19. Thousands of great men and women, intellectual giants and scholars, must declare discipleship to the record and its movement, even to the point of laying down their lives if necessary.
20. There can be no historical or doctrinal flaws whatever in the entire book.
21. Your descriptions of the cultures in theses civilizations of which you write is not known when you publish the manuscript.
22. You must not make any absurd, impossible, or contradictory statements.
23. The facts, ideas, and statements given as true in your record must be entirely consistent, even if those statements are directly opposite of the prevailing belief of the world.
24. You must invite the ablest scholars and experts to examine your text with care.  You must strive diligently to see that your book gets into the hands of all those most eager to prove it a forgery and who are most competent to expose flaws if they exist.
25. Thorough investigation, scientific evidence, and archeological discoveries for the next many decades must verify your claims and prove even the most minute details of your history to be perfectly true.
26. After many decades of extensive analysis, no claim or fact in the book is disproven, but all is as indicated.  Other theories and ideas as to its origin rise and fall, leaving your claims as the only possible true claims.
27. Internal and external prophecies must be confirmed and fulfilled in the next several decades.
28. Three honest and accreditable witnesses must testify to the whole world that an angel from heaven appeared to them and showed them the records from which your claim the record is translated.
29. The three witnesses handle and heft the records and feel the engraving thereon.
30. You must call out of heaven the Voice of the Redeemer to declare to the three witnesses that your record is true and that it is their responsibility to bear testimony, and this they do.
31. Eight other witnesses must testify to the world that they saw the ancient records in broad daylight and that they handled them and felt the engravings thereon.
32. The first three and the second eight witnesses must bear their testimonies of the truth of the record, not for profit or gain, but under great personal sacrifice and severe persecutions, even to their death.
33. You must find someone to finance your book with the understanding that neither he nor you will ever receive any monetary remuneration for it.  You must sell the book at cost or less.
34. Finally, after suffering persecutions and revilement for 20 year after you finish the book you must willingly give your own life for your testimony that the record is from God!

Now, wouldn’t you say that Joseph Smith was indeed a man of God and that he was an instrument in God’s hand to bring forth such a record?  Surely, no one without God’s help could produce a similar record and comply with all of the above conditions.  Following is another description of what it took to produce the Book of Mormon.  WILL ANYONE ACCEPT THIS CHALLENGE??

• Write a history of an ancient people covering a period from 2200 B.C. to 400 A.D.
• Include the history of two distinct and separate nations along with histories of  different contemporary nations as groups of people.
• Describe their religious, economic, social, and political cultures and institutions.
• Weave into the history a religion of Jesus Christ and the pattern of Christian living.
• You are only 23 years old when you author this work.
• You have had only 3 years of formal schooling in a rural setting.
• You must produce the record in 60 days with no prior preparation for the task.
• Write not a short, but a long record of over 500 pages, with over 150 words per page.
• You must never include anything absurd, impossible, or contradictory in the content.
• When you finish in 60 days, you must make no changes in the text of the first edition — it must stand forever.
• You must state that your smooth narrative is not fiction but a true and sacred history.
• You must invite the ablest scholars and experts to examine the text with care, and you must strive diligently to see that the book gets to those competent to expose any flaws in it.
• You must publish it to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people , declaring it to be the word of God.
• You must include within the record itself the marvelous, unique, and dangerous promise: “And when you shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father , in the name of Jesus Christ, if these things are not true, and if you shall ask with a sincere heart, and with real intent, having faith in Christ, He will manifest the truth of it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost.”
• It is to fulfill BIble prophecies even in the exact manner in which it shall come forth, to whom it shall be given.
• Your description of the cultures in those civilizations is not known when you bring forth your record, but it agrees with all archeological and other scientific evidence found for the next 140 years.
• Many of the facts, ideas, and statements given as true in your record must be entirely inconsistent, even the direct opposite, with prevailing beliefs of the world.
• Internal and external evidences and prophecies must be confirmed and fulfilled in the next 140 years.
• You must write the history on the basis of what you know now, with no background research.
• There can be no flaw whatsoever in the entire book.
• After 140 years of extensive analysis, no name or fact in the book is disproven or discredited — all is vindicated.
• Three honest accreditable witnesses, in addition to yourself, must testify to the whole world that an angel from Heaven appeared and showed them the ancient engravings thereon.
• You must call out of Heaven the voice of the Redeemer to those witnesses to testify that the record is true, and they must bear testimony that they heard the voice.
• Eight others must testify to the world that they saw in broad daylight and handled the ancient records and also felt the engravings thereon.
• The first three and last eight witnesses must bear their testimony, not for profit or fame, but under personal sacrifices and under severe persecution even to their death beds.
• Thousands of great men, intellectual scholars, must subscribe discipleship to this record and its movement even to the point of laying down their lives for it.
• Tens and hundreds of thousands must bear record to its being true, because they put the promise to the test and find it to be true.  The truth of it is manifest to them by the Holy Ghost.
• After suffering persecution and revilement for the next 20 years, you must then willingly give your own life for your testimony.  You must be able to recruit 70,000 salesmen to take this history to every corner of the world, each at his own expense for two years.  They must return to build their lives around the tenets of this record.