Eight (1813)To fully understand the Book of Mormon and its true purpose, we must come to grips
with the reality of the Bible and its influence on human nature throughout time. It wasn’t
until Thomas Paine was safe and secure within the borders of the New World that he
summarized the truth about the Bible:
Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the
cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which
more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it
the word of a demon, than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that
has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my part, I sincerely
detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel.^23It was Paine’s treatise, The Age of Reason, that Asael Smith, Joseph’s grandfather, threw
down in the Smith home, proclaiming to Joseph Sr. that Paine had it right. Asael did this at a
time when Joseph Sr. and Lucy were seeking for a church and religion that would satisfy the
longing of their spiritual needs. Asael attempted to dissuade them from giving any credence
to the religions of the time; yet while they didn’t listen, their son Alvin did.
Some speculate that Paine’s writings influenced Joseph Jr.,^24 whom they opine wrote
the Book of Mormon from his own head and not from the gold plates, as he claimed. It’s no
secret (except to those who refuse to believe it) that in Joseph’s day there were many scholars
and authors who agreed with Paine and supported the idea that the Bible was an invented
history by a group of people (the Jews) who thought they were better (chosen) than everyone
else.^25 These agreed with each other that the Bible was the cause of most of the world’s
injustices, and that it should be separated from the government of a free people. Many of
these would later be immortalized as the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.
Americans believed that their revered politicians were faithful, God-fearing men, not
because they were, but because the people expected as much from their leaders. The leaders
gave the people what they wanted. Being seen at church was far more important than
believing in the church. The Founding Fathers understood that if their new Republic was
going to be based on the free will of the people deciding who would lead it, then the leaders
had to act the way the people expected them to act. Supporting and professing to believe in
the Bible as the “word of God” was paramount to one’s success at winning an election.
However, the truth is, most of the Founding Fathers were far from “god-fearing” men.^26
The Authenticity of the Book of Mormon
For anyone who has read the Book of Mormon, the claim that Joseph made it up makes
no sense. Some claim that Joseph was influenced by the anti-faith and pro-reason sentiments
at the time, and produced the book from the thoughts and ideas shared by many others of that
era. If so, then what he composed would place him among the world’s most renowned
geniuses—if not the smartest man that ever lived. There is no other book written by any
scholar or author before Joseph Smith, during his lifetime, or anytime thereafter (outside of
the Marvelous Work and a Wonder®) that even comes close to the Book of Mormon—how it is
written, how it flows in content, and the message that it delivers. If Joseph borrowed ideas
from his contemporaries, then why didn’t any of these more educated and refined men invent
something similar to the Book of Mormon? All suspected sources from which it was claimed to
be derived have nothing of its instructive, intuitive power.