Apologetics and Evidence

The Book of Mormon is written in a style of language that was not used by anyone at the time that it was written and published. This style of English is called   Early Modern English . This fact is an anachronism that I find to be severely overlooked by those who seek the truth about the Book of Mormon. Many Mormons will instantly write this objection off concerning the veracity of the Book of Mormon, even to the point of saying that such an objection is lazy and pitiful, while not giving any rebuttals worth their weight.   I recently insinuated the absurdity of the Book of Mormon by asking the question, “Why was the Book of Mormon translated into Early Modern English?” I’m saying that it is absurd that the BoM uses an out-of-date language. A Mormon replied to me that the Bible has equal absurdities. He said, “Why is [The BoM translation into Early Modern English] absurd? Is it absurd that God uses a donkey to speak to Balaam in Numbers 22?”  First, this is a  tu quo...

Is it   safe   to conclude that because there is no archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon that it is false?   The most highly prized, primary text in Mormonism (The Book of Mormon) makes the claims that there have been vast amounts of people (Jarom 1:8), involved in great wars in North America (Mormon 6:6-15), with swords, arrows, darts, javelins, etc. made of steel (Ether 7:9; Jarom 1:8), also having farming equipment made of steel (Jarom 1:8), and numerous minted coins of various worth (Alma 11:4-19). This is not even close to being an exhaustive list of archaeological issues found in the Book of Mormon. We could go on discussing chariots, horses, wheat, the use of Early Modern English in the Book of Mormon, and many others… “The book of Mormon makes some extraordinary claims about there being wars with large numbers of warriors in the Americas. The problem with this is that there has been no archaeological evidence to support these claims that the Book of Morm...

Mormons  and  Jehovah’s Witnesses  (JWs) both teach that a person is saved by their faith  plus  their works. I want to look at this and dissect it in such a manner that is easy to understand, usable in witnessing, and simply memorable for everyone. I think the most helpful way to tackle this is to look at the James passage, because rarely does anyone have an objection that Paul is talking about faith, since in Ephesians 2:9 he specifically says, “not by works, lest anyone could boast.” But now to James 2:14-26:   14 “What good is it, my brothers, if  someone  says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But  someone  will say, “You have fait...

While working toward becoming an apologist and a pastor, I was a heavy equipment operator. I have over 15 years’ experience in the field, focusing on hydrological restorations (stream bank and river restoration and water dam removals) and site development for building pads (ranging from houses to one million + sq. ft. warehouses). I say this because I want to show where the heart for writing article this came about. Marvin Heemeyer purchased a bulldozer from an auction which was a Komatsu D355A with an operating weight of 97,907 lbs. (this does not include the weight of Heemeyer’s fabricated addition). In the picture above, I am operating a Komatsu D155AX which has an operating weight of 89,300 lbs. (If I remember correctly, we were developing the site for a 550,000 sq. ft. warehouse building pad). Heemeyer then went on a rampage in his armored bulldozer in Granby, CO. I don’t want to go into great details about what led up to Heemeyer doing what he did, nor do I want to go into great ...