Brant Gardner's Top 5 Book of Mormon Myths

Mesoamerican scholar Brant Gardner approaches the Book of Mormon as an actual ancient text but is not averse to frankly discussing any of its problematic aspects. His careful approach can be detected in his response to the so-called "Michigan relics," fraudulent artifacts which were created with the intent to prove the Book of Mormon true. Gardner responded to a book which was using the "relics" as evidence:

The Book of Mormon itself is true. These forgeries are too good to be true. There is so much that legitimately can be said to help us understand the real world context of the Book of Mormon...[It] does not need, and certainly does not want the kind of "help" that comes from continuing to perpetuate old frauds. Authors who rely upon such obvious forgeries to make their case will ultimately make it more difficult for the legitimate information to rise to the top of the heap. Sadder still is that there will be many faithful members of the Church who will grasp at these straws rather than found their understanding on more solid ground.¹

Aside from myths in the form of forgeries, Gardner also confronts conceptual myths about the Book of Mormon which may hinder an accurate understanding of the text as an ancient record. He believes popular understanding of the Book of Mormon should not overrule what the text itself actually claims. As part of our "Likening With Care" series Gardner discussed five such misconceptions.

Myth 5: It is a myth that we can properly understand the Book of Mormon in small pieces. (more..)

Myth 4: The fourth myth would be almost any statement that begins with "the Book of Mormon should..." (more..)

Myth 3: The third myth is that we have the exact book that Mormon envisioned. (more..)

Myth 2: Myth two would be the idea that "Nephites wear the white hats and Lamanites wear the black hats." (more..)

Myth 1: I think the top of my list of misconceptions is "the Book of Mormon is written for our day." That is a dangerous one to list as a misconception since General Authorities have said it in just that way. However, it is both right and wrong. (more..)

FOOTNOTES

[1]
Brant A. Gardner, "Too Good To Be True: Questionable Archeology and the Book of Mormon," Mesa, Arizona: FAIR Conference, September 2002. [.pdf ]