Is the Book of Mormon a Hoax?

A comparison of the Book of Mormon to the Formosian Hoax.

We have a good model of what a hoax looks like, something that we can compare to the Book of Mormon. It is known as the Formosian Hoax. A gentleman who called himself George Psalmanazar appeared in England claiming to have come from the land of Formosa(Taiwan), and subsequently publishing an illustrated book of Formosian language, customs, dress and culture. He sold quite a few copies. It was an intriging book, but it was all a complete fraud, and he was exposed in his lifetime. He got away with his fraud until more information about Taiwan started tricking in, and it was discovered to be quite different than what he had portrayed. He had never been to Taiwan, and only knew a little third hand information. If the Book of Mormon is a hoax or fraud, then we can expect the same thing to happen, as Joseph Smith, the poorly educated backwoods farm boy certainly didn't know more about Arabia and Ancient America than George Psalmanazar knew about Taiwan.

But first, lets review the difference in circumstances. George Psalmanazar (what he called himself) had no witnesses to back up his claims. He was completely alone in his testimony. Joseph Smith had at least 21 witnesses that have confirmed almost every aspect of his story. Most of them saw the gold plates; a third of them held the gold plates. At least four of them saw the angel Moroni, and heard the voice of God declare the translation to be correct. With George Psalmanazar, we don't have any family members at all. With Joseph Smith, he was in integral part of a working family farm, with mother, father, sister and brothers. He grew up without privacy, sharing a room in a tiny cabin with his siblings. They knew him as well as anyone can know anyone. They were there when an infection almost took his leg, and they were there when he brought the gold plates home. And without exception, they believed him to be an honest and serious young man, who had been chosen by God for a great work. George Psalmanazar's book is about 288 pages long, roughly a quarter of the number of words contained in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon describes the early colonization of America by Israelites, but not the America that Joseph Smith knew. It describes people living in large cities with cement buildings and level roads, thrones, palaces and temples - none of which could describe the wandering tribes of North America. Critics ridiculed the idea of books on gold plates, ocean-going ships in 590 BC, and a host of other complaints. But then something interesting happened. John Lloyd Stephens published a book entitled "Incidents of Travel in Yucatan". He described a world alien to North American natives, but in harmony with the descriptions in the Book of Mormon. Rather than expose the Book of Mormon as a hoax, it had the opposite effect. Since then large volumes have been written showing the many correlations between the Book of Mormon and Mesoamerican technology, culture, dress, weapons, armor, building practices and history. Just a few years ago, a Mayan codex was translated in Dresden, where the codex is kept. It states that the royal family kept its records on gold plates, and that they were stored in the capital city. The parallels with the Book of Mormon are unmistakable, as the Book of Mormon is the abridgement of a royal family history. One Mayan history, written by Mayans, states unequivocally that their ancestors were Israelites and that they came across the ocean and settled in America. (Los Titulos de los Senores de Totonicapán) This was translated into Spanish after the Book of Mormon was published. A world that was as alien to Joseph Smith as the Yucatan, was Arabia. Yet plausible candidates exist for the many locals described in Lehi's desert journey, and they are in the proper places. Three places in particular are of special note; the river of Laman which flows into the Red sea, the land of Nahom, which still bears stone markers with that name, and the land of Bountiful, where one can find fruit trees, bees, and lumber, and iron ore, as well as a harbor where ships were once launched. This is all in perfect harmony with the story in the Book of Mormon.