Are all the books that you listed above, are they written by people associated with the LDS church or doctrine?</span></span> If so, please provide some books written by people that are not linked to the LDS church.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span> Son of Paul, (Congrats on working toward your Masters Degree - an awsome accomplishment)</span></span> You are correct in assuming the books I listed have LDS content. I had assumed from the questions you originally posted, that you were not interested in researching books without reference of the LDS faith. Because you were asking if the Book of Mormon could stand up to academic scrutiny, I had assumed you had researched all other possibilities, and came to the conclusion that it couldn't. One couldn't legitimately decide if the Book of Mormon were true unless they had read it. Again, I assumed you had, but I put it in the list anyway. The Trial of the Stick of Joseph is a book that has scientific and historical, factual, verifiable evidences in it. It is written in the spirit of proving the BOM false (it is in story form rather than research text). I included it because it gives both sides of the idea. The Evidences of Christ in Ancient America is a reseach book - no story form. It is a straight documentation of scientists who search for evidence proving or disproving the historical content of the BOM. There are pictures of the archeological digs, to boot. It has endorsements from LDS and non-LDS alike. The research has been documented by Harvard specialists and is wholly verifiable. I considered this a very good read for people who are not LDS because it focuses on the historical acuracy of the BOM. It makes it more of a historical documentation, rather than an attempt to convert people. You asked if it could stand up to academic scrutiny, and in that book, it has. It's been researched, verified, and documented. Of course this does not address faith issues, just the historical events. Of course, if you are asking if the faith will stand academic scrutiny - I don't think any faith can. If someone doesn't want it, no amount of proof will make them. That's an opinion, of course. Quote"Well, those people that have nothing to gain from supporting either group, but care about comparing the facts of one company to the facts of another." I don't have anything to gain from pointing these books out to you. I don't get gold stars on my crown after death for assisting in a conversion. I was pointing them out to help you decide if the BOM would stand up to academic scrutiny - your academic scrutiny. I didn't think you were looking for someone else to scrutinize it, for it is you that had the interest in knowing in the first place. Do you have something to gain from asking these questions, or have you already decided the answers? Most LDS people have already given the BOM serious consideration. Are these questions for our benefit, or yours? Or strictly for pondering? Maybe I wasn't reading you correctly...it has been known to happen. Remember, I am a convert of 10 years. These are the two books that I found most helpful. If anything, they are at least interesting. I'm not trying to be a smarty pants, or be argumentive. I'm just pointing out where to find physical evidence (if that's what you are after) Again, good luck with your studies. If nobody sees a post from you, I'm sure they can safely assume you are just too darn busy - and with good reason. happyirish (operative part is happy) for the record </span> I've edited this 50 times, the size won't change correctly - my appologies.
