Is the Trailer Park a Source for New Church History?

[_Analytics]

4 years ago, I pointed out on this forum that Joseph Smith happened to be living right next door to a hill where 1,400 years earlier, a severely lost Mayan prince buried a stack of metal plates which he had carried up from Guatemala. On first blush, this seems to be very convenient for Joseph Smith and decidedly inconvenient for Moroni.

But Moroni wasn't the only one who made huge sacrifices so that the plates could be conveniently retrieved by Joseph Smith. In fact, millions of others also suffered, including an estimated 100,000 who made the ultimate sacrifice:

http://mormondiscussions.com/phpBB3/vie ... =1&t=35052

As far as I know, I was the first person to connect these events. Did the author of the new history book independently connect them too, or was he doing research here?

[_Sanctorian]

IDK, but I think you should contact the author and have proper reference made to your post.

[_Water Dog]

Good stuff. It's absolutely hilarious to me that they started out the entire historical narrative with this. Book of Mormon started out with a murder, Saints starts out with a mass murder. Also note, there is a Saints podcast as well, and they are spinning this as "new history" revealed by this work. On the podcast one of the historians tried to push back on the idea that God killed all these Indonesians to lead Joseph to the plates, though. He suggests God maybe didn't cause the volcano, but that he simply knew about it well in advance and arranged Joseph Smith's family so that they'd be influenced by this natural event that god was apparently powerless to do anything about but just happened to know about. Or something. My question - why did they include it in the book, then?

https://www.mormonchannel.org/listen/series/saints

[_Symmachus]

4 years ago, I pointed out on this forum that Joseph Smith happened to be living right next door to a hill where 1,400 years earlier, a severely lost Mayan prince buried a stack of metal plates which he had carried up from Guatemala. On first blush, this seems to be very convenient for Joseph Smith and decidedly inconvenient for Moroni.

But Moroni wasn't the only one who made huge sacrifices so that the plates could be conveniently retrieved by Joseph Smith. In fact, millions of others also suffered, including an estimated 100,000 who made the ultimate sacrifice:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35052

As far as I know, I was the first person to connect these events. Did the author of the new history book independently connect them too, or was he doing research here?

I have seen this event referenced in biographies of Joseph Smith before (I think Donna Hill's The First Mormon mentions it, but it's been six years since I've read a book about Smith), though I don't know of anyone who has pointed out the implication it has for the potential cruelty of God's design with as much as clarity and concision as you have, Analytics.

[_Analytics]

4 years ago, I pointed out on this forum that Joseph Smith happened to be living right next door to a hill where 1,400 years earlier, a severely lost Mayan prince buried a stack of metal plates which he had carried up from Guatemala. On first blush, this seems to be very convenient for Joseph Smith and decidedly inconvenient for Moroni.

But Moroni wasn't the only one who made huge sacrifices so that the plates could be conveniently retrieved by Joseph Smith. In fact, millions of others also suffered, including an estimated 100,000 who made the ultimate sacrifice:

http://mormondiscussions.com/phpBB3/vie ... =1&t=35052

As far as I know, I was the first person to connect these events. Did the author of the new history book independently connect them too, or was he doing research here?

I have seen this event referenced in biographies of Joseph Smith before (I think Donna Hill's The First Mormon mentions it, but it's been six years since I've read a book about Smith), though I don't know of anyone who has pointed out the implication it has for the potential cruelty of God's design with as much as clarity and concision as you have, Analytics.

Thanks, Symmachus. I suppose if a casual reader like me could connect these events, there is no way it could escape the notice of people who study this stuff seriously.

[_Gadianton]

what does the New Church History say about it? That's where I got lost.

[_Water Dog]

what does the New Church History say about it? That's where I got lost.

Read the very first chapter.

https://www.lds.org/languages/eng/conte ... k-in-faith