Sam Dodini

@Dred_DelGath @AlderNate JK Rowling could afford paper. Joseph Smith was poor and was in constant employment where *all of his time was accounted for* by third parties *and he couldn't afford paper. It's like saying JK Rowling dictated Harry Potter from memory while never writing anything down.

@microsamonomics @AlderNate So he was poor and struggling. That's why he could not have had time to sketch out the BoM? You heard of J.K. Rowling? She wrote the first Harry Potter after a divorce with a baby. She said she was as poor as someone can be in modern-day Britain.

For nearly 200 years, critics have claimed Joseph Smith “wrote” the Book of Mormon. Okay. Then prove it. Not with assumptions. Not with ridicule. Not with recycled anti-LDS theories that collapse every few decades. Actually prove HOW he did it. Show the drafts. Show the outline. Show the research notes. Show the source manuscript. Show the co-authors. Show the revision process. Because what we DO know is this: A 23-year-old frontier farm boy dictated ~500 pages in roughly 60 working days with: • no formal education • no manuscript in front of him • no rewrites • no library surrounding him • no modern editing tools And somehow produced: • complex narrative arcs • hundreds of interconnected names • intricate Hebraic literary structures like chiasmus • ancient Near Eastern themes • internally consistent geography, politics, theology, and chronology Critics have proposed dozens of theories: • Spaulding theory • plagiarism theory • conspiracy theory • “he was a genius” theory And when those fail, some even claim: “The devil did it.” But that creates an even bigger problem. The Book of Mormon testifies of Jesus Christ constantly. In fact, the name “Jesus Christ” appears more frequently in the Book of Mormon than in the Bible when adjusted for length. Its entire stated purpose is to bring people unto Christ, teach repentance, condemn sin, strengthen faith in the Savior, and testify that Jesus is the Son of God and Redeemer of the world. So the argument becomes: Satan inspired a book whose entire purpose is to convince people to follow Jesus Christ? That completely contradicts scripture itself: “Satan divideth against himself and against none else.” (3 Nephi 18:20) The Book of Mormon leads millions to: • pray more • repent more • worship Christ more • read scripture more • strengthen families • abandon addictions • serve others • seek holiness That is the exact opposite of the fruits Christ warned us about when describing false spirits. Critics have spent nearly 200 years attacking Joseph Smith, yet they still cannot explain where the Book of Mormon actually came from. At some point, dismissing Joseph Smith requires more faith than listening to him. Because if he didn’t translate it… Where exactly did the Book of Mormon come from? One thing critics rarely acknowledge: The Book of Mormon is not just “about Jesus Christ.” It is saturated with Him. Jesus Christ is referenced 3,925 times in the Book of Mormon — roughly once every 1.7 verses. And that matters because some critics literally claim: “The devil inspired the Book of Mormon.” Think about that for a second. The same book that: • teaches faith in Jesus Christ • teaches repentance • condemns sin • calls people to baptism • strengthens families • teaches charity • testifies of Christ’s atonement • invites people to pray • repeatedly declares Jesus is the Son of God …is supposedly satanic? That argument collapses under its own weight. Critics still cannot explain how Joseph Smith produced the Book of Mormon naturally: • no drafts • no outline • no manuscript • no formal education • dictated in roughly 60 working days • deeply Hebraic literary patterns • internally consistent narrative structure So when natural explanations fail, some jump to: “Well maybe Satan did it.” But Christ Himself taught: “A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.” Why would Satan inspire a book whose entire purpose is bringing people TO Jesus Christ? At some point, critics have to do more than mock Joseph Smith. They need to explain the Book of Mormon itself.

@Dred_DelGath @AlderNate You forget that he was poor, employed on a farm, and had no time for the solitude required to draft or construct anything in secret, or his family and Palmyra residents would have known. He literally couldn't afford the paper.

@AlderNate He didn't do it in 60 working days. It was over 4 years between when JS said Moroni came to him until he started the dictation. Plenty of time to lay out the story. He created the outline and then filled in the gaps verbally. That's why he couldn't redo the lost 116 pages.

@KelseaJ112 @NoblestCalling Sins against fashion and all sense of reason are serious, Kelsea.

@NoblestCalling I have no problem with what she is doing morally at all. I just have a problem with her wearing soccer shorts with knee-high leather boots and a fancy-ish sheer top and calling it "style" and not "I just threw on what was sitting at the bottom of my closet."

I feel like I am taking crazy pills because layering to make sure you're covered has been a thing for a long time? There is literally a company that sells nude undershirts specifically for if you have a shirt with too low of a back, a square neck cut, etc that has been around since I was endowed over a decade ago

@RoughStoneTroll I think there are moments of attention seeking or shock value that are sins against being charitable, as he says. I think we can be honest about that and that opportunities for this are probably more plentiful for women then men (but certainly not exclusive to women).

@microsamonomics This is certainly better. I think focusing on chastity actually gets to the heart of the issue.

Modesty is not defined clearly in scripture and its social definition changes across decades and centuries. I’d even go so far as to say that men use it shame women. If someone’s attire truly is “immodest” you should probably just forgive them.

@GoWithJordan_ @Faith_is_Works 20,000 people from a convenience sample just makes him more statistically precise in his wrongness.

@GoWithJordan_ @Faith_is_Works Even taking your inappropriately charitable description of his title and connections... That doesn't save him from the perils of nonrepresentative survey sampling of an already selected minority.

New data coming out about how many people have been leaving the LDS church is shocking! Using the decade 2000–2009 as a baseline, the rate of disaffiliation multiplied dramatically in over the next three successive five year periods. Christians we have so many opportunities to get the gospel to these people who are leaving! Most of them become atheists which is upsetting.

You know the NBA is in trouble when the play by play team has to painstakingly explain why it's *technically* not against the rules for SGA to completely ruin the game with foul baiting and flopping.

@defense_of_fam I think the most obvious is that it spares the Savior that portion of pain. We don't know what the actual punishment for our sin is because we don't have to suffer it in full. So it could be small or crushingly large. Why knowingly hurt someone you love if you can prevent it?

If the atonement of Jesus Christ can wipe away all sin, why is it better to not sin than to sin and repent? Or is it? I have my own thoughts, but I’m curious about what others think.

@grok @DavoustBaldPate @LukeFHan an esoteric map of a region he knew nothing about as evidenced by his ignorance about everything else middle eastern in 1829 when the translation was in full swing?

@grok @DavoustBaldPate @LukeFHan So your appeal to NHM being at the right location & time & geographic relation to an oasis coast in Arabia is "Nuh uh, it was a tribe around the place, not a place!" Or that Joseph Smith, who couldn't dictate a letter & misspelled everything somehow memorized

This chart is hilarious and somehow more garbage than all the other anti Mormon charts I've seen. The Book of Mormon doesn't have names, cities, and dates? What are you talking about?

@lymanstoneky Smarter guys more likely to marry but also more attractive?

more attractive men are actually less likely to marry so anyways stereotype confirmed right there interestingly, college GPA really strong predicts marriage for women but not men, which surprised me?

if only we had a study that leveraged actual data on young peoples' hotness and their marriage expectations to show that the main reason for low fertility is people failing to marry as fast as they expected, and this is because people overrate how hot they are oh. we do.

@DavoustBaldPate @LukeFHan Like I said, the reason you have to specify the relatively unexplored New World is because you don't have a good response to the extremely clear Old World evidence. Ergo, if you won't take the evidence that exists, you wouldn't believe any new evidence.

@microsamonomics @LukeFHan That's not in the New World.

@CathyReisenwitz @RichardvReeves No. They don't. Total work hours are the same. Any gap in non-work time is entirely explained by moms sleeping more and spending more time on active self care.

@RichardvReeves Don’t dads have more leisure time than moms in every time use survey?

I'm so over the stuff about how Dads are lazy aibm.org/research/the-g…

@DavoustBaldPate @LukeFHan NHM bro.

@microsamonomics @LukeFHan Dumbass Mormons would point to Jerusalem like they’re clever. Do you know where Zarahemla is?

@DavoustBaldPate @LukeFHan Love that you had to specify "new world" because you can't escape the old world evidence.

@LukeFHan Can you show us on a map of any named place in the Book of Mormon? New world, please. Betcha can't.

@Bar_tolmi That book doesn't exist. You just copy/pasted from a 2003 Google Group post by someone else. You'll repost literally anything, even stuff that is certifiably made up.

Joseph Smith stole from many sources for the Book of Mormon like the apocrypha (Tobit, Maccabees, Judith), Methodist sermons, and the story of Madoc (Madog) and other esoteric teachings. "In the Book of Mormon, Nephi writes: "I Nephi, being born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father;...there I make a record of the proceeding of my days". (1 Nephi 1:1) In the Book of Madog, by John Dee: "I, Madog, born of goodly parents, was taught somewhat in the learning of my father, nevertheless having seen many afflictions, therefore I make a record in my day as a vagabond upon the face of the earth." (Madog 3:1) Madog was a Welsh prince who purportedly sailed to America in the 12th century. They had wars with the Indians. The son of Madog was Mor Awnyry (pronounced "More-On-ih-rih")" Joseph Smith was a known freemason and scryer and incorporated lots of esoteric secret society mythology into the Book of Mormon.

@NoblestCalling @benthomander The chair dances in an obvious LDS meetinghouse are the greatest.

@benthomander They are on Instagram and Facebook too. North Valley Group. I actually refuse to use TikTok too haha

The fact that that LDS family with a successful real estate business is also now making bank with funny TikTok videos is proof that some people are just good at everything

@bing_TX @LukeFHan @wndyW1LL0w Nuclear is expensive to built regardless. Solar doesn't create peaks. Peaks already exist. Solar reduces* variability. Batteries deploy when solar is unavailable. Battery tech has advanced quickly. Solar + batteries are how Texas keeps AC running in the summer.

@microsamonomics @LukeFHan @wndyW1LL0w Solar creates expensive peaks. Nuclear only takes so long because of over regulation.

What has Trump done to benefit this country in this past term? Genuinely I want you all to share with me what you think he’s done.

@bing_TX @LukeFHan @wndyW1LL0w Nuclear takes too long to build to be deployed quickly for this speed of build-out. But yeah, nuclear. But killing solar deployment just means more expensive peak electricity for everyone.

@microsamonomics @LukeFHan @wndyW1LL0w Killing solar is great! Revive nuclear!