Running list of Proposed Book of Mormon Evidence

I've decided to create a running list of proposed Book of Mormon evidence and arguments. The list will not evaluate the strength of each piece of evidence. Maybe some are strong and others are weak. Yet others kind of moderate. But I would like a handy reference to all of them, so I'll be updating it periodically and with the help of my readers if I get any. :) 

This list will not include refutations of counter arguments. Perhaps that will get a separate list. As will other evidence, say, for Book of Abraham or similarities with ancient Christianity.  

Please give me more ideas! This is a very incomplete list and I'll be adding to it periodically.

1. Three witnesses
     a. Martin Harris. 
     b. Oliver Cowdery. 
     c. David Whitmer
2. Eight witnesses
     a. Hyrum Smith
     b. others
3. Nahom, Shazer, Bountiful other geography.
4. Chiasmus. 
5. Hebraisms. 
6. Internal consistency. 
    a. Alma's conversion
    b. Geographical consistency. 
    c.  Land of Moron and then the name of Moroni appears after Mulekites discovered.
7. Uto-aztecan (Brian Stubb's work). 
8. Hebrew patterns (like covenant renewal in King Benjamin's speech). 
9. Margaret Barker's scholarship on expulsion of messianic cult around 600 BC. 
    a. Mary, Asherah and the Tree. 
    b. other Barker scholarship.
10. Names correlating to Egyptian and Hebrew (Pahoran for example)
11. Words correlating to old world plus internal logic (money). 
12. Jacob Chapter 5 and olive culture. 
13. Mulek, Son of Zedekiah (Malkiyahu) artifact. 
14. Miraculous experiences of individuals when reading the Book of Mormon.
     a. 
15. Joseph Smith's characteristics and testimony of those around him  
      a. Emma says he was almost illiterate
      b. had no manuscript, 
      c. start up where he left off
      d. translation speed. 
16.  The existence of the gold plates and lesser witnesses.
     a. Emma feeling them under cloth. 
     b. Charles Anthon. 
     c. Parley Pratt. 
     d. 
17.Literary excellence
    a. Poetic structures, parallelisms, metaphors and allegories.
    b. complex symbolism.
18. Stylometry (John Hilton's research on Wordprints). 
   
 

Residual Mormons

On Facebook recently a friend of mine advised another friend (her husband) to purge his Facebook of all "residual Mormons" because Mormons are insane.

I'm proud to be a residual Mormon.

5 ¶ In ^athat day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of ^bglory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people.

Isaiah 28:5.

This fits perfectly with my blog title the Hosts of Heaven and almost seems like a fulfillment of prophesy. I would love to be counted as a residual Mormon, the residue of His people. 

“It is almost impossible to write fiction about the Mormons, for the reason that Mormon institutions and Mormon society are so peculiar that they call for constant explanation.”

Wallace Stegner, Mormon Country (as quoted here: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson/2017/03/deliberately-writing-fiction-mormons.html)

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

1 Peter 2: 9

If you want to call me insane, that's fine. I'll be a member of the peculiar people.
But maybe I act differently because of what I understand. You would act differently too if your understanding were the same. 

         Oh, when the saints

Go marching in

Oh, when the saints go marching in

Oh how I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in...

Stubbornly staying

Periodically I see people write blogs explaining why they've decided to leave the Mormon church. These posts uniformly get lots of praise and positive feedback. It has always bothered me quite a bit. In particular because I think that sometimes the real reason they have left the church (notwithstanding all of the reasons in their blog posts) is because they want that praise and dislike the disapprobation of society. Mormonism has gotten steadily less popular in the last 20 years, and that takes a toll on people. I can understand that. What I can't understand is announcing it to the world and being praised for courage, when, in my view, it would have taken more courage to stay.

I've entitled this post "Stubbornly staying" because I want to tell God and society that I am not going to leave Him because I'm afraid of scorn from the wider culture. This blog is a statement of faith. It is also an invitation to Him and to His children for help in doing this blog right.

I am inspired by C. S. Lewis who lived in a time of waxing secularism in his country. The popular and scholarly in his culture were certain that religion was ridiculous. He fought back. He struggled with the hard intellectual, moral, logical and social questions and challenges. And he came back with powerful answers. I don't hope to match his erudition or clarity. But I hope to lay a good foundation for future C. S. Lewises to come.

I am also inspired by Neil Maxwell, who is underappreciated and who seems to be too quickly forgotten. 

I also hope to talk about history, archaeology and philosophy on occasion. 

In scripture we learn that Lucifer, one of the hosts of heaven, rebelled against God and convinced a third part of the angels to follow him in a battle of ideas and loyalty. He continues the war here for our souls. Bring it on.

What should I talk about first?

The joy and meaning that I get from the church?

Is the Book of Mormon true?

How people unconsciously adopt the assumptions of the wider culture and that drives a wedge between them and the church?