Here's what I wrote. I'm curious to see if he approves it:
-Your comment is awaiting moderation. April 3, 2015 This is a nice sentiment, and I understand what you are doing, I think. But you are rather misguided (also my opinion). Until you understand ALL the issues, it’s intellectually dishonest to say, “well, things are different, they were just being positive, etc, etc”. With little research, it becomes apparent that the Book of Mormon is a fabrication. That means Joseph made it all up. Plain and simple. For example, if there is even one anachronism (or item that didn’t exist in that place at that time) in the Book of Mormon, any historian would declare it false. Conjure up all the apologetics you would like. It’s still false.
Let’s say I came to you and said, “I have here the journal of George Washington!”. You read through it believing it’s real, because of what was written and how it was written. Then you come across something that clearly didn’t exist in his time. Let’s say he spoke about taking a train. That was the only error in the book that indicates its lack of authenticity. You would be able to conclusively determine that “journal” to be a fraud. No questions, no “well, it was just the one completely impossible item…”. It’s fabricated, erroneous, fraudulent. That’s it, that’s all. It really is as clear cut as that. And that is just ONE way we can prove the BOM was made up. Horses? Iron? The list goes on.
Now I’m sure you are cursorily aware of a few of the issues. Good. Learn about them all. It’s all available in church approved materials, if you look hard. Read the church essays that were recently created. You seem like you want to understand the struggle of Mark and others. You cannot, and will not, until you study the issues. It’s not a positive spin, without intentional deception. Joseph made it up. Whether he was just trying to do good, give people hope, he was nuts and actually believed it, or he was just looking to get busy is irrelevant. An honest person cannot continue to support the institution he created when there is overwhelming evidence that its all make believe. The problem is, we have been taught and conditioned not to look, not to think about the hard topics for ourselves.
I know of the pain you speak. I know the struggle these people feel when they discover the things I’m talking about. I know about the nights spent crying yourself to sleep. Days of anxiety, moments of terror wondering if your eternal salvation was at risk because you have legitimate questions about the church, its doctrine and history. There’s no real forum for that in person. Discussing those things is not encouraged. I know, I was there. It was akin to losing. A very close loved one at that. Maybe worse. It’s who I was. And I appreciate that you aren’t there yet. But just the fact that you care enough to write something like this, means you very well may be someday. Maybe you make it there, maybe you don’t. Either way, I hope you continue to be loving and listen to those with doubts, and encourage others to do the same.