-ACE-

The purpose of religion I believe is for man to believe in a mightier power. Someone or something better then they are. Someone perfect. Someone that gives them hope. According to Scripture central (That is the page I got this from) "Not one, but three ancient altars inscribed with the same three Semitic consonants of the place-name, Nahom, as mentioned in 1 Nephi 16:34. Never mind the lack of vowels in the Hebrew alphabet that might alter the pronunciation: “Ni-ham,” “Nu-heem,” “Nehum”. The coincidence remains staggering. Not only are these altars found in the right place, they date to the right time. If that’s not enough, Nahom itself appears associated with the Hebrew word for “mourning”, which is precisely why the Lehites were there." Another quote from the same page: "No one in Joseph Smith’s time could have pointed to any Native American cement wall or fountain. B. H. Roberts wrote a letter in 1932 citing a few sources for cement work that pre-dated the Book of Mormon’s publication, but this information was highly obscure until the middle of the 20th century. Employing the word “cement” was cited as anachronistic proof of the Book of Mormon’s fabrication. Once again, patience transformed this into a non-issue. Not only have cement structures been identified throughout Mesoamerica, but as Dr. John Sorenson noted, “The first-century-BC appearance of cement in the Book of Mormon agrees strikingly with the archaeology of central Mexico.” Dr. John W. Welch pointed out that no archeologist in 1829 could have known how accurately the dating of this technological adaptation correlated with what was happening on the ground." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another quote, this time from Faith Matters "By the mid-twentieth century, defenders of the Book of Mormon had shifted their focus to internal evidences of the scripture’s antiquity. Hugh Nibley did extensive work in this regard, asserting ancient parallels with many components of the Book of Mormon text, including middle eastern execution practices and coronation rituals. He also points to rhythms and forms evocative of Arabic poetry of the desert." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The last quote I will make on this post, from LDS living: "It is obvious from reading Jacob 5 that Zenos had considerable knowledge of the very complicated process of olive cultivation. Scholars Paul R. Cheesman and C. Wilfred Griggs both comment on “the numerous casual references to pruning, cultivating, fertilizing, grafting, preserving species by grafting, bud sprouts, scion vigor, root rejuvenation, double graftage, root-top growth balances, and invigoration from graftage of wild species” that make this chapter so in-depth and compelling (Scriptures for the Modern World [Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, 1984], 119). Honestly, think about it. Could Joseph Smith, who had only three years of formal schooling, have been acquainted enough with ancient horticultural practices to write the allegory of the olive tree, with all its detailed description? Not likely." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For my personal reasoning behind why I believe the book of Mormon to be truth, Joseph Smith was a farmer boy, only 14 when he claimed he had his first vision of God. Just 10 years later the book of Mormon was published. Keep in mind, Joseph Smith was illiterate, and even non believers said so. How would an illiterate teenager write one of the most controversial modern day books with out the assistance of God? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To be honest, I didn't read your post at first. It was extremely long, and I saw that at the end you said you would be done on this forum. But I did read it, and I think that most of the points you made are certainly valid. I agree with you, that I have questions I want answered, and that if the proper evidence is shown, then I will believe it to be true. The only problem I have with this is that I need a lot of evidence to stop believing in a God, because I have evidence to support the fact that there is a God. Could I be wrong? Yes. Is it possible that my life ends when I die and I have no spirit? Yes. Do I want to believe it? No. This could be influencing me more then I wish to say. I want to believe that I will not be gone forever when I die. I want to think that my life has a purpose. But I am not completely sure. I have doubted myself many times, and some of the points you have made make me doubt even more, but I have decided that even it all the things you say are true, even if there is no God, no afterlife, my religion helps me live better. Even if my life has no purpose, I am enjoying my life, and I have a very promising life, that is only benefited my my beliefs in God's law.

Thanks I need it.

When I do the second one. I'm putting them on the same document. Maybe in a week?

I HAVE FINISHED COPYING THE FIRST ONE! (and the sign ups)

Thousand deaths of Ardor Benn - Tyler Whitesides Rithmatist - Brandon Sanderson Elantris - Brandon Sanderson Skyward Series - Brandon Sanderson Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson Summoner - Taran Matharu Blackthorn Key - Kevin Sands Scythe - Neal Shusterman Land of Stories - Chris Colfer Artemis Foul - Chris Colfer Story Thieves - James Riley Beyonders - Brandon Mull Five Kingdoms - Brandon Mull False Prince (Ascendance Series) - Jennifer Nelson Afterlife Academy - Frank Cole I need to go to my library to see if there are more. Keep in mind, I am 13. I may like different books then you.

Sorry, it has been a very busy weekend. I will start putting the list on here now.

Hello Hedd and welcome to the shard! What is your favorite book not written by Brandon?

I would like to correct myself here. It is not 3 days, but instead just 3 hours. I also have a question. What do you believe the book of Mormon was, and how did It come to be?

ok, just give me a few hours.. I have them written down at home. I am currently at school.

Welcome to the shard! My favorite book is probably rithmatist or wind and truth. What is you favorite book not written by Brandon Sanderson?

I haven't read any of them yet, and I don't usually share my reading list, but I have some books that I have completed that I would recommend. Do you want them?

Interesting. I didn't know this. I have never read the Jewish version. Yes, I do believe so. I think that that's where lake Bonneville and the great lakes came from. How else would all that water have ended up there? The only question I have about that is where did all the water come from? I have noticed that many incredible events in the bible and book of Mormon have an explanation that can be proved by science. For example, someone (I don't remember who) made a program to predict when the next solar/lunar eclipse will happen. They then used that program to look back at the locations of the sun and the earth. And, there was in fact a total solar (that lasted a long time because of the way the moon was rotating, making it one of the longest solar eclipses ever known) eclipse in Jerusalem around the same time that Christ was crucified. This shows that the solar eclipse was likely the three days of darkness following Christ's crucifixion and death. I just wonder if anything like that happened with the flood. (Maybe the moon got closer to earth, causing the sea level to rise significantly?)

cool, I'll add those to my list. They will be somewhere around #70

its the sanderson comicon thing. It happens once a year, and he released wind and truth at the 2024 dragonsteel nexus

I just really want to go, and I saved up last year but couldn't get one in time. When do they open? Is this information out yet?

Thats fair

Hello JDharmawan! Welcome to the shard! What is your favorite book not written by Brandon?

I have proof of these though, so I do not believe they require much faith. I have proof that you typed this on a computer, phone, or used text to speech, because I know so many people who type messages, and use text to speech. This is similar to running tests in a lab. For example, if someone is testing people's reflexes based off of their level of activity, they can take tons of people for their study to find the average reaction time, or even outliers, but there will always be extreme cases. SO.. because I know so many people who type or even use text to speech, I can be nearly certain that you type on a computer, phone or use text to speech. Am I certain? No, but am I almost confident? Yes. So, I do use a small amount of faith to believe that you are a human and not an AI, or that there isn't some tech that puts your thoughts on to the computer that you are using. So, in a way, you are right. I am using faith right now to believe that you are human. It's the same with the other example you gave, that you woke up at some point before sending that message. All people have to go to sleep, and I believe that you did to, but I am not certain. That remaining uncertainty is overcome by the small amounts of faith required for me to believe that you were asleep and woke up before you wrote that message. I also believe that most scientifically proven things are accurate. Most of them. For example, I do not believe that big bang ever happened, although it could be what you mentioned earlier, that it was just God's method of creating the Universe. It is possible, however, I believe that isn't the case. I believe that God created different parts of the universe at different times. This is because I believe that the bible is correct, and in Genisis it says: "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." -- "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." I encourage you to read Genisis 1-3, to see the entire creation of life and earth. That is all

I also believe that atheism in a religion, because they believe that there is no God. I think Atheists believe in science, like how most of them believe in big bang (Chaos, do you believe in it?) and that It created the universe. You have no real proof of this, yet you believe in it. It's the same for life. No one really knows how life was created, but they do believe that life was created somehow, without knowledge of how. That is faith. Even if you are atheist, because Faith is believing in something that cannot or has not been seen or proven. That is why atheism is a religion. (Chaos or some other atheist please correct me if any of the thing I just said are incorrect about atheism.)