Without such evidence i would think Joseph Smiths story of the angels taking the plates back as a cover story. The real story would be he created fake plates and have to destroy the evidence. So as an explanation if he was lying he would have to create a story to cover his deception.
I have been closely studying Living Hope Ministries Bible vs. the Book of Mormon. FAIR at its You Tube channel put up its own film a few days ago. But in the film some of the critics saw the lack of manuscript evidence for the book as evidence Joseph Smith had no plates. Certain critics think if he really had plates he would have no need for an angel to take them back. Rather the plates would be on display somewhere. I would agree with them were it not for the evidences that gives me hope to trust his story.
Book of Mormon evidences to me satisfy me no 19th century guy alone wrote the book. To me i have seen some of those evidences survive some tough critical scrutiny. But if i had nothing outside Joseph Smiths word i would agree with critics he was a fraud. To me the evidence gives me hope i can rely on Joseph Smiths word. And to avoid making ourselves victims of decieving men we should accept nobody's word on their sayso alone.
Doubts and questions are a part of religion. And i see lots of issues ambiguous. So living with not knowing based on evidence alone is a reality. I live with having faith in what i do not know.
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