CES Letter - Bamboozled by the CES Letter

Introduction, Purpose & Framework

  • “Bamboozled by the CES Letter” (2015) is Michael R. Ash’s reply to Jeremy Runnells’ “CES Letter.”

  • Ash’s declared aims

    • Remove the “sting” of critical claims by supplying context, scholarship, and faithful interpretation.

    • Demonstrate that the same data can yield very different conclusions once assumptions & context are exposed.

  • Persistent metaphors

    • Operation Mincemeat: WWII decoy corpse → Data were real, interpretation was false.

    • Dihydrogen-monoxide hoax: Correct facts can still mislead if only negatives are spotlighted.

    • Black-and-white thinking: Natural cognitive shortcut; gospel & history usually inhabit gray zones.

  • Key epistemic reminders

    1. Accusations take a sentence; adequate rebuttals take pages.

    2. Intelligence ≠ unanimity; smart people land on opposite sides.

    3. Evidence strength is partly a matter of interpretation, paradigm & purpose.

    4. Revelation comes “after the manner of their language” (D&C 1:24) → culture, vocabulary, science of the day.

Recurrent Tools, Analogies & Principles

  • Four-legged Table of Knowing:

    1. Scripture

    2. Modern prophets

    3. Personal revelation

    4. Sanctified common sense / intellect
      Removing one leg destabilizes the structure.

  • Progressive Revelation (“Resolution-upgrade” analogy): Truth added “line upon line,” comparable to improving from 0.01\,\text{MP} to 16\,\text{MP} digital photos—earlier pictures are real but low-detail.

  • Miracle implementation ≠ suspension of natural law; God generally works through existing culture, weakness, symbols & “props” (seer stones, Masonry, brass serpent, etc.).

Chapter 1 Key Set-ups

  • 4 expected reader reactions: eye-roll → curiosity tremor → exit → defender.

  • Author’s caveats: numbering differs from CES; some items overlap; answers kept concise; full treatments on FAIR’s site.

Chapter 2 Book of Mormon Concerns (Items 1-14)

  • 1 – 1769 KJV errors appear in BoM

    • Accommodation principle: God speaks in extant scriptural dialect (KJV English).

    • Possible mechanisms:
      • Joseph copied known KJV passages by choice; or
      • Seer stone displayed KJV text; or
      • Spirit-prompted recall of memorized verses.

    • LDS scripture not claimed inerrant → Presence of KJV artefacts ≠ fraud.

  • 2 – Italicized KJV words

    • Joseph sometimes kept, sometimes altered them; either is consistent with translation philosophy that privileges meaning over word-for-word literalism.

  • 3 – JST differs from BoM quotations

    • JST represents later light; Brigham Young: re-translation would alter some BoM verses as added clarity arrives.

  • 4 – DNA vs Lamanites

    • Modern consensus: Americas peopled primarily via Asia; small Lehite insertions could become genetically undetectable (drift, bottleneck, population swamp).

    • 1981 intro (“principal ancestors”) was editorial, not revelatory; corrected in 2006.

  • 5 – Anachronistic fauna/flora & tech

    • Two main explanatory paths:
      • Limited-scope archaeology: tropical decay, tiny excavation sample, many gaps.
      • Semantic range: “horse” may denote deer/tapir; “chariot” can equal litter/palanquin; obsidian-edged macuahuitl called “sword” by Spaniards.

  • 6 – “No archaeological evidence”

    • Majority of described BoM items now have at least partial Mesoamerican correlates (≈13\% in 1830 → ≈75\% today).

    • Identification hampered by lack of texts & indistinguishable material culture among neighbouring peoples.

  • 7 – New York Hill Cumorah vs Mesoamerica

    • “Cumorah” label arose from early saints, not revelation; internal BoM requires two Cumorah-type hills.

    • Joseph later entertains Mesoamerican setting as more info surfaces.

  • 8 – NWAF ≠ treasure-hunting for BoM

    • Founded for scholarly Mesoamerican archaeology; staffed chiefly by non-LDS PhDs.

    • Lawyer/enthusiast Thomas Ferguson’s later doubts do not nullify later LDS archaeologists’ affirmative assessments.

  • 9 – Upstate-NY place-name parallels

    • Sharp-shooter fallacy: 200{,}000 sq mi search yields coincidental overlaps; tighter grids (e.g.
      Virginia) create equal or better “parallels.”

  • 10 – View of the Hebrews

    • More dissimilarities than similarities (land vs sea migration, Roman siege 70\,\text{AD} vs Babylon 586\,\text{BC} etc.).

    • Contemporary critics never alleged direct plagiarism; Joseph himself later cites it as external support.

  • 11 – B. H. Roberts & loss of faith

    • His private study was “devil’s-advocate.”

    • Public & late private writings reaffirm testimony.

  • 12 – The Late War (1819)

    • KJV-style school reader; superficial shared phrases inevitable.

    • Stylometric studies place it far from BoM authorship cluster.

  • 13 – First Book of Napoleon (1809)

    • Same verdict as Late War; CES “parallels” are stitched using ellipses across 25 pages.

  • 14 – BoM teaches Trinitarianism

    • Early Israelites held a “Divine Council” model; separable but one in purpose → matches BoM.

    • 1837 edition clarifies ambiguous verses (Father/Son inserted).

Chapter 3 Translation Concern (Item 15)

  • Rock-in-hat method

    • Consistent with “seer” culture; instrumentality (stone ≈ Dumbo’s feather) accommodated Joseph’s expectations.

    • Miracle equally miraculous whether stone inside or outside hat; revelatory words > mechanism.

Chapter 4 First Vision Concerns (Items 16-20)

  • Multiple accounts

    • Normal memory & audience-tuning; core constants: youthful confusion, solitary prayer, divine appearance, instruction not to join churches.

  • “Angel” terminology

    • 19th-century saints often called Jesus “the Angel of the Lord.”

  • Age 14 vs 15

    • 1832 draft later edited by scribe; internal evidence favours 14.

  • No contemporary publicity

    • Earliest 1831 newsprint notes JS claimed “he had seen God.” Silence ≠ fabrication; sacred experiences often kept private.

  • “No 1820 revival”

    • Newspapers record Methodist camp-meeting (1820) in Palmyra; regional excitement peaked 1819\,–\,1820.

Chapter 5 Book of Abraham (Items 21-28)

  • Papyri dating

    • Physical papyri = 1C BC; could still preserve copy of much earlier textual tradition (as Bible MSS do).

  • Horus Breathing Permit vs Abraham text

    • Long papyrus likely truncated; possible missing “Book of Abraham” section or text on verso.

    • Translation revelatory; doesn’t require direct one-to-one grapheme decoding (cf. D&C 7, JST, BoM method).

  • Facsimile interpretations

    • Some accurate; others align with 2C AD Jewish redaction of Egyptian iconography (e.g.
      Isis → Abraham).

  • Cosmos & “Kolob”

    • Geocentric & phenomenological language suits ancient worldview; not Newtonian.

  • Philosophy of a Future State

    • Parallel ideas were common Protestant speculations; book post-dates BoA manuscripts; contains contradictions with BoA.

  • Church “doesn’t know how”

    • Essays acknowledge complexities; lack of mechanical details ≠ lack of divine origin.

Chapter 6 Polygamy/Polyandry (Items 29-34)

  • Principle commanded then suspended; morality hinges on divine mandate.

  • Polyandrous sealings likely “dynastic,” mostly non-sexual.

  • Young brides (~14) rare; age of consent on frontier lower; no evidence of coercive sex.

  • Angel-with-sword motif reflects JS’s personal obligation, not threat to recruits.

  • Hinckley’s “not doctrinal” = not practised or required today.

  • Public reserve = protective secrecy amid hostile legal climate.

Chapter 7 Prophets (Items 35-41)

  • Adam-God: Tentative speculation, never canonized.

  • “Yesterday’s doctrine” = policy/practice evolution; core salvific doctrines stable.

  • Blood Atonement: Hyperbolic frontier rhetoric; church never practised literal execution for sin.

  • Race & Priesthood: BY’s cultural inheritance; revelation 1978 corrected; God answers petitions.

  • Hofmann forgeries: Prophets claim inspiration, not omniscience; spiritual gifts often operate on request, not automatic detection.

Chapter 8 Kinderhook Plates (Item 42)

  • Joseph’s few words = secular attempt via GAEL notes, not revelatory translation; project dropped.

Chapter 9 Spiritual Witness (Items 43-50)

  • Other faiths receive genuine light; Restoration adds covenantal authority.

  • Feelings ≠ sole metric; witness touches heart and mind (D&C 8:2).

  • Conditional revelation re Canadian copyright; prophecy hinged on agency of others.

  • Paul Dunn: flawed vessel, true principles.

  • Bad decisions blame misapplication, not the principle of inspiration.

Chapter 10 Priesthood Restoration (Items 51-55)

  • Earliest 1830 newspaper notes “authority” from angels.

  • Revelation wording clarified in 1835 D&C per ongoing light.

  • Whitmer’s late memories coloured by later estrangement.

Chapter 11 Witnesses (Items 56-70)

  • Shared folk-magic milieu ≠ disqualification; likely increased openness to visions.

  • Legal hearing (1826) ended without conviction; clients defended Joseph.

  • Dowsing rod = “gift of Aaron” (biblical precedent – staff of Aaron).

  • All 11 witnesses kept testimonies despite estrangement, humiliation, bribe offers.

  • Strang episode: forged plates, recanting witnesses – unlike BoM case.

Chapter 12 Temples & Masonry (Items 71-74)

  • Endowment form borrows familiar Masonic symbols; content & covenants radically differ.

  • No claim rites are primitive Masonry; rites restored by revelation, clothed in contemporary metaphor.

Chapter 13 Science (Items 75-77)

  • No official LDS stance on Earth age, evolution or global flood; many members accept mainstream science.

  • Genesis likely functional/temple text, not mechanistic lab manual (Walton model).

Chapter 14 Scripture Issues (Items 78-81)

  • OT violence & slavery reflect ancient literary conventions, not God’s preference; portrayals filtered through culture.

  • Plagues, Passover, conquest: theological teaching devices about covenant, not modern war manual.

Chapter 15 Miscellaneous (Items 82-91)

  • Manuals selective for edification; plural marriage mentioned where pedagogically useful.

  • Finances: private by policy; members donate; prophetic counsel on stewardship.

  • Tithing vs hunger: local welfare programme offsets burdens; blessings promised.

  • Name changes: evolutionary until final 1838 revelation.

  • Intellectual inquiry welcomed; caution vs hostile sources.

  • SCMC monitors threats; analogy = spiritual Neighborhood Watch, not secret police.

Conclusion (Items 92-93)

  • Many “missing answers” now on Gospel Topics essays.

  • FAIR is volunteer resource; anecdotes of harm matched by many testimonies of rescued faith.

Big-Picture Take-aways for Exam

✔ LDS apologetics stresses context, gradual revelation, and interpretive humility.
✔ Accommodation principle undergirds answers to translation, science & Masonry issues.
✔ Witness testimonies remain a robust historical datum; critics must explain them away.
✔ Evolution of policy ≠ evolution of core doctrine; prophets learn along with the people.
✔ Spiritual epistemology integrates heart, mind, scripture, prophets and sanctified reason.