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The Mormon Militia depicted in the new Netflix show American Primeval is insane for all the wrong reasons. This gritty “historical fiction” of the old American West features members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormons, as villains. Yet even one of the show’s historical consultants admitted, it's “definitely not an accurate history of anything,” so here's what it gets wrong about Latter-day Saint history. First the show has a Mormon militia known as the Nauvoo Legion riding in with hoods to destroy an innocent pioneer company, and then it eliminates an entire regiment of US Federal Troops, and then an entire Shoshone village, just to cover their tracks. In reality, the Nauvoo legion never, once, saw, combat. Latter-day Saints also never attacked a wagon train of pioneers at Fort Bridger. Nor did they harm a single soldier of the US Federal Army. Even during the “Utah War.” And they never destroyed a Shoshone village to cover their tracks of the first crime. All of these plot elements paint Latter-day Saints as a radical and zealously hostile religious group, yet all of these plot points are 100% fiction. Some of the show’s characters are based on real people, such as Brigham Young, Bill Hickman, and Jim Bridger. Yet again, this is more fiction than fact, such as in the depiction of Brigham Young as a ruthless and mu****ous empire builder, which is simply not supported by the documents we have of his life. Now to be clear, there are examples in Latter-day Saint history where they were the aggressors, such as in the Mountain Meadows Mass***e, or the Black Hawk War. These are complex and horrifying events that I think deserve careful study and discussion. But the way this show exaggerates, expands, and conflates multiple, isolated events into a single plot—just to ramp up the violins—can perpetuate harmful stereotypes about the religion. /1
ScripturePlus39,195 views • 1 year ago
If Joseph Smith fabricated the Book of Mormon, he would have needed to remember and keep straight hundreds of sequentially consistent dates throughout its more than 500 pages. This would have been especially difficult during the record’s multiple flashbacks or when its three separate calendar systems overlap. . To better understand what I’m talking about, we’re going to have to break down the timeline. . Mosiah 29:46 says that the 1st year of the reign of the judges coincided with the 509th year from the time that Lehi and his family left Jerusalem. Much later, in Third Nephi 1, Nephi reports that the 91st year of the reign of the judges has passed away and that it has been six hundred years since Lehi left Jerusalem. This means that these 2 moments in time must have happened about 91 years apart, and the math definitely checks out, even after 199 pages of Book of Mormon translation! . Then 3 Nephi 1:15 introduces a third calendar system, which tracks time elapsed since the sign of Christ’s birth. In 3 Nephi 2:5-7, Mormon tells us that 9 more years have passed and gives us a new set of dates for all 3 calendars. Once again, all the dates line up, as you can see in this table. . With many more examples like this, it would have been insane for Joseph Smith to have kept all this straight, especially since, according to witnesses, he wasn’t relying on any notes to help his memory. It genuinely seems more plausible to me that these were in fact all actual dates that were written down in real, ancient records. /1
ScripturePlus18,680 views • 1 year ago
Hardly anyone knows this, but the most visited, paid tourist attraction in Hawaii isn’t a beach or resort, and it doesn’t make a profit. It’s run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes known as the Mormon church. The Polynesian Cultural Center is more than just an educational theme park—it’s an immersive living museum where international students from all over the Pacific share the music, history, and culture of the Polynesian islands. Unlike most tourist destinations, its goal isn’t to turn a profit, but to fund a debt-free education for the students of one of the most diverse universities in the United States, Brigham Young University—Hawaii. 70% of the student body at BYU—Hawaii are international students from over 65 different countries. So here's the deal. If they agree to work 19 hours a week on campus, such as at the Polynesian Cultural Center, the proceeds of the center and the Church cover the rest of the cost of their expensive education so they can return home to advance their careers and strengthen their local communities. See the impact for yourself on the About page of the BYU—Hawaii website. And if YOU have been to the PCC, let me know in the comments what your experience was like. Polynesian Cultural Center BYU–Hawaii
ScripturePlus15,840 views • 1 year ago
Every time someone tells me to stop being so sensitive about how Latter-day Saints are portrayed in media, I'm going to share this video because even fictional narratives have consequences. “Did you know the Mormons were serial killers in the wild west? Like legitimately insane cult of just serial killers…I’m watching American Primeval on Netflix and this seems pretty historically accurate... This show is insane.” Yes this show is insane. BECAUSE it's so historically INaccurate. And if you don't believe me, even the show's historical consultant, an exmormon admitted that the show "is definitely not an accurate history of anything." No, the Mormons weren't serial enders. They never ended that wagon train, the US army, or the Shoshone village like the show depicts. And the caricature of Brigham Young is totally unsupported by surviving documents from the time. The show seems to make an homage to events like the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which is arguably one of the darkest days in our history where Latter-day Saints were the aggressors. But this tragic event was not a top-down order from Brigham Young, Latter-day Saints are not systemically violent, and the way this show portrayed all of this is just not it. /1
ScripturePlus16,285 views • 1 year ago
Did you know there might be a second language on the Book of Mormon gold plates? Most Latter-day Saints have heard that the plates were written in Reformed Egyptian, but not as many people realize that the Book of Mormon started as essentially a different language first. And the relationship between these two languages, I believe, supports the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. What the Nephite language started as, is described in the first chapter of the book of Mormon as "the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians." Scholars have theorized that this first language could contain a mix of Hebrew and Egyptian features. So the Book of Mormon writing may have started out looking something like this, a Judahite variety of Egyptian known as Palestinian Hieratic that is attested in Lehi and Nephi’s day. But languages don’t stay static. After hundreds of years, it seems this earlier Egyptian language evolved into a modified, or Reformed Egyptian, as Moroni calls it at the end of the book. So maybe something like this. Since the writings of Nephi and Mormon both appear to be included on plates that became the Book of Mormon, one would expect their languages to look different. And Martin Harris’s visit to Professor Charles Anthon may show evidence of this shift. New research reveals Anthon may have seen two different transcripts: one that resembled Egyptian—like at the beginning of the Book of Mormon— and another that was harder to identify, just like we’d expect from an evolving, reformed language. Language changing over time is totally natural—just look at how different English was a few hundred years ago! So this shift in the Book of Mormon’s language is exactly what we’d expect from an authentic, ancient record. If you want to learn more, read KnoWhy 774 at Scripture Central.
ScripturePlus11,129 views • 1 year ago
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