Alex Olsen

[Clint Teeples @TeeplesCY]

If Joseph Smith forged the Book of Mormon, the title page is the one place he should have kept simple. He did the opposite.

He drew attention to the one thing that should have stayed buried.

In his 1841 history, he explained that the title page was not something he composed. It was a literal translation, taken from the very last leaf of the plates, on the left-hand side.

That is a strange thing to admit. In 1829, everyone knew a title page goes at the front. It names the author, the title, the purpose, before you read a word. Joseph moved his to the front for publication because that is what readers expected. But he went out of his way to record that it did not start there. If you were inventing an ancient record, that is exactly the kind of detail a forger keeps to himself.

Here is how scholars think about it.

When you cannot inspect the physical object, you do not authenticate a document by handling it. You authenticate it by reading it. You ask whether the text carries the internal marks of the time and place it claims to come from. Historians call this internal evidence. A document is more likely genuine when it does things people in the forger's world did not know how to fake.

So apply that test to the title page.

First, what ancient records actually looked like. The Western title page descends from Gutenberg, six hundred years ago. Paper pages, a cover, names up front. But for more than a thousand years before that, the ancient Near East organized records very differently. Mesopotamian and surrounding cultures built libraries of tens of thousands of texts, engraved, named, cataloged, and stored for centuries. Their identifying information was placed at the end of a text, in what scholars call a colophon. A finishing statement. The reader confirmed who wrote it, where it came from, and why, after finishing the record, not before starting it.

Little of the detailed scholarship on ancient Near Eastern colophons was available in Joseph Smith’s environment in 1829.

Second, the scribal signature. Ancient colophons identified the scribe with a set formula scholars transcribe as "by the hand of [name]." The Book of Mormon title page uses it twice. "Written by the hand of Mormon." "Sealed by the hand of Moroni." One signature for the man who compiled and abridged the record, one for the son who finished and hid it.

Third, the father-son pairing. Ancient scribes worked in father-son pairs. The father taught the son to write and to archive, and the son named his father in the colophon. They often linked themselves to prestigious ancestors to establish authority. The title page introduces Mormon as the architect and Moroni as the son who completed the work. Elsewhere in the text both men trace their line back to founding figures. Moroni: "I am the son of Mormon." Mormon: "I am Mormon, and a pure descendant of Lehi." The lineage move is straight out of the ancient archives.

Fourth, source and purpose. Colophons named the larger archive a text was drawn from and explained why it was made. The title page says the record was written "upon plates taken from the plates of Nephi." That is technical archival language. It identifies the source collection and the chain of custody. It then states the book is an abridgment, names the principal writers, gives the purpose, and warns that it may contain the errors of men. Line by line, that is classic colophon behavior.

Then the placement detail. Joseph said he found it on the left-hand side of the final leaf. That detail raises the possibility that each leaf was formatted in double columns, like a known ancient bronze plate. He had no reason to include it and no framework to invent it.

And the medium. Critics mocked the "Gold Bible" for decades. But ancient cultures did engrave treaties, laws, and royal records on metal precisely because metal endures when paper, papyrus, and clay do not. Archaeology has since recovered metal plates from the ancient Near East, bound and engraved, reserved for texts meant to last. What once sounded absurd now looks ordinary.

Here is what this leaves you with.

You may not believe the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be. That is a reasonable position. But the title page does the work of an ancient colophon, assembled the way ancient archives were and unknown in the time and place where he lived. The placement is wrong for 1829 and right for antiquity. The signatures, the lineage, the source language, the medium, all converge.

Take any one detail and it proves little. Take them together and a pattern emerges, pointing away from a farm boy in New York and toward something far older.

The easiest forgery would have been a normal title page at the front. Instead we got an ancient colophon hiding in plain sight.

The evidence deserves a fair hearing. But for millions of readers in nearly every country on earth, the Book of Mormon is not a debate they are trying to win. It is the thing that brought them to Christ and opened a deeper life with God.

Source: Authentic: The Book of Mormon, Evidence of a Miracle by Lundwall and Lundwall, chapter 6

[Gerrit W. Gong @GerritWGong]

Can artificial intelligence replace God? That question may sound provocative, but in an age when we turn to algorithms for answers, guidance, and even comfort, it matters deeply.

I invite you to join me at https://t.co/DvO30jz9aP on June 7 as we discuss how to hear God's voice in an age of artificial intelligence.

[David A. Bednar @BednarDavidA]

Enduring to the end is linked inextricably to the spiritual gift of charity. Enduring to the end is not merely a relentless determination to grit our teeth, hold on to the limits of our physical strength and mental capacity, and push through the challenges and adversities of mortal life; it is so much more than that.

Enduring to the end is the joyous quest of a lifetime—a pressing forward with faith in Jesus Christ in a gradual process of trusting in and receiving help from our Savior to become more like Him. As our love for Him grows ever stronger and deeper, we can be blessed to receive spiritual perspective, the Lord’s empowering grace, and exceedingly great and indescribable joy.

[Ryan Smith @RyanQualtrics]

“Be the source of love and care you are hoping to receive from others.”

-Bonnie Cordon
#Sundaythought

[Milton Chavis @mdwbasketball]

In case you really don’t know how basketball works…. 🗣️🗣️🗣️

[John Massingale @JohnMassingale4]

It never doesn’t amaze me.

One of my very best friends is a USC fan and he texted me saying “that run is art”

[Dieter F. Uchtdorf @UchtdorfDF]

The scaffolding on the Salt Lake Temple helped restore the temple to its original beauty with more strength. It was there to help protect the House of the Lord—evidence of love and care for something sacred.

In our lives, the Lord offers scaffolding as well. Parents, good friends, teachers, leaders, commandments, covenants, and even seasons of correction and stretching—they are there to help us gain better access to the light and life that will bring us back to our heavenly home and safely reach our eternal destination.

We rejoice in Jesus Christ because He is the master builder. His grace is sufficient to refine, restore, repair, rebuild and bless your life now and forever.

[The Ways of A Gentleman @Gentleman_Ways]

“Beauty matters. It is not just a subjective thing but a universal need of human beings. If we ignore this need we find ourselves in a spiritual desert.”

-Roger Scruton

[Vala Afshar @ValaAfshar]

“No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist."

[NBA @NBA]

12x NBA All-Star.
5x All-NBA.
2x NBA Champion.
1x NBA Finals MVP.

HAPPY 65th BIRTHDAY TO ISIAH THOMAS 🎉

[David A. Bednar @BednarDavidA]

The very purpose of having agency is to choose God and to love, serve, and bless our brothers and sisters.

[Congressman Brandon Gill @RepBrandonGill]

Today I asked an abortion advocate what her favorite method of abortion is.

[Church of Jesus Christ | Come Unto Christ @ComeUntoChrist]

Sometimes people think following Jesus Christ means having everything together first. But when you read what He actually said, it’s the opposite.

Three things Jesus never said to His followers (1/

[Ryan Smith @RyanQualtrics]

The past is behind, learn from it.
The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is here, live it.

- Thomas Monson
#Sundaythought

[Dieter F. Uchtdorf @UchtdorfDF]

Jesus Christ is the light that leads us through life.

[Tim Tebow @TimTebow]

A bad attitude is a choice.

Hard circumstances aren't always in your control.
How you respond to them always is.

I've been in situations where a bad attitude would have been completely understandable and I've learned that it never makes the situation better. It only makes it harder for the people around you.

Choose differently today.

[Henry B. Eyring @EyringHB]

The feelings of your heart and the love for our Heavenly Father and for His beloved Son can be so constant that your prayers will ascend always.

[Tim Tebow @TimTebow]

Comparison is something I've had to fight hard.

And for a long time I didn't even realize what I was really doing. Every time I looked at someone else's life, their team, their title, their success, I was quietly telling God He made a mistake with mine.

But here's what I've learned: you cannot be grateful and comparing at the same time. I believe they cannot coexist.

So today I want to challenge you — stop auditing someone else's blessing. Your calling, your story, your design is not an accident. God doesn't make mistakes.

🎙️: Lifestyle Podcast

[Reid Wiseman @astro_reid]

Jesse, Steve, Laddy, and Vlad….such an incredible feeling to welcome you aboard Integrity after a nearly 700,000 mile journey. Forever thankful for your service to our crew and the nation.