AntcuFaalb said:
What's your opinion on this, d_e? http://cesletter.com/Letter-to-a-CES-Director.pdf
I came across it on Reddit recently.
Weak sauce, my friend. That is my opinion.
If this is a genuine letter, it was written by someone who has been somewhat dishonest with himself, as he claims he has devoured everything he could on the topic of Mormon history. If that were true, most of his questions would have at least some explanation, even if he ultimately found them unsatisfactory. These are topics that have been tread so many times from both critics and Mormon apologists that there is no shortage of resources to find answers. Yet he presents his "issues" as if they are without any answer at all. So again, if it's legitimate, he did not do any balanced research, but literally read only from critical sources, not neutral, not friendly.
If this is actually a piece of anti-Mormon literature designed to appear as the words of a faithful member who had lost his faith (which is honestly a suspicion of mine--I don't know how faithful this guy ever was or how recently he had lost his fait), then again, this is old ground. Many of those arguments don't even need an apologist's eye to see right through. For instance, the comparison of local names to names in the Book of Mormon that "clearly" were an inspiration for Joseph's names, such is quite weak. One could move anywhere and open the Bhagavad Gita and claim the author used names inspired by the locale. Just look at that list and see the weak comparisons.
In the end, I literally see nothing new. I've done plenty of reading and research and have maintained my faith.
...Okay, so now that I've spent a little more time looking at it, I should confess that I've not yet read 78 pages. That's a little much for me for now. Like I said, thus far I haven't seen anything new. This stuff has been addressed so many times. However, it does appear this guy is a genuine formerly faithful member. He clearly has read from friendly sources, but seems to disregard some pretty strong arguments as if they did not exist. If you wish for a thorough analysis, you can look at FAIR's responses, which are pretty in-depth. They are a primary resource for me when I have questions.
http://en.fairmormon.org/Criticism_of_Mormonism/Online_documents/Letter_to_a_CES_Director