One way of explaining the Book of Mormon, if Joseph Smithâ??s own explanation is rejected, is to regard it as merely the product of Josephâ??s subjective imagination â?? whether that imagination is judged to have been sincerely deceived or, for whatever motives, deceptive and dishonest.
The historical evidence, though, seems lethal to such theories. And itâ??s instructive to note that, while modern skeptics commonly assume that the golden plates never existed, many of Josephâ??s very earliest persecutions came because some of his neighbors were completely convinced that he had them.
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