Why does the Book of Mormon (apparently) work better than The Bible as an instrument of conversion in the modern West?

1. The Bible is everywhere – too well known, everybody thinks they already know it. Why bother reading it? If you do, why bother paying attention?

2. There are too many ‘Bibles’ – dozens of translations, selections and paraphrases – which is confusing (“which one should I read?”) and erodes the authority of any specific text.

3. The Book of Mormon is a *sign* (of modern prophecy, of a new era in Christianity) more than it is a set of scriptures — Therefore (at minimum – clearly one can and should go further if possible) the BoM does not need to be mastered – nor even completed as a reading project, it simply needs to do its work of conversion.

4. The BoM presents itself as an instrument of conversion – especially via the introductory material printed before the BoM itself – it is therefore free-standing in a way that the Bible (typically) is not.

5. The Bible is dominated by the Old Testament, which is only indirectly, and cryptically, about Christ. If someone sat down to read it in expectation of its being Christian (in the way they probably expect) they would be bewildered and probably would not reach the New Testament.

6. If the reader is not innocent of knowledge of the Book of Mormon (and if he has got to the point of reading it of his own free will – and not as a ‘set book’ or merely to mock or attack it) – he has probably heard that it is a ridiculous pack of lies written by a rogue and a fraud — This is a pretty low bar for the text to overcome! — Since the BoM does not strike the impartial reader in that fashion, he is quite likely to be surprised and maybe favourably impressed; or, at least, rendered much less confident that he is reading nothing more than an incompetent and dishonest confidence trick. It just is not that kind of book.

In the end, if not immediately, the Book of Mormon is more likely to bring readers and seekers to a point of decision. Either it is indeed a pack of lies; or else it is what it claims to be.

It is hard to hold onto any ‘agnostic’ position about the BoM – for example, it is not plausibly sustainable to believe that the BoM is a sincere but deluded production – because if it is a fake, then this could not have been an honest error; but there must have been a large scale and deliberate fraud.

Of course, many or most people, coming to this dichotomy, and meditating or praying for guidance as best they may – will and do reject the Book of Mormon — But the fact that the Book so often gets readers to the point of decision is a fact in its favour – and probably has much to do with its remarkable track record as an instrument of conversion.