The Book of Mormon

I recently was left this anonymous comment:

I guess I can see where you are coming from on somethings.. but i believe the book of mormon too much to just leave it in the dust. you didn't mention anything bout that. [sic]

The Book of Mormon? You mean the book in which:

• God tells Nephi to murder a passed out drunk man rather than just steal his (not covered in blood and gore) clothes.
• One of the heroes executes prisoners of war and political enemies.
• God uses dark skin as a curse.
• God slaughters a large number of people who don't believe in him (but he loves us all so much).
• The culture contains plants, animals, and man made goods that couldn't have been there?
• There are huge urban centers for which no credible evidence has ever been found.
• Jesus gives a sermon that word for word matches the Bible which Joseph Smith later said was an incorrect translation.
  
• The geography described is a rip-off of the local geography of Smith's home.
• The claim is made that Israelites are primary ancestors of Native Americans (though I hear they're editing that little blunder out these days) even though DNA evidence absolutely proves otherwise.
• There is population growth at a rate that shouldn't be possible.
• Witnesses claim to have seen the book even though other witnesses said Smith was a

  "ne'er-do-well knock-about who picked up money by convincing gullible farmers that he could find buried treasure on their lands through his magical powers and his "peep stone" (the same stone with which he claimed to have translated the sacred golden plates)."(http://packham.n4m.org/witness.htm)

• There are countless other problems. See: http://mormonthink.com/bomweb.htm (Mormon run site) for more info on much of what I've listed as well as additional problems.

You mean that Book of Mormon?

Yeah.

Not buying it.

Besides, I wholeheartedly believe the Church is not true, and that Joseph Smith was a lecherous con man. It's not hard to make the jump to not believing in the Book of Mormon. But, if it appeases the believers out there any better than talking about the facts I can also tell you this: I prayed about the truth of the church (and that includes the Book of Mormon). And the answer I got (silence) to me means either it isn't true or that God is a kind of an ass hole for not telling me even though I sincerely asked, praying with real intent as per the "Book of Mormon promise."

"Ah! But you got an answer at one time telling you that it is true" say the critics.

And Pentecostals speak in tongues, jihadhists are getting a bunch of virgins in heaven, and God told this guy to told to cut off somebody's head. Isn't it awfully arrogant for me to think the rest of the world is deluding themselves but not me?

And so, for humor's sake, I leave you with this quote from Mark Twain:

"The book is a curiosity to me, it is such a pretentious affair, and yet so "slow," so sleepy; such an insipid mess of inspiration. It is chloroform in print. If Joseph Smith composed this book, the act was a miracle--keeping awake while he did it was, at any rate. If he, according to tradition, merely translated it from certain ancient and mysteriously-engraved plates of copper, which he declares he found under a stone, in an out-of-the-way locality, the work of translating was equally a miracle, for the same reason." http://truthandgrace.com/twainbom.htm