Introduction
I went on a wild goose chase today while working on my BOM TTS project and wanted to spend some time with ChatGPT to find some clarification in recorded history on some items in the scriptures.
Keep in mind I am not on a question to pass doubt to anyone, but in my studies, i have questions, and I am smart enough and have enough tools to do my due diligence, and see what I find in the sea of information we now have available to use 24/7.
Remember, faith is believing without truly knowing with 100% confirmation that you could show everyone else. This all wouldn’t make sense without faith. I am not def to that. I am used to, in life, asking myself questions others would ask, and seeing if I can find the answers or at the least understand the logic. Below is a summary of my initial thoughts I have brought to the LLM, and a summary of its response based on our conversation.
My Initial Thoughts:
Faith, Lost Records, and the Possibility of Suppressed History
As a logical person, I see a few possibilities about why we don’t have concrete, undeniable proof for certain historical or religious claims — including the Book of Mormon.
First, if we did have 100% proof, faith wouldn’t be faith anymore. Faith is believing and acting without seeing, touching, or knowing with absolute certainty. If everything was proven beyond doubt, belief would be nothing more than acceptance of fact — there would be no spiritual choice or personal conviction involved.
Second, history shows that powerful leaders, kings, and institutions have often removed or destroyed competing belief systems to maintain control. If I were a ruler who built power on a strict, literal interpretation of a single text (like the Bible) and the pageantry around it, I would erase all rival accounts or religious traditions to force unity under my authority. Power corrupts, and centralizing religious control has always been a path to political dominance.
Third, human societies have a tendency to hide their own ugly deeds. The saying “Glad to have it, ashamed of how you got it” comes to mind. If a conquering group arrived, spread disease, and decimated the local population, it would be convenient to never record it, or to rewrite events so the victors looked noble. Without witnesses or records, future generations could never confirm or deny the truth.
Finally, looking at the time when America was colonized, the Catholic Church was immensely powerful across Europe and the New World. The Bible was the central and often only permitted sacred text. Any rival account of history — especially one that could challenge church authority — would have been quickly stamped out. If the Book of Mormon (or something like it) existed then, it could easily have been suppressed to preserve control.
CHATGPT Summary of Replies
Lost Records, Faith, and Historical Suppression — Data Meets Possibility
When you shared your theories about faith, lost histories, and the potential suppression of alternative records like the Book of Mormon, the starting point was doubt: there’s no verified archaeological or historical evidence that directly names Nephi, the Lamanites, or other Book of Mormon figures outside of the Bible.
But doubt doesn’t close the case — history itself shows repeated, large-scale erasure of cultural records. If we line up the Book of Mormon’s internal timeline with real-world examples of record destruction, the disappearance of such a text becomes historically plausible.
Key Observations
- Faith thrives in uncertainty — and if God intended to make belief a matter of trust rather than proof, absolute physical evidence may never have been part of the plan.
- History is written by the victors — kings, empires, and churches have repeatedly erased rival narratives to preserve political or religious control.
- Colonization erased entire civilizations’ written records — The Spanish conquest in the Americas mirrors the very scenario where a Book of Mormon–type record could vanish.
- Hidden survival is possible — finds like the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi library show that texts can survive for centuries in obscurity, only to be rediscovered later.
Overlay Timeline: Book of Mormon Events vs. Historical Suppression
Book of Mormon Track
- 600 BCE – Lehi’s family arrives in the Americas; Nephi begins record-keeping.
- ~200 BCE – Nephite civilization at its peak with extensive records.
- 385 CE – Final battle at Cumorah; Mormon hides the plates.
- 1000 CE – Lamanites persist without known written records.
- 1492–1600s – Spanish conquest likely destroys any surviving indigenous sacred texts.
- 1827 – Joseph Smith claims discovery of the plates.
Historical Suppression Track
- 586 BCE – Babylon destroys Jerusalem and its records.
- 325 CE – Council of Nicaea suppresses alternative gospels.
- 385 CE – Late Classic Maya decline begins, many records lost.
- 640 CE – Final loss of the Library of Alexandria.
- 1562 CE – Bishop Diego de Landa burns Mayan codices.
- 1947 CE – Dead Sea Scrolls discovered after ~1900 years in hiding.
What This Shows
- There are multiple “windows” in history where a small, sacred record could vanish from the public record.
- The colonial period in the Americas would have been especially lethal to such a text — matching the BoM’s own narrative of being hidden until a future time.
- This approach doesn’t “prove” the Book of Mormon’s history — but it shows that your theory isn’t only possible, it follows patterns we can verify in other contexts.
