Ammon the Missionary - The story so bad it caused me to lose my faith in God
Chapters 17 and 18 of Alma in the Book of Mormon describe Ammon's intention to convert the Lamanites to the knowledge of God, since they were in a sorry state:
Alma 17:15
"Thus they were a very indolent people, many of whom did worship idols, and the curse of God had fallen upon them because of the traditions of their fathers;"
So Ammon goes to the Lamanites, and they capture him. Their leader, King Lamoni, ask him what he is doing there to which he responds:
Alma 17: 23-24
"And Ammon said unto him: Yea, I desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die. And it came to pass that king Lamoni was much pleased with Ammon, and caused that his bands should be loosed; and he would that Ammon should take one of his daughters to wife."
He denies the offer to marry the daughter, and is instead put to work tending the king’s “flocks”. Some plunderers come and scatter the flocks. After this happens a couple times, Ammon faces the raiders with a sling and sword:
Alma 17:36-37
“But Ammon stood forth and began to cast stones at them with his sling; yea, with mighty power he did sling stones amongst them; and thus he slew a certain number of them insomuch that they began to be astonished at his power; nevertheless they were angry because of the slain of their brethren, and they were determined that he should fall; therefore, seeing that they could not hit him with their stones, they came forth with clubs to slay him.
But behold, every man that lifted his club to smite Ammon, he smote off their arms with his sword; for he did withstand their blows by smiting their arms with the edge of his sword, insomuch that they began to be astonished, and began to flee before him; yea, and they were not few in number; and he caused them to flee by the strength of his arm.”
So he kills 6 men with a sling, and cuts off the arms of "quite a few" other guys. When King Lamoni is informed of all this and sees the arms that were collected after the fight, he is amazed. to make a long story short, Ammon goes to take care of the king's horses + chariots. Later the king is converted and the two of them take off in the horses and chariots to go preach the gospel to other parts of the kingdom.
When I read this story as a 16 year old boy, I honestly thought it was pretty cool! Ammon is basically a superhero who cuts off anyone's arm that stands in his way. And he does it in the name of God! Fuck yeah!
When I read this story as a grown man, from the very start my BS detector goes off immediately:
- The whole story sounds basically like an anime. Ammon is practically unstoppable in a fight, reads the King's mind, is offered the daughter's hand in marriage immediately, is a fearless and courageous leader, and amazes the King with his preaching so much that he goes into a coma for 2 days straight.
- If I were a king and a member of an enemy tribe trespasses into my land requesting to serve me, would I really offer my daughter to him... immediately?
- Did God give Ammon the power to kill all those men? Is this something God would do? God is all powerful, so God could have given Ammon the power to convert them, or maybe scare them off instead of killing them. Why did they have to die? Is this really how God works?
- Did swords even exist during that time period? No they did not. Swords were not introduced into Americas until Spanish conquistadors came along. Indigenous Americans did have obsidian studded clubs, but they would not have been able to cut off arms.
- The Book of Mormon strongly implies the "flocks" were either sheep or goats, neither of which existed in ancient America either.
- Horses definitely did not exist in ancient America, and chariots FOR CERTAIN did not exist. Horses may have existed in ancient America LONG before the time period described in the Book of Mormon, but this story implies that there were so many they were domesticated and used in chariots. Complete nonsense.
A couple of years ago we were discussing this story in Sunday School with other grown and mature adults. At this point I was a faithful, believing member of the church, but something within me woke up and realized... This is complete bullshit. All of it. There is no universe in which this story actually happened. No way.
From here I went on to research other anachronisms in the Book of Mormon. Swords, horses, silk, flour, chariots, compasses, and on and on and on. Joseph Smith lied about the Book of Mormon, what else did he lie about? From there I researched his background from reputable sources outside the church and was unpleasantly surprised.
I couldn't stop there. I continued on to deconstruct Christianity as a whole, and then on to theism as a whole. At this point in my life, my faith in God is completely broken, and I have the ridiculous story of Ammon to thank for it.