In 1832 Joseph Smith wrote “/ by searching the scriptures I found that mand <mankind> did not come unto the Lord but that they had apostatised from the true and liveing faith and there was no society or denomination that built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the new testament?”
In 1838 Joseph Smith wrote about wondering which church he should join,“(for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all [denominations] were wrong.)”
The Book of Mormon includes verses that are identical to original biblical passages that were later changed in Joseph Smith’s translation of the bible. The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible left the Book of Mormon passage matching the uncorrected biblical passage.
Prior to 2006 the introduction to the Book of Mormon stated that the Lamanites are the principal ancestors of the American Indians. However DNA analysis has concluded that Native American Indians do not originate from the Middle East or from Israelites but rather from Asia and the introduction to the Book of Mormon was reworded to reflect the new evidence.
The Book of Mormon was dictated by Joseph Smith who placed a brown stone, which he found while digging a well, into a hat and speaking to his scribes. The gold plates were never seen in the same room during this process.
In 1832 Joseph Smith recorded a first vision account in which his primary purpose in praying was to ask for forgiveness of his sins, he was 15 years old, and he had decided by reading the scriptures that there was no society or denomination on the earth that agreed with the bible.
The majority of the Papyrus that Joseph Smith used to create the Book of Abraham were found in 1966 and given to the Church. The Church anxiously allowed them to be studied by Egyptologists in the hopes it would be the evidence needed to prove Joseph Smith was a true prophet. They were found to be common funerary texts and had no resemblance to the translation made by Joseph Smith.
Abraham 1:12 and 14 refer directly to facsimile 1. Facsimile 1 has been preserved and is available to Egyptologists who now have access to the Rosetta stone. “...these three facsimiles of Egyptian documents in the Pearl of Great Price depict the most common objects in the Mortuary religion of Egypt. Joseph Smith’s interpretations of them as part of a unique revelation through Abraham, therefore, very clearly demonstrates that he was totally unacquainted with the significance of these documents and absolutely ignorant of the simplest facts of Egyptian writing and civilization.” – Dr. James H. Breasted, University of Chicago
Joseph Smith began the practice of polygamy. During his life he married an estimated 34 women of which 11 were already married to other living men. Believing apologists claim that only 6 polyandrous marriages (marriage to a married woman) can be proven without doubt.
The “doctrine” of polygamy is outlined in D&C 132. If a man marries a virgin and desires another wife, the first wife must have the opportunity to consent to the marriage. If the first wife doesn’t consent she will be “destroyed” and the husband is exempt and may still take an additional wife. Also, the new wife must be a virgin before the marriage and be completely monogamous after the marriage or she will be destroyed. Also polygamy is permitted only “to multiply and replenish the earth” and “bear the souls of men”.
Joseph Smith said in 1844 "...What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers." – History of the Church, Vol. 6, Chapter 19, p. 411
The Doctrine and Practice of polygamy was denied in the 1835 Doctrine & Covenants 101:4: “Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again.”
Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young claimed to have been married to Henry Jacobs on March 7, 1841. In a signed affidavit she claimed that her brother Dimick Huntington then came to her with a story from Joseph Smith “Tell Zina I have put it off and put it off until an angel with a drawn sword has stood before me and told me if I did not establish that principle [plurality of wives] and live it, I would lose my position and my life and the Church could progress no further.” She was sealed to Joseph Smith by Dimick on October 27, 1841, while 7 mos pregnant with Henry’s child. She then married Brigham Young after Joseph’s death. She remained married to Henry throughout her life.