Evidence Central: Overeducated vs common sense

"The overeducated are worse off than the undereducated, having traded common sense for the illusion of knowledge." - @naval

Prominent Latter-day Saint intellectuals, including both historians and Book of Mormon scholars, are overeducated. They keep trying to persuade Church members to accept their illusion of knowledge that Joseph Smith didn't really translate anything, that he merely read words that appeared on a stone he put in a hat, and that the hill Cumorah is in Mexico.

For those who believe Joseph Smith was a prophet, it's common sense to accept what he and Oliver Cowdery taught. They said Joseph translated the engravings on the ancient plates that he obtained from the hill Cumorah--the same hill where the Jaredites and Nephites fought their final battles.

This is the problem of prophets vs scholars.

The text of the Book of Mormon supports whatever you want to believe. There is plenty of external evidence to support whatever you want to believe. 

That's how bias confirmation works. 

Decide whom you want to believe. The evidence will follow. 

Do you believe prophets or scholars? 

_____

Do you believe:

(i) people with personal experience (Joseph and Oliver) 

or 

(ii) scholars two hundred years later who consult scraps of documentary evidence to concoct their own theories?

_____

If you're an overeducated Latter-day Saint, bias confirmation prevents you from understanding how anyone could still believe what Joseph and Oliver taught. 

That's how we ended up with Evidence Central--brought to you by the mark of M2C. We'll discuss it more next week.