Ever since Mormonism entered the scene in 1830, people have been arguing the question of whether Joseph Smith received his doctrines by direct revelation from God or whether Joseph borrowed from others in his own time and place.

Believers tend to adopt the restored by revelation idea. Non-believers tend to adopt the borrowed from others idea.

That much is not surprising. What is surprising is that in the last several years, a number of

Mormon apologists have come to adopt and even publicly espouse

the idea that Joseph got his unique doctrines of Mormonism, not from God, but from others in

his milieu. One of those top apologists is Professor Terrell Givens. We'll tell you his story tonight and how it is that Joseph Smith really created Mormonism.

That's the signpost up ahead.

Your next stop.

Mormonism Live.

Oh, yeah. Thank you,

Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you for joining us tonight. Good evening, Mr. Real. How are you doing?

I'm so good, Mr. Radio Free Mormon. How are you? I'm okay. I'm struggling with a small cold. It's affected my voice a bit. People have noticed. And so I brought in some throat lozenges tonight. Okay.

So I apologize for doing this, especially on the air, but otherwise, I'm not going to get to the end. There's going to be a lot of talking being done tonight because this is a very important episode.

In fact, I think this may be one of the most important episodes we've done here at Mormonism Live, dealing with doctrinal

issues and especially foundational doctrinal issues like how it is that Joseph Smith created

Mormonism, not just the book of Mormon, but the whole damn thing. What do you think, Mr. Real?

I just want to know if you're using natural lozenges like Ricola or if you're going with,

what brand are you using there, my friend?

I'm not sure.

I just stick anything in my mouth.

I'll tell you this, but I'll just jump into it.

I'll tell you this.

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