Book of Mormon, opposition to The gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated were providentially preserved during their preparation and compilation by ancient writers (Enos 1:13; W of M 1:6-11; Alma 37:1-12). Several specific passages in the book refer to the plates being hidden or deposited in antiquity "that they might not be destroyed" (Morm. 2:17; 1:3-4; 6:6; Title Page). Nephi' was aware of some of the opposition the book would encounter in the latter days after its publication. He recorded a revelation wherein the Lord foretold the reaction of many Gentiles to this new scripture: "And because my words shall hiss forth—many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible" (2 Ne. 29:3). Nephi warned against this error (2 Ne. 28:27, 29-30) and included the Lord's response to those who would reject the Book of Mormon based upon the belief that there could be no more scripture other than what is known as the Bible 2 Ne. 29:4-14). Moroni, apparently anticipating opposition to the Nephite record, warned: "He that condemneth, let him be aware lest he shall be in danger of hell fire" (Morm. 8:17).

. . .

Most early opponents thought, as did Cole and Campbell, that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon. But they underestimated the book's religious power and narrative complexity. By 1834, after a more careful analysis of the book and an increasing number of converts, opponents to the Book of Mormon proposed another explanation for its existence. These detractors, including Philastus Hurlburt and Eber D. Howe, insisted that Joseph Smith had help in writing the book. They argued that he very likely was assisted by someone else, probably Sidney Rigdon (Howe, 290). Alexander Campbell eventually repudiated his original assessment of authorship, acknowledging that Joseph Smith could not have written the book himself, as Joseph was uneducated.

Most of those espousing this argument, especially Hurlburt and later Campbell, believed that Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon produced the book together as a conscious fraud and also argued that they used additional sources, including the work of Solomon Spaulding a theory now generally rejected) or Ethan Smith, author of View of the Hebrews (Howe, 100, 278; Brodie, 46).

Most nineteenth-century arguments against the book's ancient origin generally implied fraudulent motives by the supposed authors. In 1902 Isaac Woodbridge Riley proposed a psychological explanation (Riley). Although this naturalistic explanation held that Joseph Smith indeed wrote the book, some have argued that, because they believed the Prophet was subject to epileptic fits during his youth and to other pathological mental conditions later in life, he was not a fraud per se. Following the publication of the book, others argued there was yet another explanation. They believed some type of otherworldly influence, including Satanic power, best explained the existence of the Book of Mormon (Midgley, 103).