Several of my previous “365 Reasons” posts show that materials and ideas that were available to Joseph Smith in upper New York state in the early 1800s found their way into the Book of Mormon. A recent post by someone who refers to himself as a “cultural Mormon” has facsimiles of two documents from the time of Joseph Smith that advertise and describe a “mineral compass” that might be the source for the Liahona director of the Book of Mormon. Read the post and see the newspaper article and other description here. Be sure and look at the comments.
For more information about “cultural Mormons” see The Mormon Mirage 3rd Edition: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today(Zondervan, 2009). Also available as an audiobook and as an expanded-text E-book for Nook, Kindle and other reading devices.
