Answering Objections to Islam · The Test for Any Prophecy

Joseph Smith and prophecies with deadlines

Handle with care. Handle with care with anyone who has LDS family or friends. Keep the tone analytical and stay on the record itself.

In short

1.Smith's revelations are recorded in Doctrine and Covenants and the History of the Church
2.Several named specific outcomes with time frames
3.The failures are documented in his own movement's published records
4.Specificity plus failure is decisive: the accuracy test is not met

The claim being examined

Joseph Smith founded a movement of millions on explicit revelation, and some of his revelations carried dates and named outcomes.

The Islamic position

Where he was specific, he was falsifiable — and several predictions failed. This is the fate of a claimant who is specific without genuine foreknowledge.

Analysis

Smith is the useful counter-example to Nostradamus. Nostradamus was safe because he was vague; Smith took the risk of being specific and the record shows the misses. A genuine claimant would have to be specific and unbroken — which is precisely the combination the book argues for in the following chapter. When you use this card, cite the movement's own publications rather than hostile sources.

Sources

Abu Zakariya, Forbidden Prophecies, Ch. 1 · Doctrine and Covenants; History of the Church (LDS primary sources) · Forbidden Prophecies, Ch. 1, pp. 28-34

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