QUESTIONS FOR MORMONS: Did Joseph Smith Know the Book of Mormon Stories Before He Translated the Gold Plates? Latter-day Saints often point to the stories in the Book of Mormon as proof that Joseph Smith could not have been the author of this book, because they assert that it was impossible for a 14-year old boy to create all of these stories on his own. While we agree with Mormons that Joseph Smith could not have created the stories in the Book of Mormon all by himself, he did not have to create them all by scratch because these stories were already published in popular books of his age. Joseph Smith's own mother, Lucy Mack Smith, recounts how, as a boy in their home many years before he received the gold plates, Joseph Smith would often repeat and elaborate on these popular stories in such a way that it seemed "as if he had spent his whole life among them." So, while yet as a boy, Joseph Smith's own mother testifies to his ability to speak of these stories about the "ancient inhabitants of this continent... with as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life among them" (History of Joseph Smith by His Mother Lucy Mack Smith, p. 83). Yet, at the time when Joseph Smith was growing up, retelling and recreating these stories in his home, the gold plates of the Book of Mormon had not yet been obtained by Joseph Smith. With such a vivid imagination, coupled with the evidence of popular stories, similar to the stories found in the Book of Mormon circulating at the time and in the region of Joseph Smith's childhood, is it any wonder critics allege that Joseph Smith plagiarized the stories in the Book of Mormon? This video is taken from the Mainstream Mormonism Radio Program entitled, "The Proof of Plagiarism in the Book of Mormon". You can listen to this show at LeeBaker.4Mormon.org.