Bitcoin, The Book of Mormon, and FUD

In 2008 a gift was given to the world by Satoshi Nakamoto that has the power to change lives in all nations irrespective of ethnicity, gender or color. That gift was Bitcoin!

Bitcoin is still not very well known or understood, and to many Bitcoin is downright SCARY!
Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt or FUD as its commonly known has been Bitcoin's common enemy which has been perpetuated by individuals and institutions to steer the masses away from it.

“Bitcoin Is Worthless, Bubble May Pop Soon” - Allianz Global

Crypto is for “Crooks” and “Dirty Politicians” - Vasant Prabhu, Visa, Inc Executive VP/CFO

“Crypto Is Not Currency” - President Raphael Bostic, The Atlanta Federal Reserve

So why all the FUD, and is it justified? Bitcoin is a decentralized currency which means it's not owned by single person or institution, transactions are public, there will never be more than 21 million coins supplied. This, in essence, challenges the main stream monetary system whereby consumers can now deposit, withdraw, transfer and make purchases with a financial asset (ie Bitcoin) outside of the banking system.

I recently opened a trading account with a broker in the UK and in order to deposit funds from the U.S I had the option to wire money from my bank to theirs. This would have potentially taken up to 3 days and cost anywhere from $15 – $30. Fortunately, there was another option to deposit funds using Bitcoin which I did and my trading account was funded within 40 minutes. The transfer fee was negligible, in fact, I didn’t actually notice the charge it was so small. Having grown up in Africa this made me reflect on all the money transfers I have made back home over the years where I had to pay extortionate fees to send money to the motherland. What a breakthrough this is for my fellow internationals who have to send money abroad regularly out of necessity. Now I’m not a Crook or a Dirty politician, this real-world example of transfering money Internationally saved me time and and high fees so can you honestly tell me Bitcoin is worthless?

My experience in watching bitcoin mature into the mainstream against a river unjustified vilification of the technology reminded me a lot of the Book of Mormon and the FUD that has surrounded it for over a century.

The Book of Mormon is another gift that was given to the world through a modern-day prophet named Joseph Smith who founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the 19th Century. The Book of Mormon is revered by Latter Day Saints as modern-day scripture and is another testament of Jesus Christ. It was through The Book of Mormon that I came to believe in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Bible where prior to this I was skeptical an unsure of both. When I first started reading the Book of Mormon I was surprised to find it filled with references to Jesus Christ, I guess I didn’t know what to expect but that really stood out. In fact, within the 531 pages of a standard book of Mormon, there are 101 appellations for Jesus which are found in the 3,925 references of him in the books 6,607 verses. Having read The Book of Mormon I can confirm that it is convincing evidence of Jesus Christ divine call and confirms the truthfulness of teachings of Jesus Christ found in The Holy Bible.

Unfortunately, many will never come to this knowledge because of the masters of FUD. I was in a Marriot Hotel lobby recently and mentioned to my colleague (as we are on the business trip) that there was probably a Book of Mormon in his room nightstand. His response was “well I’m actually Baptist” and we left it at that. I later reflected on that moment and thought well Baptists believe in Jesus, The Book of Mormon is clearly centered on Jesus so why wouldn’t a Baptist or any other Christian want to avoid it. The simple answer again is FUD. Many Christians have been taught that Joseph Smith was a fraud, The Book of Mormon is a plagiarism of other works, all Gods words are contained in the Holy Bible and there is no need for God to call another prophet and so on. In all honesty, one could pick out an infinite amount of problems with The Book of Mormon, but in reality, anyone could do the same for the Holy Bible and any other religious book for that matter. Ultimately the FUD machine continues to keep many honest believers in Jesus Christ from gaining additional light and knowledge concerning him.

One must ask if The Book of Mormon is a complete fraud then why does the LDS Church continue to grow year on year and gain over 200,000 converts annually. How are so many convinced of the Church’s teachings in an age of information where the critic's persuasive evidence is so easy to find. What is it that makes new converts look past that and become members. My personal belief is that once a person honestly investigates The Book of Mormon and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints they will come to know for themselves that there is a lot more goodness and truth within the Church than the critics are willing to acknowledge.

Having personally received an expanded view and deeper belief in Jesus Christ through The Book of Mormon I long for my Christian and non-Christian friends to read it so they to gain a deeper spiritual insight into the reality of the living Christ. I do not say this a sly ploy to make new Mormon converts but to let the world know especially those who believe and have faith in Jesus Christ that there is another convincing testament of him that can build and strengthen their faith and belief in him.

Picture Source: Pixabay - Mohamed Hassan, LDS.org - Gospel Art