Martin Tanner – Why I Believe in the Mesoamerican Theory of the Book of Mormon

It is our privilege to have Martin Tanner as our special guest at this conference. As many of you have listened to him on the radio for years, you know he is always fair, well versed in many subjects, and defends the Gospel of Jesus Christ with his entire soul. What makes him unique to our conference is that he believes the Book of Mormon events happened in Mesoamerica. I think it is awesome that he has agreed to share his reasons why with our group. I feel there is too much wrangling back and forth on who is right and who is wrong about geography. We all love the Book of Mormon and we should love and respect each other. Thank you Martin for stepping up to the plate and sharing with us.
For 30 years, since 1990, Martin Tanner has hosted the Religion Today Show on KSL Radio, broadcast every Sunday at 6:30 AM, and 9:30 PM, available in podcast on KSL.com, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify and many other podcast sites. The Religion Today Show was again in 2020 rated number eight on the list of the 100 best religious podcasts.
Martin’s Religion Today Show topics include science and religion, Biblical archaeology, LDS doctrine and history, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Nag Hammadi Library, early Christian manuscripts, extra-Biblical Christian and Jewish literature, translation and transmission of the Bible and Book of Mormon, the Book of Abraham and many others.
Martin Tanner is a member of the board of editors of The Interpreter Foundation, an LDS organization which provides scholarly information on LDS topics and responds to critics.
Martin is co-founder and Chair of IANDS of Utah, a 501(c)(3) organization, that has been studying Near-death experiences since 1989. He is on the board of directors of The International Association for Near-Death Studies, headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.
Martin has published articles on a variety of religious topics and debated critics of the Church on TV, radio and university campuses, including Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Reverend James White, Kurt Van Gorden, Frank Zindler (then president of American Atheists), Anne Gaylor (founder of Freedom from Religion) and many others. Martin Tanner served in the Japan, Nagoya Mission. He received a BA in Finance from the University of Utah and a JD from J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University.