Jerry Ainsworth notes that the writings of Mormon and Moroni about events of their day caused him to focus on several statements they made, which, on the surface, seem to contradict one another. One of these contradictions involves Moroni's call to the ministry. In his own book, Moroni shares a letter from his father that commences with "an epistle of my father Mormon, written to me, Moroni . . . soon after my calling to the ministry" (Moroni 8:1). Let us review the conditions that might have preceded this call:
(1) Mormon comments in his abridgment of Nephite history that by A.D. 300, both the Nephites and the Lamanites had become exceedingly wicked, the one just like the other. This was just 10 years before his birth. (4 Nephi 1:45)
(2) Mormon notes that at the age of fifteen, after being "visited of the Lord," "I did endeavor to preach unto this people, but my mouth was shut, and I was forbidden that I should preach unto them . . . But I did remain among them, but I was forbidden to preach unto them, because of the hardness of their hearts" (Mormon 1:15-17)
(3) Thirty five years later, Mormon notes that the Lord relented and told him to "cry unto this people--Repent ye, and come unto me . . . and ye shall be spared" (Mormon 3:2) However, this attempt also failed (see Mormon 3:3).
(4) As a final statement before the battles in which the Nephite nation would be destroyed, Mormon states: "there never had been so great wickedness among all the children of Lehi, nor even among all the house of Israel, according to the words of the Lord, as was among this people." (Mormon 4:12)
Ainsworth notes that if Mormon was forbidden to preach to the Nephites and Lamanites because of their wickedness, we must assume that the same prohibition existed for his son. Yet, here is a letter in which Mormon commends Moroni on his call to the ministry. Doesn't that make one wonder to whom Moroni was called to minister? Mormon's letter also implies that Mormon was apprised of Moroni's calling after the fact. Yet, Mormon, for all practical purposes, was "head of the church." How could he not have known of his son's calling to the ministry from the first? Moreover, who would have possessed the authority to call him? If Mormon and Moroni were the only righteous Nephites remaining, then who called Moroni to the ministry and for what purpose?
In addition to these apparent anomalies, Mormon's letter to Moroni indicates that Moroni had encountered disagreement over the age of children who qualified for baptism. Despite the fact that there was apparently a Church with "peaceable followers of Christ" that had "obtained a sufficient hope by which [they could] enter into the rest of the Lord" (see Moroni 7:3), apparently nobody but Mormon understood even basic doctrine concerning baptism. [Jerry L. Ainsworth, The Lives and Travels of Mormon and Moroni, pp. 34-35]