“Whenever I hear anyone, including myself, say, “I know the Book of Mormon is true,” I want to exclaim, “That’s nice, but it is not enough!” We need to feel, deep in “the inmost part” of our hearts, that the Book of Mormon is unequivocally the word of God. We must feel it so deeply that we would never want to live even one day without it. I might paraphrase President Brigham Young in saying, “I wish I had the voice of seven thunders to wake up the people” to the truth and power of the Book of Mormon ” President Russell M. Nelson The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life Be Like without It?
As we begin the year with studying about the Book of Mormon, may we fully immerse ourselves in it’s teachings. It does answer today’s question. Try it out, it works!
We have the Ensign beginning this year with some great information as well. It seems in the Bicentennial year of the First vision, our leaders are urging us to make the Book of Mormon the center of our lives in learning that Jesus is the Christ.
I have several friends who have shared some interesting things about this “most correct book”. I share them below:
Jonathan Neville:
| “Moroni’s America” – The North American Setting for the Book of Mormon Jaanuary 2020 Ensign Posted: 02 Jan 2020 |
The January 2020 Ensign is awesome. It’s full of helpful articles about Church history and the Book of Mormon.You can download a .pdf file here: https://media.ldscdn.org/pdf/magazines/ensign-january-2020/2020-01-0000-ensign-eng.pdf?lang=eng The timeline titled “Seeing the Lord’s Hand” starting on page 22 is a wonderful summary of world events leading up to the Restoration and the present day.One of the nice features is the section that correlates with each week of the Come Follow Me curriculum.This graphic on page 35 is a nice introduction to the world Lehi and his family left.It points out that Jerusalem had a population estimated at 25,000, which was considered “big by ancient standards.”Keep that in mind as we study the Book of Mormon this year.There’s an article titled “Have the Greatest Year with the Greatest Book” that includes good idea about how to improve our study. One tagline reads “Decide now to make 2020 the year you and your family immerse yourselves in the Book of Mormon.”I encourage people to read the Ensign regularly, especially this year when we’re all focused on the Book of Mormon.
_____As awesome as the January Ensign is, people have contacted me with concerns about the M2C artwork and revisionist Church history inside.We have to expect this to continue. It’s not a big deal. Most readers don’t even notice. Some of our M2C intellectuals and their followers will claim this as a “victory” or something, which is bizarre.One example is an article about the translation. If you want to know about the translation, you’re far better off reading the original sources from Joseph and Oliver than the theories of others. Here’s an excellent resource: https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/site/the-gold-plates-and-the-translation-of-the-book-of-mormon Back to the Ensign. On page 40, we read this: Joseph himself did not elaborate about the process of translation, but Oliver, David, and Emma provided some additional information. Oliver said: “These were days never to be forgotten—to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from [Joseph’s] mouth, as he translated with the Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, ‘Interpreters,’ the history or record called ‘The Book of Mormon’” ( Joseph Smith—History 1:71, note).
So far, so good. a quotation from the scriptures, written by Oliver Cowdery, unambiguously establishing that Joseph translated the text with the Nephite interpreters they called the Urim and Thummim.
But then we read this: The “interpreters” used by Joseph during the translation process included the “two stones in
silver bows” that were deposited by Moroni with the plates (see Joseph Smith—History 1:35.) In addition to these two seer stones, Joseph used at least one other seer stone that the Lord had provided.7
The Lord provided? Where is there any evidence that Joseph, or Oliver, or anyone else claimed the Lord provided this stone? This is the seer stone Joseph allegedly found in a well.Look at footnote 7.See Richard E. Turley Jr., Robin S. Jensen, and Mark Ashurst-McGee, “Joseph the Seer,”
Ensign, Oct. 2015, 48–55. You can read that article here:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2015/10/joseph-the-seer?lang=eng It’s a great article, overall, but it started a theme that continues to cause a lot of confusion in the Church. For example, the article says In another Book of Mormon account, Alma the Younger gives the interpreters to his son Helaman. “Preserve these interpreters,” Alma counsels him, referring to the two stones in silver bows. But Alma also quotes a prophecy that appears to refer to a single stone: “And the Lord said: I will prepare unto my servant Gazelem, a stone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light.”(Alma 37:21, 23). But the original version of Alma 37 did not say interpreters. It said directors. The language was changed in 1920. When Oliver Cowdery said “interpreters” he could not have been referring to Alma 37.The article also claimed this: By 1833, Joseph Smith and his associates began using the biblical term “Urim and Thummim” to refer to any stones used to receive divine revelations, including both the Nephite interpreters and the single seer stone.17 [No where in the Book of Mormon does it say Urim and Thummim]. This imprecise terminology has complicated attempts to reconstruct the exact method by which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. Note 17 refers to the Wilford Woodruff account of seeing the Urim and Thummim in Nauvoo, but Woodruff never said he saw a seer stone. Besides, as anyone knows who has read the 1834 book Mormonism Unvailed, there was a clear difference between the Urim and Thummim and the seer or “peep” stones that everyone understood. That’s why it is significant–critical–that Joseph and Oliver always said Joseph translated with the Urim and Thummim and never said he translated with a seer stone. The January Ensign article continues.
Cover based on content of translation article David Whitmer, whose family provided a place for Joseph and Oliver to complete the work of translation, provided this additional information: “Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man.” 8
Look at footnote 8.8. Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, 12 Interested readers will naturally follow up with David Whitmer’s book, available here, which teaches that “Joseph Smith… after being called of God to translate his sacred word–the Book of Mormon–drifted into many errors and gave many revelations to introduce doctrines, ordinances and office in the church, which are in conflict with Christ’s teachings… Joseph Smith drifting into errors after translating the Book of Mormon is a stumbling block to many…”Obviously, the Ensign does not condone that part of David Whitmer’s book, but why accept uncritically any of that book? Why refer readers to it at all?I’ll have more to discuss on that in upcoming days.Source: About Central America by Jonathan Neville
David Allan
In addition to the problems Jonathan mentioned, there are two more corrections. [Jan 2020 Ensign]
Page 34 the book of Moroni contains three chapters written by his father, Mormon, 7-9.
Page 39 the bottom of 2nd paragraph mentions, “the plates remained safely in Joseph’s hands until the translation was completed…”
The large plates of Nephi were delivered to a messenger at Harmony. Then the small plates (unabridged) were delivered to Joseph at Harmony.
Jams and Hannah Stoddard
Seer Stone v. Urim & Thummim Book of Mormon Translation on Trial
L. Hannah Stoddard James F. Stoddard III Joseph Smith Foundation®
Two Conflicting Narratives
“Take away the Book of Mormon, and the revelations, and where is
our religion? We have none . . .” (Joseph Smith, traditionalist)1
“It seems safe to assume that without the Book of Mormon, there
would be no Mormonism.” (Grant Hardy, progressive)2
Upon one point, we seem to all agree. Yes, the believers, the unbelievers, the traditionalists, and the progressives. We all share this lonely, yet paradisical, island of common ground. Without the Book of Mormon, there is no Restoration, and for true believers, there is no foundation for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Book of Mormon is the central focus for both progressives, as well as traditionalists. This Book of books is the battle line.
For 190 years The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its leaders have put forth the overwhelmingly dominant position that Joseph Smith translated Nephite characters engraven on ancient plates from whence came the Book of Mormon. Faithful leaders and members have agreed that the Nephites and Lamanites were actual peoples living on the American continent and that their prophets produced physical, tangible records, which were abridged by the prophet-historian, Mormon, who engraved characters upon metal plates “hav[ing] the appearance of gold.”3
In the traditional narrative, the characters engraven on the plates represented the written language of the ancient Nephites (reformed Egyptian4). These characters were translated into the English language by the Prophet Joseph, who used the Nephite interpreters, called the Urim and Thummim. Since its inception, the official history of the Church describes the Prophet Joseph Smith and his family as coming from worthy, hard-working, and God-devoted New England stock.5 The Smith family was honest, industrious, pure-minded, and holy. For them, treasure seeking, folk and ritual magic, alcoholism, and other unworthy practices and pursuits were unthinkable. Since before the publication of the Book of Mormon, there have always been detractors and those antagonistic toward the Prophet Joseph Smith who have promoted a different narrative. In one flavor or another, all of these detractors have certain elements in common.
According to their viewpoint:
- The Nephite nation may, or may not, have existed; no one
knows with any certainty. - There either were no plates, the Prophet fabricated plates, or
there were authentic plates, but those plates were rarely, if ever,
used during the translation process. - Critics of the traditional Restoration narrative have also
portrayed the Prophet’s father, Joseph Smith Sr., as an
unmoored, indolent, treasure digger who descended from a
superstitious, magic-ridden ancestry.6 They claim the Smith
family was unprincipled, deceptive, wandering, and average;
simply a reflection of the lower elements of their culture.7 - Joseph Smith Jr. allegedly continued the “family tradition” by acting as the “village seer”8 and by engaging in magic, treasure digging, and other occultic practices. These activities led him on a “pathway to prophethood.”9
- Finally, Joseph Smith did not use, or rarely used, the Urim and Thummim (or Jaredite—Nephite interpreters) preferring
- instead the use of an occultic seer stone. What is the occult? Occultic activities are those “relating to magical powers and activities, such as those of witchcraft and astrology”10 and “any system claiming use or knowledge of secret or supernatural powers or agencies.”11
Notes
1 Joseph Smith, Minute Book 1, 21 April 1834, 44, The Joseph Smith Papers;
capitalization modernized.
2 Grant Hardy, “Textual Criticism and the Book of Mormon,” in Foundational Texts of Mormonism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018), 37.
3 Joseph Smith, “Church History,” Times and Seasons 3 (March 1, 1842): 707.
4 See Mormon 9:32; emphasis added. “And now, behold, we [Mormon and Moroni] have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.”
5 Joseph Fielding Smith, Essentials in Church History (Deseret Book, 1960), 25-31.
6 Richard L. Bushman and Jed Woodworth, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 26-27, 42, 48-52, 54-55, 57, 69. See also, “Was Joseph Smith Sr. a Weak and Failed Father? A ‘Rough Stone Rolling’ Response,” Latter-day Answers, February 17, 2017, accessed December 2018, http://ldsanswers.org/wasjoseph-smith-sr-a-weak-and-failed-father-a-rough-stone-rolling-response/.
7 E. D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville: E. D. Howe, 1834), 11-13.
8 Ronald W. Walker, “Joseph Smith: The Palmyra Seer,” BYU Studies Quarterly24, no. 4 (1984),https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol24/iss4/5.
9 Mark Ashurst-McGee, A Pathway to Prophethood: Joseph Smith Junior as Rodsman, Village Seer, and Judeo-Christian Prophet, Master’s thesis (2000).
10 “OCCULT | Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary,” Cambridge
Dictionary, accessed February 2019, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/ english/occult.
11 “Occult,” Dictionary.com, accessed February 2019, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/occult.
Ultimate Question
Whay is it so important for me to know whether Joseph used the Urim and Thummim or a seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon?
Truth is truth. These two sacred stones were preserved from the time of Jared (Ether 3:23-24) through the time of the Nephites Alma 37:24) and then given to Joseph (JSH 1:35) to utilize as the means the Lord provided to translate these sacred plates. No mention is ever made by any person that “a” seer stone was to be used for translation. Why would scholars make something up? So even if Joseph had a seer stone, many in his day had one also, but Joseph never used it to translate.
Many of these scholars who say Joseph used a seer stone equate that with folk magic. See this video that does just that: The narrator in the video below is Stephen O. Smoot of Book of Mormon Central. At about 1:43 of the video he says, “Joseph began translating with another seer stone he had used in money digging and folk magic practices during his youth.” I believe this is absolutely wrong. We are now teaching that our great Prophet Joseph Smith was into fold magic in his youth? I don’t think so.
I suggest brothers and sisters that you not get mad at these scholars, but pray for them. They are seemingly preaching doctrine that the history does not support. Remember our Prophets and Apostles will not lead us astray. The scholars may blind the eyes of men, but not the eyes of God. Maybe it is a test of you and I to not judge these people and gain our own deep testimony of the proper methods of translation so we can be a teacher of truth in these last days.
