1of3 Structure of the Book of Mormon

Professors at BYU explain how the Book of Mormon was created by the Mormon & his son Moroni.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• LDS
• Mormon
• Jesus
• Apostle
• Conference
• Book
• of

[MrNirom]

Although this account appears to be the writing of Joseph Smith, it is actually an excerpt from a journal of William Clayton. It has been well known that the serialized History of Joseph Smith consists largely of items from other persons personal journals and other sources, collected during Joseph Smiths lifetime and continued after the Saints were in Utah, then edited and pieced together to form a history of the Prophets life in his own words.

[MrNirom]

All we can conclude from the Clayton account is that there was considerable interest in the plates, a variety of stories concerning them, and anticipation that Joseph might translate, as the conspirators claimed they hoped he would.

[MrNirom]

There is one more observation. The plates were first brought to Nauvoo on 29 April 1843. Clayton's journal entry is for 1 May 1843 and Charlotte Haven's letter is dated 2 May 1843. On Wednesday (3 May) or Thursday (4 May) the Times and Seasons noted: "Mr. Smith has had those plates, what his opinion concerning them is, we have not yet ascertained.

[MrNirom]

The gentleman that owns them has taken them away, or we should have given a fac simile of the plates and characters in this number. We are informed however, that he purposes returning them for translation; if so, we may be able yet to furnish our readers with it" The indication here is that no translation had yet occurred. It seems reasonable that what we get in Clayton's journal is largely the product of the rumor mill; hearsay, and not what actually transpired.

[Exodus314IAM]

What about the Kinderhook plates? are not these also part of the mormon past traslations?

per Joseph Smith "I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth." (History of the Church, Vol. 5 page 372)

[MrNirom]

And no EXO.. the kinderhook plates were a forgery and had nothing to do with the translation of the Book of Mormon.

Nice try though.

[GodLovedJosephSmith]

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 121:23-24

23 Wo unto all those that discomfort my people, and drive, and murder, and testify against them, saith the Lord of hosts; a generation of vipers shall not escape the damnation of hell.

24 Behold, mine eyes see and know all their works, and I have in reserve a swift judgment in the season thereof, for them all;

[MrNirom]

The best argument against Joseph's attempt to translated the Kinderhook plates is most likely that no one said anything about it at the time. A trap was laid for Joseph, but he did not step into it. Decades later, with Joseph safely dead, the conspirators came forward and announced they had 'tricked' the prophet. But, if they wanted to show Joseph up, why wait for decades to do it? Joseph didn't fall for their trap, and so there was nothing to announce.

[MrNirom]

Clayton inseparably connects the translation of the plates to the history of an imaginary skeleton nine feet tall (if taken as being interred vertically, this also coincides with Pratt's claim that part of the skeleton was fifteen feet down). Pratt also mentions a cement vase, present in no other account. Both Clayton's and Pratt's accounts contain numerous exaggerations or distortions.

[MrNirom]

First, Joseph Smith was no longer the editor of the Times and Seasons in April of 1843.

In a letter written from that city, dated 2 May 1843, Charlotte Haven said that when Joshua Moore "showed them to Joseph, the latter said that the figures or writing on them was similar to that in which the Book of Mormon was written, and if Mr. Moore could leave them, he thought that by the help of revelation he would be able to translate them."

[Exodus314IAM]

The fact that Joseph Smith was actually preparing a translation of the plates is verified by a broadside published by the Mormon newspaper, The Nauvoo Neighbor, in June, 1843. On this broadside, containing facsimiles of the plates, we find the following: "The contents of the plates, together with a Fac-simile of the same, will be published in the 'Times and Seasons,' as soon as the translation is completed."

Joseph Smith died before he could finish translating them.