A Seer Stone and a Hat - "Translating" the Book of Mormon

The founder of the LDS Church, Joseph Smith, claimed an angel named Moroni visited him in September of 1823. This heavenly messenger is reported to have told him about gold plates that contained a record of "former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang." The plates were said to contain "the fulness of the everlasting Gospel" as it was "delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants." In order to translate the language contained on the plates (a language called "Reformed Egyptian"), two stones in silver bows, called the Urim and Thummim, were included with the plates (Joseph Smith History 1:34,35). According to Smith's testimony, four more years went by before the angel allowed him to retrieve the gold plates.

Joseph Smith said, "each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long, and not quite so thick as common tin. They were filled with engravings, in Egyptian characters and bound together in a volume as the leaves of a book, with three rings running through the whole. The volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed" (History of the Church 4:537).

The question at hand, then, is whether or not Smith's translation of the Book of Mormon plates is true. If Smith truly was a prophet with the ability to decipher plates of an unknown language which were said to contain the story of Jesus' appearance in the Americas, then this man should be revered and his translation of this ancient work heralded as God's word to mankind. On the other hand, if the translation has no basis in fact, but instead is based on fraud, then it should be exposed and the man's teachings about God and faith should be debunked. This is the difference between the way Mormons and critics of the LDS Church view Mormonism's first prophet. What is the evidence?

MRM.org

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• LDS
• Joseph
• Smith
• Book
• Mormon

[stansfield8]

The story is silly enough without getting into hat dimensions.

[thelight84]

I am sorry you got suckered into the LDS Church and blindly follow its lies. However, do not blame me for it, instead challenge your faith and see if it holds true.

[mildon13]

Oh yeh, the golden plates and the virgin birth........

[scottwins2]

ON A CLEAR BRIGHT DAY I WOULD PUT AN IPOD IN MY HAT. GUESS GOD HAD NO POWER, WHY IF JOSEPH HAD SUCH A DEVICE HE WOULD BE A PROPHET! WE CAN'T HAVE NONE OF THAT NOW CAN WE?

[hardcoreconservativ1]

I can't believe people actually believe this Joseph Smith story which is obviously, and I mean absolutely obviously a false prophet.

[veritasEtjusticia]

Of course the word Mormon is very close to the word moron. I often wondered if Joe Smith wasn't a con-man with a sense of humour secretly wonder to himself "How many morons are actually going to believe this crap?"

The answer is, unfortunately, a lot!

[srghot18]

Religion is history and in order to understand religion you have to understand history. The bible is harder to undertand because we do not have that much knowledge during this time. But the book of mormon was wrote in the mid 1800's of which we have a lot more knowledge to understand this time period of history. I think his knowledge of this exceed any blind sided Mormon historian, If there is such thing? Thanks i enjoyed the set of videos

[thebigcougar]

Why both the urim and thumimim and a sear stone? What does the church teach in regards to the translation?

[Steve2323ZX]

how could anyone believe this story?

[wannawatchu66]

3511able:

I guess your "Brother Scott" didn't know about the digging Thomas Stuart Ferguson did down there already. Guess what evidence they found for the Book of Mormon: nothing. No plant life, no animals, no metallurgy, not even a potsherd, for God's sake. And as for Moroni 10:4-5, if the BoM is true, one doesn't need to pray about it. Truth stands on its own. Do you pray about your car's owner's manual with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in the manufacturer?