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| | #REDIRECT[[Joseph Smith and folk magic or the occult#How did Joseph Smith use his seer stones as a youth?]] |
| {{Resource Title|Joseph's use of the seer stone as a youth}}
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| {{JosephSmithPortal}}
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| <onlyinclude>
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| == ==
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| {{QA label}}
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| {{:Question: How did Joseph use his seer stones as a youth?}}
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| {{:Source:Gardner:Joseph the Seer:2009 FAIR Conference:long before golden plates complicated his position as a local seer}}
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| {{:Question: Did Joseph place his seer stone in his hat while looking for lost objects?}}
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| {{:Question: How many seer stones did Joseph Smith have in his possession?}}
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| {{:Question: What did Joseph Smith's seer stones look like?}}
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| {{:Question: How were Joseph Smith's seer stones involved in the translation of the Book of Mormon?}}
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| {{:Source:Kenneth W. Godfrey:A New Prophet and a New Scripture:Ensign:January 1988:Once Martin found a rock closely resembling the seerstone}}
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| {{:Question: Why did Joseph eventual stop using the seer stones to receive revelation?}}
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| {{:Question: Are there any Biblical parallels to Joseph's understanding of the use of seer stones?}}
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| {{:Question: What happened to Joseph Smith's seer stones?}}
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| | | <!-- PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE --> |
| ==Question: Has the Church tried to hide Joseph's use of a seer stone?==
| | [[es:El Libro de Mormón/Traducción/Piedras vidente]] |
| | | [[de:Das Buch Mormon/Übersetzung/Sehersteine]] |
| The stone is mentioned occasionally in Church publications, but is rarely (if ever) discussed in the 21st century in venues such as Sunday School, nor is it portrayed in any Church-related artwork. Part of the reason for this is the conflation of the Nephite interpreters and the seer stone under the name "Urim and Thummim." In church, we discuss the Urim and Thummim with the assumption that it is always the instrument that Joseph recovered with the plates. Only those familiar with the sources will realize that there was more than one translation instrument.
| | [[pt:O Livro de Mórmon/Tradução/Pedra vidente]] |
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| That said, the Church has been very frank about the seer stone's use, though the ''product'' of the translation of the Book of Mormon is usually given much more attention that the ''process''. Note the mention of the stone in the official children's magazine, ''The Friend'' (available online at lds.org):
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| <blockquote>
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| "To help him with the translation, Joseph found with the gold plates “a curious instrument which the ancients called Urim and Thummim, which consisted of two transparent stones set in a rim of a bow fastened to a breastplate.” '''Joseph also used an egg-shaped, brown rock for translating called a seer stone.'''" <br>—“A Peaceful Heart,” ''Friend'', Sep 1974, 7 {{link|url=http://www.lds.org/friend/1974/09/a-peaceful-heart}}
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| </blockquote>
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| Text translated with the Nephite interpreters was lost with the 116 pages given to Martin Harris—see {{s||DC|3||}}. The Church's ''Historical Record'' records Joseph's use of the seer stone to translate all of our current Book of Mormon text:
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| :As a chastisement for this carelessness [loss of the 116 pages], the Urim and Thummim was taken from Smith. But by humbling himself, he again found favor with the Lord and was presented a strange oval-shaped, chocolate colored stone, about the size of an egg, but more flat which it was promised should answer the same purpose. With this stone all the present book was translated. [Note that the chronology of Joseph's acquisition of the stone is here somewhat confused. The use of the stone, however, is clearly indicated.]<ref>''The Historical Record. Devoted Exclusively to Historical, Biographical, Chronological and Statistical Matters'' (LDS Church Archives), 632.</ref>
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| References to the stone are not confined to the distant past. Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Twelve Apostles described the process clearly in an ''Ensign'' article:
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| :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.<ref>David Whitmer, ''An Address to All Believers in Christ'' (Richmond, Mo.: n.p., 1887), 12; cited in {{Ensign1|author=Russell M. Nelson|article=[https://www.lds.org/ensign/1993/07/a-treasured-testament?lang=eng A Treasured Testament]|date=July 1993|start=61}}</ref>
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| It would be strange to try to hide something by having an apostle talk about it, and then send the account to every LDS home in the official magazine!
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| <videoflash>6LZG2qqwL3o</videoflash>
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| ====Other mentions in Church materials====
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| Similar material is also found in other Church publications, some of which are included below:
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| * {{Ensign1|author=Richard Lloyd Anderson|article=[https://www.lds.org/ensign/1977/09/by-the-gift-and-power-of-god?lang=eng ‘By the Gift and Power of God’]|date=September 1977|start=79}}
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| * Hyrum Andrus, ''Joseph Smith, the Man, the Seer'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1960), 102. {{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/contents/815}}
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| * {{FR-6-1-14}}<!--Hamblin-->
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| * {{BYUS|author=Marvin S. Hill|article=Money-Digging Folklore and the Beginnings of Mormonism: An Interpretative Suggestion|vol=24|num=4|date=Fall 1984|start=?|end=??}}{{GL|url=http://gospelink.com/library/document/90430}}
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| * {{IE1|author=Francis W. Kirkham|article=The Manner of Translating The BOOK of MORMON|date=1939}} {{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/document/68715}}
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| * Joseph Fielding McConkie, Craig J. Ostler, ''Revelations of the Restoration: A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants and Other Modern Revelations'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Co., 2000), D&C 9. {{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/contents/1199}}
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| * {{JBMS-2-2-14}}<!--Ricks-->
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| * {{DFS1|article=A Brief Debate on the Book of Mormon|vol=1|start=350}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/doc?doc_id=205446}}
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| * {{BYUS1|author=Royal Skousen|article=Towards a Critical Edition of the Book of Mormon|start=52|date=Winter 1990|vol=30|num=1}}{{GL1|url=http://gospelink.com/library/document/90737}}
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| </onlyinclude>
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| {{endnotes sources}}
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