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Detailed response to CES Letter, Book of Mormon Translation
Response to "Book of Mormon Translation Concerns & Questions"
| [[../Book of Mormon Concerns & Questions|Book of Mormon Concerns & Questions]] | A FAIR Analysis of:
[[../|Letter to a CES Director]] |
[[../First Vision Concerns & Questions|First Vision Concerns & Questions]] |
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.
—“A Peaceful Heart,” Friend, (Sep 1974), 7 off-site
—“A Peaceful Heart,” Friend, (Sep 1974), 7 off-site
[T]he Prophet possessed a seer stone, by which he was enabled to translate as well as from the Urim and Thummim, and for convenience he then used the seer stone.
—Richard Lloyd Anderson, "‘By the Gift and Power of God’," Ensign (Sep 1977): 79. off-site
—Richard Lloyd Anderson, "‘By the Gift and Power of God’," Ensign (Sep 1977): 79. off-site
Some of the Prophet Joseph’s earliest revelations came through the same means by which he translated the Book of Mormon from the gold plates. In the stone box containing the gold plates, Joseph found what Book of Mormon prophets referred to as “interpreters,” or a “stone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light” (Alma 37:23–24). He described the instrument as “spectacles” and referred to it using an Old Testament term, Urim and Thummim (see Exodus 28:30). He also sometimes applied the term to other stones he possessed, called “seer stones” because they aided him in receiving revelations as a seer. The Prophet received some early revelations through the use of these seer stones.
—Gerrit Dirkmaat (Church History Department), "Great and Marvelous Are the Revelations of God," Ensign (Jan 2013).off-site
—Gerrit Dirkmaat (Church History Department), "Great and Marvelous Are the Revelations of God," Ensign (Jan 2013).off-site
"Joseph Smith used a rock in a hat for translating the Book of Mormon"
The "Urim and Thummim" used by Joseph Smith to translate the "gold plates"
Jump to details:
- Question: Did Joseph Smith use the Nephite interpreters to translate? Or did he use his own seer stone?
- Question: What are the Nephite interpreters?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith use his own seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon?
- Question: Has the Church tried to hide Joseph's use of a seer stone?
- Gospel Topics: "Joseph placed either the interpreters or the seer stone in a hat"
- Question: Did Joseph ever place the Nephite interpreters ("Urim and Thummim") into his hat?
- Gospel Topics: "Joseph Smith and his associates often used the term 'Urim and Thummim' to refer to the single stone as well as the interpreters"
- Ensign (Jan. 2013): "He...referred to it using an Old Testament term, Urim and Thummim...He also sometimes applied the term to other stones he possessed"
- W.W. Phelps (1833): "through the aid of a pair of Interpreters, or spectacles—(known, perhaps, in ancient days as Teraphim, or Urim and Thummim)"
- Question: Which method of translation was more "believable": seer stone or Nephite interpreters?
- Question: What does the Church teach investigators and members regarding the method by which the Book of Mormon was produced?