Joseph's Seer Stone

The LDS Church published the printer's manuscript of the Book of Mormon this week.  Along with that printing, the Church revealed pictures of Joseph Smith's seer stone.

There has been much discussion on-line about this seer stone.

Along with releasing pictures of this stone, the Church has pre-published an October 2015 Ensign article called "Joseph the Seer" in the which they discuss the objects Joseph used to "translate" the Book of Mormon.  They article doesn't say anything significantly different than what Bushman and the essay have already stated.  Except there is one curious point to make about this Ensign article: artwork.

Along with many others, I have asked the question why we have not seen any (Church sponsored and in Church publications) artwork depicting Joseph putting the stone and his face in a hat; illustrating the most common way he "translated" the Book of Mormon.  It is not for lack of available artwork.

In the same article ("Joseph the Seer"), the authors seem to begin to answer the question, but then they don't.  The article states, "Over the years, artists have sought to portray the Book of Mormon translation, showing the participants in many settings and poses with different material objects.  Each artistic interpretation is based upon the artist's own views, research and imagination, sometimes aided by input and direction from others."  The article then shows four pieces of artwork, none of which show Joseph with his face in a hat.  And so the question remains.

Gospel Topic: Book of Mormon Translation

The Church just published a new Gospel Topic called Book of Mormon Translation.  This is the latest in a series of gospel topics addressing less-known aspects about the Church.

I've previously written about the translation process of the Book of Mormon when I reviewed Rough Stone Rolling.  I'll simply copy that review below.

The traditional story of how the Book of Mormon was translated is Joseph putting on the breastplate and Urim and Thummim, casting his gaze onto the plates and seeing the reformed Egyptian turn into English words.  Furthermore, it would seem that Joseph just knew to "put on" the breastplate and spectacles and begin the translation - but this was not so.  As Bushman states on page 63, "Developing a method took time."

The whole process is not really known.  But we do know that he copied characters; had them sent to scholars to translate and to verify.  There is also this passage from Bushman: "Neither Joseph nor Oliver explained how translation worked, but Joseph did not pretend to look at the 'reformed Egyptian' words, the language on the plates, according to the book's own description.  The plates lay covered on the table, while Joseph's head was in a hat looking at the seerstone which by this time had replaced the interpreters.  The varying explanations of the perplexing process fall roughly into two categories: composition and transcription.  The first holds that Joseph was the author of the book.  He composed it out of knowledge and imaginings collected in his own mind, perhaps aided by inspiration.  He had stuffed his head with ideas for sermons, Christian doctrine, biblical language, multiple characters, stories of adventure, social criticism, theories of Indian origins, ideas about Mesoamerican civilization, and many other matters.  During translation, he composed it all into a narrative dictated over the space of three months in Harmony and Fayette."

Bushman describes the 'composition' method, but I'm not going to quote that here.  I will quote what he wrote about 'transcription.'

"The transcription theory has Joseph Smith 'seeing' the Book of Mormon text in the seerstone or the Urim and Thummim.  He saw the words in the stone as he had seen lost objects or treasure and dictated them to his secretary.  The eyewitnesses who described translation, Joseph Knight, Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer, who was in the house during the last weeks of translation, understood translation as transcription.  Referring to the seerstone as a Urim and Thummim, Knight said: 'Now the way he translated was he put the urim and thummim into his hat and Darkned his Eyes then he would take a sentance and it would apper in Brite Roman Letters.  Then he would tell the writer and he would write it.  Then that would go away the next sentance would Come and so on.'"

"Joseph himself said almost nothing about his method but implied transcription when he said that 'the Lord had prepared spectacles for to read the Book.'  Close scrutiny of the original manuscript (by a believing scholar) seems to support transcription.  Judging from the way Cowdery wrote down the words, Joseph saw twenty to thirty words at a time, dictated them, and then waited for the next twenty to appear.  Difficult names (Zenoch, Amalickiah) were spelled out.  By any measure, transcription was a miraculous process, calling for a huge leap of faith to believe, yet, paradoxically, it is more in harmony with the young Joseph of the historical record than is composition.  Transcription theory gives us a Joseph with a miraculous gift that evolved naturally out of his earlier treasure-seeking.  The boy who gazed into stones and saw treasure grew up to become a translator who looked into a stone and saw words."

A word about the seerstone (or seer stone as found on lds.org).  The image of Joseph putting his head into his hat to see his seerstone is not a common image in the Church.  I've never even seen an image of Joseph using the Urim & Thummim and breastplate.  Rather, the image that does come to mind is Joseph gazing on the plates (sans seerstone or U&T) while Oliver sits across the table writing.  But the fact that a stone Joseph found in 1822 was being used in the translation of the Book of Mormon is an interesting one.  Bushman talks about this in his book - the theory is that Joseph learned of the Gospel in the context of the treasure and magic culture that existed at that time.

Comparing my childhood/teenage view of the translation
of the Book of Mormon with this new (to me), more accurate description of the translation is interesting. In my mind, the two views are vastly different.  My childhood view is simple and very clean.  The reality view is more enticing.  But my fundamental question is this: why, as a child, did I have to be taught the clean version of the story?  If anything, it would have been far easier to believe as a child, the story of Joseph finding a stone while digging a well and then using that stone to translate the Book of Mormon.  Perhaps the "clean" version is told so as not to distract the learner with the idea that there are seerstones just laying around the earth - rather the focus should be on the work of God.  That's just a thought.  But to finish that thought - why would the Church jump to that conclusion?  Is it because others found a seerstone too?  And to prevent others from from finding a using a seerstone (a true one or a false one)?  I don't know.  But the fact remains - the version I was taught was not the whole truth and this is not an isolated example - it's a pattern.

2 Nephi 3

December 17, 2006 - Original Post

A Choice Seer

Lehi tells his son Joseph about their forefather Joseph who was sold into Egypt. Through Joseph, many nations are blessed. From Joseph’s posterity would come Joseph Smith.

We learn many things that Joseph Smith would do. Verse 12 talks about how the Book of Mormon and the Bible would be joined together to confound false doctrines and to establish the truth. This prophecy has come true. Today, millions of copies of the Bible and Book of Mormon can be found scattered around the world. In some sets, they are even bound together as one book.

We learn that Joseph will declare repentance unto the Lamanites. Shortly after the Church was established, missionaries were sent to the Native Americans. Today, missionaries are found all over the world declaring repentance. Even I was able to take part in the fulfillment of this revelation as I served in Central American among the ancestors of the Mayans. The church in Central and South America truly is blossoming like a rose (D&C 49:24).

In summary, Joseph would “do much good, both in word and in deed” (v. 24).

Personal Application

There is not much in this chapter that can be directly applied to my life. What strengthens my testimony when I read this chapter is that I have a chance to reflect on the life and mission of Joseph Smith. The work that he did on this earth is really quite miraculous when you consider all that he did.

The greatest testimony I have of the Prophet Joseph Smith is the translation of the Book of Mormon. I firmly believe that he received the gold plates from Moroni and that he translated them through the power of God. Every time I read the Book of Mormon and consider how it came to be, I know it in my heart that no one man wrote this book. It was written my many different prophets and compiled by Mormon and Moroni. Then by the power of God, Joseph Smith translated the book.

And just as verse 12 so wonderfully states, the Book of Mormon and the Bible have indeed grown together to establish the truth once again.

January 11, 2012 - Addition

2 Nephi 3:9-10 caught my attention today.

If you were to look at a timeline, Joseph of Egypt comes first, then Moses, then Lehi and Joseph (son of Lehi) and then Joseph Smith.

2 Nephi 3:7 begins Joseph of Egypt's prophesy about Joseph Smith and Moses.

In verse 9, he says "And he [Joseph Smith] shall be great like unto Moses, whom I have said I would raise up unto you, to deliver my people, O house of Israel."

In verse 10 he continues, "And Moses will I raise up, to deliver thy people out of the land of Egypt."

So, according to the Book of Mormon, Joseph of Egypt not only say the Israelites being held captive, but he saw and knew the name of Moses.

The Maxwell Institute has a nice little article about this prophesy: "Joseph's Prophesy of Moses and Aaron"

More info on this link as well.

3 Nephi 21 & 22

Joseph Smith

3 Nephi 21:10 references Joseph Smith. It says that he shall be marred because of wicked people. Yet, the Lord will heal him and the Lord will show the people that his wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.

This last part of the verse is so true. There seems to be many of those who are against the Church who absolutely cannot fathom how an obscure 14-year old boy could see God and Jesus Christ and then go on to translate an ancient record. They seem to try just about anything to discredit Joseph Smith. But Joseph is proof that the wisdom of God is greater than the cunning of the devil. The work will continue to grow.

On a similar note, one of my MTC teachers told us more than once that the Church must be true because if it weren't the missionaries would have destroyed it a long time ago … meaning that the Church continues to prosper despite the knuckle headedness of many youthful 19-year olds.

Idolatry

In 3 Nephi 21:14-19, the Lord warns the Gentiles (us) that if we do not repent and forsake our idols, we and our idols will be destroyed.

One of the assignments I had in a biology class in college was to read Spencer W. Kimball's talk "The False Gods we Worship" (Spencer W. Kimball, “The False Gods We Worship,” Ensign, Jun 1976, 3). He defined idolatry as "whatever thing a man sets his heart and his trust in most is his god; and if his god doesn't also happen to be the true and living God of Israel, that man is laboring in idolatry."

If you've not read this talk before, I encourage you to read it in its entirety. Here are a few more relevant quotes.

He also says, "Few men have ever knowingly and deliberately chosen to reject God and his blessings. Rather, we learn from the scriptures that because the exercise of faith has always appeared to be more difficult than relying on things more immediately at hand, carnal man has tended to transfer his trust in God to material things. Therefore, in all ages when men have fallen under the power of Satan and lost the faith, they have put in its place a hope in the “arm of flesh” and in “gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know” (Dan. 5:23)—that is, in idols."

He continues, "The Lord has blessed us as a people with a prosperity unequaled in times past. The resources that have been placed in our power are good, and necessary to our work here on the earth. But I am afraid that many of us have been surfeited with flocks and herds and acres and barns and wealth and have begun to worship them as false gods, and they have power over us. Do we have more of these good things than our faith can stand? Many people spend most of their time working in the service of a self-image that includes sufficient money, stocks, bonds, investment portfolios, property, credit cards, furnishings, automobiles, and the like to guarantee carnal security throughout, it is hoped, a long and happy life. Forgotten is the fact that our assignment is to use these many resources in our families and quorums to build up the kingdom of God—to further the missionary effort and the genealogical and temple work; to raise our children up as fruitful servants unto the Lord; to bless others in every way, that they may also be fruitful. Instead, we expend these blessings on our own desires, and as Moroni said, “Ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not.” (Morm. 8:39.)"

He quotes D&C 1:16, "They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own God, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon."

And here is one last quote that I found particularly interesting, "We are a warlike people, easily distracted from our assignment of preparing for the coming of the Lord. When enemies rise up, we commit vast resources to the fabrication of gods of stone and steel—ships, planes, missiles, fortifications—and depend on them for protection and deliverance. When threatened, we become antienemy instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a man in the art of war and call him a patriot, thus, in the manner of Satan’s counterfeit of true patriotism, perverting the Savior’s teaching:

"'Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

"'That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:44–45.)'"

No Weapon Against Thee Shall Prosper

In 3 Nephi 22:17 we learn that the kingdom of God will prevail over all and that “no weapon that is formed” against the kingdom of God and his people will prosper.

“No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” (Joseph Smith Jr., “The Wentworth Letter,” Ensign, Jul 2002, 27)

2 Nephi 29

Chapter 29 largely deals with the writing of other books of scripture other than the Bible. Nephi quotes the Lord as saying that the testimony of two nations shall run together and testify that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

I think that two testimonies of God’s work on the earth is significant. Many people believe that God is different and that as Nephi stated in the last chapter, God has left His work in the hands of men. This is not so. God is still very active in His work and glory (Moses 1:39). He wants us to know that he is the same, so he has commanded the prophets throughout the world to write and testify of him.

A Bible, A Bible!

I've always found it interesting how some Christian religions know the Bible is from God yet deny that the Book of Mormon comes from the same divine source. The logic and arguments for and against the Book of Mormon are numerous. But at the heart of every argument against the Book of Mormon is the question of authenticity. Many believe the Joseph Smith wrote it instead of translating it … many believe that the Book of Mormon doesn't come from God. But those same people believe that the Bible is inspired of God. They are stuck on the question of Joseph Smith being a prophet or not. Thankfully Moroni saw this dilemma and instructed everyone who reads the Book of Mormon to ask God if it is true or not. Those who have a sincere desire to know the truth will receive a personal witness of the truth of the Book of Mormon (Moroni 10:3-9).

Let me also address the question of authenticity in another way. At church this Sunday, the counselor in the Elder's quorum shared a missionary experience with us. He is a convert to the Church. He had gone on a few visits with the missionaries the previous week. One of the people they visited was this young man who questioned everything the missionaries taught him. He kept asking them, "how do you know for sure Joseph Smith is a true prophet? How do you know for sure the Book of Mormon is true?" He wanted solid proof that the Church is true. At this point, the counselor began addressing this young man. He said, "you believe in Jesus Christ, correct?" The young man replied, "yes." Then the counselor said told said, "I assume you've not seen Jesus Christ, but you know he lived and did what the Bible tells us he did. Is that correct?" The young man again said, "yes." Then the counselor said that believing the Book of Mormon and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God is similar to believing Christ is real. You must gain that testimony for yourself through study and prayer.

I think that those who forcefully argue against the Book of Mormon (those who say there is no more word of God besides the Bible) love the Bible and think the Book of Mormon detracts from it. In reality, if these people were really searching the truth, they would prayerfully consider the Book of Mormon after reading it and studying its teachings.

“The argument is, as the Lord suggests, most foolish. It is our modern counterpart to those of Jesus' day who rejected him in the pretense of being loyal to the Law of Moses, the irony being that loyalty to the Law of Moses demanded acceptance of Jesus as the Christ. The purpose of the Law of Moses was to teach and testify of Christ. Such is also the purpose of the Book of Mormon, it being the most Christ-centered book ever written. Yet it is rejected in the name of loyalty to the Bible. The logical extension of such reasoning would be to reject the Gospel of Mark in the name of loyalty to Matthew or to reject the witness of Peter in the pretense of loyalty to Paul and his teachings.” (McConkie and Millet, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 1, p. 347)

Out of the Books Will We be Judged

A warning also comes with this doctrine. We will be judged according to that which is written in the books written by the prophets (v. 11). Since we have the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine & Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, we will be judged according to that which is written in those books. Also, we will be judged according to the word of the modern-day prophets. Their words are found in the Ensign and other Church materials.

Since I'm an IT person, I kind of view reading the scriptures and the latest General Conference material like anti-virus software. In order to protect your personal computer (or your soul) you should install a base version of some anti-virus software (read the scriptures). Then in order to guard against the most recent virus attacks (or Satan's temptations), you must subscribe to an anti-virus update service (or listen to and read the latest General Conference).

More Scripture to Come

We have been taught from the scriptures that more scriptures will be revealed. We've discussed earlier that some sealed scriptures will be revealed to the world. And now in 2 Nephi 29:13 we learn that not only will we have the Bible and Book of Mormon, but we will have the scriptures of the Lost Tribes of Israel.

“Lost books are among the treasures yet to come forth. Over twenty of these are mentioned in the existing scriptures. Perhaps most startling and voluminous will be the records of the lost tribes of Israel (see 2 Nephi 29:13). We would not even know of the impending third witness for Christ except through the precious Book of Mormon, the second witness for Christ! This third set of sacred records will thus complete a triad of truth. Then, just as the Perfect Shepherd has said, ‘My word also shall be gathered in one’ (v. 14). There will be ‘one fold and one shepherd’ (1 Nephi 22:25 in a welding together of all the Christian dispensations of human history (see D&C 128:18).” (Neal A. Maxwell, "God Will Yet Reveal," Ensign, Nov. 1986, p. 52)