In an effort to be more transparent, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released photos of a stone that Joseph Smith is reported to have used to translate the Book of Mormon, referred to in the Mormon church as the seer stone. According to LDS history, "Joseph placed...the seer stone in a hat, pressed his face into the hat to block out extraneous light, and read aloud the English words that appeared on the instrument. The process brings to mind a passage from the Book of Mormon that speaks of God preparing "a stone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light.""
Historically, Joseph Smith was very aloof when it came to explaining the exact manner behind the method of his translation. Whenever Joseph Smith was "pressed for specifics about the process of translation, Joseph repeated on several occasions that it had been done "by the power of God" and once added, "It was not intended to tell the world all the particulars of the coming forth of the book of Mormon."" In fact, the only reason we have the details that we have today are because the scribes and people who worked with Joseph Smith spilled some things about the process. And so while we don't know exactly how this stone worked, the scribes and witnesses have testified that it was indeed used in the process.
With the release of the pictures of this seer stone, a lot of questions are being answered, a lot of Mormon doctrine is being learned, and a lot of LDS members are solidifying their faith. This was honestly a good move for the LDS church. As many of you know, the history of the church has been subject to a lot of scrutiny since it's establishment because of the lack of evidence. As a result, its members have had little to no tangible evidence to defend their faith to opponents, other than their scriptures. I truly hope, as do a lot of people, that the LDS church continues to release Mormon paraphernalia to the world. With that being said, I have a few words on the matter.
Let's not forget that they didn't release the actual thing...only a picture of a thing. If the goal is to be transparent, why not put it on display for the public to view? This seems very odd to me. If a claim can be substantiated in anyway, why would the LDS church not do everything they could to do it? If they're worried about people stealing the thing, then why not just put it on display at a museum or something? Tons of things are on display for us all to see, and a lot of these things are extremely priceless. The Declaration of Independence, the fossil record, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Mona Lisa, etc. and none of these have not been stolen (thanks to Nicholas Cage).
This would be like if f I told the world that I saw a real life dragon, Smaug, in the flesh...or, more appropriately scales. Obviously, the majority of people would call me a liar. It would be extremely difficult to convince the world that I was telling the truth just on my word. But, when pressed for evidence, I told them that I would show them my dragon egg. After a short time, I return with a pristine 8.5x11 color photo of it. Now, be honest: Would you believe me? No. Of course not! A picture is not reliable proof...especially in today's world.
So, the thing that apparently did a thing for Joseph Smith...yeah it's not doing that thing anymore, nor is anyone doing that thing with the thing that makes this thing famous. Unfortunately, this stone's usefulness just boils down to being a very pretty paperweight. Other than the word of the Mormon leaders, we have nothing to go off of. It's not being used today in any capacity, nobody alive saw Joseph Smith use this stone nor were there any pictures of Joseph using this thing at the time of translation. Furthermore, since Joseph Smith was very vague in how he used it, we can't even try to recreate it's designed Mormon purpose. The LDS church has presented this stone and shouted, "This is the thing we told you about!" and I respond, "Ok. Prove it." The fact is they can't. Even if this is the stone that was used, we would never know. How do we know they didn't just go outside and grab the prettiest stone they could find? We don't.
I can feel you Mormons rolling your eyes at me right now. But seriously, just listen for a second. God did not give Joseph Smith these stones (he had multiple stones not just the one but reportedly eventually only used one of them during the translation process for convenience). Mormon history reports that the seer stones, "which Joseph Smith discovered in the ground years before he retrieved the gold plates, was a small oval stone, or "seer stone." As a young man during the 1820's, Joseph Smith, like others in his day, used a seer stone to look for lost objects and buried treasure." Seer stones work by looking into them and receiving supernatural knowledge. Now, I know the Lord works in mysterious ways and I am no where near qualified to say what He can or cannot use to communicate truth to His people...but are we supposed to believe that this was a gift from God? Seriously?!? I mean, if we believe that there are Holy powers at work, then logically there would have to be Evil powers at work as well. And using a stone to look for buried treasure (regardless of how prevalent a practice it was) seems like dark magic...you know, the kind that the real life Voldemort uses. And then, using said stone to start a religion shrouded in secrecy just seems very demonic to me.
All Harry Potter jokes aside, the more and more I learn about the history of the LDS church and Joseph Smith, the more and more I am convinced that the Angel of Light truly did visit Joseph Smith that day.*
(but seriously, something to think about)
Of all the things that the LDS church could have produced as 'proof' they had to bring out one of the things that creates a bit of a dilemma for the LDS church. You see, the story goes that Joseph Smith translated the Brass Plates - or Plates of Brass or the Golden Plates - into English, thus creating the Book of Mormon. However, the story also goes that Joseph Smith stuck his head in a hat and with the use of this stone and the Urim and the Thummim scribed the Book of Mormon. But you see, the plates couldn't have fit into the hat...so Joseph Smith was not reading and translating these plates but rather seeing visions of words and then reading them out so that his scribes could write it down. Thus, bringing up the question: If Joseph Smith used the seer stone to "see" words and haven them written down, what was the point of getting the Golden Plates?
With everything I said in mind, this does little to nothing proving Mormonism is true. Even if this thing is the thing that they are claiming this thing to be, it doesn't mean that the Book of Mormon, the D&C, or Mormonism in general along with it's countless errors and changes was a revelation from God. I'm sorry to keep sounding like a broken record, but I need proof. I need proof of use, proof of concept, proof of anything really. As I said, I love the fact that the church is trying to be more transparent, but this hurts their cause rather than helps because, for me, it only generates more confusion, more unanswered/dodged questions, and more scrutiny. I watched a video interview (link below) of a Mormon History professor from Columbia University. And while he was impressed with the stone, he didn't seem to get any more clarity from it either.
I would be very interested to hear and would love to see an honest Mormon's reaction to the stone and even be proven wrong. I would welcome it! Honestly, I would. However, with the facts in hand, at the end of the day, I don't see this stone as being any representation of truth, of divinity, or of the Holiness, Sovereignty, or the Power of God.
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Well, there you have it folks. Hope you got something out of my little rant...ahem...I mean...blog. As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or anything please leave a comment below or email me. Also, sorry about the harshness of the images I used. I try to be playful with such a serious topic, and I don't mean to poke fun. Know that my heart is full of nothing but love for you Mormons. However, this whole stone seemed to be a bit silly to me, hence the silliness of my picture accompaniments.
"Good day, sir!"
Footnotes
* The LDS account of the events surrounding the Angel Moroni have been changed, but the 1976 edition of D&C said that Joseph Smith was visited by Moroni, an "angel of light." Compare with Testimony of Joseph Smith (3rd and 10th paragraph) to 2 Cor. 11:14.
References
1. The Book of Mormon Translation (www.lds.org) 8/11/2015
- https://www.lds.org/topics/book-of-mormon-translation?lang=eng#27
2. Trib Talk: Mormon Scholar Richard Bushman on seer stones, transparency, Jennifer Napier-Pearce 8/10/2015; The Salt Lake Tribune (www.sltrib.com)
- http://www.sltrib.com/home/2814998-155/trib-talk-mormon-scholar-richard-bushman
3. Seer Stone (Latter Day Saints) Wikipedia
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seer_stone_(Latter_Day_Saints)
4. Angel of Light, Michelle; Life After.
- http://lifeafter.org/angel-of-light/
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