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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.” (David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, Richmond, Mo.: n.p., 1887, p. 12.)
Russell M. Nelson, “A Treasured Testament,” Ensign, Jul 1993, 61

...no one batted an eye. Am I supposed to fear this?

bcspace wrote:

“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.” (David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, Richmond, Mo.: n.p., 1887, p. 12.)
Russell M. Nelson, “A Treasured Testament,” Ensign, Jul 1993, 61

...no one batted an eye. Am I supposed to fear this?

Maybe you should have used visual aids.

bcspace wrote:...no one batted an eye. Am I supposed to fear this?

Why, no. Still, your report is interesting, and I wonder what your reaction was. Did you think that the lack of eye-batting was because:

(a) Nobody was really listening

or

(b) They took it all in, and thought it was a perfectly acceptable and plausible account of the origins of the Book of Mormon?

If (b), I wonder what you will say if one of your audience comes up to you next week and asks:

"Y'know <bcspace>, I've been thinking: seeing as the Lord gave Joseph the exact words of the right translation through the seer-stone, and he just had to read them off, and they couldn't get to the next bit until the Lord had checked they had written it down just right - seeing all that, how come the Book of Mormon as we have it today isn't exactly the same as when it was first published?"

Just wondering.

That's great! Inoculation at work. Can you explain the context of the "teaching"? Was it Sunday School or Priesthood?

Chap wrote:... how come the Book of Mormon as we have it today isn't exactly the same as when it was first published?"

What makes you think they know that today's Book of Mormon isn't the same as it was when it was first published? It is the most correct book ever written, you know.

I've been speaking and teaching and writing about the seer stone and the hat for many years now.

And I also push Royal Skousen's Book of Mormon Critical Text Project wherever and whenever I can. I think it's one of the great monuments of Latter-day Saint scholarship.

Daniel Peterson wrote:I've been speaking and teaching and writing about the seer stone and the hat for many years now.

Just like that anti-mormon guy in the PBS show. Why they got a professor of Arabic studies to tell us about the Church I'll never know. (Based on a real comment from the PBS site.)

cinepro wrote:

Daniel Peterson wrote:I've been speaking and teaching and writing about the seer stone and the hat for many years now.

Just like that anti-mormon guy in the PBS show. Why they got a professor of Arabic studies to tell us about the Church I'll never know. (Based on a real comment from the PBS site.)

I continue to treasure that comment.

That's great! Inoculation at work. Can you explain the context of the "teaching"? Was it Sunday School or Priesthood?

Sunday School. I'm the Gospel Doctrine teacher in the ward. I took 7 quotes about the Book of Mormon translation process from that Ensign article, including the one above and had class members read each out loud.

I don't think anyone was asleep as the class was rocking and rolling and having a good time. I did teach the fact that we really don't know the exact process and also that "seer stone" and "urim and thummim" are sometimes used interchangeably (they are essentially the same type of thing anyway), etc.

No one paused, no one had a question, no one (that I could tell) had a case of indrawn breath. Members of the Stake Presidency are always in my class. Many people ask me questions after class. None of the after class questions was on this topic.

My own modus operandi on supposedly difficult subjects is to give what we know and let them come to their own conclusions and give my own conclusion only if asked.

Why, no. Still, your report is interesting, and I wonder what your reaction was. Did you think that the lack of eye-batting was because:

My impression was that they thought it plausible.

If (b), I wonder what you will say if one of your audience comes up to you next week and asks:

"Y'know <bcspace>, I've been thinking: seeing as the Lord gave Joseph the exact words of the right translation through the seer-stone, and he just had to read them off, and they couldn't get to the next bit until the Lord had checked they had written it down just right - seeing all that, how come the Book of Mormon as we have it today isn't exactly the same as when it was first published?"

Any significant changes made (if any) were made by Joseph Smith himself to clarify, not alter the meaning.

bcspace wrote:

“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.” (David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, Richmond, Mo.: n.p., 1887, p. 12.)
Russell M. Nelson, “A Treasured Testament,” Ensign, Jul 1993, 61

...no one batted an eye. Am I supposed to fear this?

Fear would be the wrong emotion here. Think of this Hat as merely a friendly older uncle to the Hogwart's sorting Hat.