bcspace wrote:
Why should I expect such when the notion is freely available in an issue of the Ensign?
I think it's tempting to overstate the value of something being "freely available" in the Ensign.
The Church has a systematic process in place for teaching the members history and doctrine. This is done through the Sunday School and Priesthood lessons, as well as the Seminary and Institute classes.
While it is true that the Ensign did publish Elder Nelson's talk (originally given to Mission Presidents), keep in mind the following:
- The
CES manual for college-age LDS students makes not a single mention of a "seer stone". The only device mentioned in conjunction with the translation is the U&T (which the book claims was returned along with the plates after the loss of the 116 pages).
-The CES manual uses the following image as an illustration of the translation process:
- The same manual
claims the following:
Little is known about the actual process of translating the record, primarily because those who knew the most about the translation, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, said the least about it. Moreover, Martin Harris, David Whitmer, and Emma Smith, who assisted Joseph, left no contemporary descriptions. The sketchy accounts they recorded much later in life were often contradictory.
(I'll also note this manual was last revised in 2003, 10 years after Elder Nelson's talk).
- The
official Sunday School lesson on the Book of Mormon in church history doesn't mention either the U&T or seer stone, so I guess that's a wash.
- Searching for "Urim and Thummim" at LDS.org gets 160 results, "seer stone" 16 (granted, which would be expected because of the Urim and Thummim's place in scripture as well as latter day use.)
The seer stone is mentioned in the following ways:
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Josephsmith.net reference providing background on D&C 28- "Sept. 1830. The Prophet Joseph was concerned over Hiram Page’s use of a seer stone." (Only mention of a seer stone on Josephsmith.net; it's not mentioned at all in the D&C). Also mentioned on the Seminary timeline for D&C.
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Highlights in the Prophet's Life, Ensign June 1994 - Reference to the 1826 trial:
20 Mar. 1826: Tried and acquitted on fanciful charge of being a “disorderly person,” South Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York. New York law defined a disorderly person as, among other things, a vagrant or a seeker of “lost goods.” The Prophet had been accused of both: the first charge was false and was made simply to cause trouble; Joseph’s use of a seer stone to see things that others could not see with the naked eye brought the second charge. Those who brought the charges were apparently concerned that Joseph might bilk his employer, Josiah Stowell, out of some money. Mr. Stowell’s testimony clearly said this was not so and that he trusted Joseph Smith. 2
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The Whitmers, Ensign August '79 - Another negative reference to Hiram Page's use of a seer stone.
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[url]New Era, 1974[/url]A short book review (for a book published by Deseret Book) notes the following:
From histories and period documents, Brother Cheesman presents some interesting information. For example, in one chapter he talks about the translation of the Book of Mormon. Did Joseph use the Urim and Thummim or the seer stone? Did he study the plates as he translated, or did they lay covered on the table? Did he dictate what the Lord said, or did he repeat the message in his own words? There is evidence that all of these might have been true.
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Primary Lesson 5 - Another (negative) story about Hiram Page and his seer stone.
Teach the children about Oliver Cowdery and the Whitmers questioning Joseph Smith’s revelations and about Hiram Page and the “seer stone,” as discussed in Doctrine and Covenants 28, 43:1–7, and the following historical account. Show the pictures at appropriate times.
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A Peaceful Heart, The Friend (?!) 1974 -
Because of his spiritual nature and his willingness to learn the truth, Joseph Smith was tested and found worthy to be the translator of the Book of Mormon. 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. The translating was done at Peter Whitmer’s home, a friend of the Prophet’s where Oliver Cowdery, Emma Smith (Joseph’s wife), one of the Whitmers, or Martin Harris wrote down the words spoken by the Prophet as soon as they were made known to him.
Martin Harris said that on the seer stone “sentences would appear and were read by the Prophet and written by [the one writing them down] and when finished [that person] would say ‘written;’ and if correctly written, the sentence would disappear and another take its place; but if not written correctly it remained until corrected, so that the translation was just as it was engraven on the plates.”
Even with the help of the Urim and Thummim and the seer stone, it wasn’t easy to translate the sacred record. It required the Prophet’s greatest concentration and spiritual strength.
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Spiritual Gifts, Ensign September 1986 - Elder Oaks tells the Hiram Page story.
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By the Gift and Power of God, Ensign September 1977- Richard Lloyd Anderson hits a home run and discusses Joseph's use of the seer stone and hat, as well Oliver's ambiguous language referring to the "Urim and Thummim" when it might have been the seer stone.
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The Alvin Smith Story: Fact or Fiction - RLA hits another home run in his discussion of early Church history, including the manner in which Joseph found his seer stone (as part of a dubious claim regarding Wilford Woodruff's recollection of Joseph keeping an "alternate" Church history. Interesting article.)
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Doctrine and Covenants Institute Manual - Several negative mentions of a "seer stone" in connection with Hiram Page.
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A Treasured Testament, Ensign June 1993 - Elder Nelson's comment in a talk given to mission presidents. I think this is still my sig line over at MA&D.
The details of this miraculous method of translation are still not fully known. Yet we do have a few precious insights. David Whitmer 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...
So there you go. Everything you ever wanted to know about the Church's discussion of "seer stones" on its website.