Bushman's Treasure Hunting Theory Alive and Well(At FAIR)

[_AlmaBound]

Hmm, this line or ex-post excuse making . . . er argumentation . . . offers up all sorts of possibilities.

Sure does. What do you mean, though? What sort of possibilities?

[_Morrissey]

Hmm, this line or ex-post excuse making . . . er argumentation . . . offers up all sorts of possibilities.

Sure does. What do you mean, though? What sort of possibilities?

See the rest of my post for an example.

In general, it can be used to grant license to excuse away all manner of bad behavior as part of a divine plan to prepare the deed-doer for assuming his/her appropriate role, whatever that might be.

[_TAK]

Being a treasure seeker taught him it was possible to obtain the the book that was inscribed on gold plates. "What the seer stone did is tell him that he had some sort of talent for seeing" -- a gift the Lord could use for other purposes.

I am not aware that Jos. Smith found a dime treasure hunting.. so he was a failure w/ the peep stone... So it would seem a kid who fails drivers ed is ready for NASCAR in Gods eyes..

[_harmony]

Or is he just referring to those who started following him? Of course, if that is the case, well,...he isn't saying much of anything really, is he?

If they were following him blindly, there would have been no need for Joseph to lie to them... his extramartial peccadillos would have been public. That they were hidden shows how intent Joseph was to hide his behavior from his friends, as well as his enemies.

[_Uncle Dale]

Bushman proposed that Joseph Smith's seer stone treasure hunting career was God's way
of preparing him to find and translate the Book of Mormon
...

Rather poor training, in my estimation.
Joe Smith never found a dime's worth of buried treasure.

Maybe God gave him a defective urim and thummim, which could no more
see under the ground than it could see the hiding place of the lost 116 pages.

At least Solomon Spalding's fictional peepstone could spy beyond closed doors,
to provide pornographic images of passionate couples in their boudoir embraces.

Smith's "Gazelam" seems to have been mis-calibrated, eh?

UD

[_wenglund]

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the application of a fundamental principle of learning (i.e. improved ability coming through graduated practice) to spiritual matters would set the naysayers to overly dramatic clucking. That tends to happen when people scoff about things they have little if any clue.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[_beastie]

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the application of a fundamental principle of learning (i.e. improved ability coming through graduated practice) to spiritual matters would set the naysayers to overly dramatic clucking. That tends to happen when people scoff about things they have little if any clue.

This statement only makes sense if you actually believe Joseph Smith could see buried treasure in his peepstone. Do you?

[_Uncle Dale]

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the application of a fundamental principle of learning (i.e. improved ability coming through graduated practice) to spiritual matters would set the naysayers to overly dramatic clucking. That tends to happen when people scoff about things they have little if any clue.

This statement only makes sense if you actually believe Joseph Smith could see buried treasure in his peepstone. Do you?

This is fascinating -- absolutely fascinating!!

Fifty years ago we could read LDS writers like Francis W. Kirkham and Hugh Nibley arguing
that there had never been an 1826 Bainbridge trial of Joseph Smith before Justice Neeley.

Now, faced with reputable Mormon historians such as Larry Porter and Richard Bushman
admitting to the basic facts of the charges brought against Joe Smith in that proceeding,
the modern Mormons are taking the place of the pro-Smith witnesses of 1826!

Role model for the modern Mormon testimony of "The Prophet" ?? --->Josiah Stowell!

"Why, sure 'nuf, young Joe can peek into the ground -- an' he can see them thar Nephite
slippery treasures! Yessiree bob!"

At this rate, we'll soon be seeing Satan featured on an Ensign cover, as a "god-in-training!"

UD

[_wenglund]

This statement only makes sense if you actually believe Joseph Smith could see buried treasure in his peepstone

First of all, your absolutist assertion only makes sense if I believed Joseph's use of the seer stone was restricted to seeing buried treasures. I don't, and so it doesn't. Those who actually know what they are talking about will be familiar with instances where the seer stone was used for other purposes--like, for example, as a way of determining if the golden plates were safe.

Secondly, your assertion only makes sense if the learning process in using the stone, even when using it to see buried treasures, consists solely in seeing the buried treasures. It doesn't, and so your assertion doesn't make sense. Joseph could learn when and where and how and what the stone should or should not be used for, by not seeing the treasure. Also, Joseph could get an initial feel for how the stone works even were he not entirely successful in seeing the treasures.

Do you?

I have yet to form an opinion one way or another, and this in large part because it is entirely irrelevant to becoming like Christ and growing to a fulness of joy and love.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[_Morrissey]

I have yet to form an opinion one way or another, and this in large part because it is entirely irrelevant to becoming like Christ and growing to a fulness of joy and love.

As is Mormonism.