Emma could have been very worried about her standing before God if she believed Joseph’s story to be genuine and true, regardless of whether or not it actually was.MG 2.0 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 18, 2022 6:38 pmIt seems rather obvious to me. Joseph and Emma both have immediate concerns about the fact that Martin had not returned with the manuscript. The million dollar question is WHY? This is a concern separate from bringing up retranslating and such. The fact is they were VERY worried, at least according to them, about their standing before God.
Joseph would, on the other hand, be crapping bricks over the realization that he would never be able to duplicate his creation, because he was not translating from an existing record. This was a huge problem for him and his story.
Why would Smith ever be begging with the Lord to appease Lucy Harris?Joseph had practically begged the Lord to let Martin take the plates to appease his wife.
“Umm . . . Lucy . . . can I have that manuscript back? Pleeassee ..??!?Why even make the trip to visit Martin at all?
I understand that perspective, given as I have many LDS acquaintances. On the other hand, not having been exposed to the LDS rationale, the simpler conclusion is that it would be very necessary to hide something - and keep it from being seen by anyone, including one’s wife - if it was not what it was claimed to be.The whole story of the plates and the hiding and moving them around decreases rather than increases the likelihood of fraud in my estimation.
The story that you are sticking with here is a lot more complicated than the one I’m proposing.You folks have to put layer upon layer of ‘distrust’ to come away with the fraud scenario. I’ve been there, done that. After my studies I came away with the realization that it was a LOT less complicated to go with the written record that supports the traditional account of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.