Yearly Archives: 2024

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This is a spotlight on a profile shared at wasmormon.org. These are just the highlights, so please find the full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/. There are stories of Mormon faith journeys contributed by hundreds of users like you. Come check them out and consider sharing your own story at wasmormon.org!
This is a spotlight on a profile shared at wasmormon.org. These are just the highlights, so please find the full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/. There are stories of Mormon faith journeys contributed by hundreds of users like you. Come check them out and consider sharing your own story at wasmormon.org!
"There are so many things we just don’t understand about this world and what’s beyond it. Not only do we not know, we can’t know. Something as abstract as an afterlife is not possible for the human mind to fully understand. There is no denying that we truly do not know anything. All that religion is doing is taking a guess. I respect that. We as humans have an innate desire to make sense of everything. Religion is just a way of fulfilling that desire. What I’m not okay with is a religion stating that they are the one and only truth and everyone else in the world is deceived. I would make the decision to leave millions of times again if given the chance because it’s one of the few choices I don’t regret making. I don’t need a god to tell me if something is good or not. Even if he’s real, I can see the beauty of life. I may not have a clear purpose in my life anymore and that thought was scary at first. If I left the church, where would I go? The answer: Anywhere. Everywhere even. I am not limited to anything now and I have the choice to experience it all. I can finally learn and live and see the world as it really is. An ethereal mystery, and it’s fucking beautiful." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"There are so many things we just don’t understand about this world and what’s beyond it. Not only do we not know, we can’t know. Something as abstract as an afterlife is not possible for the human mind to fully understand. There is no denying that we truly do not know anything. All that religion is doing is taking a guess. I respect that. We as humans have an innate desire to make sense of everything. Religion is just a way of fulfilling that desire. What I’m not okay with is a religion stating that they are the one and only truth and everyone else in the world is deceived. I would make the decision to leave millions of times again if given the chance because it’s one of the few choices I don’t regret making. I don’t need a god to tell me if something is good or not. Even if he’s real, I can see the beauty of life. I may not have a clear purpose in my life anymore and that thought was scary at first. If I left the church, where would I go? The answer: Anywhere. Everywhere even. I am not limited to anything now and I have the choice to experience it all. I can finally learn and live and see the world as it really is. An ethereal mystery, and it’s fucking beautiful." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"I’m still the same person I was when I was a member. I can’t help but tell people what I believe to be true. Life has so much more meaning once you leave. I don’t really know how, but knowing less makes what you do know, seem even better. The only thing I know for sure is this life, and I plan on using it to its full potential. I don’t know what comes next and yeah, it’s scary, yet more powerful than anything I experienced in the church. I’ve discovered that, by using philosophy alone, any religious claim can be argued back into ambiguity where it belongs. I’m not an atheist. If anything I’m Agnostic. There’s just as much of a chance that there’s nothing as there is that we just don’t know what it is. I choose to acknowledge that there may not be any meaning at all. Yet it doesn’t matter in the slightest. I like trees, rivers, mountains, animals and rocks. Those are cool. Trampolines are fun. There are those moments when it's been cold and cloudy for a while, then you walk outside on a 60-degree day and the warm sunlight hits your face and it’s the greatest feeling ever. Music is the single greatest human creation. Really any sort of art is amazing. People are fantastic. It’s fucking brilliant really. This is what I live for." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"I’m still the same person I was when I was a member. I can’t help but tell people what I believe to be true. Life has so much more meaning once you leave. I don’t really know how, but knowing less makes what you do know, seem even better. The only thing I know for sure is this life, and I plan on using it to its full potential. I don’t know what comes next and yeah, it’s scary, yet more powerful than anything I experienced in the church. I’ve discovered that, by using philosophy alone, any religious claim can be argued back into ambiguity where it belongs. I’m not an atheist. If anything I’m Agnostic. There’s just as much of a chance that there’s nothing as there is that we just don’t know what it is. I choose to acknowledge that there may not be any meaning at all. Yet it doesn’t matter in the slightest. I like trees, rivers, mountains, animals and rocks. Those are cool. Trampolines are fun. There are those moments when it's been cold and cloudy for a while, then you walk outside on a 60-degree day and the warm sunlight hits your face and it’s the greatest feeling ever. Music is the single greatest human creation. Really any sort of art is amazing. People are fantastic. It’s fucking brilliant really. This is what I live for." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"Leaving the church is so unbelievably hard. I had my first existential crisis in my senior year. My family treated me differently. I didn’t have anyone to talk to either. I was the most alone I had ever felt in my life. I was so stressed about figuring out my future that I almost gave up on it completely. The months following my departure were the hardest in my life and I wish there was a way to make active members understand that. Instead, I’m just told that I’m a lazy learner and that all I needed to do was try harder, then I would still be in church. New converts rarely last more than a year. They’ll find out that the Disney version they were taught in the 3 weeks before their baptism wasn’t everything. As the world and internet grows, it gets harder and harder to hide the truth from the members. I have hope that one day everyone will leave. Then everyone will finally be free." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"Leaving the church is so unbelievably hard. I had my first existential crisis in my senior year. My family treated me differently. I didn’t have anyone to talk to either. I was the most alone I had ever felt in my life. I was so stressed about figuring out my future that I almost gave up on it completely. The months following my departure were the hardest in my life and I wish there was a way to make active members understand that. Instead, I’m just told that I’m a lazy learner and that all I needed to do was try harder, then I would still be in church. New converts rarely last more than a year. They’ll find out that the Disney version they were taught in the 3 weeks before their baptism wasn’t everything. As the world and internet grows, it gets harder and harder to hide the truth from the members. I have hope that one day everyone will leave. Then everyone will finally be free." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"“Never take counsel from those who don’t believe” - Russel M. Nelson. This is actually a major reason for why I questioned the church so much. The treatment towards ex-Mormons is insane. The church dehumanizes you so much. Addressing the above quote from Nelson, how terrible is that? He claims that nothing we say can be trusted because we have seen information that didn’t come from the church. My own family has been advised against trusting me. That’s enough evidence right there that they are getting worried about keeping members. I would argue the exact opposite. Seek out the counsel of people who are against what you believe especially, so that way you actually are educated enough to make your own choice. Ah yes, a choice. There is no choice. They give you the illusion that there is one, but it's either you choose to believe and stay in the church, or you are wrong and you are a terrible person. Because of my different beliefs, I am not trusted. It’s dangerous to be spending time around me if you are Mormon because clearly my sole purpose in life is to drag people away from the church and ruin their lives." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"“Never take counsel from those who don’t believe” - Russel M. Nelson. This is actually a major reason for why I questioned the church so much. The treatment towards ex-Mormons is insane. The church dehumanizes you so much. Addressing the above quote from Nelson, how terrible is that? He claims that nothing we say can be trusted because we have seen information that didn’t come from the church. My own family has been advised against trusting me. That’s enough evidence right there that they are getting worried about keeping members. I would argue the exact opposite. Seek out the counsel of people who are against what you believe especially, so that way you actually are educated enough to make your own choice. Ah yes, a choice. There is no choice. They give you the illusion that there is one, but it's either you choose to believe and stay in the church, or you are wrong and you are a terrible person. Because of my different beliefs, I am not trusted. It’s dangerous to be spending time around me if you are Mormon because clearly my sole purpose in life is to drag people away from the church and ruin their lives." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"I had been finding things out about the church and I was really struggling with my faith. I wanted so desperately to believe. The thought of living without the church left me feeling helpless and I would have given anything for it to be true. I got a strange feeling. You know the feeling when you are in a bad situation and the holy ghost tells you to avoid that and get out? Well, that’s the exact feeling that I got, against the church. The feeling didn’t go away. I couldn’t even pray without getting this unnerving feeling that something was seriously wrong with this religion. As soon as I began to consider, “What if I’m wrong”, it became so obvious. I had to get out. A few days later I told my parents what I was feeling. They were clearly upset but eventually decided that I was old enough to make my own decision and that they would treat me like an adult. That took a huge toll on the relationship with everyone in my family, and due to that, life became so hard for a few months after this big decision. The relationship with my family has since recovered. I know deep down they want me to come back, and deep down I wish that they would be able to see the world through my eyes. Life is so much more beautiful once you are out, and I wish there was a better way to communicate that to the people who are still stuck inside." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"I had been finding things out about the church and I was really struggling with my faith. I wanted so desperately to believe. The thought of living without the church left me feeling helpless and I would have given anything for it to be true. I got a strange feeling. You know the feeling when you are in a bad situation and the holy ghost tells you to avoid that and get out? Well, that’s the exact feeling that I got, against the church. The feeling didn’t go away. I couldn’t even pray without getting this unnerving feeling that something was seriously wrong with this religion. As soon as I began to consider, “What if I’m wrong”, it became so obvious. I had to get out. A few days later I told my parents what I was feeling. They were clearly upset but eventually decided that I was old enough to make my own decision and that they would treat me like an adult. That took a huge toll on the relationship with everyone in my family, and due to that, life became so hard for a few months after this big decision. The relationship with my family has since recovered. I know deep down they want me to come back, and deep down I wish that they would be able to see the world through my eyes. Life is so much more beautiful once you are out, and I wish there was a better way to communicate that to the people who are still stuck inside." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"The central foundation of almost every believing member’s testimony is feeling the holy ghost. To be quite blunt about it, you aren't special. Everyone on the planet experiences this feeling. It’s some sort of feeling of cosmic ecstasy that everyone feels for some reason, or for no reason at all. I still feel it after I left the church. All of it, whatever it is, is purely psychological. It is only because of the culture that we interpret these experiences differently. The LDS church uses something not unique to the LDS church as proof that the LDS church is the one and only true church. I live the best life I can and I hope to be favored in whatever happens after this life. If I strive to be the best person I can be outside of the church and God punishes me for that, then that’s not a god I want to be worshiping anyway. If what the Mormons say about God is all true, then I hate the guy. God would never treat his children this way. If he did, then he is not the generous forgiving perfect god that I was taught he was. If God is real, I think I’m doing just fine." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"The central foundation of almost every believing member’s testimony is feeling the holy ghost. To be quite blunt about it, you aren't special. Everyone on the planet experiences this feeling. It’s some sort of feeling of cosmic ecstasy that everyone feels for some reason, or for no reason at all. I still feel it after I left the church. All of it, whatever it is, is purely psychological. It is only because of the culture that we interpret these experiences differently. The LDS church uses something not unique to the LDS church as proof that the LDS church is the one and only true church. I live the best life I can and I hope to be favored in whatever happens after this life. If I strive to be the best person I can be outside of the church and God punishes me for that, then that’s not a god I want to be worshiping anyway. If what the Mormons say about God is all true, then I hate the guy. God would never treat his children this way. If he did, then he is not the generous forgiving perfect god that I was taught he was. If God is real, I think I’m doing just fine." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"I finally realized that the difference between doctrine and policy is completely arbitrary and the General Authorities can really just say whatever they want with no consequences. So I kept investigating. The gospel topics essays are honestly what really forced me out. One thing that I’ve heard repeated so many times during my time in the church is the phrase, “Beyond our comprehension”. The church abuses this phrase. It is often used to cover up various pieces of history. Whenever there is a hole in the story it's just easily covered up by, “we don’t know”. There are core doctrines that are believed with absolutely no verification at all. All these people going up to give a testimony saying they “know for a certainty” that the church is true are just straight-up lying to themselves. We just don’t know, and there is no way for us to know. I personally choose to be comfortable with that uncertainty." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"I finally realized that the difference between doctrine and policy is completely arbitrary and the General Authorities can really just say whatever they want with no consequences. So I kept investigating. The gospel topics essays are honestly what really forced me out. One thing that I’ve heard repeated so many times during my time in the church is the phrase, “Beyond our comprehension”. The church abuses this phrase. It is often used to cover up various pieces of history. Whenever there is a hole in the story it's just easily covered up by, “we don’t know”. There are core doctrines that are believed with absolutely no verification at all. All these people going up to give a testimony saying they “know for a certainty” that the church is true are just straight-up lying to themselves. We just don’t know, and there is no way for us to know. I personally choose to be comfortable with that uncertainty." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"My parents were very strict about the “no dating until 16” rule that was, at the time, clearly spelled out in the For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet. The first time I had a single doubt about whether or not the Mormon church was true was when the new For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet came out. In this new edition, they redid several sections completely. They now only “recommend” that you wait until 16 to start dating. So then what was it before? Was it doctrine? If I remember correctly you cannot change doctrine, and if this rule was not doctrine then what was it and why was it enforced? This led me to think about other things. Why is coffee off-limits? Why is swearing wrong? These things seem like small issues, and they are, but there were just too many tiny contradictions and loopholes that I decided to start researching the big things." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"My parents were very strict about the “no dating until 16” rule that was, at the time, clearly spelled out in the For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet. The first time I had a single doubt about whether or not the Mormon church was true was when the new For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet came out. In this new edition, they redid several sections completely. They now only “recommend” that you wait until 16 to start dating. So then what was it before? Was it doctrine? If I remember correctly you cannot change doctrine, and if this rule was not doctrine then what was it and why was it enforced? This led me to think about other things. Why is coffee off-limits? Why is swearing wrong? These things seem like small issues, and they are, but there were just too many tiny contradictions and loopholes that I decided to start researching the big things." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"I was born into an extremely Mormon family and attended a small branch in Michigan for the first 17 years of my life. I didn’t have many friends who were Mormon but that didn’t stop me from believing as strongly as I could that this church was God’s perfect church. I was the last person you’d expect to leave the church. I blessed the sacrament every week. I genuinely enjoyed doing missionary work and tried to get my friends to come to activities. There was literally nothing more I could have done to believe harder. I said on multiple occasions, “I couldn’t leave the church even if I wanted to”. I was a Mormon." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
"I was born into an extremely Mormon family and attended a small branch in Michigan for the first 17 years of my life. I didn’t have many friends who were Mormon but that didn’t stop me from believing as strongly as I could that this church was God’s perfect church. I was the last person you’d expect to leave the church. I blessed the sacrament every week. I genuinely enjoyed doing missionary work and tried to get my friends to come to activities. There was literally nothing more I could have done to believe harder. I said on multiple occasions, “I couldn’t leave the church even if I wanted to”. I was a Mormon." - Spencer's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/spendiggity144/
This is a spotlight on a profile shared at wasmormon.org. These are just the highlights, so please find the full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/dream5plus/. There are stories of Mormon faith journeys contributed by hundreds of users like you. Come check them out and consider sharing your own story at wasmormon.org!
This is a spotlight on a profile shared at wasmormon.org. These are just the highlights, so please find the full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/dream5plus/. There are stories of Mormon faith journeys contributed by hundreds of users like you. Come check them out and consider sharing your own story at wasmormon.org!

Ensign Peak Advisors Withdrawls, Religious Tax-Exemption, And Lack of Charitable Work

The Ensign Peak Advisors controversy centers on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or rather the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, doing business as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, using a tax-exempt investment fund to manage hundreds of billions of dollars derived …

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“For those without an understanding of how 19th-century people in Joseph’s region lived their religion, seer stones can be unfamiliar, and scholars have long debated this period of his life... The stone pictured here has long been associated with Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon translation. The stone Joseph Smith used in the Book of Mormon translation effort was often referred to as a chocolate-colored stone with an oval shape.” - Richard E. Turley Jr., Robin S. Jensen and Mark Ashurst-McGee, Joseph the Seer Ensign, October 2015 | wasmormon.org
“For those without an understanding of how 19th-century people in Joseph’s region lived their religion, seer stones can be unfamiliar, and scholars have long debated this period of his life... The stone pictured here has long been associated with Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon translation. The stone Joseph Smith used in the Book of Mormon translation effort was often referred to as a chocolate-colored stone with an oval shape.” - Richard E. Turley Jr., Robin S. Jensen and Mark Ashurst-McGee, Joseph the Seer Ensign, October 2015

From ‘the Seer Stone a Fiction to Undermine the Validity of Church’ To ‘Such Aids Are Consistent With Accounts in Scripture’

In the year 2000, Deseret Book, the church-owned publishing company, published a joint-written book from two BYU professors, Joseph Fielding McConkie, a BYU Professor of Ancient Scripture, and Craig J. Ostler, a BYU Professor of Church History and Doctrine. The book is titled Revelations of the Restoration, A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants and …

Continue reading “From ‘the Seer Stone a Fiction to Undermine the Validity of Church’ To ‘Such Aids Are Consistent With Accounts in Scripture’”

Joseph’s wife Emma explained that she “frequently wrote day after day” at a small table in their house in Harmony, Pennsylvania. She described Joseph “sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it, and dictating hour after hour with nothing between us.” According to Emma, the plates “often lay on the table without any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small linen table cloth.” When asked if Joseph had dictated from the Bible or from a manuscript he had prepared earlier, Emma flatly denied those possibilities: “He had neither manuscript nor book to read from.” - Book of Mormon Translation, Gospel Topic Essay The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2013 | wasmormon.org
Joseph’s wife Emma explained that she “frequently wrote day after day” at a small table in their house in Harmony, Pennsylvania. She described Joseph “sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it, and dictating hour after hour with nothing between us.” According to Emma, the plates “often lay on the table without any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small linen table cloth.” When asked if Joseph had dictated from the Bible or from a manuscript he had prepared earlier, Emma flatly denied those possibilities: “He had neither manuscript nor book to read from.” - Book of Mormon Translation, Gospel Topic Essay The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2013
"In Joseph Smith’s day, some individuals claimed that they had a gift to “see,” or receive divine or supernatural messages, through seer stones. These beliefs came from the Bible and from European cultural traditions brought to early America by immigrants. Joseph Smith and his family accepted these beliefs, and Joseph occasionally used stones he located in the ground to help neighbors find missing objects or search for buried treasure." - Church History Topics: Seer Stones, Church Website, 2020 https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/seer-stones | wasmormon.org
"In Joseph Smith’s day, some individuals claimed that they had a gift to “see,” or receive divine or supernatural messages, through seer stones. These beliefs came from the Bible and from European cultural traditions brought to early America by immigrants. Joseph Smith and his family accepted these beliefs, and Joseph occasionally used stones he located in the ground to help neighbors find missing objects or search for buried treasure." - Church History Topics: Seer Stones, Church Website, 2020 https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/seer-stones
“The other instrument, 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 1820s, Joseph Smith, like others in his day, used a seer stone to look for lost objects and buried treasure... Some people have balked at this claim of physical instruments used in the divine translation process, but such aids to facilitate the communication of God’s power and inspiration are consistent with accounts in scripture. Martin Harris sat across the table from Joseph Smith and wrote down the words Joseph dictated. Harris later related that as Joseph used the seer stone to translate, sentences appeared.” - Book of Mormon Translation, Gospel Topic Essay The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2013 | wasmormon.org
“The other instrument, 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 1820s, Joseph Smith, like others in his day, used a seer stone to look for lost objects and buried treasure... Some people have balked at this claim of physical instruments used in the divine translation process, but such aids to facilitate the communication of God’s power and inspiration are consistent with accounts in scripture. Martin Harris sat across the table from Joseph Smith and wrote down the words Joseph dictated. Harris later related that as Joseph used the seer stone to translate, sentences appeared.” - Book of Mormon Translation, Gospel Topic Essay The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2013
"David Whitmer maintained [that] the Prophet used an oval-shaped, chocolate-colored seer stone slightly larger than an egg. Thus, everything we have in the Book of Mormon, according to Mr. Whitmer, was translated by placing the chocolate-colored stone in a hat into which Joseph would bury his head so as to close out the light... Such an explanation is, in our judgment, simply fiction created for the purpose of demeaning Joseph Smith and to undermine the validity of the revelations he received" - Joseph Fielding McConkie (BYU Professor of Ancient Scripture) & Craig J. Ostler (BYU Professor, Church History and Doctrine), Revelations of the Restoration. Page 95-96, Deseret Book, 2000 | wasmormon.org
"David Whitmer maintained [that] the Prophet used an oval-shaped, chocolate-colored seer stone slightly larger than an egg. Thus, everything we have in the Book of Mormon, according to Mr. Whitmer, was translated by placing the chocolate-colored stone in a hat into which Joseph would bury his head so as to close out the light... Such an explanation is, in our judgment, simply fiction created for the purpose of demeaning Joseph Smith and to undermine the validity of the revelations he received" - Joseph Fielding McConkie (BYU Professor of Ancient Scripture) & Craig J. Ostler (BYU Professor, Church History and Doctrine), Revelations of the Restoration. Page 95-96, Deseret Book, 2000
"Everything we have in the Book of Mormon, according to Mr. [David] Whitmer, was translated by placing the chocolate-colored stone in a hat into which Joseph would bury his head so as to close out the light... Such an explanation is, in our judgment, simply fiction created for the purpose of demeaning Joseph Smith and to undermine the validity of the revelations he received... Why all this flap and fuss if the Prophet didn't really have the plates and if they were not used in the process of translation? What David Whitmer is asking us to believe is that the Lord had Moroni seal up the plates and the means by which they were to be translated hundreds of years before they would come into Joseph Smith's possession and then decided to have the Prophet use a seer stone found while digging a well so that none of these things would be necessary after all. Is this, we would ask, really a credible explanation of the way the heavens operate?" - Joseph Fielding McConkie (BYU Professor of Ancient Scripture) & Craig J. Ostler (BYU Professor, Church History and Doctrine), Revelations of the Restoration. Page 95-96, Deseret Book, 2000. | wasmormon.org
"Everything we have in the Book of Mormon, according to Mr. [David] Whitmer, was translated by placing the chocolate-colored stone in a hat into which Joseph would bury his head so as to close out the light... Such an explanation is, in our judgment, simply fiction created for the purpose of demeaning Joseph Smith and to undermine the validity of the revelations he received... Why all this flap and fuss if the Prophet didn't really have the plates and if they were not used in the process of translation? What David Whitmer is asking us to believe is that the Lord had Moroni seal up the plates and the means by which they were to be translated hundreds of years before they would come into Joseph Smith's possession and then decided to have the Prophet use a seer stone found while digging a well so that none of these things would be necessary after all. Is this, we would ask, really a credible explanation of the way the heavens operate?" - Joseph Fielding McConkie (BYU Professor of Ancient Scripture) & Craig J. Ostler (BYU Professor, Church History and Doctrine), Revelations of the Restoration. Page 95-96, Deseret Book, 2000.
"If Joseph Smith translated everything that is now in the Book of Mormon without using the gold plates, we are left to wonder why the plates were necessary in the first place. It will be remembered that possession of the plates placed the Smith family in considerable danger, causing them a host of difficulties. If the plates were not part of the translation process, this would not have been the case. It also leaves us wondering why the Lord directed the writers of the Book of Mormon to make a duplicate record of the plates of Lehi. This provision which compensated for the loss of the 116 pages would have served no purpose either. Further, we would be left to wonder why it was necessary for Moroni to instruct Joseph each year for four years before he was entrusted with the plates. We would also wonder why it was so important for Moroni to show the plates to the three witnesses, including David Whitmer. And why did the Lord have the Prophet show the plates to the eight witnesses? Why all this flap and fuss if the Prophet didn't really have the plates and if they were not used in the process of translation? What David Whitmer is asking us to believe is that the Lord had Moroni seal up the plates and the means by which they were to be translated hundreds of years before they would come into Joseph Smith's possession and then decided to have the Prophet use a seer stone found while digging a well so that none of these things would be necessary after all. Is this, we would ask, really a credible explanation of the way the heavens operate?" - Joseph Fielding McConkie (BYU Professor of Ancient Scripture) & Craig J. Ostler (BYU Professor, Church History and Doctrine), Revelations of the Restoration. Page 95-96, Deseret Book, 2000 | wasmormon.org
"If Joseph Smith translated everything that is now in the Book of Mormon without using the gold plates, we are left to wonder why the plates were necessary in the first place. It will be remembered that possession of the plates placed the Smith family in considerable danger, causing them a host of difficulties. If the plates were not part of the translation process, this would not have been the case. It also leaves us wondering why the Lord directed the writers of the Book of Mormon to make a duplicate record of the plates of Lehi. This provision which compensated for the loss of the 116 pages would have served no purpose either. Further, we would be left to wonder why it was necessary for Moroni to instruct Joseph each year for four years before he was entrusted with the plates. We would also wonder why it was so important for Moroni to show the plates to the three witnesses, including David Whitmer. And why did the Lord have the Prophet show the plates to the eight witnesses? Why all this flap and fuss if the Prophet didn't really have the plates and if they were not used in the process of translation? What David Whitmer is asking us to believe is that the Lord had Moroni seal up the plates and the means by which they were to be translated hundreds of years before they would come into Joseph Smith's possession and then decided to have the Prophet use a seer stone found while digging a well so that none of these things would be necessary after all. Is this, we would ask, really a credible explanation of the way the heavens operate?" - Joseph Fielding McConkie (BYU Professor of Ancient Scripture) & Craig J. Ostler (BYU Professor, Church History and Doctrine), Revelations of the Restoration. Page 95-96, Deseret Book, 2000

Mormonites Footnote on Book of Mormon Translation Gospel Topic Essay

The Book of Mormon Translation Gospel Topic Essay references an article in Footnote 31 from an Evangelical Magazine titled Mormonites. The essay cherry-picks comments from Oliver Cowdery about the translation process: The principal scribe, Oliver Cowdery, testified under oath in 1831 that Joseph Smith “found with the plates, from which he translated his book, two …

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- Stowell, do I understand you as swearing before God under the solemn oath you have taken that you believe the prisoner can see by the aid of the stone fifty feet below the surface of the earth as plainly as you can see what is on my table? “Do I believe it? No, its not a matter of belief, I positively know it to be true.” - Did Smith tell you there was money hid in a certain place? “Yes.” - Did he tell you, you could find it by digging? “Yes.” - Did you dig? “Yes.” - Did you find any money? “No.” - Did he not lie to you then, and deceive you? “No! The money was there, but we did not get quite to it!” - How do you know it was there? “Smith said it was!” - Josiah Stowell's testimony in Joseph Smith's 1826 trial. Presumably, since Josiah Stowall, believed Joseph Smith's gift of treasure digging, the charges were dropped, since he was the only one who had paid Joseph. | wasmormon.org
- Stowell, do I understand you as swearing before God under the solemn oath you have taken that you believe the prisoner can see by the aid of the stone fifty feet below the surface of the earth as plainly as you can see what is on my table? “Do I believe it? No, its not a matter of belief, I positively know it to be true.” - Did Smith tell you there was money hid in a certain place? “Yes.” - Did he tell you, you could find it by digging? “Yes.” - Did you dig? “Yes.” - Did you find any money? “No.” - Did he not lie to you then, and deceive you? “No! The money was there, but we did not get quite to it!” - How do you know it was there? “Smith said it was!” - Josiah Stowell's testimony in Joseph Smith's 1826 trial. Presumably, since Josiah Stowall, believed Joseph Smith's gift of treasure digging, the charges were dropped, since he was the only one who had paid Joseph.
[Joseph Smith] was again arraigned before a bar of Justice, during last Summer, to answer to a charge of misdemeanor. This trial led to an investigation of his character and conduct, which clearly evinced to the unprejudiced, whence the spirit came which dictated his inspirations. During the trial it was shown that the Book of Mormon was brought to light by the same magic power by which he pretended to tell fortunes, discover hidden treasures, etc. Oliver Cowdry, one of the three witnesses to the book, testified under oath, that said Smith found with the plates, from which he translated his book, two transparent stones, resembling glass, set in silver bows. That by looking through these, he was able to read in English, the reformed Egyptian characters, which were engraved on the plates. - Mormonites, Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate, April 9 1831 - Footnote 31 in Gospel Topic Essay on Book of Mormon Translation | wasmormon.org
[Joseph Smith] was again arraigned before a bar of Justice, during last Summer, to answer to a charge of misdemeanor. This trial led to an investigation of his character and conduct, which clearly evinced to the unprejudiced, whence the spirit came which dictated his inspirations. During the trial it was shown that the Book of Mormon was brought to light by the same magic power by which he pretended to tell fortunes, discover hidden treasures, etc. Oliver Cowdry, one of the three witnesses to the book, testified under oath, that said Smith found with the plates, from which he translated his book, two transparent stones, resembling glass, set in silver bows. That by looking through these, he was able to read in English, the reformed Egyptian characters, which were engraved on the plates. - Mormonites, Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate, April 9 1831 - Footnote 31 in Gospel Topic Essay on Book of Mormon Translation
Josiah Stowell, a Mormonite, being sworn, testified that he positively knew that said Smith never had lied to, or deceived him, and did not believe he ever tried to deceive any body else. The following questions were then asked him, to which he made the replies annexed. Did Smith ever tell you there was money hid in a certain place which he mentioned? Yes. Did he tell you, you could find it by digging? Yes. Did you dig? Yes. Did you find any money? No. Did he not lie to you then, and deceive you? No! the money was there, but we did not get quite to it! How do you know it was there? Smith said it was! As regards the testimony of Josiah Stowell, it needs no comment. He swears positively that Smith did not lie to him. So much for a Mormon witness. - Mormonites, Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate, April 9 1831 - Footnote 31 in Gospel Topic Essay on Book of Mormon Translation | wasmormon.org
Josiah Stowell, a Mormonite, being sworn, testified that he positively knew that said Smith never had lied to, or deceived him, and did not believe he ever tried to deceive any body else. The following questions were then asked him, to which he made the replies annexed.Did Smith ever tell you there was money hid in a certain place which he mentioned? Yes.Did he tell you, you could find it by digging? Yes.Did you dig? Yes.Did you find any money? No.Did he not lie to you then, and deceive you? No! the money was there, but we did not get quite to it!How do you know it was there? Smith said it was! As regards the testimony of Josiah Stowell, it needs no comment. He swears positively that Smith did not lie to him. So much for a Mormon witness. - Mormonites, Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate, April 9 1831 - Footnote 31 in Gospel Topic Essay on Book of Mormon Translation