The Beginning of the
Mormon Religion
The
character of Joseph Smith, Jr., established that he was from an environment of
visions, and dreams, and the need for money, and a lack of orthodox religion in
his childhood, distaste for existing Christian beliefs, and from an area that
was well known as the “Burnt Out Area” due to over preaching, as well as he
being a treasure hunter, and it seems he was using magic to keep himself
employed. Joseph Smith, Jr., had an interest in the mounds that could be found
in the Ohio valley and other areas near and around New York, a place where he
believed were treasures all this adds to the fact that Joseph Smith, Jr., would
desire to achieve, money, fame, and at the expense of soothsaying. It must be
remembered that Joseph Smith, Jr., used trickery, seeing into his hat staring
at two stones. The discovery about the early days of Joseph Smith, Jr.,
document not only his character but also his ideology, and philosophy. There
are two witnesses that give the account, Arad Stowell, and Mr. McMaster have only
negative account that Joseph Smith, Jr., had any ability with his stores to
find treasure or any other lost object. We must remember that Joseph Smith,
Jr., was found guilty of disorderly conduct but as a first offender was allowed
to not have penalty.[1]
Martin Harris, a prominent member of the community and a financial backer of
the Book of Mormon give this statement about the money diggers:
There was a company there in that
neighborhood, who were digging for money supposed to have been hidden by the
ancients. Of this company were old Mr. Stowel--I think his name was
Josiah--also old Mr. Beman, also Samuel Lawrence, George Proper, Joseph Smith,
jr., and his father, and his brother Hiram Smith. They dug for money in
Palmyra, Manchester, also in Pennsylvania, and other places. ... It was
reported by these money diggers, that they had found boxes, but before they
could secure them, they would sink into the earth.[2]
Mr. Josiah Stowell in September
1827 went to Palmyra to visit the Smiths and to dig for money and at this
visit, Joseph Knight, Sr., Alvah Beaman, who was a rodsman, and Samuel Lawrence
who was known as a “seer,” and at his meeting, a meeting of men with money
diggers, Joseph Smith, Jr., claimed to have come into possession of the gold
plates.
To begin this area of investigation into the forming of
the Mormon religion as to Joseph Smith, Jr., and his account about him being
visited by an angel leads to many questions. It is to be noted that Joseph
Smith, Jr., was not the only person to say that they were visited by an angel
and were given manuscripts to a holy book. Mohammed of the Islam religion also
said that he was visited by and angel named, Michael, and was given the words
for the Koran, Islam’s holy book. Joseph Smith, Jr., also says he was visited,
by an angel, and this angel had the name “Moroni,” and was led to gold plates
from which he was to pen the Book of Mormon. This similarity must not go unnoticed
even though they are events, they say, took place years before the other, yet
both claim the same thing: God visited them through and angel. As the story
goes about the gold plates and he boxes that contained them the money diggers
reported that they had found boxes but before they could retrieve them they
would sink into the earth.[3] Jonathan Thompson gave this description
about one money-digging excursion and stated the Joseph Smith, Jr., located an
Indian treasure by looking into his hat where he had placed a stone.
A question that leaves us wondering is: Why did God
choose Joseph Smith, Jr., to reveal another religious book claiming that it was
from God? Joseph Smith, Jr., was not a person who believed in the Bible as
written by those 40 men over several centuries to the Jews and then to the
Church after Jesus Christ came, died, rose again from the dead, and ascended
into heaven. Joseph Smith Jr., a treasure hunter looking for anything that
would bring him money, even fame and more business who said that he found a
“box” containing gold plates on a hill, a hill much like the ancient mounds of
the Ohio Valley? Why was it that he found those plates himself with no
witnesses to this find? Why cannot we see those plates today since they are
said to be in a building on the hill of Cumorah? Where are the two stones said
to be Thummin and Urim? Why was he told to keep all this a secret? We must,
therefore, due to these questions and many more, to then examine the history
for the Book of Mormon. It is also very interesting that those supposed gold
plates would have been buried in Palmyra in New York next to the home of Joseph
Smith, Jr., and to simply say that Joseph Smith, Jr., was placed there by God
to find those plates without supporting evidence seem to be incredulous and the
command to keep the gold plates from being seen also seems convenient.
The original church formed by Joseph Smith, Jr., and
others was called The Church of Christ and this occurred in 1829-1830 A.D.,
later to be changed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The
underlying theology was restoration theology. This movement, restoration
theology was an attempt to restore to the church primitive Christianity and
sprung up in the early 1899’s and a man, Barton W. Stone, a Presbyterian
minister, upset by the various schisms in the church began a movement in
Kentucky to restore apostolic Christianity. In the 1820’s Stones movement
merged with Thomas and Alexander Campbell who also were attempting to restore
primitive Christianity. The restoration movement occurred largely in the area
where Joseph Smith, Jr., lived and hunted for treasure. More people were
influenced by this doctrine restoration theology looking for a Christianity
that would coincide with their ideas, not from the Bible alone, but from their
own character being formed much like Joseph Smith Jr., so when approached by
Joseph Smith, Jr., they believed him.
The Mormon narrative according to Joseph Smith, Jr., was
that God sent an angel to reveal to him the location of an ancient record that
contained the history of God’s working with the inhabitants living on the
American continent. Not was Joseph Smith, Jr., given the location of those
records, but also was given the ability to translate that record. This record became
the Book of Mormon. It is said that God commanded that the Church of Christ by
organized and this occurred on April 6, 1830 and at this time it is said that
this was accompanied by the appearing of angels, the bringing forth of the Book
of Mormon and a restoration on earth of the authority of the priesthood, the
ministers of Jesus Christ.
The Book of Mormon must not be underestimated it is the
very foundation of the Mormon religion and without the narrative as to how
Joseph Smith, Jr., obtained the writings from the hill of Cumorah near Palymra,
New York making this essential to Mormonism. The 2006 printing of the Book of
Mormon is written that the Book of Mormon is an account written by the hand of
Mormon, upon plates taken from the plates of Nephi (Stratford Books, P.O. Box
1371, Provo, UT 84603-1371, September 2006). The first and second book of
Nephi, the first books of the Book of Mormon give the account of Nehi being
commanded by God to write the history of the people of Israel, especially about
a certain group of Israelites. The Book of Mormon chapter entitled The Words of
Mormon, chapter 1, gives the account that Mormon gave to his son Moron this
record. The narrative was that Moroni, an ancient Nephite warrior visited
Joseph Smith, Jr., in the fall of 1823. This visit by Moroni spoke to Joseph
Smith, Jr., that he, Moroni, had buried gold plates come fourteen centuries
earlier and that burial place was near the Smith farm near Palmyra, New York.
Moroni gave some historical facts that were in those gold plates but Joseph
Smith, Jr., was not to retrieve the gold plates for another four years. Mormons
believe that with the translation of those gold plates into the Book of Mormon
that Joseph Smith, Jr., was a prophet sent by God to restore the true Christian
faith that had been lost due to a “great apostasy.” The details as to how
Joseph Smith, Jr., obtained the plates and translated them have caused much
consternation and compelled some with the Mormon religion to challenge the main
components of the account in order to make it more credible. Those who call
themselves Mormons will agree without doubt their founding prophet, Joseph
Smith, Jr., did find and translate the gold plates and that the Book of Mormon
is the most correct of any book on earth. The story by Lucy Mack Smith, the
mother of Joseph Smith,[4]
Jr., gives an account that her son, Joseph Smith, Jr., found and took the
plates from a secret place, and, “wrapping them in his linen frock, placed the
under his arm and started for home. The account states that Joseph Smith, Jr.,
came to a large windfall, and when he jumped over a log a man came suddenly
from behind it and gave him a heavy blow with a gun. After recovering quickly
Joseph Smith, Jr., knocked this man down and then ran at top speed.[5]
Lucy Mack Smith, the mother of Joseph Smith, Jr., gives more as she speaks that
her son was attacked two more times and without any mention that they were
incapacitated and that he ran from them home to avoid more trouble this he did
with him being somewhat hindered by a slight limp that he had received from a
childhood surgery.
Joseph Smith, Jr., having to run with his find of gold
plates we must then examine what we can about those gold plates. The first
thing is to measure the weight of the gold plates and there is no consensus as
to the size or weight of the gold plates. There are varying dimensions for the
plates, and for their estimated weights. Some say sixty pounds, others, like
the father of Joseph Smith, Jr., who stated that the plates weighed as little
as thirty pounds. Joseph Smith, Jr., give this account about the gold plats
saying that those plates received from the angel was “six inches wide, and
eight inches long, and not very thick as common tin. Furthermore, Joseph Smith,
Jr., said that the dimensions of the plates near six inches in thickness, a
part of which was sealed.[6]
God weighs 1,204 pounds per cubic foot and if the plates were solid gold then
they would weigh two hundred pounds and this is in agreement with LDS Apostle
John Widtsoe. If this were the case then the gold plates would be too heavy for
a man to carry.[7] Mormonism attempts
to disprove this weight by stating that these handmade plates would not lay
perfectly flat, this then allows for air gaps between the leaves which would
make them much lighter but this is to imply that gold being a very soft metal
and due to their weight air gaps would not exist making the plates to be a
block of gold. The air gaps must be assumed to be moving air because moving air
lifts the pages upward and if not moving, still air, then the weight of the
pages would push down on to the next page making the book or pages to be
weighted. Mormons are pressed to find a solution to this problem that Joseph
Smith, Jr., carried these plates, after being knocked in the head and fell down
and then fought two men, and then ran with the plates that somehow he did not
drop, or at least we have no record of him picking them up and then run away
from these men who were intent on hurting him. God is malleable: this is called
ductility, and can be easily hammered into shape, molded so they were then soft
as gold is a soft metal. A problem exist with soft metal as these plates were
said to be gold in that with all the handling over time the engravings would become
distorted. This problem Widtsoe attempted to resolve. Here is his theory:
For the purpose of record keeping, plates made of gold mixed with
a certain amount of copper would be better, for such plates would be firmer,
more durable and generally more suitable for the work in hand. If the plates
were made of eight karat gold, which is gold frequently used in present-day
jewelry, and allowing a 10 percent space between the leaves, the total weight
of the plates would not be above one hundred and seventeen pounds—a weight
easily carried by a man as strong as was Joseph Smith.[8]
The story as told makes these gold plates to be heavy
and without documentation of moving air then the theories proposed would be
impossible to prove true and reliable. Mormons came up with another way for
this story to be true by assuming that God gave Joseph Smith, Jr., supernatural
strength to carry the plates. This simply an argument from silence and Joseph
Smith, Jr., never said that God aided him to carry or run with the plates and
he never gave God the credit for enabling him to do so. The Mormon apologetic community
recognizes that there is no evidence to support the need for supernatural
strength. Mormons have and are attempting to get the weight down to a
manageable weight but if this is being done then there would be no reason for
God to intervene. Mormons continue to attempt to find ways to resolve this
problem with the gold plates, and in the LDS Era magazine, Kirk B. Henrichsen
makes this statement to affirm the validity for the gold plates: “Neither
Joseph nor any of the witnesses said that the ancient record was made from
solid gold. Nor did they use the term ‘gold plates,’ or ‘plates of gold.’”[9]
The question is whether or not Mr. Henrichsen told the whole truth. The thirteenth
president Gordon B. Hinckley recited the words of the witness for the Book of
Mormon, Oliver Cowdry who said: “I
beheld with my eyes and handled with my hands, the gold plates from which it
was translated.”[10] In an
interview that appeared in the Saint’s Herald, David Whitmer, another
one of the Three Witnesses, stated that the plates were made of “pure gold.”[11]
Lucy Mack Smith in a letter she wrote to Mary Smithy Pierce in 1929 explaining
how God showed Joseph Smith, Jr.: “where he could dig to obtain an ancient
record engraven upon plates made of pure gold and this he is able to
translate.”[12] The Mormon
Church stated that Joseph Smith, Jr., in the LDS Church News in an article
entitled, “Hands on Opportunity” was: “entrusted with plates of solid gold.”[13]
The theories purported by Mormon leaders failing they needed another
explanation so they speculated that the gold was on speaking of the color ad
not the content. Furthermore, they speculated that the plates were made of an
alloy as gold would be too soft to be engraved as the Mormon apologist John
Welch notes: “pure gold would be too
soft to make useful plates.”[14]
While it must agreed upon the gold would be too soft for engraving and was
stated by a Mormon apologist to be so they do have this in the Book of Mormon:
Mosiah 8:9 speaks of twenty-four Jaredite plates, which are filled with
engravings, and they are pure gold. This translation allegedly makes up the
present-day Book of Ether that can be found near the end of the Book of Mormon.
[1] Joseph
Smith's 1826 Judicial Decision," mormonscripturestudies.com.
[2]
Mormonism--No. II," Tiffany's Monthly 5 (August 1859): 164-65;
Vogel, Early Mormon Documents 2:303-304.
[3]
Mormonism--No. II," Tiffany's Monthly 5 (August 1859): 164-65;
Vogel, Early Mormon Documents 2:303-304.
[4]
See Richard L. Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
2005), 60. See also Church History in the Fulness of Times: Religion 341
through 343 (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, 2003), 44–45.
[5] Lucy Mack
Smith, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother (Salt Lake City: Stevens
and Wallis, 1945), 108.
[6] History
of the Church (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1973), 4:537.
[7] John A.
Widtsoe and Franklin S. Harris, Jr., Seven Claims of the Book of Mormon (Salt
Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1937), 37.
[8] Widtsoe and
Harris, 37.
[9] Henrichsen,
“What Did the Golden Plates Look Like?” New Era, July 2007, 29.
[10] Gordon
Hinckley, Ensign, May 1989, 46.
[11] Saints’
Herald, February 15, 1878, 57.
[12] Dean C.
Jessee, “Lucy Mack Smith’s 1829 Letter to Mary Smith Pierce,” BYU Studies,
Fall 1982, 461.
[13]
Church News, May 15, 1999, 16. It should be noted that the electronic
version of this article has changed the phrase, “solid gold plates,” to read
simply, “gold plates”;
[14] John W.
Welch, ed., Reexploring the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret
Book, 1992), 276.
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