Mormon Dilemma 90

30 October

More on the Seer Stone Quandary…

For this dilemma we’re looking at just a few of the controversial comments made by Church leaders and scriptures found in Church authorized reading materials that cast a shadow of doubt on the godliness of how Smith translated the golden plates.

 

 

In the last two quotations it’s interesting to note how Smith thought of himself as the prophet mentioned in the book of Alma who would bring light to the world.  Controversy swirls around both ideas that Smith himself was Gazelam or the stones were Gazelam.  Either way gives no hope or comfort to those ensnared in the continuing confusion of Mormonism.

While studying this menagerie of confusion I felt as if I were one of the characters in the movie National Treasure.  Just one more clue would lead me to the truth, alas, just when I thought I was going to get to the bottom of things, I was met with another missing piece of the puzzle.

So did Smith use a seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon or did he not?  Neither of the answers to this puzzling rabbit trail they lead us on brings us to a satisfactory closure and comfort from God, nor does it glorify Him.

How do I explain this to my very active LDS mother?

Comprehensive History of the Church 6:230; “DEDICATION OF THE SEER STONE ON THE ALTAR OF THE MANTI TEMPLE.  One item mentioned by President Woodruff about the private dedicatory services at Manti is of more than passing interest. “Before leaving,” he writes, “I consecrated upon the altar the Seer Stone that Joseph Smith found by revelation some thirty feet under the earth (ground), and carried by him through life.” This is the very Seer Stone that the Prophet Joseph Smith used part of the time when translating the Book of Mormon…” – B.H. Roberts

Doctrines of Salvation 3:225-226; The statement has been made that the Urim and Thummim was on the altar in the Manti Temple when that building was dedicated. The Urim and Thummim so spoken of, however, was the seer stone which was in the possession of the Prophet Joseph Smith in early days. This seer stone is now in the possession of the Church.

While the statement has been made by some writers that the Prophet Joseph Smith used a seer stone part of the time in his translating of the record, and information points to the fact that he did have in his possession such a stone, yet there is no authentic statement in the history of the Church which states that the use of such a stone was made in that translation. The information is all hearsay, and personally, I do not believe that this stone was used for this purpose…. It hardly seems reasonable to suppose that the Prophet would substitute something evidently INFERIOR under these circumstances. It may have been so, but is so easy for a story of this kind to be circulated due to the fact that the Prophet did possess a seer stone, which he may have used for some other purposes.

Alma 37:23; And the Lord said: I will prepare unto my servant Gazelem, a stone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light, that I may discover unto my people who serve me, that I may discover unto them the works of their brethren, yea, their secret works, their works of darkness, and their wickedness and abominations.

Mormon Doctrine, pg. 307; GAZELAM See –>ADAMIC LANGUAGE, –>JOSEPH SMITH THE PROPHET. Strange and unusual names were placed by the Prophet in some of the early revelations so that the individuals whom the Lord was then addressing would not be known to the world. The purpose for keeping these identities secret from their enemies having long since passed, the true names are now found in the Doctrine and Covenants. Two of the names which identified the Prophet himself were Gazelam and Enoch. (D. & C. 78:9; 82:11; 104:26, 43, 45, 46.) Presumptively these and other names used at the same time have particular meanings, which are not now known to us.

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