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Latest revision as of 14:30, 13 April 2024
FAIR Answers—back to home page
Joseph Smith as a translator
Summary: It is claimed that Joseph Smith claimed to translate other texts or items, which can be checked against modern academic translations. They claim that this "cross-checking" proves that Joseph could not have translated the Book of Mormon or other ancient texts.
Jump to Subtopic:
- The "Urim and Thummim" used by Joseph Smith to translate the "gold plates"
- Joseph Smith and the Kinderhook plates
- Third party translation claims
The "Urim and Thummim" used by Joseph Smith to translate the "gold plates"
Jump to details:
- Question: Did Joseph Smith use the Nephite interpreters to translate? Or did he use his own seer stone?
- Question: What are the Nephite interpreters?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith use his own seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon?
- Question: Has the Church tried to hide Joseph's use of a seer stone?
- Gospel Topics: "Joseph placed either the interpreters or the seer stone in a hat"
- Question: Did Joseph ever place the Nephite interpreters ("Urim and Thummim") into his hat?
- Gospel Topics: "Joseph Smith and his associates often used the term 'Urim and Thummim' to refer to the single stone as well as the interpreters"
- Ensign (Jan. 2013): "He...referred to it using an Old Testament term, Urim and Thummim...He also sometimes applied the term to other stones he possessed"
- W.W. Phelps (1833): "through the aid of a pair of Interpreters, or spectacles—(known, perhaps, in ancient days as Teraphim, or Urim and Thummim)"
- Question: Which method of translation was more "believable": seer stone or Nephite interpreters?
- Question: What does the Church teach investigators and members regarding the method by which the Book of Mormon was produced?
Joseph Smith and the Kinderhook plates
Summary: A set of small plates, engraved with characters of ancient appearance, were purported to have been unearthed in Kinderhook, Illinois, in April 1843. The so-called "Kinderhook plates" have been something of an enigma within the Mormon community since they first appeared. While there are faithful LDS who take a number of different positions on the topic of these artifacts, most have concluded that they were fakes. This article summarizes some key information that critics often exclude from their discussion of the Kinderhook plates, and the extent of Joseph Smith's involvement.
Jump to details:
- Question: What are the Kinderhook Plates?
- Question: Why does History of the Church say that Joseph Smith said "I have translated a portion of them..."?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith attempt to translate the Kinderhook Plates?
- Question: Did Joseph attempt to translate the Kinderhook Plates using the "gift and power of God?"
- Question: What does Joseph's attempt to translate the Kinderhook Plates tell us about his "gift of translation?"
- Question: Why is the statement of William Clayton regarding the Kinderhook Plates in History of the Church written as if Joseph Smith himself said it?
- "‘President Joseph Has Translated a Portion’: Solving the Mystery of the Kinderhook Plates"
Third party translation claims
Summary: Joseph Smith is claimed by others to have translated certain documents for which an actual translation was never produced. Joseph Smith is claimed to have not been given the right to have any other prophetic gift beyond translating the Book of Mormon.
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