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After translation was complete, Smith said he returned the plates to the angel, although he did not elaborate about this experience. | After translation was complete, Smith said he returned the plates to the angel, although he did not elaborate about this experience. | ||
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| − | # | + | #{{Harvtxt|Van Horn|1881}}; {{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=141}}. |
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According to accounts by several early Mormons, a group of Mormon leaders including [[Oliver Cowdery]], [[David Whitmer]], and possibly others | According to accounts by several early Mormons, a group of Mormon leaders including [[Oliver Cowdery]], [[David Whitmer]], and possibly others | ||
|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
| − | # | + | #{{Harvtxt|Young|1877|p=38}} (mentioning only Smith and Cowdery); {{Harvtxt|Packer|2004|pp=52, 55}} (including David Whitmer in the list and describing Whitmer's account of the event, and citing William Horne Dame Diary, 14 January 1855, stating that [[Hyrum Smith]] was also in the group). |
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accompanied Smith and returned the plates to a cave inside the [[Hill Cumorah]]. | accompanied Smith and returned the plates to a cave inside the [[Hill Cumorah]]. | ||
|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
| − | # | + | #{{Harvtxt|Packer|2004|p=52}}. |
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There, Smith is said to have placed the plates on a table near "many wagon loads" of other ancient records, and the [[Sword of Laban]] hanging on the cave wall. | There, Smith is said to have placed the plates on a table near "many wagon loads" of other ancient records, and the [[Sword of Laban]] hanging on the cave wall. | ||
|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
| − | # | + | #{{Harvtxt|Young|1877|p=38}} (Young said he heard this from [[Oliver Cowdery]]). |
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According to [[Brigham Young]]'s understanding, which he said he gained from Cowdery, on a later visit to the cave, the Sword of Laban was said to be unsheathed and placed over the plates, and inscribed with the words "This sword will never be sheathed again until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and his Christ." | According to [[Brigham Young]]'s understanding, which he said he gained from Cowdery, on a later visit to the cave, the Sword of Laban was said to be unsheathed and placed over the plates, and inscribed with the words "This sword will never be sheathed again until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and his Christ." | ||
|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
| − | # | + | #{{Harvtxt|Young|1877|p=38}}. |
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Smith taught that part of the golden plates were "sealed". | Smith taught that part of the golden plates were "sealed". | ||
|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
| − | # | + | #{{Harvtxt|Smith|1842|p=707}}. |
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This "sealed" portion is said to contain "a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof". | This "sealed" portion is said to contain "a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof". | ||
|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
| − | # | + | #''Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 27:7. |
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Many Latter Day Saints believe that the plates will be kept hidden until a future time when the sealed part will be translated | Many Latter Day Saints believe that the plates will be kept hidden until a future time when the sealed part will be translated | ||
|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
| − | # | + | #{{Harvtxt|Packer|2004|p=55}}. |
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and, according to one early Mormon leader, transferred from the hill to one of the Mormon temples. | and, according to one early Mormon leader, transferred from the hill to one of the Mormon temples. | ||
|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
| − | # | + | #{{Harvtxt|Packer|2004|p=55}} (quoting a statement by [[Orson Pratt]]). |
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[[David Whitmer]] is quoted as stating that he saw just the ''untranslated'' portion of the plates sitting on the table with the sword (and also a breastplate). | [[David Whitmer]] is quoted as stating that he saw just the ''untranslated'' portion of the plates sitting on the table with the sword (and also a breastplate). | ||
|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
| − | # | + | #{{Harvtxt|Packer|2004|p=55}} (citing reporter Edward Stevenson's 1877 interview with Whitmer). |
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Apparently, Whitmer was aware of expeditions at Cumorah to locate the sealed portion of the plates through "science and mineral rods," which he said "testify that they are there". | Apparently, Whitmer was aware of expeditions at Cumorah to locate the sealed portion of the plates through "science and mineral rods," which he said "testify that they are there". | ||
|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
| − | # | + | #{{Harvtxt|Packer|2004|p=55}}. At least one Mormon scholar doubts the existence of a Cumorah cave and instead argues that early Mormons saw a vision of a cave in another location.{{Harvtxt|Tvedtnes|1990}} |
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Latest revision as of 13:34, 13 April 2024
FAIR Answers—back to home page
An analysis of claims made in the Wikipedia article "Golden plates" - Returning the plates
| Reputed location of the plates during translation | A FAIR Analysis of: Wikipedia article "Golden plates", a work by author: Various
|
Witness accounts |
An analysis of claims made in the Wikipedia article "Golden plates" - Returning the plates
Updated 9/21/2011
Section review
Returning the plates
The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:
After translation was complete, Smith said he returned the plates to the angel, although he did not elaborate about this experience.Author's sources:
FAIR's Response
- Correct, per cited sources
}}
The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:
According to accounts by several early Mormons, a group of Mormon leaders including Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and possibly othersAuthor's sources:
FAIR's Response
- Correct, per cited sources
}}
The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:
accompanied Smith and returned the plates to a cave inside the Hill Cumorah.Author's sources:
FAIR's Response
- Violates Wikipedia: Citing sources off-site— There is either no citation to support the statement or the citation given is incorrect.
The cited source does not state definitively that the plates were returned to a cave inside the Hill Cumorah as the article implies. - Packer states:
Was this a real cave that Joseph and others actually walked into, or was it a visionary, or "virtual," experience? The wording of the accounts leaves the issue open.
- For a detailed response, see: Book of Mormon/Archaeology/Hill Cumorah
}}
The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:
There, Smith is said to have placed the plates on a table near "many wagon loads" of other ancient records, and the Sword of Laban hanging on the cave wall.Author's sources:
FAIR's Response
- Correct, per cited sources
}}
The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:
According to Brigham Young's understanding, which he said he gained from Cowdery, on a later visit to the cave, the Sword of Laban was said to be unsheathed and placed over the plates, and inscribed with the words "This sword will never be sheathed again until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and his Christ."Author's sources:
FAIR's Response
- Correct, per cited sources
- According to the cited source (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 19:38.
When Joseph got the plates, the angel instructed him to carry them back to the hill Cumorah, which he did. Oliver says that when Joseph and Oliver went there, the hill opened, and they walked into a cave, in which there was a large and spacious room. He says he did not think, at the time, whether they had the light of the sun or artificial light; but that it was just as light as day. They laid the plates on a table; it was a large table that stood in the room. Under this table there was a pile of plates as much as two feet high, and there were altogether in this room more plates than probably many wagon loads; they were piled up in the corners and along the walls. The first time they went there the sword of Laban hung upon the wall; but when they went again it had been taken down and laid upon the table across the gold plates; it was unsheathed, and on it was written these words: "This sword will never be sheathed again until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and his Christ."
}}
The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:
Smith taught that part of the golden plates were "sealed".Author's sources:
FAIR's Response
- Correct, per cited sources
}}
The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:
This "sealed" portion is said to contain "a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof".Author's sources:
FAIR's Response
- Correct, per cited sources
}}
The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:
Many Latter Day Saints believe that the plates will be kept hidden until a future time when the sealed part will be translatedAuthor's sources:
FAIR's Response
- Correct, per cited sources
}}
The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:
and, according to one early Mormon leader, transferred from the hill to one of the Mormon temples.Author's sources:
FAIR's Response
- Correct, per cited sources
- Orson Pratt, The Contributor, September 1882,
But the grand repository of all the numerous records of the ancient nations of the western continent, was located in another department of the hill, and its contents put under the charge of holy angels, until the day should come for them to be transferred to the sacred temple of Zion.
}}
The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:
David Whitmer is quoted as stating that he saw just the untranslated portion of the plates sitting on the table with the sword (and also a breastplate).Author's sources:
FAIR's Response
- Correct, per cited sources
}}
The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:
Apparently, Whitmer was aware of expeditions at Cumorah to locate the sealed portion of the plates through "science and mineral rods," which he said "testify that they are there".Author's sources:
FAIR's Response
- Whitmer's statement,
It was likewise stated to me by David Whitmer in the year 1877 that Oliver Cowdery told him that the Prophet Joseph and himself had seen this room and that it was filled with treasure, and on a table therein were the breastplate and the sword of Laban, as well as the portion of gold plates not yet translated, and that these plates were bound by three small gold rings, and would also be translated, as was the first portion in the days of Joseph. When they are translated much useful information will be brought to light. But till that day arrives, no Rochester adventurers shall ever see them or the treasures, although science and mineral rods testify that they are there.
- For a detailed response, see: Book of Mormon/Archaeology/Hill Cumorah
}}
References
| Wikipedia references for "Golden Plates" |
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- Grandin, E.B., Editor's note off-site .
- Hadley, Jonathan A., Golden Bible off-site .
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- Hamblin, William J., (2007), Sacred Writing on Metal Plates in the Ancient Mediterranean off-site .
- Harris, Abigail, Howe, Eber Dudley (editor) (1833), Mormonism Unvailed , Painesville, Ohio: Telegraph Press off-site .
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- Harris, Martin, (1859), Mormonism, No. II off-site .
- Howe, Eber Dudley, (1834), Mormonism Unvailed Painesville, Ohio: Telegraph Press off-site .
- Knight, Joseph, Sr., Jessee, Dean (editor) (1833), Joseph Knight's Recollection of Early Mormon History off-site .
- Lapham, [La]Fayette, (1870), Interview with the Father of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, Forty years Ago. His Account of the Finding of the Sacred Plates off-site .
- Mormon History off-site .
- Mather, Frederic G., (1880), Early Days of Mormonism off-site .
- Metcalfe, Brent Lee, (1993), Apologetic and Critical Assumptions about Book of Mormon Historicity off-site .
- Packer, J. Cameron, (2004), Cumorah's Cave Maxwell Institute off-site .
- Palmer, Grant H., (2002), An Insider's View of Mormon Origins Signature Books .
- Parrish, Warren, (1838), Letter from W. Parrish, Kirtland The Evangelist off-site , republished in Vogel, Dan (editor) (1999), Early Mormon Documents , Salt Lake City: Signature Books .
- Phelps, , (1833), A Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church of Christ Zion: William Wines Phelps & Co. off-site .
- Poulson, P. Wilhelm, Letter to the editor. .
- Pratt, Orson, (1856), The Faith and Visions of the Ancient Saints—The Same Great Blessing to be Enjoyed by the Latter-day Saints off-site .
- Pratt, Orson, (1859), Evidences of the Bible and Book of Mormon Compared off-site .
- Pratt, Orson, (1877), King Limhi's Enquiry, from the Book of Mormon' off-site .
- Putnam, Read H., Were the Golden Plates Made of Tumbaga? off-site .
- Quinn, D. Michael, (1998), Early Mormonism and the Magic World View , Salt Lake City: Signature Books .
- Riley, I. Woodbridge, (1903), The Founder of Mormonism: A Psychological Study of Joseph Smith, Jr. , New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. off-site
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- Salisbury, Katharine Smith, Walker, Kyle R. (editor) Katharine Smith Salisbury's Recollections of Joseph's Meetings with Moroni off-site .
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- Smith, Joseph III, last Testimony of Sister Emma off-site .
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- Storey, Wilbur F., Interview with David Whitmer off-site .
- Tvedtnes, John A, (1990), Review of Little Known Evidences of the Book of Mormon by Brenton G. Yorgason Maxwell Institute off-site .
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Further reading
FAIR Answers—back to home page
Mormonism and Wikipedia
FairMormon's approach to Wikipedia articles
FairMormon regularly receives queries about specific LDS-themed Wikipedia articles with requests that we somehow "fix" them. Although some individual members of FAIR may choose to edit Wikipedia articles, FairMormon as an organization does not. Controversial Wikipedia articles require constant maintenance and a significant amount of time. We prefer instead to respond to claims in the FAIR Wiki rather than fight the ongoing battle that LDS Wikipedia articles sometimes invite. From FAIR’s perspective, assertions made in LDS-themed Wikipedia articles are therefore treated just like any other critical (or, if one prefers, "anti-Mormon") work. As those articles are revised and updated, we will periodically update our reviews to match.
Who can edit Wikipedia articles?
Editors who wish to participate in editing LDS-themed Wikipedia articles can access the project page here: Wikipedia:WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement. You are not required to be LDS in order to participate—there are a number of good non-LDS editors who have made valuable contributions to these articles.
Recommendations when editing Wikipedia articles
FAIR does not advocate removing any references from Wikipedia articles. The best approach to editing Wikipedia is to locate solid references to back up your position and add them rather than attempting to remove information. Individuals who intend to edit should be aware that posting information related to the real-world identities of Wikipedia editors will result in their being banned from editing Wikipedia. Attacking editors and attempting to "out" them on Wikipedia is considered very bad form. The best approach is to treat all Wikipedia editors, whether or not you agree or disagree with their approach, with respect and civility. An argumentative approach is not constructive to achieving a positive result, and will simply result in what is called an "edit war." Unfortunately, not all Wikipedia editors exhibit good faith toward other editors (see, for example, the comment above from "Duke53" or comments within these reviews made by John Foxe's sockpuppet "Hi540," both of whom repeatedly mocked LDS beliefs and LDS editors prior to their being banned.)
Do LDS editors control Wikipedia?
Although there exist editors on Wikipedia who openly declare their affiliation with the Church, they do not control Wikipedia. Ironically, some critics of the Church periodically falsely accuse Wikipedia editors of being LDS simply because they do not accept the critics' desired spin on a particular article.
Do "anti-Mormons" control Wikipedia?
Again, the answer is no. The truth is that Wikipedia is generally self-policing. Highly contentious articles do tend to draw the most passionate supporters and critics.
Why do certain LDS articles seem to be so negative?
Although some LDS-related Wikipedia articles may appear to have a negative tone, they are in reality quite a bit more balanced than certain critical works such as One Nation Under Gods. Although many critical editors often accuse LDS-related Wikipedia articles of being "faith promoting" or claim that they are just an extension of the Sunday School manual, this is rarely the case. Few, if any, Latter-day Saints would find Wikipedia articles to be "faith promoting." Generally, the believers think that the articles are too negative and the critics believe that the articles are too positive. LDS Wikipedia articles should be informative without being overtly faith promoting. However, most of the primary sources, including the words of Joseph Smith himself, are "faith promoting." This presents a dilemma for Wikipedia editors who want to remain neutral. The unfortunate consequence is that Joseph's words are rewritten and intermixed with contradictory sources, resulting in boring and confusing prose.
We examine selected Wikipedia articles and examine them on a "claim-by-claim" basis, with links to responses in the FairMormon Answers Wiki. Wikipedia articles are constantly evolving. As a result, the analysis of each article will be updated periodically in order to bring it more into line with the current version of the article. The latest revision date may be viewed at the top of each individual section. The process by which Wikipedia articles are reviewed is the following:
- Update each Wikipedia passage and its associated footnotes.
- Examine the use of sources and determine whether or not the passage accurately represents the source used.
- Provide links to response articles within the FairMormon Answers Wiki.
- If violation of Wikipedia rules is discovered, identify which Wikipedia editor (by pseudonym) made the edit, provide a description of the rule violated and a link to the Wikipedia "diff" showing the actual edit.
- If a violated rule is later corrected in a subsequent revision, the violation is removed and a notation is added that the passage is correct per cited sources. This doesn't mean that FAIR necessarily agrees with the passage—only that it is correct based upon the source used.
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, "Mormonism and Wikipedia: The Church History That “Anyone Can Edit”"
Roger Nicholson, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, (2012)The ability to quickly and easily access literature critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been made significantly easier through the advent of the Internet. One of the primary sites that dominates search engine results is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that “anyone can edit.” Wikipedia contains a large number of articles related to Mormonism that are edited by believers, critics, and neutral parties. The reliability of information regarding the Church and its history is subject to the biases of the editors who choose to modify those articles. Even if a wiki article is thoroughly sourced, editors sometimes employ source material in a manner that supports their bias. This essay explores the dynamics behind the creation of Wikipedia articles about the Church, the role that believers and critics play in that process, and the reliability of the information produced in the resulting wiki articles.
Click here to view the complete article
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