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What were the Kinderhook Plates? Were they real or a forgery? Was Joseph Smith fooled by them? Who was Zelph? Do Joseph Smith’s comments regarding Zelph prove that the Book of Mormon events occurred in North America? In this episode of Religion Today, which originally aired on KSL Radio on December 9, 2012, Martin Tanner discusses these questions.
This recording was used by permission of KSL Radio and does not necessarily represent the views of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or of FAIR. (Listeners will note that the first part of this recording is missing.)
Two fascinating incidents that have perplexed me for decades. What do they tell us about Joseph Smith and his followers? Martin puts an interesting slant on it when he says that Joseph was polite to those who seriously believed the Kinderhook plates were genuine, perhaps even teasing them a little to satisfy their yearning. Both incidents demonstrate to me that Joseph’s acolytes hungered for demonstrations of his prpohetic power. It is human nature to want to believe something and these folk were looking for confirmation of their beliefs. Did this place undue pressure on Joseph, to come up with a story, when in fact none was necessary? Did the narrators embellish the story to portray Joseph as an all knowing prophet and was he vulnerable to their expectations? I actually corresponded with a guy who worked for the Illinois department of Lands (or similar) who was excavating this very mound. He was then yet to publish his findings and i don’t know if he ever did. He didn’t seem aware of its importance to Mormon historians. Most indians in the area were Hopewells and the mound post dated BOM history. Tyler Livingston has done further research.