View source for Source:Peterson:FR 17:2:They are an indigestible lump in the throats of people like him who contend that there were no Nephites

{{FME-Source
|title=Peterson (2005): "[The plates] are an indigestible lump in the throats of people...who contend that there were no Nephites but that Joseph Smith was nonetheless an inspired prophet"
|category=Book of Mormon/Translation
}}
<onlyinclude>
==Peterson (2005): "[The plates] are an indigestible lump in the throats of people...who contend that there were no Nephites but that Joseph Smith was nonetheless an inspired prophet"==
Daniel C. Peterson said:
<blockquote>
A knowledgeable academic friend who does not believe in the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon once asked me, since it seems that the plates were not actually necessary to the translation process and were sometimes not even present in the room, what purpose they served. I responded that I did not know, exactly, except for one thing: They are an indigestible lump in the throats of people like him who contend that there were no Nephites but that Joseph Smith was nonetheless an inspired prophet. <span style="color:blue">If the plates really existed, somebody made them.</span> And if no Nephites existed to make them, then either Joseph Smith, or God, or somebody else seems to have been engaged in simple fraud. The testimony of the witnesses exists, I think, to force a dichotomous choice: true or false? <ref>{{FR-17-2-1}} </ref>
</blockquote>
</onlyinclude>
{{endnotes sources}}