More fun with SITH in Saints, volume 1

 

I'm finally getting around to annotating the Saints book, volume 1. We continually meet people who have read Saints and believe it is accurate.

I wish it was. It could easily be corrected, except no one in the Church History Department seems to care about correcting errors.

I noticed this example from chapter 3:

Look at this sentence:

Moroni said that God had chosen Joseph to renew the covenant, and that if he chose to be faithful to God’s commands, he would be the one to reveal the record on the plates.¹¹

This is fun because note 11 cites Letter IV. 

Oliver Cowdery, “Letter IV,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Feb. 1835, 1:78–79 (see also later version, in JSP, H1:59); Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–45, book 3, [11].

Instead of linking to Letter IV in the Joseph Smith Papers, which would be easy and clear, the link goes to the cover of the Messenger and Advocate on archive.org!

Then you have to find pages 78-9 which looks like this:

​

and it is the wrong page!

Below is the passage on page 80, which of course they would never actually quote in Saints because Moroni specifically told Joseph he had the privilege to translate with the Urim and Thummim that came with the plates. 

Instead, the historians want to make people think Moroni told Joseph he would "reveal the record;" i.e., that instead of using the Urim and Thummim and actually translating the engravings, Joseph would read words that appeared on the stone-in-the-hat (SITH).

It would be far more accurate, and clearer to readers, if Saints simply quoted the reference instead of paraphrasing it and completely changing the meaning.

Here is the actual passage.

He said this history was written and deposited not far from that place, and that it was our brother’s privilege, if obedient to the commandments of the Lord, to obtain and translate the same by the means of the Urim and Thummim, which were deposited for that purpose with the record.

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/68

M2Cers blames Mormon

M2Cer blames Mormon for not writing more than a hundredth part.

_____

13 And now there are many records kept of the proceedings of this people, by many of this people, which are particular and very large, concerning them.

14 But behold, a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people, yea, the account of the Lamanites and of the Nephites, 

and their wars, and contentions, and dissensions, 

and their preaching, and their prophecies, 

and their shipping and their building of ships, 

and their building of temples, and of synagogues and their sanctuaries, and their righteousness, 

and their wickedness, and their murders, and their robbings, and their plundering, 

and all manner of abominations and whoredoms, cannot be contained in this work.

15 But behold, there are many books and many records of every kind, and they have been kept chiefly by the Nephites.
(Helaman 3:13–15)

1 or 2: Cumorah and seer stones

 

Where to find seer stones

 

SITH as the "best evidence"

I had forgotten about this gem: 

The hat is our strongest evidence of a divine translation through the gift and power of God.

It comes from this post:

Church historians of an earlier era were embarrassed at the image of Joseph Smith with his head buried in his hat. The hat is our strongest evidence of a divine translation through the gift and power of God. Joseph Smith was not consulting reference materials. He was not collaborating with a team of experts. He was reading words that appeared on a stone in the bottom of a hat. The whole thing is simply astonishing and supernatural.

Joseph put his face in a hat to shut out light so the words appearing on his seer stone were easier to read. This is a direct fulfillment of Alma 37:23 interpreted in light of pre-1981 editions of D&C Sections 78, 82 & 104 where Joseph Smith is called "Gazelam."

https://bookofmormonresources.blogspot.com/2015/03/english-in-book-of-mormon.html

Some of us think that what Joseph and Oliver explained is the strongest evidence of divine translation. 

https://www.mobom.org/church-history-issues

But people can believe whatever they want.

If people prefer the Mormonism Unvailed explanation instead of what Joseph and Oliver said... well, that's why we have this blog.

:)

The party

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” - George Orwell, 1984

_____

With the specific assistance of Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery wrote a detailed description of Moroni's visit in 1835.

He [Moroni] said this history was written and deposited not far from that place, and that it was our brother’s privilege, if obedient to the commandments of the Lord, to obtain and translate the same by the means of the Urim and Thummim, which were deposited for that purpose with the record.

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/68

Responding to ongoing confusion about the translation, Joseph Smith answered the question  in the Elders Journal in 1838.

Question 4th. How, and where did you obtain the Book of Mormon?

Answer. Moroni, the person who deposited the plates, from whence the Book of Mormon   was translated, in a hill in Manchester, Ontario County, New York, being dead, and raised again therefrom, appeared unto me and told me where they were and gave me directions how to obtain them. I obtained them and the Urim and Thummim with them, by the means of which I translated the plates and thus came the Book of Mormon.

(Elders’ Journal I.3:42 ¶20–43 ¶1)

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/elders-journal-july-1838/11 

https://www.mobom.org/translation-references

Brad Wilcox explains SITH

Some people still haven't seen this, but it's a lot of fun. It explains why so many BYU students are so confused when they eventually learn what Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer, and Martin Harris said.

Many LDS can't understand why these SITH sayers don't follow basic principles of historical analysis. Early statements by the principals are generally more reliable than late statements by people with agendas.