Graphic on the translation

There are awesome new websites about Church History locations. They have lots of valuable information about the sites and what transpired there, including some useful graphics.

This one focuses on Harmony and includes a graphic about the translation of the Book of Mormon.

https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/exhibit/historic-sites/pennsylvania/priesthood-restoration-site/priesthood-restoration-revelations?lang=eng#mv2

In this post we offer suggestions for improvement.

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Here's where "fun with SITH" comes in.

It is amazing how determined some people are to erase the Urim and Thummim from the narrative so they can replace it with SITH instead (the stone-in-the-hat narrative).

The bottom section of the graphic shows a quotation from Joseph Smith as a complete sentence.

But in reality, they edited out the first part of the sentence from the Wentworth letter, which anyone can read here:

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/times-and-seasons-1-march-1842/5

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The first part of the sentence reads, "Through the medium of the Urim and Thummim."

Obviously, this is a significant omission.

Even better, they didn't even show the omission with ellipses. Crazy stuff.

We suggest that the graphic would be improved by including the entire sentence.

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The graphic also show the "working days" as 65, completely ignoring what Lucy Mack Smith and David Whitmer said. David said it took 8 months. Lucy explained that when she visited Joseph in the fall of 1828, Joseph told her he had received back the U&T and was translating again. That's what led me to conclude that Joseph translated all or most of the Book of Mosiah before Oliver came in April 1829.

Lucy related her experience when she came to visit Joseph in Harmony in the fall of 1828. 

when I entered his house the first thing that attracted [p. 135] my attention was a red morocco trunk, that set on Emma’s bureau; which trunk Joseph shortly informed me, contained the Urim and Thummim and the plates. 

In the evening he gave us the following relation of what had transpired since our separation… [quoting Joseph, p. 138] “on the 22d of September, I had the joy and satisfaction of again receiving the Urim and Thummim; and have commenced translating again, and Emma writes for me; but the angel said that the Lord would send me a scribe, and <​I​> trust his promise will be verified. He also seemed pleased with me, when he gave me back the Urim and Thummim; and he told me that the Lord loved me, for my faithfulness and humility.

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/lucy-mack-smith-history-1845/142

This graphic shows the whole problem.

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