When I write "fun with SITH" it's not because I think SITH is funny.
Not at all.
In my view, SITH is tragic.
After all, it originated with the first anti-Mormon book Mormonism Unvailed, which picked it up partly from one of the original anti-Mormons Jonathan Hadley of Palmyra.
Joseph, Oliver, and their successors in Church leadership denounced it and reiterated Joseph's explanation that he translated the plates by means of the Urim and Thummim that came with the plates.
But then certain LDS scholars decided it was more fun to resurrect the Mormonism Unvailed narrative, and now they've managed to turn it into quasi-canonized status through the Gospel Topics Essay.
Pure tragedy.
That's why from time to time we post examples from social media.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w04xU72SJNQ
0:00
I got to sit down for this one. Okay, so I get sent a lot of crazy stories about Mormon faith construction. This one I'm going to tell you is legit the craziest thing that I have heard involving Elder Holland. So get comfy.
0:14
So my friend is serving a mission in the early '90s. Let's say in Wisconsin. In this particular area, the people are really kind, but they just are not open to hearing about Mormonism except for one person, a pastor, a Christian pastor. So he says to them, "Come over to my house. I will feed you dinner. You can teach me your doctrine and I get to share some things with you. Deal?"
0:38
And they were like, "Yeah, this is great." They developed this great rapport with this pastor family. So one day when they're done sharing their discussion, the pastor says, "I want to now talk to you about Mormon history." They're like, "Great. We're experts in Mormon history.
0:52
We're missionaries." He said, "Okay, so you must know then that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon using rocks in a hat." He said they were magic rocks. He would put them in a hat. They would illuminate the words that were to be written for the Book of Mormon. And that's how the Book of Mormon came about. The missionaries looked at each other and went, "I don't think so." The pastor responded, "Yeah, see, that's the thing. Most people of the LDS faith don't know their real history."
1:20
My friend was so troubled by this situation. This kind person sharing information that just couldn't possibly be true.
1:29
It just so happened that Elder Holland was visiting the area at that time. My friend ended up sitting down with Elder Holland to talk to him about this matter. He tells him, "Look, I sat down with this pastor. He told me about these rocks and a hat and Joseph Smith."
1:41
And Elder Holland responded, "Elder, how does that make you feel?" He says, "Well, it makes me feel terrible inside. absolutely sick to my stomach. To which Elder Holland replies, I want you to remember that feeling. This is an example of how the adversary is planting lies. This is evidence of the truthfulness of the gospel. Otherwise, why would Satan be working so hard against it? It made sense.
2:07
My friend went home from his mission. He married. He had a beautiful family. And years later, he would be teaching gospel doctrine. After one gospel doctrine class, someone came to him and said, "I really appreciated your lesson because I've been really struggling with my testimony." He says, "What have you been struggling with?" He says, "Well, the gospel topics essays, in particular, the one about the rocks and the hat."
2:30
My friend pauses and as the man continues to talk, his life sort of flashes before his eyes. The church has come forward explaining that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon with rocks in a hat and that that was the end for him.
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