[Paleopsych] Wiki: Golden Plates
Lynn D. Johnson, Ph.D.
ljohnson at solution-consulting.com
Mon Aug 8 04:49:54 UTC 2005
Frank, I am not sure why you sent this, but it is a fair and balanced
(Fox? <grin?) outline. The discussion on the weight omits the
consideration that thin leaves of metal do not weigh nearly as much for
the space displaced as solid metal; hence, Vogel's criticism is
irrelevant. The estimate of around 60# would fit with a book of gold
alloy of leaves, not a solid mass.
FYI, the arguably best pages for Book of Mormon apologetics are:
http://www.fairlds.org/
and
http://www.farms.byu.edu/
Farms: foundation for ancient research and mormon studies
Best,
Lynn
Premise Checker wrote:
> Golden Plates - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Plates
> [Links omitted for readability.]
>
> The Golden Plates is the name most frequently used to refer to the
> "gold plates" that Joseph Smith, Jr. said he received from the angel
> Moroni and used as the ancient source for the English translation of
> The Book of Mormon. In reference to the plates, the Book of Mormon was
> commonly known as the "Golden Bible" during the 1830s. Smith later
> became the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.
>
> Contents
>
> * 1 Story of the plates
> + 1.1 Joseph obtains the plates
> + 1.2 Palmyra, New York
> + 1.3 Harmony, Pennsylvania
> + 1.4 Translation
> + 1.5 Special witnesses
> + 1.6 Other spiritual witnesses
> + 1.7 Plates returned to Moroni
> * 2 Physical description
> * 3 Other plates in the Latter Day Saint tradition
> + 3.1 Criticisms
> * 4 Plates outside of the Latter Day Saint tradition
>
> Story of the plates
>
> Joseph obtains the plates
>
> In the 1820s, Joseph Smith, Jr. lived with his father and mother
> Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack on a farm on the edge of Manchester Township
> near Palmyra, New York. For a number of years prior to 1827, he
> reported visitations from either an angel or a spirit, later
> identified as a resurrected angel Moroni. According to Smith, Moroni
> had been a Nephite, a member of one of the nations detailed in The
> Book of Mormon. Moroni indicated that a record of his people, engraved
> on gold plates, was deposited in a hill not far from the Smith farm
> and that Smith would one day receive and translate them.
>
> In successive years, Smith would travel to the hill, now known as the
> Hill Cumorah, but was forbidden to obtain the plates. Finally in late
> September of 1827, at the age of 21, Smith claimed that he had finally
> been allowed to receive the antique history. According to various
> reports, he brought a "60-lb." object "wrapped up in a tow frock" into
> his father's home (William Smith, "Sermon in the Saints' Chapel,"
> Deloit, Iowa June 8, 1888, Saints Herald 31 (1884):643-44). Besides
> Joseph Jr., six of Joseph's siblings lived at home. According to
> Joseph's brother William's account, their father put the plates into a
> pillow case and asked "What, Joseph, can we not see them?" Joseph Jr.
> replied, "No. I was disobedient the first time but I intend to be
> faithful this time. For I was forbidden to show them until they are
> translated, but you can feel them." Again, according to William's
> account:
>
> "We handled them and could tell what they were. They were not
> quite as large as this Bible. Could tell whether they were
> round or square. Could raise the leaves this way (raising a few
> leaves of the Bible before him). One could easily tell that
> they were not a stone hewn out to deceive or even a block of
> wood. Being a mixture of gold and copper, they were much
> heavier than stone, and very much heavier than wood."
>
> Palmyra, New York
>
> Shortly after Smith claimed to receive the plates, rumors of their
> presence began to circulate among the residents of Palmyra. Several of
> Smith's neighbors made attempts to find and seize the plates, leading
> Joseph, Jr. (the translator) to keep them hidden and to operate in
> great secrecy.
>
> Smith's associate, Josiah Stowell, later claimed that he was the first
> person to receive the plates from Smith's hands. Stowell handled and
> lifted the plates which remained wrapped in a cloth that resembled a
> cloak or a pillow case. Other associates of Smith who reported that
> they handled the plates through the cloth included Smith's mother,
> Lucy Mack Smith, and his brothers Hyrum and William.
>
> Soon after acquiring the plates, Smith locked them in a box he
> procured from his brother Hyrum. Some of Smith's neighbors discovered
> the box's hiding place and smashed it. Meanwhile, however, Smith
> claimed a premonition had previously caused him to move the plates to
> a safer spot. (Joel Tiffany, Tiffany's Monthly 5 (1859): 167). Smith
> then acquired a wooden "Ontario glass-box". The plates were placed
> into this second box which was then nailed shut. Several witnesses
> reported lifting the plates while the were sealed in the box. Martin
> Harris recalled that his wife and daughter had lifted them and that
> they were "about as much as [his daughter] could lift". Harris then
> went to the Smith house himself while Joseph was away. Harris later
> recalled:
>
> "While at Mr. Smith's I hefted the plates, and I knew from the
> heft that they were lead or gold, and I knew that Joseph had
> not credit enough to buy so much lead." (Tiffany's Monthly 5
> (1859): 168-69).
>
> Harmony, Pennsylvania
>
> Excitement around the Palmyra area and growing opposition encouraged
> Smith to relocate to his father-in-law's farm in Harmony,
> Pennsylvania. According to Smith's brother-in-law, who helped Smith
> and his wife Emma move, the box containing the plates was placed "into
> a barrel about one-third full of [dry] beans"; after the plates were
> so secured, the barrel was filled up with more beans.
>
> Residents of Harmony also reported encounters with the plates, either
> sealed in the box or covered by a cloth. Smith's brother-in-law Isaac
> Hale recalled that he was "shown a box, in which it is said they were
> contained, which had, to all appearances, been used as a glass box of
> the common sized window glass." Hale said that he "was allowed to feel
> the weight of the box, and they gave me to understand that the book of
> plates was then in the box -- into which, however, I was not allowed
> to look." (Isaac Hale Statement, reprinted in Dan Vogel, Early Mormon
> Documents IV:286.)
>
> Translation
>
> Emma later recalled that "she often wrote for Joseph Smith during the
> work of translation..." (Joseph Smith III to James T. Cobb, Feb. 14,
> 1879, Letterbook 2, pp. 85-88, RLDS Archives, courteously shared with
> Richard Lloyd Anderson by Smith family scholar Buddy Youngreen). By
> her account:
>
> "The plates often lay on the table without any attempt at
> concealment, wrapped in a small linen table cloth, which I had
> given him to fold them in. I once felt of the plates as they
> thus lay on the table tracing their outline and shape. They
> seemed to be pliable like thick paper, and would rustle with a
> metallic sound when the edges were moved by the thumb, as one
> does sometimes thumb the edges of a book." (Saints' Herald 26
> (1879):290)
>
> Special witnesses
>
> As Smith and his associates neared the end of their translation of the
> plates, Smith revealed that a number of special witnesses would be
> called to testify of the reality of the Golden Plates. There are two
> sets of witnesses: the Three Witnesses and the Eight Witnesses. Both
> sets of witnesses signed joint statements in June of 1829 which were
> subsequently published along with the text of the Book of Mormon.
>
> The Three Witnesses -- Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin
> Harris -- claimed to have seen an angel descend from heaven and
> present the plates. They claimed to have seen the plates but not touch
> them. They heard a voice from heaven declaring that the book was
> translated by the power of God and that they should bear record of it.
>
> The Eight Witnesses were members of the families of Joseph Smith and
> David Whitmer. Like the Three Witnesses, the Eight signed a joint
> statement in June 1829. Many of these men had previously handled the
> plates either when they were in one of the boxes or wrapped in a
> cloth. According to their statement, they also saw and hefted the
> plates, "the translator of this work, has shown unto us the plates of
> which hath been spoken, which have the appearance of gold; and as many
> of the leaves as the said Smith has translated we did handle with our
> hands; and we also saw the engravings thereon, all of which has the
> appearance of ancient work, and of curious workmanship."
>
> Other spiritual witnesses
>
> Mary Whitmer, the wife of Peter Whitmer, Sr., also reported seeing the
> plates in supernatural or visionary experiences (see Investigating the
> Book of Mormon Witnesses by Richard Lloyd Anderson). She said she saw
> the angel Moroni, conversed with him, and was shown the gold plates as
> a comfort and testimony to her while she kept house for a large party
> during the translation work (Peterson, H. Donl. Moroni: Ancient
> Prophet, Modern Messenger. Bountiful, Utah, 1983. pp. 114, 116). Most
> of her immediate family was directly involved with Joseph Smith and/or
> the translation.
>
> Plates returned to Moroni
>
> After the work of translation was complete and after the visionary
> experiences of the Special Witnesses, Smith reported that the plates
> were returned to Moroni in the summer of 1829. Many Latter Day Saints
> believe that Moroni returned the plates to the Hill Cumorah and that
> other ancient records lie buried there.
>
> Physical description
>
> Smith said Moroni used the term "gold plates" rather than "golden
> plates." Smith's brother William believed that the plates were "a
> mixture of gold and copper." Other witnesses said the plates had the
> "appearance of gold" and were sheets of metal about 6 inches wide by 8
> inches high and somewhat thinner than common tin. The plates were said
> to be bound together with three rings, and made a book about 6 inches
> thick. Reports from Smith and others who lifted the plates (while
> wrapped in cloth or contained within a box) agree that they weighed
> about 60 pounds.
>
> In his famous letter to Chicago Democrat publisher John Wentworth
> ([1]), Smith wrote:
>
> "These records were engraven on plates which had the appearance
> of gold, each plate was six inches [150 mm] wide and eight
> inches [200 mm] long, and not quite so thick as common tin...
> The volume was something near six inches [150 mm] in thickness,
> a part of which was sealed." These plates are typically
> referred to as the "gold plates" or other similar phrases.
>
> William Smith (Joseph's brother) wrote in an 1883 account:
>
> "I was permitted to lift them as they laid in a pillow-case;
> but not to see them, as it was contrary to the commands he had
> received. They weighed about sixty pounds [22 kg if troy
> pounds, 27 kg if avoirdupois] according to the best of my
> judgment."
>
> Other plates in the Latter Day Saint tradition
>
> In addition to the Golden Plates, there are several other mentions of
> ancient records recorded on metal plates in the Latter Day Saint
> tradition.
>
> The text of the Book of Mormon itself refers to several other sets of
> plates:
> * The brass plates -- originally owned by Laban, containing the
> writings of Old Testament prophets up to the time shortly before
> the Babylonian Exile, as well as the otherwise unknown prophets
> Zenos and Zenoch, and possibly others.
>
> * The plates of Nephi (sometimes the "large plates of Nephi") -- the
> source of the text abridged by Mormon and engraved upon the Golden
> Plates.
>
> * The small plates of Nephi -- the source of the First Book of
> Nephi, the Second Book of Nephi, the Book of Jacob, the Book of
> Enos, the Book of Jarom, and the Book of Omni, which replaced the
> lost 116 pages.
>
> * The twenty-four plates found by the people of Limhi containing the
> record of the Jaredites, translated by King Mosiah and abridged by
> Moroni as the Book of Ether.
>
> In addition to plates relating to the Book of Mormon, Smith acquired a
> set of 6 plates known as the Kinderhook Plates in 1843.
>
> James J. Strang, one of the rival claimants to succeed Smith also
> claimed to discover and translate a set of plates known as the Voree
> Plates.
>
> Criticisms
>
> A criticism involves the descrepancy concerning the weight of the
> plates. If the plates were of pure gold, 60 pounds would be a very low
> for an estimate of its weight.
>
> Dan Vogel writes:
>
> A block of solid tin measuring 7 x 8 x 6 inches, or 288 cubic
> inches, would weigh 74.67 pounds. If one allows for a 30
> percent reduction due to the unevenness and space between the
> plates, the package would then weigh 52.27 pounds. Using the
> same calculations, plates of gold weigh 140.50 pounds; copper,
> 64.71 pounds; a mixture of gold and copper, between 65 and 140
> pounds. (Vogel, The Making of a Prophet, 600)
>
> While this does not cast doubt on the existence of the plates, it
> challenges the assumption that they were pure gold. Referring to
> Smith's statement that the plates "had the appearance of gold," some
> have speculated that the metal of the plates was tumbaga, the name
> given by the Spaniards to a versatile alloy of gold and copper which
> could "be cast, drawn, hammered, gilded, soldered, welded, plated,
> hardened, annealed, polished, engraved, embossed, and inlaid."
>
> Tumbaga can be treated with a simple acid like citric acid to dissolve
> the copper on the surface. What is then left is a shiny layer of
> 23-karat gold on top of a harder, more durable copper-gold alloy
> sheet. This process was widely used by the pre-Columbian cultures of
> central America to make religious objects.
>
> Tumbaga plates of the dimensions Joseph Smith described would weigh
> between fifty-three and eighty-six pounds.
>
> With the lack of physical evidence today, the Golden Plates remain
> solely an article of faith rather than an actual artifact or religous
> relic.
>
> Plates outside of the Latter Day Saint tradition
>
> Other cultures have kept records on metal plates, and those found to
> date have been extremely thin, so as to facilitate their being
> engraven into with a pointed utensil. For utilitarian reasons alone,
> to make it both easier and feasible, the plates would need to be thin
> enough to allow depressions to be made into them simply by applying
> pressure, rather than having to scratch and dig as thicker plates
> would necessitate. Michael R. Ash points to the discovery of objects
> made from tumbaga, a gold-copper alloy in South America. He writes
> that using this alloy would make the plates more rigid and lighter.
> [2] This claim is congruent with William Smith's idea (cited above)
> that the plates might be part gold and part copper. Orichalcum, the
> legendary metal of Atlantis and the Temple of Solomon, is held by many
> to match this same description. In 500 B.C (concurrent with the Book
> of Mormon), Darius the Great of Persia inscribed his history on a gold
> plate and sealed it in a stone box in the temple at Persepolis. [3],
> [4].
>
> The BBC wrote a news story about a six page gold book on display in
> Bulgaria. This is claimed to be the world's oldest multiple-page book.
> The book is written in the lost Etruscan language. Unique book goes on
> display.
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