We reiterate that we're fine with people believing whatever they want. And people can teach whatever they want. They can even raise and spend millions of dollars annually the way Scripture Central does to promote the personal opinions of its founders and management.
It's all perfectly legal and fine, and in the spirit of charity, we assume they are acting in good faith. We hope to understand why they promote the things they do, without expecting them to change their long-held beliefs and positions.
But in the pursuit of clarity, we hope Latter-day Saints want to make informed decisions. That means not deferring to--or delegating our beliefs to--scholars, no matter how much money they spend on content or what credentials they have.
The pursuit of clarity, charity and understanding involves the FAITH model of analysis, starting with Facts before moving on to Assumptions, Inferences, etc.
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I could just post this image from a recent X post without comment and everyone would know it is designed to promote the stone-in-the-hat theory (SITH).
But in the pursuit of clarity, I'll comment, briefly.
https://x.com/ScripturePlus/status/1889059287659642910
To be clear, this discussion is not a question of "which stone Joseph used" as some modern LDS scholars like to frame it dismissively. It's a question of the reliability and credibility of Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and the narrative established by the scriptures and the historical record that corroborates the foregoing.
And to be clear, the script of the video contains some good, thoughtful content.
But the background of the image is BYU Professor Anthony Sweat's fictious illustration of the translation of the Book of Mormon in Fayette, NY., portrayed here as SITH.
Well, I guess it's not fictitious if you believe 1834's anti-Mormon book Mormonism Unvailed instead of Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and the Doctrine and Covenants.
See if you can tell which of the following wrote the quotation below: Mormonism Unvailed, Scripture Central, Royal Skousen, Gerrit Dirkmaat, FAIRLDS, the Interpreter, etc..
The plates, therefore, which had been so much talked of, were found to be of no manner of use. After all, the Lord showed and communicated to him every word and letter of the Book.
Instead of looking at the characters inscribed upon the plates, the prophet was obliged to resort to the old "peep stone," which he formerly used in money-digging. This he placed in a hat, or box, into which he also thrust his face.
Through the stone he could then discover a single word at a time, which he repeated aloud to his amanuensis, who committed it to paper, when another word would immediately appear, and thus the performance continued to the end of the book.
Although this excerpt reads nearly word-for-word like the work of Scripture Central and the others listed (as illustrated by Anthony Sweat), readers of this blog are informed enough to recognize that this is an excerpt from Mormonism Unvailed, subtitled "or, A faithful account of that singular imposition and delusion from its rise to the present time."
https://archive.org/details/mormonismunvaile00howe/page/18/mode/2up
On the first page, the author of the book, E.D. Howe, summarized his conclusion and objective:
He is fully persuaded, nevertheless, that sufficient, and more than sufficient, has been developed by unimpeachable testimony, to satisfy every rational person, whose mind has not already been prostrated by the machinations of the Impostors, that the Supreme Being has had as little agency in the prosperity of Mormonism, as in the grossest works of Satan.
Howe presented SITH as a preposterous alternative to the Urim and Thummim account that was then also circulating, He figured SITH would destroy faith, and in many instances it did. And it still does today.
Yet many modern LDS scholars, including everyone at Scripture Central, have settled on SITH instead of what Joseph and Oliver taught about the translation. Scripture Central doesn't even accommodate, explain, or compare the dual narratives so Latter-day Saints can make informed decision.
They're "all-in" on SITH, as the X post demonstrates.
This is why the LDS scholar Royal Skousen and his followers claim that:
Joseph Smith’s claim that he used the Urim and Thummim is only partially true; and Oliver Cowdery’s statements that Joseph used the original instrument while he, Oliver, was the scribe appear to be intentionally misleading.
In fact, when Mormonism Unvailed was published, Oliver promptly responded by claiming the Urim and Thummim narrative was correct in an essay on Church history that included this passage.
Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated with the Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, ‘Interpreters,’ the history or record called ‘The Book of Mormon.’
(Joseph Smith—History, Note, 1)
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