The popular TV show South Park has an episode titled “All About Mormons,”
in which Joseph Smith’s account of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon
is mocked as absurd and completely unbelievable.
For many people, Joseph Smith’s claims are just too ridiculous,
and the South Park episode effectively captures this incredulous attitude.
But what is the actual history of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon?
And is there evidence that supports Joseph Smith’s claim
that the book is an authentic translation?
As Joseph Smith explained,
in September 1823, an angel named Moroni appeared to him
and told him about an ancient record
written on plates of gold and buried in a hill
near the Smith family farm in Manchester, New York.
Joseph said that the next day,
Moroni lead him to the hill and showed him the gold plates
along with translation instruments he described as being “two stones in silver bows.”
But Joseph wasn’t permitted to take the plates or the translation instruments
for another four years.
And so in the Spring and Summer of 1828
Joseph, with Martin Harris and his wife Emma working as his scribes,
began the translation of the Book of Mormon.
Those involved with the translation of the Book of Mormon
said that Joseph initially used the stones found with the plates.
Those stones were later described as “spectacles” or the Urim and Thummim,
and in the Book of Mormon they are simply called “interpreters.”
At some point, however,
Joseph began translating with another seer stone
he had used in money digging and folk magic practices during his youth.
Be sure to check out the link to the Church’s Gospel Topics Essay
that explains Joseph’s use of the seer stones if you’re interested or unfamiliar with this topic.
Although it’s not always clear which translation instrument he was using and when,
the eyewitnesses described how Joseph would place the seer stone in a hat
and press his face into the brim of the hat to shield out external light,
he would then read off words to his scribe as they appeared in the stone.
Although this sounds odd,
it does strengthen the claim
that Joseph did not personally write the Book of Mormon
as he could not use reference materials of any kind in such a position.
It’s crucial to understand that the eyewitnesses involved in the production of the Book of Mormon
all firmly maintained
that Joseph was not reading from any book or manuscript
but instead dictated the text to his scribe
as it was revealed to him in the translation instruments.
The translation was then completed in June 1829,
a copyright for the Book of Mormon having been secured on June 11.
What’s so remarkable about this part of the translation of the Book of Mormon
is the break-neck pace of the work.
The translation of the text during this time
was completed in an astounding 65 to 72 working days.
Based on the number of pages in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon,
that puts the rate of the translation of the Book of Mormon at 7 or 8 pages a day.
In addition to eyewitness testimony that Joseph and Oliver did not stop to make revisions,
the evidence seen in the surviving original manuscript of the Book of Mormon
confirms the rapid speed in which the book was translated.
The original manuscript shows smooth-flowing text
and the kinds of mistakes a scribe makes when hearing a rapid dictation.
In July and August of 1829
Joseph Smith approached a number of local printers
to contract the publication and sale of the Book of Mormon.
Besides printers in nearby Rochester, New York,
Joseph also approached the Palmyra publishers Egbert B. Grandin and Jonathan Hadley.
On August 11, 1829,
Hadley published a short description of his encounter with Joseph Smith in his newspaper
The Palmyra Freeman.
Quoting either Joseph himself or someone else associated with the translation,
Hadley wrote:
“It was said that the leaves of the [Book of Mormon] were plates of gold,
about eight inches long, six wide, and one eighth of an inch thick,
on which were engraved characters or hieroglyphics.
By placing the Spectacles in a hat, and looking into it,
Smith could (he said so, at least,)
interpret these characters.”
In that same account,
Hadley sneered that Joseph Smith was
“very illiterate”
and his claims fraudulent.
However,
even if he personally disbelieved Joseph’s description of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon,
Hadley provided a contemporary non-Mormon account of the translation of the Book of Mormon
that corroborates the later Mormon accounts very nicely.
Eventually E. B. Grandin agreed to print 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon
for the price of 3,000 dollars.
And on March 26, 1830,
Grandin announced the publication and sale of the Book of Mormon
in his newspaper, The Wayne Sentinel.
From all of this a strong case can be made for the authenticity of Joseph Smith’s account of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.
First,
the eyewitness testimony of those directly involved with the translation
unanimously agree
that Joseph was not copying from another book or manuscript,
but rather that he dictated the text of the Book of Mormon as he peered into the seer stone.
Second,
the astonishingly rapid pace of the dictation of the text
from April to June 1829
can only be described as miraculous
given the Book of Mormon’s intricate narrative,
its interweaving timelines and chronologies,
its profound teachings,
and its subtle literary complexity.
Third,
the evidence uncovered in the original manuscript
confirms the testimony given by the eyewitnesses.
It is clear from the surviving manuscript
that Joseph was dictating a text at a rapid pace
and did not go back to make any revisions.
In addition to all of these,
the historical record also indicates that Joseph and his associates
were unaware of the contents of the Book of Mormon as they were translating.
This makes the dictation of the text all the more remarkable,
as it is next to impossible
to imagine that Joseph just made up a text as intricate as the Book of Mormon on the fly.
Any naturalistic theories explaining the translation
would be more plausible
if they could argue from the premise that Joseph took a lot of time,
had a lot of privacy,
was working in the luxury of a setting with diverse resources,
and had the freedom to make as many revisions as needed.
However,
none of this bears out once you look at the actual documented history.
Thanks to the painstaking efforts of historians and other scholars,
it’s safe to say
that Joseph Smith’s claims are more lucid,
straightforward,
and based on the best evidence
than a silly cartoon would have you believe.
The burden of proof to articulate a coherent counter-explanation
based on just as compelling historical evidence
now rests on skeptics
who simply dismiss Joseph Smith’s claims out of hand.
Taken together,
this evidence indicates,
as Joseph testified throughout his life,
that the Book of Mormon came forth
and was translated by the gift and power of God.
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