Mormonism and Wikipedia/Golden plates/Background

Story

A FairMormon Analysis of Wikipedia: Mormonism and Wikipedia/Golden plates A work by a collaboration of authors (Link to Wikipedia article here)

Finding the plates

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An analysis of the Wikipedia article "Golden plates" (Version December 10, 2009)

Background

-	Wikipedia Main Article: Golden plates–	Wikipedia Footnotes: Golden plates–Notes	A FAIR Opinion
	During the Second Great Awakening, Joseph Smith, Jr. lived on his parents' farm near Palmyra, New York. At the time churches in the region contended so vigorously for souls that western New York became known as the "burned-over district" because the fires of religious revivals had burned over it so often.	Jan Shipps, "Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition," University of Illinois Press, pp. 7
	Western New York was also noted for its participation in a "craze for treasure hunting."	Bennett (1893) . The treasure-seeking culture in early 19th century New England is described in Quinn (1998) , pp. 25–26.
	Beginning as a youth in the early 1820s, Smith was periodically hired, for about $14 per month, as a scryer, using what were termed "seer stones" in attempts to locate lost items and buried treasure.	Smith (1838b) , pp. 42–43 (stating that he was what he called a "money digger", but saying that it "was never a very profitable job to him, as he only got fourteen dollars a month for it").
	Smith's contemporaries described his method for seeking treasure as putting the stone in a white stovepipe hat, putting his face over the hat to block the light, and then "seeing" the information in the reflections of the stone.	Harris (1833) , pp. 253-54; Hale (1834) , p. 265; Clark (1842) , p. 225; Turner (1851) , p. 216; Harris (1859) , p. 164; Tucker (1867) , pp. 20–21; Lapham (1870) , p. 305; Lewis (Lewis) , p. 1; Mather (1880) , p. 199; Bushman (2005) , pp. 50–51, 54–55.
	Smith did not consider himself to be a common "peeper" or "glass-looker," a practice he called "nonsense."	Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=50–51,
	Rather, Smith and his family viewed their folk magical practices as spiritual gifts.	Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=50–51.
	Lucy Mack Smith later remembered that the family did abandon its labor "to win the faculty of Abrac, drawing magic circles, or sooth saying to the neglect of all kinds of business. We never during our lives suffered one important interest to swallow up every other obligation but whilst we worked with our hands we endeavored to remember the service of & the welfare of our souls."	No citation provided.	Citation abuse— The meaning of a source quotation has been altered, or the source used does not support the author's conclusion. The wiki editor has taken Lucy's statement, which is specifically noting that the family did not stop their labor in order to try to "win the faculty of Abrac," and instead converted it to the family did abandon its labor "to win the faculty of Abrac..." The meaning of the citation (which isn't even provided) has been reversed by the wiki editor. Here's what Lucy actually said: I shall change my theme for the present but let not my reader suppose that because I shall pursue another topic for a season that we stopt our labor and went <at> trying to win the faculty of Abrac drawing Magic circles or sooth saying to the neglect of all kinds of busness we never during our lives suffered one important interest to swallow up every other obligation but whilst we worked with our hands we endeavored to remmember the service of & the welfare of our souls. (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845, quoted in Early Mormon Documents 1:285) Bushman notes in Rough Stone Rolling, p. 50: Lucy recognized the crossover in prefacing her narrative of the plates with a caution against thinking "that we stopt our labor and went at trying to win the faculty of Abrac..."
	Later, Smith would view the power of "seeing" as the greatest of all divine gifts, greater even than that of a prophet.	Book of Mormon, Mosiah 8:15-17.
	Although Smith later rejected his youthful treasure-hunting activities as frivolous and immaterial, he never repudiated the stones themselves nor denied their presumed power to find treasure; nor did he ever relinquish the magic culture in which he was raised.	Bushman (2005) , pp. 50–51 Smith "never repudiated the stones or denied their power to find treasure. Remnants of the magical culture stayed with him to the end."; Jan Shipps, Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition, University of Illinois Press, 11.
	Joseph Smith's first stone, apparently the same one he used at least part of the time to translate the golden plates, was chocolate-colored and about the size of an egg,	Roberts (1930) , p. 129. Roberts was at the time the official historian of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his opinion has considerable weight, given that the LDS Church attempted to downplay any influence of magic in early Latter Day Saint history.<[Citation needed}
	found in a deep well he helped dig for one of his neighbors.	Harris (1859) , p. 163; Lapham (1870) , pp. 305–306. The stone was found in either 1819 (Tucker (1867) , pp. 19–20 Bennett (1893) ) or 1822 Chase (1833) , p. 240.
	This stone may still be in the possession of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.	Joseph Fielding Smith (a former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints): "The statement has been made that the Urim and Thummim was on the altar in the Manti Temple when that building was dedicated. The Urim and Thummim so spoken of, however, was the seer stone which was in the possession of the Prophet Joseph Smith in early days. This seer stone is currently in the possession of the Church." Doctrines of Salvation 3: 225.

References

Wikipedia references for "Golden Plates"

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