FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Difference between revisions of "Mormonism and Wikipedia/Golden plates/Composition and weight"
(header) |
(→Described composition and weight: format) |
||
Line 12: | Line 12: | ||
=An analysis of the Wikipedia article "Golden plates" (Version December 10, 2009)= | =An analysis of the Wikipedia article "Golden plates" (Version December 10, 2009)= | ||
===Described composition and weight=== | ===Described composition and weight=== | ||
− | The plates were first described as "gold", and beginning about 1827, the plates were widely called the "gold bible". | + | {{BeginWikipediaTable|link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_plates|section=|article=Golden plates}} |
− | + | ===== ===== | |
− | + | || | |
− | + | *The plates were first described as "gold", and beginning about 1827, the plates were widely called the "gold bible". | |
− | + | || | |
− | + | *{{Harvtxt|Harris|1859|p=167}}; {{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|pp=102, 109, 113, 145}}; {{Harvtxt|Grandin|1829}}. | |
− | + | |- | |
− | + | | | |
− | + | ===== ===== | |
− | + | || | |
− | + | * When the Book of Mormon was published in 1830, the [[Eight Witnesses]] described the plates as having "the appearance of gold". | |
− | + | || | |
− | + | *<ref name="Harvtxt|Smith|1830|loc=appx">{{Harvtxt|Smith|1830|loc=appx.}} | |
− | + | |- | |
− | + | | | |
− | + | ===== ===== | |
− | [[Joseph Smith, Jr.]]'s first published description of the plates said that the plates "had the appearance of gold" | + | || |
− | + | * The Book of Mormon describes the plates as being made of "ore". | |
− | + | || | |
− | + | *{{Harvtxt|Smith|1830|loc=Mormon 8:5}}. | |
− | + | |- | |
− | + | | | |
− | + | ===== ===== | |
− | + | || | |
− | + | * In 1831, a Palmyra newspaper quoted [[David Whitmer]], one of the [[Three Witnesses]], as having said that the plates were a "''whitish yellow'' color", with "three small rings of the same metal". | |
− | + | || | |
− | + | *<ref name="Harvtxt|Cole|1831"/> | |
− | + | |- | |
− | + | | | |
− | + | ===== ===== | |
− | + | || | |
− | + | * [[Joseph Smith, Jr.]]'s first published description of the plates said that the plates "had the appearance of gold" | |
− | + | || | |
− | + | *<ref name="Harvtxt|Smith|1842"/> | |
− | + | |- | |
− | + | | | |
− | Different people estimated the weight of the plates differently. According to Smith's one-time-friend Willard Chase, Smith told him in 1827 that the plates weighed between 40 and 60 pounds (18–27 kg), most likely the latter. | + | ===== ===== |
− | + | || | |
− | + | *. But Smith said that Moroni had referred to the plates as "gold." Late in life, [[Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)|Martin Harris]] stated that the rings holding the plates together were made of silver, | |
− | + | || | |
− | + | *Joseph Smith History 1:34; {{Harvtxt|Harris|1859|p=165}}. | |
− | + | |- | |
− | + | | | |
− | + | ===== ===== | |
− | + | || | |
− | + | * and he said the plates themselves, based on their heft of "forty or fifty pounds" (18–23 kg), | |
− | + | || | |
− | + | *{{Harvtxt|Harris|1859|p=166}} | |
− | + | |- | |
− | + | | | |
− | + | ===== ===== | |
− | + | || | |
− | + | * "were lead or gold". | |
− | + | || | |
− | + | *{{Harvtxt|Harris|1859|p=169}}. | |
− | + | |- | |
− | + | | | |
− | + | ===== ===== | |
− | + | || | |
+ | * Joseph's brother [[William Smith (Latter Day Saints)|William Smith]], who said he felt the plates inside a pillow case in 1827, said in 1884 that he understood the plates to be "a mixture of gold and copper...much heavier than stone, and very much heavier than wood". | ||
+ | || | ||
+ | *{{Harvtxt|Smith|1884}} | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | ===== ===== | ||
+ | || | ||
+ | * Different people estimated the weight of the plates differently. According to Smith's one-time-friend Willard Chase, Smith told him in 1827 that the plates weighed between 40 and 60 pounds (18–27 kg), most likely the latter. | ||
+ | || | ||
+ | *{{Harvtxt|Chase|1833|p=246}}. | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | ===== ===== | ||
+ | || | ||
+ | * Smith's father [[Joseph Smith, Sr.]], who was one of the [[Eight Witnesses]], reportedly weighed them and said in 1830 that they "weighed thirty pounds" (14 kg). | ||
+ | || | ||
+ | *{{Harvtxt|Lapham|1870}}. | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | ===== ===== | ||
+ | || | ||
+ | * Joseph Smith's brother, William, said that he lifted them in a pillowcase and thought they "weighed about sixty pounds [27 kg] according to the best of my judgment". | ||
+ | || | ||
+ | *{{Harvtxt|Smith|1883}}. | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | ===== ===== | ||
+ | || | ||
+ | * Others who lifted the plates while they were wrapped in cloth or enclosed in a box thought that they weighed about 60 pounds [27 kg]. Martin Harris said that he had "hefted the plates many times, and should think they weighed forty or fifty pounds [18–23 kg]". | ||
+ | || | ||
+ | *{{Harvtxt|Harris|1859|pp=166, 169}}. | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | ===== ===== | ||
+ | || | ||
+ | * Joseph Smith's wife [[Emma Hale Smith|Emma]] never estimated the weight of the plates but said they were light enough for her to "move them from place to place on the table, as it was necessary in doing my work". | ||
+ | || | ||
+ | *<ref name="Harvtxt|Smith|1879"/> | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | | ||
+ | ===== ===== | ||
+ | || | ||
+ | * Had the plates been made of 24-karat gold (which Smith never claimed), they would have weighed about 140 pounds (64 kg). | ||
+ | || | ||
+ | *{{Harvtxt|Vogel|2004|loc=p. 600, n. 65}}. | ||
+ | {{EndTable}} |
Revision as of 11:01, 13 December 2009
Described format, binding, and dimensions | A FairMormon Analysis of Wikipedia: Mormonism and Wikipedia/Golden plates A work by a collaboration of authors (Link to Wikipedia article here)
|
"Sealed" portion |
The name Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. Wikipedia content is copied and made available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
An analysis of the Wikipedia article "Golden plates" (Version December 10, 2009)
Described composition and weight
- | Wikipedia Main Article: Golden plates– | Wikipedia Footnotes: Golden plates–Notes | A FAIR Opinion |
---|---|---|---|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
||
|
|
|