Difference between revisions of "Mormonism and Wikipedia/Golden plates/Introduction"

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*Although Smith's use of a single stone is well documented {{Harv|Wagoner|1982|pp=59–62}}, Smith said that his earliest translation used a set of stone spectacles called the [[Urim and Thummim (Latter Day Saints)|Urim and Thummim]], which he found with the plates {{Harv|Smith|Mulholland|Thompson|Phelps|1838a|p=5}}. Other than Smith himself, [[Lucy Mack Smith|his mother]] was the sole known witness of the Urim and Thummim, which she said she had observed them when covered by a thin cloth {{harv|Smith|1853|p=101}}.
 
*Although Smith's use of a single stone is well documented {{Harv|Wagoner|1982|pp=59–62}}, Smith said that his earliest translation used a set of stone spectacles called the [[Urim and Thummim (Latter Day Saints)|Urim and Thummim]], which he found with the plates {{Harv|Smith|Mulholland|Thompson|Phelps|1838a|p=5}}. Other than Smith himself, [[Lucy Mack Smith|his mother]] was the sole known witness of the Urim and Thummim, which she said she had observed them when covered by a thin cloth {{harv|Smith|1853|p=101}}.
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*{{WikipediaCITE}}Joseph himself never spoke of the exact method by which the translation occurred—he only said that he translated by the "gift and power of God." It was David Whitmer (who, as far as we know, never attempted to translate) who spoke in detail near the end of his life of Joseph reading words off the stone. We do not know if this is Whitmer's assumption or whether Joseph told him this.
 
*{{WikipediaCITE}}Joseph himself never spoke of the exact method by which the translation occurred—he only said that he translated by the "gift and power of God." It was David Whitmer (who, as far as we know, never attempted to translate) who spoke in detail near the end of his life of Joseph reading words off the stone. We do not know if this is Whitmer's assumption or whether Joseph told him this.
 
*There is evidence that Joseph began the translation—specifically, the production of the 116 pages of manuscript that were lost—using the Nephite Interpreters that were found with the plates. Joseph appears to have switched to using the seer stone after the loss of the manuscript, and performed the bulk of the Book of Mormon translation using this method. Both the Nephite Interpreters and the seer stone were referred to at various times as the "Urim and Thummim."
 
*There is evidence that Joseph began the translation—specifically, the production of the 116 pages of manuscript that were lost—using the Nephite Interpreters that were found with the plates. Joseph appears to have switched to using the seer stone after the loss of the manuscript, and performed the bulk of the Book of Mormon translation using this method. Both the Nephite Interpreters and the seer stone were referred to at various times as the "Urim and Thummim."
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*It should be noted that the hill to which Joseph was directed was not named "Cumorah" until much later. The hill was later named "Cumorah" ''because'' of the Book of Mormon.
 
*It should be noted that the hill to which Joseph was directed was not named "Cumorah" until much later. The hill was later named "Cumorah" ''because'' of the Book of Mormon.
 
*{{Detail|Book_of_Mormon/Hill_Cumorah/Archaeology#Where_is_the_hill_Cumorah.3F|l1=Term "Cumorah" in early LDS history}}
 
*{{Detail|Book_of_Mormon/Hill_Cumorah/Archaeology#Where_is_the_hill_Cumorah.3F|l1=Term "Cumorah" in early LDS history}}
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Revision as of 19:42, 10 August 2017

  1. REDIRECTTemplate:Test3

An analysis of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" - Introduction



A FAIR Analysis of: Wikipedia article "Golden plates", a work by author: Various

An analysis of claims made in the Wikipedia article "Golden plates" - Introduction



 Updated 9/21/2011

Reviews of previous revisions of this section

December 2009

Summary: A review of this section as it appeared in Wikipedia in December 2009.

Section review

The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:

According to Latter Day Saint belief, the golden plates (also called the gold plates or in some 19th century literature, the golden Bible)

Author's sources: Use of the terms golden bible and gold Bible by both believers and non-believers dates from the late 1820s. See, for instance, Harris (1859) , p. 167 (use of the term gold Bible by Martin Harris in 1827); Smith (1853) , pp. 102, 109, 113, 145 (use of the term gold Bible in 1827–29 by believing Palmyra neighbors); Grandin (1829) (stating that by 1829 the plates were "generally known and spoken of as the 'Golden Bible'"). Use of these terms has been rare, especially by believers, since the 1830s.

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources

The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:

are the source from which Joseph Smith, Jr. translated the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the faith. Some witnesses described the plates as weighing from 30 to 60 pounds,

Author's sources: *Anthon (1834) , p. 270; Vogel (2004) , p. 600n65; 601n96. Vogel estimates that solid gold plates of the same dimensions would weigh about 140 pounds.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:

being golden or brassy in color, and being composed of thin metallic pages engraved on both sides and bound with one or more rings.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:

Smith said he found the plates on September 22, 1823 at a hill near his home in Manchester, New York after an angel directed him to a buried stone box. The angel at first prevented Smith from taking the plates because he had not followed the angel's instructions. In 1827, on his fourth annual attempt to retrieve the plates, Smith returned home with a heavy object wrapped in a frock, which he then put in a box. Though he allowed others to heft the box, he said that the angel had forbidden him to show the plates to anyone until they had been translated from their original "reformed Egyptian" language. Smith dictated a translation using a seer stone in the bottom of a hat, which he placed over his face to view the words written within the stone.

Author's sources: *Although Smith's use of a single stone is well documented Wagoner (1982) , pp. 59–62, Smith said that his earliest translation used a set of stone spectacles called the Urim and Thummim, which he found with the plates Smith (Mulholland) , p. 5. Other than Smith himself, his mother was the sole known witness of the Urim and Thummim, which she said she had observed them when covered by a thin cloth Smith (1853) , p. 101.

FAIR's Response

  •  Violates Wikipedia: Citing sources off-site— There is either no citation to support the statement or the citation given is incorrect.

    Joseph himself never spoke of the exact method by which the translation occurred—he only said that he translated by the "gift and power of God." It was David Whitmer (who, as far as we know, never attempted to translate) who spoke in detail near the end of his life of Joseph reading words off the stone. We do not know if this is Whitmer's assumption or whether Joseph told him this.
  • There is evidence that Joseph began the translation—specifically, the production of the 116 pages of manuscript that were lost—using the Nephite Interpreters that were found with the plates. Joseph appears to have switched to using the seer stone after the loss of the manuscript, and performed the bulk of the Book of Mormon translation using this method. Both the Nephite Interpreters and the seer stone were referred to at various times as the "Urim and Thummim."
  • For a detailed response, see: Book of Mormon/Translation/Method
  • It should be noted that the hill to which Joseph was directed was not named "Cumorah" until much later. The hill was later named "Cumorah" because of the Book of Mormon.
  • For a detailed response, see: Term "Cumorah" in early LDS history

The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:

Smith published the translation in 1830 as the Book of Mormon.

Author's sources: *None provided

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources


The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:

Smith eventually obtained testimonies from eleven men, known as the Book of Mormon witnesses, who said they had seen the plates.

Author's sources: *Critics question whether one of these witnesses, Martin Harris, physically saw the plates. Although Harris continued to testify to the truth of the Book of Mormon even when he was estranged from the church, at least during the early years of the movement, he "seems to have repeatedly admitted the internal, subjective nature of his visionary experience." Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2: 255. The foreman in the Palmyra printing office that produced the first Book of Mormon said that Harris "used to practice a good deal of his characteristic jargon and 'seeing with the spiritual eye,' and the like." Pomeroy Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1867), 71 in EMD, 3: 122. John H. Gilbert, the typesetter for most of the book, said that he had asked Harris, "Martin, did you see those plates with your naked eyes?" According to Gilbert, Harris "looked down for an instant, raised his eyes up, and said, 'No, I saw them with a spiritual eye." John H. Gilbert, "Memorandum," 8 September 1892, in EMD, 2: 548. Two other Palmyra residents said that Harris told them that he had seen the plates with "the eye of faith" or "spiritual eyes." Martin Harris interviews with John A. Clark, 1827 & 1828 in EMD, 2: 270; Jesse Townsend to Phineas Stiles, 24 December 1833, in EMD, 3: 22. In 1838, Harris is said to have told an Ohio congregation that "he never saw the plates with his natural eyes, only in vision or imagination." Stephen Burnett to Lyman E. Johnson, 15 April 1838 in EMD, 2: 291. A neighbor of Harris in Kirtland, Ohio, said that Harris "never claimed to have seen [the plates] with his natural eyes, only spiritual vision." Reuben P. Harmon statement, c. 1885, in EMD, 2: 385.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:

After the translation was complete, Smith said he returned the plates to their angelic guardian. Therefore, if the plates existed, they cannot now be examined. Latter Day Saints believe the account of the golden plates as a matter of faith, while critics often assert that either Smith manufactured the plates himself

Author's sources: *Vogel, 98: "His remark that a plate was not quite as thick as common tin may have been meant to divert attention from the possibility that they were actually made from some material otherwise readily available to him. Indeed, his prohibition against visual inspection seems contrived to the skeptic who might explain that the would-be prophet constructed a set of plates to be felt through a cloth."

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Wikipedia article "Golden plates" make(s) the following claim:

or that the Book of Mormon witnesses based their testimony on visions rather than physical experience.

FAIR's Response

References

Wikipedia references for "Golden Plates"

Further reading

Contents

Mormonism and Wikipedia



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FairMormon's approach to Wikipedia articles

FairMormon regularly receives queries about specific LDS-themed Wikipedia articles with requests that we somehow "fix" them. Although some individual members of FAIR may choose to edit Wikipedia articles, FairMormon as an organization does not. Controversial Wikipedia articles require constant maintenance and a significant amount of time. We prefer instead to respond to claims in the FAIR Wiki rather than fight the ongoing battle that LDS Wikipedia articles sometimes invite. From FAIR’s perspective, assertions made in LDS-themed Wikipedia articles are therefore treated just like any other critical (or, if one prefers, "anti-Mormon") work. As those articles are revised and updated, we will periodically update our reviews to match.

Who can edit Wikipedia articles?

Editors who wish to participate in editing LDS-themed Wikipedia articles can access the project page here: Wikipedia:WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement. You are not required to be LDS in order to participate—there are a number of good non-LDS editors who have made valuable contributions to these articles.

Recommendations when editing Wikipedia articles

FAIR does not advocate removing any references from Wikipedia articles. The best approach to editing Wikipedia is to locate solid references to back up your position and add them rather than attempting to remove information. Individuals who intend to edit should be aware that posting information related to the real-world identities of Wikipedia editors will result in their being banned from editing Wikipedia. Attacking editors and attempting to "out" them on Wikipedia is considered very bad form. The best approach is to treat all Wikipedia editors, whether or not you agree or disagree with their approach, with respect and civility. An argumentative approach is not constructive to achieving a positive result, and will simply result in what is called an "edit war." Unfortunately, not all Wikipedia editors exhibit good faith toward other editors (see, for example, the comment above from "Duke53" or comments within these reviews made by John Foxe's sockpuppet "Hi540," both of whom repeatedly mocked LDS beliefs and LDS editors prior to their being banned.)

Do LDS editors control Wikipedia?

Although there exist editors on Wikipedia who openly declare their affiliation with the Church, they do not control Wikipedia. Ironically, some critics of the Church periodically falsely accuse Wikipedia editors of being LDS simply because they do not accept the critics' desired spin on a particular article.

Do "anti-Mormons" control Wikipedia?

Again, the answer is no. The truth is that Wikipedia is generally self-policing. Highly contentious articles do tend to draw the most passionate supporters and critics.

Why do certain LDS articles seem to be so negative?

Although some LDS-related Wikipedia articles may appear to have a negative tone, they are in reality quite a bit more balanced than certain critical works such as One Nation Under Gods. Although many critical editors often accuse LDS-related Wikipedia articles of being "faith promoting" or claim that they are just an extension of the Sunday School manual, this is rarely the case. Few, if any, Latter-day Saints would find Wikipedia articles to be "faith promoting." Generally, the believers think that the articles are too negative and the critics believe that the articles are too positive. LDS Wikipedia articles should be informative without being overtly faith promoting. However, most of the primary sources, including the words of Joseph Smith himself, are "faith promoting." This presents a dilemma for Wikipedia editors who want to remain neutral. The unfortunate consequence is that Joseph's words are rewritten and intermixed with contradictory sources, resulting in boring and confusing prose.

FairMormon's analysis of LDS-related Wikipedia articles

We examine selected Wikipedia articles and examine them on a "claim-by-claim" basis, with links to responses in the FairMormon Answers Wiki. Wikipedia articles are constantly evolving. As a result, the analysis of each article will be updated periodically in order to bring it more into line with the current version of the article. The latest revision date may be viewed at the top of each individual section. The process by which Wikipedia articles are reviewed is the following:

  1. Update each Wikipedia passage and its associated footnotes.
  2. Examine the use of sources and determine whether or not the passage accurately represents the source used.
  3. Provide links to response articles within the FairMormon Answers Wiki.
  4. If violation of Wikipedia rules is discovered, identify which Wikipedia editor (by pseudonym) made the edit, provide a description of the rule violated and a link to the Wikipedia "diff" showing the actual edit.
  5. If a violated rule is later corrected in a subsequent revision, the violation is removed and a notation is added that the passage is correct per cited sources. This doesn't mean that FAIR necessarily agrees with the passage—only that it is correct based upon the source used.

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, "Mormonism and Wikipedia: The Church History That “Anyone Can Edit”"

Roger Nicholson,  Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, (2012)
The ability to quickly and easily access literature critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been made significantly easier through the advent of the Internet. One of the primary sites that dominates search engine results is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that “anyone can edit.” Wikipedia contains a large number of articles related to Mormonism that are edited by believers, critics, and neutral parties. The reliability of information regarding the Church and its history is subject to the biases of the editors who choose to modify those articles. Even if a wiki article is thoroughly sourced, editors sometimes employ source material in a manner that supports their bias. This essay explores the dynamics behind the creation of Wikipedia articles about the Church, the role that believers and critics play in that process, and the reliability of the information produced in the resulting wiki articles.

Click here to view the complete article

Wikipedia and anti-Mormon literature
Key sources
  • Roger Nicholson, "Mormonism and Wikipedia: The Church History That 'Anyone Can Edit'," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 1/8 (14 September 2012). [151–190] link
Wiki links
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