Criticism of Mormonism/Websites/MormonThink/Joseph Running with the Plates

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Response to MormonThink page "Running with Gold Plates"

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A FAIR Analysis of: MormonThink A work by author: Anonymous

Joseph's Translation of the Bible

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• "Although the plates are often referred to as 'gold plates' they didn't necessary have to be made of pure gold"
• "It's inconceivable that anybody could run carrying a 50 lb. set of metal plates, jumping over logs and such and be able to outrun three men"

On their old website, MormonThink claims...
Critics of the church often use the weight of the plates as evidence that the Book of Mormon story is not true. They go through complex calculations to show how gold plates with the dimensions described by the witnesses must have weighed some 200 pounds.....Also pure gold would be too malleable to be useful for permanent engraving.....In this instance we disagree with the critics' premise. We don't feel that the plates had to be made of solid gold. Although the plates are often referred to as 'gold plates' they didn't necessary have to be made of pure gold.

FairMormon commentary

• MormonThink finally gets one right. Interesting, though, that they use this to appear as if they are "objective" and weighing the evidence--but they then go on to distort the evidence they present later.
• A solid block of gold of the dimensions described by Joseph Smith and the witnesses would weigh 200 pounds, but does not account for any air space between leaves. The plates were not a solid block of gold. Pure gold is too soft to create such plates. It makes you think—were the plates made of a lighter alloy?
• William Smith, who MormonThink was happy to quote as saying he only saw the plates covered (and which MormonThink tried to insist meant that no one had claimed to have seen the uncovered plates) specifically said the plates were a mixture of copper and gold—which is much lighter than pure gold. Why don't they mention this statement of William's?
• As antiquarian artifacts, the plates would have been quite valuable even if not made of a precious metal—and, it didn't much matter whether the plates were pure gold, but whether Joseph or others who might be tempted to use them for gain thought they were.

Quotes to consider

• The plates were "a mixture of gold and copper" - William Smith, The Saints' Herald (4 October 1884): 644.

Additional information

• Description of the plates—How did the many witnesses describe the plates and related items? (Link)

FairMormon Response

1. REDIRECTWeight and size of the gold plates

On their old website, MormonThink claims...
And all this from a young man that had a slight limp and would have difficulty running at a high speed for a long distance -especially carrying a 50 lb. weight.

FairMormon commentary

• Joseph was well-known for his strength and ability to do serious amounts of physical work, as well as wrestle and pull sticks.
• Joseph managed fine during the Zion's Camp march of nearly a thousand miles on foot at 25-40 miles per day (Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, 239). He'd had the limp since his boyhood operation, and was likely well-adjusted to it.
• In a culture and time when all work is done by either human or animal muscle power, frontier farmers like the Smiths were likely in far better physical condition than most twenty-first century westerners.

Quotes to consider
Joseph's leg didn't seem to stop him from competing well in footraces and high jumping:

. . . All of the Henrie boys were of the rugged athletic type and all were fairly big fellows. Daniel being the smallest, but he was strong and wirey. They loved to wrestle, run and jump and often did it in the less tense moments when they had time. The prophet also loved and excelled in these sports and one day Daniel related he walked up to one of their high corral gates—it came up to his chin as he measured it—then he walked back a little way, took a running jump, and cleared the gate easily. Daniel related that he often beat the Prophet racing and also at the high jump, but when the prophet thought it was his turn to win and he really tried, he could out them all.^[1]

This doesn't sound like a man whose limp is crippling him--and Joseph was younger and likely more fit during the Book of Mormon translating period, when he was focused almost entirely on farming, rather than splitting his attention as required for Church administration.
Additional information

• Plates too heavy for Joseph to run with—How heavy were the plates? Could Joseph have run with them as described? (Link)

On their old website, MormonThink claims...
If the story is but a 'tall tale', regardless of its origins, it should not be taught in church as a true historical account, as we have been taught growing up in the church, just to provide a faith-promoting event.

FairMormon commentary

• We have no reason to think it a "tall tale" save MormonThink's "argument from incredulity"—they don't believe it can be done, so therefore it's a tall tale. But, people clearly can and do do what Joseph claimed he did, especially when the story which his mother actually told (three separate attacks by individual men) is considered.
• MormonThink needs to do better than this before labeling a "tall tale" just because they want a faith-destroying non-story.

== Notes ==

1. [note]  Christopher Ailsby, SS: Hell on the Eastern Front: The Waffen-SS War in Russia, 1941-1945 (Osceloa, WI: MBI Publishing Co., 1998), p. 18
2. [note]  Mark L. McConkie, Remembering Joseph: Personal Recollections of Those Who Knew the Prophet Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book Company, 2003), Henrie, William account citing Callie O. Morley, "History of William and Myra Mayall Henrie, Pioneers of 1847 and 1847," Delta, West Millard County, Utah, October 1955, LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah, 4-5..(print version) ISBN 978-1570089633 GL direct link