Some people are weirded out when they hear about the miraculous ‘seer stones’ Joseph Smith used to aid in his translation of the Book of Mormon. To our modern sensibilities, that’s totally understandable. In this episode, Dave contextualizes the concept of seer stones in light of ancient Jewish Kabbalism, where they actually fit quite nicely. That said, this episode does not express official doctrines of the Church. These are just some of Dave’s observations that may shed some light on the topic of seer stones.
See video transcript here: saintsunscripted.com/faith-an...
Read the Book of Mormon online: bit.ly/2zygfQE
Our other episode on seer stones: bit.ly/2N2kHdw
Our episode on Noah and the tzohar: [We’ll put a link here]
Citations from Howard Schwartz’ book: bit.ly/2UvFNW5
Notes:
-For the record, I am not attempting to make the case in this video that Joseph Smith’s chocolate-colored seer stone was the same tzohar spoken of in ancient Jewish mysticism. I simply like how the story is able to contextualize Joseph’s use of a seer stone.
-Many of the folk magic practices of the Smith family were likely picked up from the spiritual practices of the Pennsylvania Dutch culture which existed near the Smiths. Many Pennsylvania Dutch practices were based on Kabbalism. This could explain how Joseph Smith came in contact with this practice. This idea shouldn’t cause Latter-day Saints any dissonance, as Joseph was quick to take truth from wherever he found it.
-It’s probably worth noting that (as far as I’m aware) it’s unclear where David Whitmer is getting his information about the translation from. There are other witnesses attesting to the fact that he put his seer stone in a hat and then peered into the stone by putting his face in the hat, and by so doing he was able to dictate the text of the Book of Mormon. But, it’s really unknown whether or not Joseph actually saw parchment through the stone, or whether Whitmer’s description of the orientation of those characters reflects reality or speculation. Those details aren’t altogether very important, but I thought I’d just make that point here.
-Other notable examples of divination or “magic” in the Bible (which believers call miracles):
-The prophet Gideon (Judges 6) determined the will of God by observing moisture (or the lack thereof) on a “fleece of wool” that he sets out to test God.
-Moses transfigures his staff into a snake (Exodus 7) as a sign to Pharaoh. Pharaoh’s magicians then do the same thing.
-The pool of Bethesda (John 5) was said to have magical healing properties after the water had been “troubled” by an angel at some point. Thus, when someone saw the water troubled, and entered in, they were healed.
-Paul performed miraculous healings (Acts 19) using handkerchiefs and aprons.
-There’s a strange story in Genesis 30 of Jacob causing his cattle to conceive by laying different kinds of rods in their watering troughs.
-Israelites suffering from poisonous snake bites are saved in Numbers 21 by merely looking at a brass serpent Moses had made and raised up on a pole.
-There’s some irony in the fact that while some Christians laugh at Joseph Smith’s use of a seer stone, some non-Christians laugh at the list above for the same reasons.
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22 сен 2020
