Are the Plates of Nephi the only ancient manuscripts of the Book of Mormon?

Question

Do the plates of Nephi still exist?

I am aware of the fact that they probably don't exist. I am just curious to see if some people say that they do exist. I mean as in, I could go to a museum and see them.

Not that I want to see them.

Answer 1

There are no ancient gold Mormon plates.Joseph Smith had a vivid imagination and was capable of making up "translations" of real and imagined ancient texts.

Regarding the angelic visitation where Joseph was "shown" the gold plates, it was originally recorded:

"He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Nephi." (The Times and Seasons Vol. III, pp. 749, 753)

Why would the LDS church feel the need to change Joseph Smith's story to say it was Moroni?

The 1838 Joseph Smith manuscript, the 1842 Times & Seasons (3: April 15, 1842, page 753), and the original edition of the Pearl of Great Price (1851, page 41) all state that the angel who appeared three times to Joseph Smith in 1823 was Nephi, not Moroni.

Further documentation supporting the name of Nephi is found in the 1st edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors for Many Generations, 1853, and John C. Whitmer's statement entitled "The Eight Witnesses", published in The Historical Record, Volume 7, October, 1888, page 621.

What if we had the gold plates and experts proved them to be incorrectly translated and/or not even of ancient origin? That exact scenario has happened twice with Joseph Smith. First with the Kinderhook plates and then with the Egyptian papyri. Joseph's false "translation" of the Kinderhook plates + Joseph's false "translation" of the Egyptian papyri = a false prophet.

He did not translate the Book of Abraham by the power of God, and he did not translate the Kinderhook plates by the power of God, and it is easy to conclude that he did not translate the Book of Mormon by the power of God either.

Answer 2

Interesting question.

The Book of Mormon is actually a compilation of a couple of different plates - put together by the ancient prophet/historian Mormon (hence it being called The Book of Mormon). One of those plates was the smaller plates of Nephi.

Now basic LDS doctrine/history states that the Angel Moroni took back the plates that Joseph Smith was translating from (back to heaven I presume). However, Nephi also mentions writing on some "larger plates" where he said recorded more of the secular historical day-to-day things which are not included in the Book of Mormon - I suppose it's still possible those larger plates could still be buried or hidden somewhere on earth.

Answer 3

Did the Plates of Nephi ever exist?
The evidence is scanty at best. No offense to my Mormon brethren - if a tree is known by its fruits, the Mormons certainly practice an impeccable moral standard, and the most functional family dynamics.

Answer 4

The golden plates never existed. Joseph Smith made it all up. The LDS will say that after he was done translating the plates the angel Moroni took them. That seems way to convenient to me. I can't believe I once fell for all of this stuff.

Answer 5

lol - they never existed. Why do you think they were hidden in the hat? Golden plates indeed...