I was reading that when Joseph Smith was translating the plates that his friend lost Lehi's portion of the plates (or I guess Nephi's account of Lehi.) This means that the originals of the rest of what your book was translated from is still out there. Where is it located at this time?
*Serious question. I spent many years in a Mormon church, but never heard anything about this. I just read it on Wikipedia.
2007-03-23 12:32:21 · 9 answers · asked by KS 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Joseph Smith began translating the plates with the help of Martin Harris. Martin Harris' wife was very hostile about the translation. Martin wanted to show her some of the translated pages to show her the truth. After asking the Lord three times, Joseph allowed Martin to take the first 116 pages translated from the plates to his wife. While Martin had the pages, they were lost/stolen. Due to this, Joseph lost the gift of translation for a time because he had not listened to the Lord the first two times he asked to let Martin take them and the Lord told him no.
So it was the manuscript pages that were lost, not the actual plates.
Once Joseph was allowed to begin the translation again, the Lord told him not to retranslate the first 116 pages again. To just start in what we now call the 1st Book of Nephi. The Lord, in his infinite wisdom, knew in the time of Nephi that the pages would be lost. That is why he instructed Nephi to recount the some of his father's teachings. This way, we stil have the teachings of those lost pages that were pertinent to us.
After Joseph completed the translation of the plates that were unsealed, the Angel Moroni returned and again took possession of the plates. Where they went from there, we don't know, we can only guess. At some point, the plates will be returned to the church so that the sealed portion can be translated.
2007-03-23 17:34:38 · answer #1 · answered by Raising6Ducklings! 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I don't believe there was ever any golden plates. Utah Light House Book Store has model of what the plates may have looked like and weight based on the dimenions Joseph Smith gave. The model is made of lead. There is no way he could have carried them from where they were buried and back to his house. Emma would have never been able to move them around the house while she was cleaning. They were covered, so she never saw them. As far as I know.
2007-03-23 22:11:07 · answer #2 · answered by MistyAnn 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The original plates were returned to the Angel Moroni. The lost 116 pages, no one knows where they are. Who knows, they may be out there being handed down to people in the family. But personally, I believe they don't exist anymore, just like a lot of pages written back then.
2007-03-24 01:34:03 · answer #3 · answered by Laurel W 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Don't trust Wikipedia on anything Ma'am.
I can't believe a info site that can be altered by the general public can be popular like it is.
Even though web surfers know Wikipedia is like it is, a lot of them will still have faith in it.
2007-03-23 19:45:31 · answer #4 · answered by rangedog 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You should ask one of the missionaries or someone else at your church about this. Wikipedia is not a very good resource, anyone can go there and change things :-)
2007-03-23 20:07:07 · answer #5 · answered by Love Yahoo!!! wannabe a princess 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They were taken back by the angel moroni after the translating was complete!
2007-03-23 19:38:43 · answer #6 · answered by lisa 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
An angel took it. It's hidden somewhere. Only God knows where.
2007-03-23 20:22:17 · answer #7 · answered by mormon_4_jesus 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Hell, same place the book came from.
2007-03-23 19:46:59 · answer #8 · answered by the pink baker 6 · 1⤊ 3⤋
The correct term should the book of MORONS!!!
2007-03-23 19:38:20 · answer #9 · answered by ? 2 · 1⤊ 4⤋