Recently an Anti-Mormon contacted me and tried to present himself as a ex-member of this Church, likely because he wanted to gain some favour in my eyes. During our email conversation he brought up his disbelief in this Church based on his view of historic events and one of them was the story of Joseph Smith putting a stone into a hat, using it as a seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon. Suffice the say the correspondence ended quickly due to his argumentative style of writing, but that encounter spurred me to write about the “seer stone” and the Urim and Thummim which was used by Joseph Smith to translate the Book of Mormon.

Before writing, I took the position as an investigator, one who has a background in the scriptures. I investigated the validity of a seer stone within the Bible. I started with the Bible because this pertains to religious matters, not worldly matters. Here is what I found.

  1. Stones referenced in the Bible as worn by Aaron was the Breast Plate of Judgement – Exodus 28:30. 
  2. Urim and Thummim was used as an oracle. (Jewish Encyclopedia – http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=52&letter=U). Consultation with God was done through or with the breastplate, which was seeking his Divine will using the breastplate as a medium between man and God. (Catholic Encyclopedia – http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15224a.htm and Jewish Encyclopedia).
  3. Stones were said to emanate rays of light, which is light from God. (Jewish Encyclopedia)
  4. The Old Testament Urim and Thummim breast plate contained 12 stones. Two of those stones were Onyx Stones which had the names of the 12 tribes engraved on them (6 names a piece). The remaining stones were varied gem stones. (see Exodus 28 & 39)
  5. Revelation 2:17 – A single White stone given where the name of the person will appear within the stone. The stone will become as an Urim and Thummim.
  6. Exodus 25:7, describes a stone set into the breastplate, the stone used was an Onyx stone. Currently, there are many variations of Onyx. To get an idea of what an Onyx stone looked like – http://stone-network.com/slab_images/thumbnails.php?album=5
    (Click one of the images to enlarge it. )

From my research, I found that “stones” were used by God for his prophets as part of the revelation-communal process. The breast plate of judgment held stones used as oracles to seek the divine will of God. 

Beliefs about these stones as oracles is not single to Mormons. Stones used a oracles, or seer stones, was also the belief of the Jews and Catholics. I believe that the manner which the stones were held in the Urim and Thummim, the breast plate, was to facilitate it’s use during Old Testament times. The breast plate was part of a prophets or priest’s attire as described in Exodus 28.  You can get an idea of what this priesthood garments looked like at: http://www.bible-history.com/tabernacle/TAB4The_Priestly_Garments.htm   – (Note, you can actually click parts of the image for a description).

Reading Revelation 2:17 shows that a stone is used by God to display words. From what the Bible reads, the stone referred to in Revelations seems to be a white opaque stone. Onyx is also an opaque stone. Research confirms that God uses stones as oracle mediums within his scriptures. It is not hard to see that stones are used to facilitate God’s will, work and communication.

Now, taking the research to the Book of Mormon, the Urim and Thummim was part of God’s will to communicate with his prophets (DC 10 / DC 17:1 / DC 130:8-10 / Abr 3:1,4 ).

All of this tells me that for a gem stone or unique stone to become as an Urim and Thummim, is no surprise. A reasonable and logical statement of theory would then say, “If Joseph Smith was God’s prophet, then the stone or stones used by him to facilitate translation must therefore be an Urim and Thummim, taking into account historic and scriptural references as examples”.

The key within that theory is whether or not Joseph Smith is a prophet. This says that a person who believes Joseph is a prophet of God, would then likely accept the idea that the stones acted as the Urim and Thummim. If a person disbelieves Joseph as a prophet of God, then the stones as the Urim and Thummim are not accepted.

When I did this research, something else stood out about the claims made by Anti-Mormons. What stood out was that they would have to reject important key points in order to denounce Joseph Smith and the stones. The key points are;

They denounce that:

  • God still communicates with man,
  • Joseph Smith as a prophet of God,
  • Modern day visions, which clearly says they denounce miracles in this modern day,
  • God exists.

The last one, denying that God exists is a true one. If they claim they believe in God, then they must also believe in ongoing revelation, visions and miracles, which would lead them to also believe the Urim and Thummim held by Joseph Smith. Since they do not believe in Joseph Smith and the stones as the Urim and Thummim, then they do not believe in God. The Anti-Mormon’s declared Joseph Smith a fraud, not because they declared him as a false prophet, but because they believed God no longer exists or does not exist.

Having said that, their claim that Joseph Smith used a stone for treasure hunting bears even less value. If Joseph used a stone as a seer stone to seek treasure, that only shows, if anything, that Joseph is imperfect and that is not surprising since all of us are also imperfect.

The Anti-Mormons need to be careful not to cast stones (pun intended), since they are not without sin. Remember the account in the Bible of when a rabble confronted Jesus and wanted to stone to death an adulteress? Remember the words that Jesus said to them, “”He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone”. How many people who call this Church as false abide in things as horoscopes, treasure hunting, psychics, stories of magical items or artifacts that can reveal the location of hidden places and still proclaim their belief in Christ? Imperfect, all of them. 

What then, is my position on Joseph using seer stones?

I believe he did use them and had an Urim and Thummim that was prepared for him to use. I believe, that whether or not he used a stone in a hat, is inconsequential to me. Essentially, I am not taking issue with it. I look at this logically. The facts that are before me is the evidence that God exists. Not just from the scriptures, but from his own confirmation to me that he is alive. It was also the confirmation that the restored Gospel is God’s true gospel and the prophet and his Church are also his.

These confirmations began in 1999, which was over a hundred years after Joseph Smith. I take those confirmations and place them against the claims against Joseph Smith, especially this “stone in the hat” event and this tells me that either such things are confirmed as with God or that such things are “inconsequential”, they are of no concern regarding proper and good faith in God and belief in his (this) Church.

Would God confirm a man as his prophet when he does things contrary to God as would the wicked? – Nay, therefore this man, Joseph Smith, is God’s prophet. The fact also remains that the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine of Covenants is still part of the standard works of God, the very books that were translated and written by Joseph with the help of the Urim and Thummim.

What the detractors are trying to do is convince us of their disbelief, to accept and take their unfaithful ungodly position. A position that is purely personal in nature. There is no spiritual guidance from God to them. If anything is spiritual on their part, was their blind allegiance with Satan.

This Church, the prophet(s), the restored Gospel are all confirmed by God himself. This is not just to me, it was and is to many others in the Church as well and this confirmation continues today. With that kind of support and confirmation from God, why would I even consider the ramblings of disillusioned persons who clearly do not believe in God? For me to deny or reject the spiritual confirmations from God for some disarrayed, discontented, disbelief of someone is the most ridiculous and foolish thing I could do. It is simply “not logical”. 

One thing these detractors have failed to do is ask what God thinks of these things as the “stone in the hat” or the Abraham papyrus. They cannot ask God because then, their own beliefs are challenged and risk failure and that they cannot do. Instead, they follow their own discontentment and own private understanding, which is contrary to the counsel of God within the Bible. When such people disobey the gospel, even just the Bible, that is a sure sign and example of an “Anti-Christian”.

Amen

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