Joseph Smith’s Seer Stone

Millennial Star, Vol. 44, No. 6, February 6, 1882, pp 86-87; “By aid of the Seer Stone, sentences would appear and were read by the Prophet and written by Martin, and when finished he would say ‘written;’ and if correctly written, the sentence would disappear and another appear in its place; but if not written correctly it remained until corrected, so that the translation was just as it was engraven on the plates, precisely in the language then used” – Edward Stevenson

An Address to All Believers in Christ, p 12; “I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man.” – David Whitmer

Jeremiah 14:14; “Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.”

Today we’re wondering…

How can there be so many errors in the BoM if Joseph read the words on the stone and they wouldn’t go away until they got it right? 

Martin Harris’ testimony of the translation process was printed in the Millennial Star as noted above and the ‘Evening News’ on September 5, 1870 when he (Martin) had rejoined the Church and was out on a speaking tour bearing his testimony to the Saints. 

These are just two examples from LDS sources describing the translation process and to say there are countless others would be an understatement. 

Sadly, no one in the Church brings this subject matter up. Why do they need to change things if it was written down correctly from the get-go?