False Translation, The Kinderhook Plates, and Plagiarism
Posted by: Andee / Category: Church, MormonWhen I first moved home to Utah after spending 7 years in Orlando, I didn't know what was in store for me. One normal trip to the grocery store changed my outlook on the way people in my religion treated others who were different. Seeing the reaction of a checkout girl having to scan Miller Light like she was about to catch alcoholism just by touching the cans, and not looking us in the eye after she did so prompted my roommate to start asking questions about Mormonism, and consequentially I started doing some research.
I came across a web page titled, "20 Concerns About Mormonism" and spent many hours reading. Here are the main points they made...
In July of 1835, an Irishman named Michael Chandler brought an exhibit of four Egyptian mummies and papyri to Kirtland Ohio, then the home of the Mormons. The papyri contained Egyptian hieroglyphics which intrigued the prophet Joseph Smith. The meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphics would not become available to the public until 1837, on the publication of John G. Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, based on the Rosetta stone. But Joseph was not dependent on such mundane means for translating ancient records.
As prophet and seer of the Church, Joseph was given permission to look at the papyri scrolls in the exhibit, upon which he pronounced a marvelous discovery:
"…with W. W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery as scribes, I commence the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt, etc. - a more full account of which will appear in its place, as I proceed to examine or unfold them. Truly we can say, the Lord is beginning to reveal the abundance of peace and truth." (History of the Church, Vol. 2, p. 236).Unfortunately for Joseph Smith and the Church, these scrolls were later translated and they have nothing to do with Abraham or the Church. Instead, these scrolls were Egyptian funerary documents. Joseph Lied.
On April 23, 1843 a set of brass plates was discovered in an Indian mound near Kinderhook, Illinois. When presented to Joseph, he pronounced them to be authentic ancient records:
"I insert fac-similes of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook, in Pike county, Illinois, on April 23, by Mr. Robert Wiley and others, while excavating a large mound. They found a skeleton about six feet from the surface of the earth, which must have stood nine feet high. The plates were found on the breast of the skeleton and were covered on both sides with ancient characters.
An example of the Kinderhook Plates
I have translated a portion of them and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the ruler of heaven and earth." (History of the Church, Vol. 5, p. 372)
"A recent electronic and chemical analysis of a metal plate…brought in 1843 to the prophet Joseph Smith…appears to solve a previously unanswered question in Church history, helping to further evidence that the plate is what its producers later said it was - a nineteenth-century attempt to lure Joseph Smith into making a translation of ancient-looking characters that had been etched into the plates…As a result of these tests, we concluded that the plate…is not of ancient origin… we concluded that the plate was made from a true brass alloy (copper and zinc) typical of the mid-nineteenth century; whereas the 'brass' of ancient times was actually bronze, an alloy of copper and tin."For nearly 140 years, the LDS church defended Joseph's partial translation of the Kinderhook plates (in fact there are several pages dedicated to the story of the Kinderhook plates in the 7-volume History of the Church) but as soon as they discovered beyond any reasonable doubt that the Kinderhook plates were fake, they tried to distance themselves from the whole situation by claiming "…there is no evidence that Joseph Smith ever concluded the plates were genuine…"(Ensign , August 1981, pp. 66-70). Apparently a partial translation of them as recorded by Joseph's personal secretary and witnessed by several Mormon Elders was plenty of evidence for the nearly 140 years in which the LDS church defended Joseph's translation of the plates.
Joseph's mother recorded that long before Joseph had received the gold plates he was well aware of the stories contained therein:
"During our evening conversations, Joseph would occasionally give us some of the most amusing recitals that could be imagined. He would describe the ancient inhabitants of this continent, their dress, mode of traveling, and the animals upon which they rode; their cities, their buildings, with every particular; their mode of warfare; and also their religious worship. This he would to with as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life with them." (Lucy Smith, Biographical Sketches, p. 85)
Joseph told these stories well before his brother Alvin's death in November, 1823. Yet he never got the plates until September, 1827. Where did all this specific information come from? We have no record of these kinds of details being given to Joseph through his annual interviews with Moroni. Where else but from Joseph's fertile imagination and the source materials to which he had access?
Ethan Smith was a minister of a Congregational Church in Poultney, Vermont from 1821 to 1826 when he wrote View of the Hebrews. It was first published in 1823 (the Book of Mormon was published 6 years later in 1829). Interestingly, Oliver Cowdery, scribe, and later witness of the Book of Mormon, lived in Poultney for 22 years until 1825. Cowdery's stepmother and three of his sisters were members of Ethan Smith's congregation. No direct evidence exists that would prove or disprove Joseph Smith had read View of the Hebrews. Another book, The Wonders of Nature and Providence Displayed, was in the local Manchester Library (five miles from Joseph Smith's home) and extant records show that it was reportedly checked out during the years 1826 to 1828. This book includes a long selection from Ethan Smith's book and attempts to establish a Hebrew origin for Native Americans.
Ethan Smith's theory of the origin of the Indian mounds was exactly the same as that which formed the heart of the Book of Mormon story:
"Israel brought into this new continent a considerable degree of civilization; and the better part of them long laboured to maintain it. But others fell into the hunting and consequently savage state; whose barbarous hordes invaded their more civilized brethren, and eventually annihilated most of them, and all in these northern regions!" (View of the Hebrews, p. 184)
Ethan Smith also reported the legend, said to have come from an Indian chief, that they:
"…had not long since a book which they had for a long time preserved. But having lost the knowledge of reading it, they concluded it would be of no further use to them; and they buried it with an Indian chief." (View of the Hebrews, p. 223)
Perhaps this is where Joseph first got the idea to "find" the golden plates. That he knew about this legend was clear, for he quoted it in his church newspaper years later as evidence of the historical accuracy of the Book of Mormon. (Times and Seasons, Nauvoo, Illinois, Vol. 3 (June 1, 1842), pp. 813-814)
Consider the similarities between the Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews as summarized by Elder B. H. Roberts:
| Book of Mormon | View of the Hebrews |
| Gives an Israelitish origin of the American Indian. | Pleads for an Israelitish origin of the American Indian on every page. |
| Deals with the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of Israel. | Deals with the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of Israel. |
| Deals with the future gathering of Israel and the restoration of the ten tribes. | Deals with the future gathering of Israel and the restoration of the ten tribes. |
| Emphasizes and uses much of the material from the prophecies of Isaiah, including whole chapters. | Emphasizes and uses much of the material from the prophecies of Isaiah, including whole chapters. |
| Makes a special appeal to the Gentiles of the New World--esp. the people of the United States to become nursing fathers and mothers unto Israel in the New World, holding out great promises to the great Gentile nation that shall occupy America, if it acquiesces in the divine program. | Makes a special appeal to the Gentiles of the New World--esp. the people of the United States to become nursing fathers and mothers unto Israel in the New World, holding out great promises to the great Gentile nation that shall occupy America, if it acquiesces in the divine program. |
| The peopling of the New World was by migrations from the Old World. | The peopling of the New World was by migrations from the Old World. |
| Migrating Jaredites are taken into "that quarter where there never had man been". | Its migrating people are taken into a country where "never man dwelt". |
| The colony enters into a valley of a great river. Peoples journeyed northward and encountered "seas" of "many waters" in the course of their long journey. The motive of their journey was religious. Ether is prominently connected with recording the matter. | The colony enters into a valley of a great river. Peoples journeyed northward and encountered "seas of many waters" in the course of their long journey. The motive of their journey was religious. Ethan is prominently connected with recording the matter. |
| Nephites divide into two classes, the one civilized, the other followed a wild hunting and indolent lifestyle that ultimately led to barbarism. | The lost tribes divide into two classes, the one fostering the arts that make for civilization, the other followed a wild hunting and indolent lifestyle that ultimately led to barbarism. |
| Long and dismal wars break out between the Nephites and Lamanites. | Long and dismal wars break out between the civilized and barbarous divisions of people. |
| The Lamanites utterly exterminate the Nephites. (The same thing occurs with the Jaredite peoples in the exact place the Nephites would later be exterminated). | The savage division utterly exterminates the civilized one. |
| Civilized people develop a culture of mechanic arts; of written language; of the knowledge and use of iron and other metals; and of navigation. | Civilized people develop a culture of mechanic arts; of written language; of the knowledge and use of iron and other metals; and of navigation. |
| Unity of race--the Hebrew race and no other is assumed for the inhabitants of ancient America. | Unity of race--the Hebrew race, and no other is assumed for the inhabitants of ancient America. |
| Book of Mormon peoples are assumed to occupy the whole extent of the American continents. | With the possible exception of the Eskimos of the extreme north, this race of Hebrew peoples occupied the whole extent of the American continents. |
| The original language of the people was Hebrew. | The Indian tongue had one source--the Hebrew. |
| Joseph Smith used an instrument in translating the Book of Mormon called Urim and Thummim which he described as two stones and a breastplate. | View of the Hebrews describes an instrument among the mound finds comprising a breast plate with two white buckhorn buttons attached, "in imitation of the precious stones of the Urim." |
| Admits the existence of idolatry and human sacrifice. | Admits the existence of idolatry and human sacrifice. |
| Prophets extol generosity to the poor and denounce pride as a trait of the people. Polygamy is denounced under certain conditions as in the practices of David and Solomon. | Generosity to the poor is extolled and pride is denounced as a trait of the American Indian. Polygamy is denounced |
| Lost sacred records would be restored to the Lamanites along with the return of their lost favor with God in the last days. | Indian traditions of a "Lost Book of God" and the promise of its restoration to the Indians, with a return of their lost favor with the Great Spirit are quoted. |
| Sacred records were hidden or buried by Moroni, a character that corresponds to this Indian tradition in the Hill Cumorah. | Ethan Smith's sacred book was buried with some "high priest," "keeper of the sacred tradition." |
| Reports of extensive military fortifications erected throughout large areas with military "watch towers" here and there overlooking them. | Reports of extensive military fortifications linking cities together over wide areas of Ohio and Mississippi valleys, with military "watch towers" overlooking them. |
| Reports of prayer or sacred towers. | Describes sacred towers or "high places," in some instances devoted to true worship, in other cases to idolatrous practices. |
| Some Book of Mormon people effect a change from monarchial governments to republican forms of government. | Part of Ethan Smith's ancient inhabitants effect a change from monarchial governments to republican forms of government. |
| Civil and ecclesiastical powers are united in the same person in Book of Mormon republican people. | Civil and ecclesiastical powers are united in the same person in Ethan Smith's republics. |
| Lehi, first of Nephite prophets taught the existence of a necessary opposition in all things--righteousness opposed to wickedness--good to bad; life to death, and so following. | Some of Ethan Smith's peoples believed in the constant struggle between the good and the bad principle by which the world is governed. |
| The gospel was clearly preached among the ancient inhabitants of Americas. | Ethan Smith's book speaks of the gospel having been preached in the ancient America. |
| The Book of Mormon brings the risen Messiah to the New World, gives him a ministry, disciples and a church | Ethan Smith's book gives, in considerable detail, the story of the Mexican culture-hero Quetzalcoatl--who in so many things is reminiscent of the Christ. |