Mormons: 2nd time Joseph Smith recited

[Arnack]

Okay, so I have a question to the Latter-Day Saints.
When Joseph Smith first recited the book of Mormon to the "translator", the book was lost/stolen.
So the second time he recited the book, what happened? Was it the exact same as it was recited the first time?

 

[Katzpur]

The entire book was not lost or stolen, just 116 pages. They were never re-translated.

 

[Red Pill]

Okay, so I have a question to the Latter-Day Saints.
When Joseph Smith first recited the book of Mormon to the "translator", the book was lost/stolen.
So the second time he recited the book, what happened? Was it the exact same as it was recited the first time?

He gave an abridged version that he said came from another area of the plates. Convieniently enough he said God was mad at him for what had happened, so God wouldn't let him see the original part. Luckily, God knew that was all going to happen, so there was a re run included in the plates JS said he had. He didn't give the abridged portion until he had finished the rest.
To me it sounds like Mrs Harris was correct in her assessment.

 

[misanthropic_clown]

As Joseph Smith was translating the plates, a man called Martin Harris acted as his scribe. At some point during the translation process, Martin Harris' wife wanted some proof that Martin Harris was doing something productive, and so demanded that Martin produce the work that had been done so far.

Martin Harris passed on this demand to Joseph Smith, who asked God as to whether he should lend the 116 pages that had been translated by that point to Martin. God said no, repeatedly. Joseph Smith continued to ask until God said that he could, but the consequences would be on Smith's head. Joseph then lent the pages to Harris, who then took them to his wife so she could view them.

Then, the pages went missing. The understanding is that the pages were taken by enemies of Joseph Smith. These enemies sought to discredit Smith by forcing him to start again, retranslating the 116 pages afresh, and using any inconsistencies to disprove that Joseph was recieving divine revelation. The LDS maintain that these enemies were in fact so keen to discredit Smith that they would make (or had already made) alterations to these 116 pages, so that should Smith be able to prefectly reproduce the 116 pages, they still had means to make claims of inconsistancy.

Thus, Smith was in a lose/lose situation. Therefore instead of retranslating the 116 pages, God instructed that he simply carry on. God then revealed that knowing that the pages would be stolen, He had given mandate to one of the writers in the Book of Mormon to effectively reproduce some of the content of the Plates of Lehi (understood to be the contents of the lost 116 pages) in the Book of Nephi, where the Book of Mormon as we have it begins.

Hope that helped.

 

[Watchmen]

And it's still a lose/lose situation today. For Mormons is evidence of God's plan that his Church go forward. To non-Mormons it's evidence that Smith was one crafty fellow.

 

[misanthropic_clown]

And it's still a lose/lose situation today. For Mormons is evidence of God's plan that his Church go forward. To non-Mormons it's evidence that Smith was one crafty fellow.

Yeah, it is pretty much one of those scenarios where any action would have had negative implications. Which is why I don't consider it half as damning as many people who discuss it do.

 

[Delamere]

Is anyone else thinking of false prophets and fake 'holy books'?

 

[Katzpur]

Is anyone else thinking of false prophets and fake 'holy books'?

I'm sure a lot of people are. Most of them are smart enough not to make a point of it on the Christianity DIR forum.