In Post # 1 of this thread, Answersplease quoted several items. One of those items was a question of mine from an earlier thread which was ignored by all of the LDS posters. I was simply commenting on the fact that my question was still being ignored. Rather than answer it, the topic keeps getting changed.
Regarding the translation, consider this:
David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses who attested to having seen the gold plates said: “I will now give you a description of the manner in which the BOM 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 on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principle scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear and then another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus, the BOM was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any man.” (An Address to All Believers in Christ, David Whitmer, 1887)
In the July 1993 Ensign, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said He (Martin Harris) also stated that the Prophet translated a portion of the BOM with a seerstone in his possession. The stone was placed in a hat that was used for that purpose, and with the aid of this seerstone the Prophet would read sentence by sentence as Martin wrote, and if he made any mistake the sentence would remain before the Prophet until corrected, when another sentence would appear.
Keep in mind that putting seer stones into a hat and looking for treasure was common American folk magic in Smith’s day, something he was brought up on charges for just a few years before the BOM was published. We also have accounts from Emma Smith, Lucy Mack Smith, and Oliver Cowdery about Smith’s face being buried in his hat to translate the plates, though the plates didn’t always have to be in the room with him for them to be translated.
Seer stones recur in Smith’s history several times: Martin Harris stated that Smith owned a stone that was found some 24 feet below the surface when digging a well for one Mason Chase in 1822, a stone with which he claimed that he could see “many things.” This account is confirmed by Willard Chase (the order of the names isn’t clear; Mason Willard Chase or Willard Mason Chase, the owner of the well). Chase’s account goes that he wanted to keep the stone but lent it to Hyrum Smith to accomplish “some business.” When Chase went back for the stone, Joseph told him he would not return it.
According to *Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought *(19:41, winter, 1986), Smith not only worked on his family’s farm, but also worked “…in blessing crops, finding lost articles, predicting future events or prophesying, and in using divine rods and seer stones.”
In March of 1826, Smith was charged with being a “disorderly person” and an “imposter” for allegedly defrauding one Josiah Stowe. Smith was charged with finding lost treasure.
The typesetter for the BOM also attests to Smith using a magic stone to discover treasure unconnected to the BOM.
The exact use and nature of the Urim and Thummim isn’t clear from the few references we have in the Bible. Assuming you’re right, that the stones were cast, the answer is no, Smith isn’t known or even alledged to have used them in that way. They are always used in his hat and his hat over his face.
In the account of Isaac Hale, Smith’s father-in-law: “The manner in which he pretended to read and interpret, was the same as when he looked for the money-diggers, with the stone in his hat, and his hat over his face, while the Book of Plates (sic) were at the same time hid in the woods.” (Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unveiled, 1834)
This connects Smith’s use of the “Urim and Thummim” to American folk magic and Smith’s participation therein.
Early church member E. Cecil McGavin also said that there was a mania for peepstones and crystal balls in Palmyra just a few years before the recovery of the golden plates. (McGavin, Historical Background, 11)
The use of seer stones continued in the church for a few more years, too, and not just by Joseph Smith, who admits that Hirum Page possessed such a stone (D&C 28:11) through which he received revelations.
John A. Widtsoe said that "…there are men among us, holding the Holy Priesthood, who in events of their lives would rather stare into a bit of flint-glass that enetrprising dealers name a seer-stone, for the solution of their troubles, than to go with the power and authority of their Priesthood to the Almighty Father in prayer. (*Improvement Era *4, Feb 1901)
There are also a couple of accounts of Smith using spectacles with magic stones for lenses, but the overwhelming evidence points to Smith owning and using magic stones.
I’m sorry for the length, but it was necessary to prove the point. Does that clear things up for you?
