It was in interesting and frustrating lesson to prepare and teach. Having recently finished Rough Stone Rolling for the second time, there is obviously a lot of data they simply cannot fit into this "comprehensive" history series, which certainly contributed to the feeling of frustration. There is so much left out that you never really get the whole story. But here are a few of the points that really stood out to me.
Chapter 1: Ask In Faith
- This chapter sets up the history that got the Smith family to Palmyra and created the local religious revival, namely the Tambora eruption in 1815.
This monstrous explosion directly caused the deaths of somewhere around 10,000 people through pyroclastic flows, and tsunami. It dropped global temperatures enough to create the 1816 year without a summer and caused worldwide famine and starvation resulting in the deaths of another 60,000 people.
Having had his money stolen from him during his recent ginseng venture, Joseph Smith Sr. and family were already on the edge of poverty and the volcanic eruption in Indonesia pushed them over the edge by causing late/early freezes which destroyed crops across the country. In desperation, JS Sr. abandoned his farm and moved to Palmyra hoping for a better conditions.
70,000 people had to die, to get the Smiths into the city near the hill Cumorah. Couldn't God have just sent an angel? Or a dream? JS Sr. was good at having dreams. It seems like that could have saved a lot of trouble and suffering.
Around the world religious leaders wondered why God or the Gods were angry with humanity. In the United States this was manifested as a religious revival which gained particular strength in the burned-over district.
- Joseph had surgery on his leg. The book mentions that the doctors wanted him to drink some brandy to manage the pain and that Joseph refused. It does not clarify that this was not a premonition of the WoW, but more likely because JS Sr. was a drunk and JS Jr. didn't want to be like him.
- The chapter talks about both JS Sr. and Lucy's views on religion and how they both had spent years searching for and unable to find God's one true church. The unspoken (hidden) implication is that they likely taught that same idea to their children long be JS Jr. cared cared about religion at all. Which explains why Joseph already knew the answer to that question before the first vision in 1820 and supports the 1832 version of the first vision.
And then he stole it from William Chase.Like many people in the area, including his father, Joseph believed that God could reveal knowledge through objects like rods and stones, as He had done with Moses, Aaron, and others in the Bible. One day, while Joseph was helping a neighbor dig a well, he came across a small stone buried deep in the earth.
Like buried treasure, and Spaniards with slit throats. He also engaged in seances and offered animal sacrifices to appease the spirits and obtain the treasure they were guarding. In the coming years he hired himself out to others offering to find treasure on their properties. He was paid for these services but NEVER successfully found any treasure! Could he not find them because the guardian spirits were too powerful for his "righteous" magic? Or was he simply lying about all of it?Aware that people sometimes used special stones to search for lost objects or hidden treasure, Joseph wondered if he had found such a stone. Looking into it, he saw things invisible to the natural eye.
- Moroni visits. Nothing special here, standard church-endorsed mythology.
- On his way to get the plates (1st attempt):
No. They weren't. They were EXACTLY the same. Guardian spirit, buried treasure, can't get it until we do some specific ritual or self-purification.Joseph thought about the plates as he walked. Even though he knew they were sacred, it was hard for him to resist wondering how much they were worth. He had heard tales of hidden treasures protected by guardian spirits, but Moroni and the plates he described were different from these stories.
Also, its a bit disingenuous to claim he had only heard of these stories when he was the one telling the stories! He made them up! He was the author of the stories! Just like he was making up the story of Nephi visiting his room! ...Sorry, Moroni.
- Moroni: Bring Alvin next year
(two months later) Alvin dies.
(ten months later) Moroni (probably): Haha, yeah we knew he was going to die. That was extra punishment for thinking you could sell the plates!
- Joseph and Emma have to leave Palmyra because everyone wants to see/steal the plates, but can't find them.
- Isaac Hale doesn't believe him either and forbids translation work in his house.
- Martin Harris takes a copy of some "Caractors" to the scholars for verification.
- Charles Anthon: A professor of Greek and Latin, he could never have read the characters in the first place, let alone issued a certificate stating that the translation was accurate. Even if he did give Martin a certificate, it was a lie. More likely though, as Anthon himself said, he never gave them a certificate and instead warned Martin to avoid the fraud.
- "I cannot read a sealed book." LOL, just cut the stupid seal off. Surely your 19th century tools could beat a 5th century piece of metal. If the plates were even real. In reality, Anthon probably never said anything like this.
- Samuel Mitchill: In a twist that departs from the tried and true narrative, the book tells how Martin went to get a second opinion from a politician/physician/naturalist who taught natural history at Columbia College. Here is the best part:
"I can't read these, and they make no sense to me at all, but they look kind of like the picture of hieroglyphics I saw on reddit a few days ago, so they're obviously real and from a now extinct civilization." -Samuel Mitchill (according to Martin Harris)He received Martin politely, listened to his story, and looked at the characters and translation. He could not make sense of them, but he said they reminded him of Egyptian hieroglyphics and were the writings of an extinct nation.
And there you have it. Only the spawn of Satan use seer stones. Or... wait a second, that can't be right.In imitation of the true order of heaven whereby seers receive revelations from God through a Urim and Thummim, the devil gives his own revelations to some of his followers through peep stones, or crystal balls.
Other people insisted on just making stuff up. One quote, "... imagine JS Jr. running through the woods, carrying the plates which weighed, what, 20-25lbs?" Well, if they were brass, maybe double or triple that, if real gold, you're off by an order of magnitude. The rest of the "insights" were straight out of the PoGP version of events, including the part where Joseph's entire family and whole community knew about the first vision right after it happened, but no one wrote it down, or told anyone else, ever, whether they believed him or not.
All-in-all, I'm glad its over.
PS - There is probably just as much to say about chapters 2,4,6. But this is what stood out to me.
