I decided to start a thread on this topic due to some issues that have come up. Now, I know this might be better on the general topics side, but most of the discussions have been here. If it gets moved than so be it.
This is a thread where any respectful questions about the LDS religion can be asked and answered. Just felt it was time to do this.
Posted by RunningBear (Member # 8477) on :
Thank You, and I will ask your first question. Where are the Gold Plates of Joseph Smith? What are their significance?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote: This is a thread where any respectful questions about the LDS religion can be asked and answered.
Historically, our hosts have discouraged this.
Posted by tern (Member # 7429) on :
quote: Where are the Gold Plates of Joseph Smith? What are their significance?
Where are the Gold Plates right now? We don't know. Joseph said that he returned them to the Hill Cumorah, but there is some uncertainty as to whether the Hill Cumorah that Joseph returned them to is the same Hill Cumorah in Palmyra and from the First Vision. (Although most evidence points to there being only one Hill Cumorah.)
What is their significance? They are the record of some of the people who followed the Lord in the western hemisphere, rather like the Old Testament is the record of the children of Israel on the eastern hemisphere. One of the last prophets of these people, a general named Mormon, abridged these records onto plates of gold. (Gold preserves well.) He hid these up in the Hill Cumorah, and then later, as an angel, he led Joseph Smith to them. These Gold Plates were translated by the gift and power of God, and became what we know today as the Book of Mormon.
Posted by Papa Janitor (Member # 7795) on :
Blayne, your questions (removed by me) are highly disrespectful, and you don't appear to be asking them in the hopes of them being answered anyway. Posts such as yours are precisely the reason for what Tom has indicated.
Folks, I'm going to watch this thread very closely, and I may end up locking it regardless. There have been some very good discussions about serious questions on the Books, Film, Food and Culture side of the forum (where such a thread would normally belong, but I'm granting Occasional the premise in the first post for now). I'd recommend searching for a thread or two over there to see if your question has already been answered before posting it here.
If this thread becomes either religion-bashing (of any stripe) or evangelistic in nature, it's over.
--PJ
[Edit after OSC's post: Or that's another way to go. *smile*]
[ September 13, 2005, 11:59 PM: Message edited by: Papa Janitor ]
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
whooops. Sorry.
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
Let's close this thread now. If someone has one specific question, start a thread on that question. But there will be no "Mormon questions department" on Hatrack. If I wanted such a thing, I would have established it at the start.
I far prefer dealing with questions about Mormonism privately, with people whose questions are serious, and where rude people don't interrupt and heckle. Serious religious discussions don't work well in a free-for-all, since the most hostile person ends up setting the tone and the agenda.