Gold Plates discovered in Hill Cumorah

[cdowis]

Manchester, NY| A team of archaeologists excavating a drumlin known as  Mormon hill or the Cumorah, in western New York, have discovered a set of gold plates which they believe could be linked to the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith Jr.

The scientists, led by Professor Abraham Jones, are associated with the Brigham Young University’s faculty of archaeology. They were using advanced metal detectors, lasers and other ground-penetrating imaging technology to look for underground structures, when they noticed a small cave-like cavity.

They dug up the entrance, which was buried under a dozen feet of rocks and dirt, and explored the very exiguous cavern. The walls and ceiling were covered with ancient traces of soot, presumably from torches, suggesting the cave had been visited many times in the past. On top of a large flat stone resembling an altar, they found what looks like a book made of metal plates.

The scientists explored the mysterious cavern, but have not been able to recover any other artifact. They have found, however, a few signs of human activity like the ashes of two ancient campfires.

The “book” is made of a set of twelve metal plates, each measuring six inches (15 cm) in width, eight inches (20 cm) in length approximately half an inch (1.27 centimeter) in thickness. The plates are made of a copper-gold alloy, and are held together by three D-shaped rings, forming a sort of book.  The entire volume measures a total of nearly six inches [15 cm] in thickness and weights 59 pounds (26.76 kg).

The plates are covered with mysterious symbols, very similar to the  “reformed Egyptian” characters, written by Joseph Smith Jr. on the document known as the “Anthon Transcript”. Many of the symbols on the plates found by the archaeologists are identical to those drawn by the prophet, in 1928.

LDS scholars have hypothesized that the reformed Egyptian writing could have developed from other modified Egyptian scripts such as hieratic, a priestly shorthand for hieroglyphics.

Joseph Smith Jr. is said to have found similar golden plates on September 22, 1823, in a hill near his home in Manchester, New York. He claimed that an angel named Moroni had directed him to a buried stone box, containing a set of gold plates, covered with strange symbols.

Smith translated the text of the Book of Mormon over the next several years by using a seer stone, which he placed in the bottom of a hat and then placed the hat over his face to view the words written within the stone. He finally published the book in 1830, which was meant to be a complement to the Bible.

This new discovery could be the most important material and historical proof ever found, to back the claims of Joseph Smith Jr. Professor Jones and the scientists from Brigham Young University will now perform an extensive series of tests and analysis to determine if the plates could indeed be linked to the prophet.

http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/archaeologists-discover-golden-plates-believed-to-be-linked-to-joseph-smith-jr/

[cdowis]

Is this a hoax?

[Kevin Christensen]

Yes.  Obviously a hoax.  The picture is of one of the Jordan Codices.

Kevin Christensen

Canonsburg, PA

[halconero]

I've seen this one floating around for a while. World News Daily Report isn't quite on the level of satire, but more tabloidish. It's a hoax.

Aside from the obvious problem, one of the more subtle ones for Mormons is that it presumes that the New York Cumorah is the main resting site for the records used to compile the Book of Mormon. While Great Lakes theorists might contend that it is, there are plenty of people who disagree.

[cdowis]

I think BY said something about a cave containing records in the Hill Cumorah that was visited by some church leaders.

[Tacenda]

I fell for this several years ago, and thought it might be an answer to prayers in my struggles to believe. I even shared it with my extended family on email. And have seen it shared on FB. Lame hoaxers!

[Buckeye]

Bad form. April Fool's day isn't for another 7 months. 

[churchistrue]

48 minutes ago, cdowis said:

Is this a hoax?

lol, right.

[Calm]

49 minutes ago, cdowis said:

I think BY said something about a cave containing records in the Hill Cumorah that was visited by some church leaders.

https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/JBMRS/article/download/20046/18606

"In the second half of the 19th century, a certain teaching about a cave in the hill began surfacing in the writings and teachings of several leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In their view, the hill was not only the place where Joseph Smith received the plates but also their final repository, along with other sa- cred treasures, after the translation was finished. According to some of those leaders, Joseph Smith and others returned the plates to a cave in the Hill Cumorah after he finished translating them. At least 10 different accounts,1 all secondhand, refer to this cave and what was found there.

With these reports of a cave in the Hill Cumorah comes the question, Was this a real cave that Joseph and others actually walked into, or was it a visionary, or “virtual,” experience? The wording of the accounts leaves the issue open. While this question cannot be answered unless we find firsthand information regarding the cave, what can be learned from these accounts captures our interest. A closer look at them shows that at times they have been used to teach certain gospel principles in a memorable way. Following is a chronological synopsis of the cave accounts (with original spelling and punctuation preserved) and an examination of four associated gospel principles."

Edited August 31, 2016 by Calm

[Tacenda]

http://mormonfaq.com/mormon-beliefs/about-mormon-scriptures/what-is-the-book-of-mormon/gold-plates

Oops, this is the one I shared with my extended family on email. 

[Ed Goble]

10 minutes ago, Calm said:

https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/JBMRS/article/download/20046/18606

"In the second half of the 19th century, a certain teaching about a cave in the hill began surfacing in the writings and teachings of several leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In their view, the hill was not only the place where Joseph Smith received the plates but also their final repository, along with other sa- cred treasures, after the translation was finished. According to some of those leaders, Joseph Smith and others returned the plates to a cave in the Hill Cumorah after he finished translating them. At least 10 different accounts,1 all secondhand, refer to this cave and what was found there.

With these reports of a cave in the Hill Cumorah comes the question, Was this a real cave that Joseph and others actually walked into, or was it a visionary, or “virtual,” experience? The wording of the accounts leaves the issue open. While this question cannot be answered unless we find firsthand information regarding the cave, what can be learned from these accounts captures our interest. A closer look at them shows that at times they have been used to teach certain gospel principles in a memorable way. Following is a chronological synopsis of the cave accounts (with original spelling and punctuation preserved) and an examination of four associated gospel principles."

If it wasn't for modern BOM-geographical concerns about Cumorah and an exceedingly great distance from Mesoamerica, nobody would be questioning the reports.  But since Mesoamericanist BOM-geog Theorists insist that an exceedingly great distance doesn't mean what it says, but that it must be explained away, then they must have the "virtual" experience theory as the explanation that they are cozy with.

Yes, Kevin Christiensen, I know.  You wrote articles about this.  And you have explained away the traditional Mormon understanding of the word "exceedingly".  And, yes, it is plausible that it means as you say.  But that doesn't take away from the fact that another plausible option does not continue to be equally as possible and plausible, that the word exceedingly actually continues to mean what it says in the traditional Mormon sense.  And so, just because you have created your own plausible option to support your own belief through the magic of semantics, you have not in fact invalidated the other possibility.  All that you have done is create another plausible option.

For example, as we read in the FARMS review from John Clark, in his review of Richard Hauck's material:

Quote

Hauck devotes chapter 3 of his study to the rules of inference as they apply to “decipherment” of the internal geography of the Book of Mormon; the guiding concern should be parsimony. As noted, in his critical reading of the text he can find no explicit reference to the narrow neck being an isthmus. The text states “it was only the distance of a day and a half’s journey for a Nephite, on the line Bountiful and the land Desolation, from the east to the west sea” (Alma 22:32). An east sea is not explicitly mentioned. Elsewhere we learn that the Nephites fortified the narrow neck area that ran “from the west sea, even unto the east; it being a day’s journey for a Nephite, on the line which they had fortified and stationed their armies to defend their north country” (Helaman 4:7). An east sea is not explicitly mentioned here either. Hauck correctly charges that we have generally read more into this text than is unambiguously stated. He justifiably calls into question the generally accepted narrow neck/isthmus correlation based upon these passages. I think, however, that he is guilty of poor logic when he concludes from this “no-isthmus possibility” that the narrow neck was not an isthmus. It still remains equally likely that Mormons have been reading these two passages correctly all along. (http://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1424&index=7; https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/MSR/article/view/34305)

Following Clarks logic, Mesoamercanists are guilty of poor logic when they conclude that there was in fact no exceedingly great distance from the neck of land to the degree that Mormons have traditionally read the Book of Mormon passages, when they have not established that fact, but rather, have merely established yet another possible reading of the word "exceedingly."

[mfbukowski]

1 hour ago, Calm said:

https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/JBMRS/article/download/20046/18606

"In the second half of the 19th century, a certain teaching about a cave in the hill began surfacing in the writings and teachings of several leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In their view, the hill was not only the place where Joseph Smith received the plates but also their final repository, along with other sa- cred treasures, after the translation was finished. According to some of those leaders, Joseph Smith and others returned the plates to a cave in the Hill Cumorah after he finished translating them. At least 10 different accounts,1 all secondhand, refer to this cave and what was found there.

With these reports of a cave in the Hill Cumorah comes the question, Was this a real cave that Joseph and others actually walked into, or was it a visionary, or “virtual,” experience? The wording of the accounts leaves the issue open. While this question cannot be answered unless we find firsthand information regarding the cave, what can be learned from these accounts captures our interest. A closer look at them shows that at times they have been used to teach certain gospel principles in a memorable way. Following is a chronological synopsis of the cave accounts (with original spelling and punctuation preserved) and an examination of four associated gospel principles."

Reality itself is virtual.

[bcuzbcuz]

3 minutes ago, mfbukowski said:

Reality itself is virtual.

Cute but what on earth do you actually mean with such a statement? And how is it germane?

[bcuzbcuz]

5 hours ago, cdowis said:

Manchester, NY| A team of archaeologists excavating a drumlin known as  Mormon hill or the Cumorah, in western New York, have discovered a set of gold plates which they believe could be linked to the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith Jr.

The scientists, led by Professor Abraham Jones, are associated with the Brigham Young University’s faculty of archaeology. They were using advanced metal detectors, lasers and other ground-penetrating imaging technology to look for underground structures, when they noticed a small cave-like cavity.

They dug up the entrance, which was buried under a dozen feet of rocks and dirt, and explored the very exiguous cavern. The walls and ceiling were covered with ancient traces of soot, presumably from torches, suggesting the cave had been visited many times in the past. On top of a large flat stone resembling an altar, they found what looks like a book made of metal plates.

The scientists explored the mysterious cavern, but have not been able to recover any other artifact. They have found, however, a few signs of human activity like the ashes of two ancient campfires.

The “book” is made of a set of twelve metal plates, each measuring six inches (15 cm) in width, eight inches (20 cm) in length approximately half an inch (1.27 centimeter) in thickness. The plates are made of a copper-gold alloy, and are held together by three D-shaped rings, forming a sort of book.  The entire volume measures a total of nearly six inches [15 cm] in thickness and weights 59 pounds (26.76 kg).

The plates are covered with mysterious symbols, very similar to the  “reformed Egyptian” characters, written by Joseph Smith Jr. on the document known as the “Anthon Transcript”. Many of the symbols on the plates found by the archaeologists are identical to those drawn by the prophet, in 1928.

LDS scholars have hypothesized that the reformed Egyptian writing could have developed from other modified Egyptian scripts such as hieratic, a priestly shorthand for hieroglyphics.

Joseph Smith Jr. is said to have found similar golden plates on September 22, 1823, in a hill near his home in Manchester, New York. He claimed that an angel named Moroni had directed him to a buried stone box, containing a set of gold plates, covered with strange symbols.

Smith translated the text of the Book of Mormon over the next several years by using a seer stone, which he placed in the bottom of a hat and then placed the hat over his face to view the words written within the stone. He finally published the book in 1830, which was meant to be a complement to the Bible.

This new discovery could be the most important material and historical proof ever found, to back the claims of Joseph Smith Jr. Professor Jones and the scientists from Brigham Young University will now perform an extensive series of tests and analysis to determine if the plates could indeed be linked to the prophet.

http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/archaeologists-discover-golden-plates-believed-to-be-linked-to-joseph-smith-jr/

Those plates definitely do not look like an alloy of gold. As pointed out by another poster, these same plates have been displayed as plates found in Jordan (but as stated by many professionals, the scribblings on these plates are fake) and the symbols are copied from ancient Roman coins. 

[cinepro]

4 hours ago, Calm said:

https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/JBMRS/article/download/20046/18606

"In the second half of the 19th century, a certain teaching about a cave in the hill began surfacing in the writings and teachings of several leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In their view, the hill was not only the place where Joseph Smith received the plates but also their final repository, along with other sa- cred treasures, after the translation was finished. According to some of those leaders, Joseph Smith and others returned the plates to a cave in the Hill Cumorah after he finished translating them. At least 10 different accounts,1 all secondhand, refer to this cave and what was found there.

With these reports of a cave in the Hill Cumorah comes the question, Was this a real cave that Joseph and others actually walked into, or was it a visionary, or “virtual,” experience? The wording of the accounts leaves the issue open. While this question cannot be answered unless we find firsthand information regarding the cave, what can be learned from these accounts captures our interest. A closer look at them shows that at times they have been used to teach certain gospel principles in a memorable way. Following is a chronological synopsis of the cave accounts (with original spelling and punctuation preserved) and an examination of four associated gospel principles."

So it would seem that some apologists view the witnesses to the cave in the same way some critics view the witnesses to the plates...?

[Oliver_Cowdery]

Fake news stories like this is why it is better to believe what can be supported by evidence.  

[UtahTexan]

6 hours ago, Tacenda said:

I fell for this several years ago, and thought it might be an answer to prayers in my struggles to believe. I even shared it with my extended family on email. And have seen it shared on FB. Lame hoaxers!

Thank God it is a hoax.

Faith is needed.  I need my faith strengthened.....not made unnecessary   

[Teancum]

7 hours ago, cdowis said:

Is this a hoax?

Yes

[Ed Goble]

2 hours ago, cinepro said:

So it would seem that some apologists view the witnesses to the cave in the same way some critics view the witnesses to the plates...?

So it would seem

[cinepro]

2 hours ago, CountryBoy said:

Thank God it is a hoax.

Faith is needed.  I need my faith strengthened.....not made unnecessary   

How exactly does that work?  If you go to site like Jeff Lindsay's and start reading through the dozens and dozens of evidences he presents, do you feel your faith diminishing with each evidence?

[UtahTexan]

1 minute ago, cinepro said:

How exactly does that work?  If you go to site like Jeff Lindsay's and start reading through the dozens and dozens of evidences he presents, do you feel your faith diminishing with each evidence?

If you do not know how faith works, far be it from me to teach you......

[Guest]

I do not need to see the plates, which Joaeph made clear the Angel Moroni took them back. All I need is to read the words of the BoM, and feel the Spirit that is present when I read them. I don't care if "golden plates" are ever found. It is sad that many hope they are found to bolster their failing faith. 

Edited August 31, 2016 by Pa Pa

[UtahTexan]

8 minutes ago, Pa Pa said:

I do not need to see the plates, which Joaeph made clear the Angel Moroni took them back. All I need is to read the words of the BoM, and feel the Spirit that is present when I read them. I don't care if "golden plates" are ever found. It is sad that many hope they are found to bolster their their failing faith. 

I agree.  I have a testimony of the plates and the Book of Mormon.......I do not need to see the plates.

[Stargazer]

1 hour ago, CountryBoy said:

I agree.  I have a testimony of the plates and the Book of Mormon.......I do not need to see the plates.

Well, there's need, and then there's desire.

I don't need to see them, either, but I wouldn't turn down the chance to do so!  

Edited September 1, 2016 by Stargazer

[UtahTexan]

4 minutes ago, Stargazer said:

Well, there's need, and then there's desire.

I don't need to see them, either, but I wouldn't turn down the chance to do so!  

lol...me either