Evidences of the Book of Mormon: Plates

Joseph Smith claimed he translated the Book of Mormon from a set of golden plates that were given to him by an angel named Moroni. After the translation was completed, however, Joseph reported that he returned the plates to the angel. Because of this they are unavailable for examination today. Is there any evidence that the plates actually existed, or must believers accept Joseph Smith's account strictly on faith? Who were the three and eight Witnesses whose testimonies have appeared in the Book of Mormon since 1830? And did anyone besides the official witnesses see the angel or physically encounter the plates? This video explores the history behind the witnesses to the Book of Mormon and explains why their combined testimony strongly indicates that Joseph Smith did in fact possess plates "with the appearance of gold" which he translated by the gift and power of God.

To learn more about the plates and the witnesses, read the KnoWhy articles here:

[Hylandan]

So what you’re saying is that there is no evidence of the plates

[shannongaskin]

If an angel of God showed them the plates and they believed that those words were divinely inspired and saw with thier own eyes that it was true and real, why would they EVER falter and leave the church...

[RB-zheq]

Sorry, but you have very low standards of evidence.

[richardgaines]

Ross a former Catholic (and later a former atheist) I can assure you that you will best be served by simply reading the Book of Mormon fully ---- and with a pure and open actually seeing and handling the plates yourself would be nice, the Lord Jesus Christ's gospel asks of us to assess a matter through study and prayer ; and this is what the Apostle had in mind when he said : " prove all things" (1 Thessalonians an aside, the BOM plates have something in common with the "Ark of the Covenant" have been taken back to heaven (see Revelation only difference being that only the BOM plates had 12 eye witnesses that actually were allowed to touch the you will best be served by approaching reading the BOM with a trusting and open mind ---- the same mindset that most accord the Bible promise you that if you do this, a heavenly spirit will feel delicious in your soul as you read, and you will come to know by the revelations of the holy ghost that it is inspired of BOM has the most delicious insights and healing doctrines, and if regularly read for the rest of your life, you will become all that your divine potential has waiting to be will become a disciple of this is the highest achievement of the key to inheriting "all that the Father hath" short, the most powerful evidence the plates existed is not in touching the plates, but in reading repeatedly the whole book.

[kkdoc]

If any of those 3 had ever gone back on their initial statements, they had everything to lose! Their integrity, honesty, and reputation would have been destroyed ruining their livelihoods. J Smith had access to making metal plates cause his father had a shed to fashion metal objects. Also for all the hoopla surrounding these “places”, he never even needed them. He never used them in any translation or copy any manuscript whatsoever. And, tell me, if any you had really seen those miraculous set of plates, would you EVER leave that church? No. After the real apostles witnessed events surrounding Jesus’s resurrection, they not only stayed, but they went to their deaths in defense of what they saw. Plates were a fraud.

[ross-carlson]

Is there a second part to this that isn't linked? This is titled "Evidences" yet I haven't heard anything other than accounts of a tiny handful of people that, unless I'm mistaken, are all related in some very close way. I know little of Mormonism other than it should be very clear to any rational person that these plates never existed and the entire story was fabricated to give Smith and his followers more power. Can someone please link me some physical evidence? Otherwise I'd be happy to tell you the story, corroborated by many of my friends and family that this was all made up. They'll be very consistent in that throughout their lifetimes, so using the "logic" in this video, that this was all made up. Scary.

[murffmjtube]

Has anybody done spacial studies to estimate the expected density of characters on the plates, their equivalent font size, and what languages would have the capacity to convey 500+ pages of text on plates that meet the specifications described by witnesses?

[pphelps]

The issue I have with the "witnesses" is that they were made up almost entirely of family members of both Smith and Whitmer. The lack of credible witnesses outside the familial influence of Smith and Whitmer is quite suspect. Further, and briefly, we have no other historical record of an angelic delivery of writings wherein the writings were "given back" after they were allegedly translated. In other words, it seems to fall well outside the realm of plausible, especially in view of the lack of any evidence whatsoever that they ever existed in the first place. Had an angel asked the finders of the Nag Hammadi or Dead Sea Scrolls to put them back after they had examined them, then perhaps we could lend at least a minimal amount of credence to the story. But again, 13 of the witnesses were related directly to Smith or Whitmer.

[ryanshipman]

Did you ever stop to think that people don't want to admit they're liars because of social repercussions?

[johnroberts]

The notion that they were tin doesn't take into account the actual text of the Book of Mormon, which contained numerous Hebraisms, prophecies, references to cities and geographical references. Also, many who saw and hefted the plates were able to feel them through the cloth sack, or pillowcase he kept them in.

As the video explains, there were many who saw and felt the plates. Then there was Mary Whitmer, who was shown the plates by a kindly, elderly man. She had been upset at Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery because they were occupied with the translation and she felt they should be helping out with the chores. The man who showed her the plates explained to her the importance of the work they were engaged in, and afterwards, she no longer was put out by their work of translation.

Not only are there so many witnesses, there were many who had visions and revelations independent of Joseph Smith. Orson Hyde, for example, had a vision that lasted nearly six hours. He saw the chores and other places he would subsequently visit, including Jerusalem and Constantinople. And Parley P. Pratt received many revelations as to where he should visit. This way he visited many places where he baptized entire congregations.

There were many other people who had marvelous experiences that were unprecedented. Never since ancient times have so many people had so many such experiences.

I've never found any place or time where there were so many witnesses, and not one person ever later said that they either fabricated or had received a false revelation or a false witness of Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon or any of the revelations Smith had. Again, it's unprecedented. There have been many false prophets in the past, but do you know of any who had so many witnesses? The answer is none. Zip, nada, zero. And Muhammad and Ellen G. White, two well known claimants as prophets, never had a single witness, other than themselves, of their divine calling. If Smith was a false prophet, he would be the first one in the history of the planet with multitudes of witnesses. No other prophet since Jesus Christ and Moses had so many witnesses of their divine calling.

He was a true prophet of God.

[jwg]

Can somebody please explain this to me: if God went through all the trouble for 800 years for these ancient prophets to record all these writings, a lot of people dying to preserve these golden plates. Why then did God just have Joseph Smith look at a rock that he found while digging a well, by putting it in a top hat, in order to translate, while the plates themselves sat covered in linen or sometimes not even in the same room? I cannot figure that one out.

[timovesterinen]

I'm not a Latter day saint but am fascinated about these issues. Could you guys estimate how much 40-60lb lead, iron, copper or tin cost back in 1829, Palmyra? It would tell something about the forgeing theory. Could Joseph Smith have realistically afforded to that amount of metal?!

[GodsGreenPlanet]

You say the they had nothing to gain or lose after showing a newspaper article of one defending his testimony.

He would lose reputation through notoriety... Which would ruin you, especially amongst religious people...

He gained fame. Which is always lucrative...

[blueheron]

Maintaining their testimonies was actually the more self-interested move. It is certainly better for PR to commit to your testimony of an absurdity than to admit that you were at one point lying and perpetuating a scam. You see the same thing with many crypto projects today. Teams are forced to pretend that they believed in their projects to avoid prosecution when the whole point was just to scam people.

[rhutabaga]

How do we know that these three witnesses "had nothing to gain" from maintaining the truth of their original accounts? There could easily be some things we simply aren't aware of.
Also, imo sticking with the lie would be much easier than having to admit you'd been lying to everyone the entire time, don't y'all agree?

[gary_stavropoulos]

I have ocean front property in Kansas for sale I have signed statements from my family and friends if you want evidence

[karynholmberg]

Why all the hate? If you don't believe or aren't interested, that's fine. Go live your lives and find some joy. Some of us find our joy in the Book of Mormon; why do you care?

[zacklockhartmusic]

If you were just reading the comments you'd think this video had like 1 like and 10k dislikes 😂. But then again, videos about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints generally attract a ton of very... emphatic protesters.

[steveinstpaul]

Are we not willing to accept the fact that in the early 19th century many Americans felt that the veil between the spiritual and the material was very thin. It would have been very easy to convince oneself that a dream or hallucination had actually happened physically. Even in our present world, where we accept material evidence and discount spiritual evidence, the temptation remains to confuse the two types of witness. Had there been 100, or even 50 or 25 witnesses whose independent accounts agreed on all essential particulars, the Mormon Church would be in a much better position to advocate for the existence of the golden plates. Since Smith was quoting ideas and information as early as 1824 that later appeared in the BOM, it's especially difficult to accept the story of the plates as anything more than a fanciful illusion in some young men's minds.

[jackkays]

Were the plates necessary for the lds faith, since they were not used in translation, the stone and hat was used according to what I studied,