Testing 1, 2, 3, testing 1, 2, 3, this is Radio Free Mormon on the air broadcasting

behind Enemy Lines. Tonight's episode Part 4 of Lost in Translation. In this series of podcasts,

we have been discussing issues related to Joseph Smith's translation of the Book of Mormon.

In the past three podcasts, we have uncovered a number of very interesting

aspects to this issue, as we have dived not only into the paper written by two BYU professors,

Joseph Fielding Maconkey and Craig J. Osler that was published in the year 2000 and which served

as the impetus for this podcast in the first place that paper titled The Process of Translating

the Book of Mormon. But we have also looked at the Church essay on Joseph Smith translation of the

Book of Mormon and we have done a deep dive into the original sources that are quoted both in the

2000 paper as well as in the Church essay. We have also done a close reading of the scriptures

related to the issue, specifically Doctrine and Covenants Section 8 and 9 which have to do with

Oliver Cowdery's attempt to translate the Book of Mormon, his failed attempt to translate the Book

of Mormon. And tonight's episode, which should be the concluding episode in this series,

we're going to return to where we started. To the paper that was written by the two BYU professors

in the year 2000, as you will recall, the entire purpose of this paper was to discount the

testimony of David Whitmer. And specifically, the testimony of David Whitmer as to the method that

Joseph Smith used to translate the Book of Mormon, the entire thesis of this paper is that Joseph

Smith did not repeat, not use a seer stone in a hat to translate the Book of Mormon. Rather,

he used the Urum and Thumum, i.e. the Urum and Thumum that were contained in a silver bow and

attached to a breastplate. That's the way that Joseph Smith used to translate the Book of Mormon.

Joseph Smith does not say how he translated the Book of Mormon. All he said was that he translated

it by the gift and power of God. Oliver Cowdery, the principal scribe for the Book of Mormon,

...