In 1990, I had the privilege of being in Jerusalem while giving a paper at an international conference on heat transfer. I had a marvelous time walking through the streets of Jerusalem and experiencing some of the good and the bad of the Middle East. In one shop, I saw a stack of round brass plates for sale that the vendor said were hand-made, authentic, and 2000 years old from ancient Jerusalem. I picked up one plate and on the underside was a miraculous little adhesive sticker that said “Made in Hong Kong.” When I pointed that out to the vendor, he said, “OK – half price.”
Sometimes in life we go for things that have no value, thinking we’re getting a good deal. Don’t settle for less than the Lord has in store for you. Don’t settle for being less than you are meant to be. The Gospel calls us to be sons and daughters of God, to ultimately put on the divine nature as we truly follow Jesus. Don’t settle for less, even if it is half price.
Jeff,
I wonder if that’s why Joseph Smith never showed anyone the plates (other than to let them view them with their “spiritual eyes”). Perhaps the gold plates hidden under the blanket had a similar inscription on them like “Made in Rochester” or something to that effect. 🙂
Yeah. Wait. No. Actually, Equality, you’re totally wrong. Eight men handled the plates with their own hands. Their physical hands. Of course, knowing this will not change your mind, but, I just had to make sure you knew.
Martin Harris’ “spiritual eyes” comment has been horribly abused by anti-Mormon critics.
By “spiritual eyes” Harris did not mean “the opposite of physical eyes,” he meant while in a spiritually transcendent state, supported and surrounded by the power of God.
Harris was asked specifically about this quote and responded:
“Gentlemen, do you see that hand? [Holding up his right hand.] Are you sure you see it? Are your eyes playing a trick or something? No. Well, as sure as you see my hand so sure did I see the angel and the plates.” (Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses, p. 116.)
If the anti-Mormon argument is so strong, why do they need to deceive? Why is evidence to the contrary simply left out as if it doesn’t exist?
No kidding. Pardon the vent here, but really, if historians tried to pull half the tricks these antis did, they would be maligned as dishonest manipulators (I know this as well, since this will be my profession at some point). Not saying that some self-professed Mormons haven’t done the same things at some point (Is it R.C. Webb who claimed to have a degree in Egyptology, initially supported the Book of Abraham, and then turned on the Church, accusing it of telling him to lie about his evidence?).
In any case, it is probably well that such comments continue to come up. It reveals that state of anti-Mormon scholarship–provided, that is, that Mormons are ready to answer.
I was discussing my interest with how human technology’s catching up with prophecy with my roommates one evening. In particular, I mentioned how in the 60s the idea of a personal “white stone” in which all things were visible seemed miraculous, but now it’s just a web-enabled PDA. One of my roommates pondered this for a moment and suggested that when we receive the white stone, we’ll be able to turn it over and find a label reading, “Intel inside.”
On a day trip to Mexico, we found some Dooney & Burke handbags at remarkably low prices. I asked the shopkeeper whether they were genuine. Being straightforward and diseigenuous at the same time, he answered, “No, they’re replicas” as if to honor instead of steal from the originals. I still see this remarkable usage of a second language.
If only the witnesses had been better able to read reformed Egyptian, they might have noticed the “Made in Mesoamerica” logo on the bottom of the plates. Not all foreign made goods are fraudulent.