Seer stone: Encyclopedia II - Seer stone - Seer Stone in Mormonism

Seer stone - Seer Stone in Mormonism

In historic Mormonism, a seer stone is a stone or crystal used by a prophet for receiving revelation from God.

Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Church of Christ/Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints reported that in 1827, in response to prayer, he was visited by an angel who revealed the location of a set of ancient records engraved on gold plates, buried on a hillside. He followed the directions to the location, and located a stone box containing the plates and various other items.

Also in the box was an instrument called the Urim and Thummim, included for the purpose of translating the plates. It consisted in part of two triangular transparent crystals. These are considered seer stones. Translation of the plates, with the aid of a scribe, took about nine months, and resulted in the Book of Mormon, a record of an ancient people who inhabited the Americas, and who were visited by Jesus Christ shortly after His resurrection.

At the completion of the translation, the angel (identified as the resurrected Moroni, the son of Mormon, who did most of the work preparing the gold plates for burial) returned and reclaimed the original gold plates, along with the Urim and Thummim.

In the meantime, Joseph Smith had located another stone, grey in color and about the size of a hen's egg, and identified it also as a seer stone. This stone, commonly referred to as "the seer stone", is thought to be not as significant as the Urim and Thummim, though Joseph was said to have used both the Urim and Thummim and this other stone as an aid to receiving divine revelation.

Many of Joseph's revelations, including ones received through the use of seer stones, have been collected and published in a book called the Doctrine and Covenants, which is considered by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as scripture, along with the Bible, the Book of Mormon and another booked called the Pearl of Great Price. These revelations direct Joseph and his associates to organize a church, intended to be a restoration of the original gospel and doctrine of Jesus Christ, which was lost from the world due to a great apostacy around the time of the death of the original apostles. As of 2005, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints numbers more than twelve million persons worldwide.

At least one seer stone is also mentioned in the Book of Mormon. In this book a seer is defined as a prophet who possesses a seer stone. Note that the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is officially titled "Prophet, Seer, and Revelator". This indicates that he may be in possession of a seer stone. This is reinforced by a statement by Joseph Fielding Smith (a former president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) in volume three of his "Doctrines of Salvation", page 225: “The statement has been made that the Urim and Thummim was on the altar in the Manti Temple when that building was dedicated. The Urim and Thummim so spoken of, however, was the SEER STONE which was in the possession of the Prophet Joseph Smith in early days. This seer stone is NOW in the possession of the Church.”

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Seer Stone in Mormonism", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki