(Click to enlarge, twice to enlarge further.)
Compare Matthew 13:13-15; Mark 4:12; 8:17-18; Luke 8:10
This is a wonderful passage, and Latter-day Saints are well within their rights in regarding the first few verses as pointing to an assumption of human pre-existence.
Another quick observation: Some object to Joseph Smith’s use of a “seer stone.” It’s just a rock, they rightly point out. Such derisive criticism makes a certain amount of sense coming from secularists. But it comes awkwardly from evangelicals, in this sense: If God can use mud mixed with spit to help a man see, why not a rock?
There’s a whole lot more that might be said, and should be said, about this wonderful episode and account. Maybe at some future time.
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