![\"David](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2020\/12\/117715327_916198678881089_8615019816577959675_o-1.jpg\")
<\/a>Shortly after its publication, I read and marked up Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith\u2019s Gold Plates: A Cultural History<\/em> (New York City: Oxford University Press, 2023). \u00a0Among the numerous passages in the book that I highlighted was this early autobiographical comment:<\/p>\n \u201cA logical path for a Latter-day Saint growing up in the modern world, especially one who became a historian, would be to grow out of my childhood beliefs. The plates would be spiritualized and their meaning made allegorical. But my life did not follow that course. The plates have continued to have a hold on me, and the same is true for other Mormons<\/a>. Polls show that more than three-quarters of American Mormons believe that \u201cthe Book of Mormon is a literal, historical account,\u201d a likely indicator of belief in the plates. \u00a0This makes a big difference in one\u2019s outlook on the world. With the plates comes an angel and divine intervention in ordinary human lives. The plates imply a world where God is an active agent in human affairs in opposition to the skepticism that has eroded religion for the past two hundred years.\u201d (ix)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It reminds me of a comment that Professor Bushman<\/a> once made to me. \u00a0I think it was when we were interviewing him, or had just concluded our interview with him, in an apartment in New York City for our 2022 documentary, Undaunted Witnesses of the Book of Mormon<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0He said, partly by way of explaining his willingness to sit for an interview with us, that he wanted people to know that, whatever they might have imagined about him, he came down in the end \u201con the side of angels and plates.\u201d \u00a0Which is to say that he believes in real angels and literal golden plates and their involvement in the early history of Joseph Smith and the Restoration.<\/p>\n I like his observation that \u201cThe plates imply a world where God is an active agent in human affairs in opposition to the skepticism that has eroded religion for the past two hundred years.\u201d \u00a0In a sense, the plates are analogous to the incarnation of Jesus himself, which, if it really happened, renders God no mere abstraction and refutes attempts to reduce his role to only what Deism has been willing to allow.<\/p>\n I\u2019m quite confident that Hyrum Smith, one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, was making the parallel when, after his release from more than four months in Missouri\u2019s ironically named Liberty Jail under threats of imminent execution, he wrote that<\/p>\n I felt a determination to die, rather than deny the things which my eyes had seen, which my hands had handled, and which I had borne testimony to, wherever my lot had been cast.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Speaking of the plates, he was manifestly echoing the language of 1 John 1:1,3, which is about Jesus<\/em>:<\/p>\n That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life . . . \u00a0that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Presidents D. Todd Christofferson, Henry B. Eyring, and Dallin H. Oaks \u2014 the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints \u2014 have issued a brief video message for the Easter season. \u00a0I encourage you to watch it: \u00a0\u201cFeel God\u2019s Love This Easter Season: A Palm Sunday and General Conference Invitation: The First Presidency shares a special message with the world\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Today, being the Sabbath, would be a perfect day on which to watch one, some, most, or all of the posted episodes of the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s ongoing series Becoming Brigham<\/em>. \u00a0And, happily, all of the installments of the series that are currently available are easily accessible here, in one location<\/a>. \u00a0Episode 8 will go up tomorrow, Monday. \u00a0Happily, though, a half-minute trailer for it is freely accessible right now: \u00a0\u201cBecoming Brigham<\/em> TRAILER\u2014Young Brigham Young, Part Three\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Here\u2019s an imaginary dialogue that will help to answer some questions about my current junket southwards:<\/p>\n Hostile Interrogator (HI):<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re traveling again.\u201d<\/p>\n Devious Peterson (DP):<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cYes. \u00a0That\u2019s true. \u00a0My wife and I are down in Arizona, visiting family and friends. \u00a0Your tone suggests disapproval. \u00a0Is traveling to visit friends and family somehow unethical in your view?\u201d<\/p>\n HI (ignoring the question):<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cHow did you get there?\u201d<\/p>\n DP:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cWe flew.\u201d<\/p>\n HI:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cOn a luxurious private jet?\u201d<\/p>\n DP:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cNo. \u00a0On a commercial airliner.\u201d<\/p>\n HI:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cWho paid your airfare?\u201d<\/p>\n DP:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cWe did.\u201d<\/p>\n HI:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cWho is we<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n DP:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cMy wife and I.\u201d<\/p>\n HI:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cWho is covering the cost of your lodging?\u201d<\/p>\n DP:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cWe are.\u201d<\/p>\n HI:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cWho is paying for your food?\u201d<\/p>\n DP:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cWe are.\u201d<\/p>\n HI:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cWhat proportion of your expenses for this trip is covered by the Interpreter Foundation?\u201d<\/p>\n DP:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cZero.\u201d<\/p>\n HI:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cAs always, you\u2019re being evasive. \u00a0Just answer the question! \u00a0What portion of your expenses for this trip is borne by Redbrick Filmworks?\u201d<\/p>\n DP:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cNone. \u00a0Zero. \u00a0Not a cent.\u201d<\/p>\n HI:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cMore obfuscation. \u00a0Why don\u2019t you just admit that you profit enormously from your involvement with the Interpreter Foundation? \u00a0Why are you afraid to concede that it funds your lavish lifestyle? \u00a0Just come clean! \u00a0After all, your followers are too duped and benighted even to care<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n DP:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cBecause I won\u2019t lie. \u00a0And, by the way, they\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n HI:<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re lying.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>