The Name Mormon
Name: Naturenut
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Comments: I'm reading a fascinating biography of Joseph Smith, "No Man Knows my History," by Fawn Brodie. The author meticulously footnotes practically everything but there's no mention of the origin of the word or name Mormon. Where does it come from?
Name: Naturenut
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Comments: Thank you. Really? Before Mormon abridged the plates there were even more of them? And this fellow, Mormon, was a person?
Name: SD
Comments: Mormon is a name just like Luke or John. Mormon lived in the time of the Book of Mormon.
Yes, Mormon was a person, the father of the angel Moroni. They call us "Mormons" because of the book of Mormon.
Name: Naturenut
Country:
Comments: I understand that the golden plates and Joseph's translation of them are central to the LDS church and are part of what makes Mormonism fascinating. It's troubling to me that descriptions of the plates vary so greatly among witnesses.
Joseph's father is said to have described them as being about half an inch thick. Emma, who didn't see them but who was allowed to handle them, said the plates were pliable like paper and could be ruffled like pages of a book. I believe brother William agreed with Emma.
There's a wide margin of error between half inch thick and paperlike. What could account for it and how do Saints reconcile the disparity? Please understand I'm not trying to hold anyone's feet to the fire but am just trying to get some sort of sense of these objects that are so fundamental to the beliefs built upon them.
Name: Naturenut
Country:
Comments: Sure.
Here is one quote from what Emma said;