DH and I attended the Exmo Conference last week. The presentations were very interesting as well as the Friday evening open mic. And it was great to meet some fellow Exmos.

It was during a break on Saturday evening that I wanted to go to Temple Square with the specific reason to check out the JS display in the Visitors Center to see if the visuals reflected the peepstone and hat "translating" method. I mean it's been over two years since church head honchos disclosed this particular method of JS's con so that seems like enough time to have an artist render a likeness that reflects the up-to-date story of the translation of the Book of Mormon, the keystone to the church.

I noticed a few things: there used to be a big display on the upper level about JS praying and seeing the HF and Jesus. Not anymore. There were biblical stories all over in the artwork on all three levels and down on the bottom level I finally found some artwork on JS. Three pictures of him: sitting in a chair reading James 1:5, in the grove looking up at the two heavenly guys, and (finally) a picture of JS looking at the gold plates while Oliver Crowdery is across the table writing on paper with a feather quill. That's it. There could have been a room with a movie about the event as I noticed a couple of those (empty) with a sign asking for the interested to find a sister missionary for access.

From the October 2015 Ensign next to the very same picture that is displayed in the Visitors Center, "Artist’s portrayal of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery working on the translation of the Book of Mormon. Unlike what is depicted here, Oliver Cowdery stated that he did NOT ('not' is in bold in the article) see the plates until after the translation was finished. Witnesses of the process reported that during the translation, the plates were shielded from view, such as by being covered with a linen cloth."

This really bothers me as I spent 18 months knocking on doors trying to share the BofM with unsuspecting people in Louisiana and Mississippi in the mid 1970s with the same pictures in my flip chart. Even the research and historical records have not changed the church's approach. Even when they displayed a picture of the peepstone and admitted to JS use of it when the plates were not even in the room their display hasn't reflected their public announcement.

Artistic license???