Again, the question comes up: where are the golden plates now?

In a revelation recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 17:2, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris were told that it was by faith they would obtain a view of the plates. This event did not take place in the room where Smith had allegedly been translating the plates, but out in the woods. It was after retiring to the woods that Smith and the three men tried “to obtain, by fervent and humble prayer,” the fulfillment of that revelation. One might ask why they needed prayer to see a tangible, physical object. When praying did not result in a “manifestation of divine favor,” Martin Harris excused himself, thinking he was the hindrance. Once he left, the remaining three men prayed again and an angel stood before them holding the plates. Smith then went to find Harris who was a “considerable distance” away. The two men prayed and the “same vision” was opened to their view. Eight more men insisted they, too, ‘saw’ the plates, but again the evidence suggests that they saw them with spiritual eyes or in ‘vision.’ ”
(http://www.equip.org/article/problems-with-the-gold-plates-of-the-book-of-mormon-2/)

Now, let’s get this straight: God sent an angel to give plates to a msn rather than just tell whatever message they supposedly contained? Why didn’t God do that with ANY of the Bible itself? He waited nearly 200 years after the Revelation to add this stuff to His Word? I just don’t buy it. Christians believe that there WILL be prophets in the last days, but nowhere do we read of somebody’s receiving some otherwise-undecipherable plates for a man to translate. And think about it: God had something important enough to change the world and hid it underground under a stone?

I also have trouble with Mormons’ claim that Jesus was once a man and that we will become Gods. That, in effect, makes the Bible a lie…which it ISN’T. God created man, and man can never become a god.

The seer stone used–also called the “Chase” stone–was later given to Oliver Cowdery. Cowdery’s widow gave it to, I believe, a brother of Brigham Young’s who happened to stop by her home while returning to Utah from a mission. It was last publicly seen at the dedication of the Manti Temple. In the mid-1950s, Joseph Fielding Smith–then serving concurrently as President of the Quorum of the Twelve as well as Church Historian and Recorder–affirmed that the stone was in the Church’s custody.

By the time Whitmer was involved, the translation process seems to have been unfolding as Whitmer described–the stone in the hat and so forth. But it apparently took Joseph Smith a while to work out this process; and he did indeed begin by copying and studying some of the engravings from the actual plates.

The seer stone was used more often than the Urim and Thumin and is said to be in church possession today. Eye witness accounts tell us that Joseph did not look at the plate to translate them.

“Barring the Law of Moses that justified Nephi’s execution of Laban, the law according to God necessitated that Laban be judged and measured according to his own word. Nephi carried out justice under the law of obedience, not under the law of justice – and consequently, was blessed for his actions as well as for his intentions.

Nephi was not acting contrary to God’s laws, nor did God command him in contradiction to previous commandments; in fact, just the opposite. Nephi exemplified the example of the Savior and demonstrated mercy, forgiveness, and honorably enforced justice by acting in direct obedience to God.”

http://www.mormonchronicle.com/nephis-honorable-execution-of-laban/