Throughout LDS tradition, Mormons have held supernatural expectations of stones, especially white and translucent stones and crystals. In early Mormonism, stones mediated between the living and the dead as well as between the past, present, and future. Early Mormons believed God lived on a planet “like a sea of glass” and “like crystal,” and God created seer stones to preserve the holy language of Eden. These stones were passed down generation after generation, and God transformed the white stones into lanterns to guide the Jaredites from Babel to Cumorah. Centuries later, Joseph Smith used his brown stone to locate his more powerful white stone, buried deep within the earth. Smith used his stone “spectacles,” also called by their Biblical name “Urim and Thummim,” to translate the gold plates into the Book of Mormon. In the future, Smith revealed the earth itself would become a great “Urim and Thummim,” “like unto...
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