Part of the strength of Book of Mormon apologetics depends upon carefully qualifying how the Book of Mormon was translated. The traditional view of the translation process is that Joseph Smith concentrated on the text written on the gold plates, and the power of God somehow told him what those words meant. However, contemporary evidence demonstrates that Joseph Smith was not using the actual plates during the translation process at all, and, instead, was usually looking at his seer stone (the same stone that had formerly been the peep stone he used to find buried treasure) in the bottom of a hat. In addition, apologists have other ideas that contradict the idea of God directly provided exact words to Joseph Smith.
What is the contemporary evidence for how Joseph Smith "translated" the Book of Mormon?
