South Park, Truth and Error

I watched one episode of South Park that showed the discovery, recovery, and translation of the gold plates upon which the Book of Mormon is written. Martin Harris is depicted as a dupe who blindly follows Joseph Smith without seeing any evidence that the Book of Mormon is true. Allowed to take the preliminary translation home to his wife, he shows it to her, and it later turns up missing. Instead of retranslating this portion of the gold plates, Joseph continues translating the rest of the book. This is portrayed as evidence that Joseph couldn't reproduce the translation, and therefore wasn't inspired of God.

The cartoon is very blunt in its assertion that it is foolish to believe in a book that was only ever seen by Joseph Smith. This just isn't true. Several people, including Martin Harris, were allowed to see the Book of Mormon after the translation was finished. Martin Harris, David Whitmer, and Oliver Cowdery all got to see the Book of Mormon as it was held by the angel Moroni, and they heard the voice of God proclaim the translation to be correct. Their testimony is found in the preface to the Book of Mormon. Several other people were also allowed to see the Book of Mormon and thumb through its pages. Their testimony is also included in the preface. Martin Harris was quite satisfied with the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, and wholeheartedly mortgaged his farm to pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon.