I am at a loss. I can’t find the logic in a statement found in Mormon Times (or the article that follows it). Maybe the Mormon Coffee community can suss this out and make some sense of it for me.

Mormon Times reported that at the BYU Studies Symposium a couple of weeks ago Paul Callister, associate professor of law/library director at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, shared his fascination with, and knowledge of, orbs. Mormon Times said,

“[Callister’s] interest led him to research orbs — and how they are connected with Joseph Smith’s Urim and Thummim and seer stone.

“In fact, Callister said that Joseph’s use of an orb, a seer stone, is an undeniable sign of the truth of the Book of Mormon.”

Callister reportedly talked about the artistic depiction of orbs throughout history as a symbol of authority. Then,

“‘Why did Joseph Smith have the … seer stone?’ Callister asks. ‘Why did he have to have them? And why don’t we have them today?’

“The seer stone, along with the sword of Laban and other things, serve the same symbolic function as they did with the ancients: ‘They are signs of his authority,’ Callister said. ‘It’s a way to plead his case.’

“Orbs have always historically symbolized two things, according to Callister: knowledge and authority.

“So where are the symbolic orbs showing authority today? There is an orb substitute.

“‘We have the book produced by the seer stone,’ Callister said.

“A real orb equates, at last, with a real book — bridging the symbolic and the tangible — spanning the knowledge of God and the authority of God.”

What I don’t understand is how Joseph Smith’s use of an orb, a seer stone, is “an undeniable sign of the truth of the Book of Mormon.” Smith used an “orb” for hire when he unsuccessfully sought to discover buried treasure for his employers, as well. What “undeniable truth” does this orb-use confirm?

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(Many thanks to grindael for the graphic used above.)