Book of Mormon Witnesses
Why were the witnesses only allowed to see the plates with "spiritual eyes"?
They were allowed to see them with both sets. You must not have read the account of witnesses
If the plates were real, why would it take faith to see them?
Because God would not let Joseph show them until they had proven their faith.(D&C17:2)
(How could he have translated without the plates, as his scribes said, if he was doing a literal translation of a physical object?)
He didn't. He always had the plates present.
Why does the church now extol the witnesses when Joseph Smith condemned them?
Because people are not perfect they are subject to periods of sin. Many of the witnesses had fallings out with the church, but none ever denied it.
Why would most of them leave the church?
Great question. This gospel requires total devotion and the mere witnessing of miracles is not enough to change someone's life. It's just a witnessing of a miracle. That's why the Egyptians didn't become Israelites after they witnessed Moses' miracles. Many of them couldn't take the pressure and responsibility of being a member of this church.
Why did Brigham Young say that the 3 witnesses doubted and disbelieved in their experience? "Some of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, who handled the plates and conversed with the angels of God, were afterwards left to doubt and disbelieve that they had ever seen an angel." (JOD 7:164 1859).
Some had thoughts of doubt after they had left the church and looked for reasons to justify their leaving the church. But all of them came to in time to remember that it was a real vision and they knew better than to offend God by retracting their statements. Which is why all of them went to their graves swearing they saw what they saw and would not be misunderstood.
Why were all of the witnesses (except Martin Harris) related to Joseph Smith or David Whitmer?
Because that's who God trusted at the time. You ever think God chose Joseph's family for a reason. God discriminates where he will and who are we to judge?
This link is full of all the easy ones. I mean come on I've already dealt with each one in turn. You're a newcomer here. Which one is you're biggest problem. Let's go one at a time and you should be quite satsified if you have the stamina and intelligence to learn knowledge. Come please I implore you!
THE WITNESSES OF THE BOOK OF MORMON©
What did they really see?
by Janis Hutchinson
The printed statement of the three witnesses, as contained in the front of the Book of Mormon, states that they saw the plates and the engravings. Another statement of eight witnesses adds that they “hefted” the plates.
Many ask, “Certainly, they wouldn’t testify to something unless it was true! Or, would they?”
WHO WROTE THE TESTIMONY IN FRONT OF THE BOOK OF MORMON?
Where did the printed statement of the three witnesses, Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer come from? Did they actually write the testimony themselves? No!
It is believed that Joseph Smith wrote the statement for them to sign. This appears to be evident since, at that time, he knew none of the witnesses had ever seen the plates with their natural eyes, as they themselves later admitted. Yet, when he worded it, he deliberately gave the impression they had.
Stretching or misrepresenting the truth was no problem for Smith, for he had altered other revelations. According to Apostle William E. McLellin, the testimony of the Twelve Apostles contained in the Introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants, was a “base forgery” and Smith had seriously altered other revelations. David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses, accused Joseph of the same thing.
WHAT DID THE WITNESSES SEE?
Whatever they saw and by whatever means, it was not in the dimension of physical reality.
Martin Harris admitted he never saw anything with his natural eyes. He stated: “I never saw the golden plates, only in a visionary or entranced state.”
Further, he admitted the same to the printer who was working on the first edition of the Book of Mormon:
During the printing of the first edition of the Book of Mormon, he (Harris) was in the print shop while the type was being set for the testimony of the three witnesses. The printer, John Gilbert, asked him if he had seen the plates with his naked eye. “Martin looked down for an instant, raised his eyes up, and said, ‘No, I saw them with a spiritual eye.”
He further told a Palmyra lawyer, who asked him: “Did you see the plates and the engravings upon them with your bodily eyes?” He responded:
I did not see them as I do that pencil-case, yet I saw them with the eye of faith; I saw them just as distinctly as I see anything around me - though at the time they were covered with a cloth.
Harris further let the cat out of the bag when he revealed that the other eight witnesses saw no plates either. On April 15, 1838, Stephen Burnett gave the following report:
I have reflected long and deliberately upon the history of this church & weighed the evidence for & against it - loth to give it up - but when I came to hear Martin Harris state in public that he never saw the plates with his natural eyes only in vision or imagination, neither Oliver nor David & also that the eight witnesses never saw them & hesitated to sign that instrument for that reason, but were persuaded to do it, the last pedestal gave away . . . . I therefore three weeks since in the Stone Chapel gave . . . the reasons why I took the course which I was resolved to do, and renounced the Book of Mormon. . . .
I was followed by W. Parrish, Luke Johnson & John Boynton, all of who concurred with me, (sic) after we were done speaking M. Harris arose & said he was sorry for any man who rejected the Book of Mormon for he knew it was true, he said he had hefted the plates repeatedly in a box with only a tablecloth or a handkerchief over them, but he never saw them, only as he saw a city through a mountain. And said that he never should have told that the testimony of the eight was false, if it had not been picked out of (him) but should have let it passed as it was.
So, in reality, the witnesses saw nothing!
You are reading one of the misquotes given by a reporter who tried to slander the church and the witnesses about their testimony. Here are the real last testimonies of the men before they died, discrediting the snakes who lied on them.
Martin Harris' last testimony:
Testimony of Martin Harris in Clarkston, Utah 1875
Oliver's last testimony:
Shortly before Cowdery died of a respiratory illness, he was visited by Jacob Gates, an early Mormon leader in the church, who inquired about his witness concerning the Book of Mormon. Cowdery reaffirmed his witness saying,[40][41]
"Jacob, I want you to remember what I say to you. I am a dying man, and what would it profit me to tell you a lie? I know,' said he, 'that this Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God. My eyes saw, my ears heard, and my understanding was touched, and I know that whereof I testified is true. It was no dream, no vain imagination of the mind—it was real".
On March 3, 1850, Cowdery died in David Whitmer's home in Richmond, Missouri.[42]
David Whitmer's last testimony:
Whitmer responded by publishing A Proclamation, reaffirming his testimony and saying,
"It having been represented by one John Murphy, of Polo, Caldwell County, Mo., that I, in a conversation with him last summer, denied my testimony as one of the three witnesses to the BOOK OF MORMON. To the end, therefore, that he may understand me now, if he did not then; and that the world may know the truth, I wish now, standing as it were, in the very sunset of life, and in the fear of God, once for all to make this public statement: That I have never at any time denied that testimony or any part thereof, which has so long since been published with that Book, as one of the three witnesses. Those who know me best, well know that I have always adhered to that testimony. And that no man may be misled or doubt my present views in regard to the same, I do again affirm the truth of all of my statements, as then made and published. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear; it was no delusion!"[34]
To the Proclamation Whitmer attached an affidavit attesting to his honesty and standing in the community.[35] Whitmer ordered that his testimony to the Book of Mormon be placed on his tombstone.[36]
The weak twistings of these parasites who have nothing better to do than try and find some weird loophole to get around their insecurities about being detached from the faith never cease to amaze me.
If it's such a delusion and we're so whacked, why does it then become their personal mission to destroy someone elses faith instead of pursuing their own? It's because they know deep down inside it's true but don't like that it's true and believe it shouldn't be true because the truth should agree with them instead of them conforming to the truth. It's all pride and vain ambition. so so so sad.
