This is a pretty funny argument:
A) Christians have no good reason to believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
B) Mormons can offer no good reason to believe in the plates from which Joseph Smith, Jr. claimed to have translated the Book of Mormon.
C) Therefore, Mormonism is true.
For those who are enthralled by this compelling argument, please keep in mind the following:
- Most of the witnesses were related by blood.
- The witnesses were all of questionable character
- Joseph Smith, Jr. said on December 16, 1838: "Such characters as McLellin, John Witmer, David Witmer, Oliver Cowdry, and Martin Harris are too mean to mention; and we had liked to have forgotten them." History of the Church, Vol 3, p232
- Brigham Young said, "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 to disbelieve that they had ever seen an angel." (Journal of Discourses, Vol 7, page 164, 1859, Brigham Young.)
- Three of the witnesses were eventually excommunicated from the Mormon church.
Two of the three witnesses who were excommunicated from the Mormon church later returned to the church after denying their testimony. Imagine if any one of the apostles denied their witness that Jesus rose from the dead, were kicked out of the early church, then returned again. Their testimony would be of no value. Remember that three of them denied the Mormon faith at one point, and one never came back to the Mormon church going to his grave denying his testimony, yet Mormons still use his testimony for the book of Mormon. In fact, David Whitmer never returned to the LDS church that he was a witness for, but joined splinter groups that denied the original LDS church he was first a member of. Reference: http://www.exmormon.org/file9.htm
My uncle Buck believes that a goose-neck monster roams Lochness. He has pointed to grainy photos for decades. I believe that the air is thinner while I fly over the ocean. I point to the need for cabin pressure although I have declined sticking my head out the window to see for sure. But I'm pretty confident that my claim has more validity than Buck's. The mormons I suppose would conclude that both are equally valid.
ReplyDeleteYour reference to "denying their testimony" is vague and misleading. None of the three witnesses ever denied their testimony of the Book of Mormon, and the fact that they left the church while affirming the veracity of the Book of Mormon enhances their credibility.
ReplyDeleteHere's a sample from a group of articles that refute the explanations and conclusions you draw from your source:
http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Brochures/Book_of_Mormon_Witnesses_4.pdf
it's easier to testify to something that's a load of bull when you're caught up in an emotional reverie, which is what the three mormon witnessess were caught up in. (either that or their testimony was a blatant conspiracy.)
ReplyDeletewhat i want to know is, where are the plates now? you'd think the angels would pull them out every hundred years or so just to keep the mormons in line . . . oh, wait, the mormons keep themselves in line quite nicely already thanks to their ability to believe the unbelievable!