Book of Mormon/Witnesses

FAIR Answers Wiki Table of Contents

Witnesses to the Book of Mormon

Summary: The world was not left with Joseph Smith's testimony alone. The Book of Mormon provided multiple official and unofficial witnesses who corroborated aspects of Joseph's account. Critics have long tried to dismiss or destroy the witnesses' witness. This page links to subpages which discuss various attacks in detail.

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• Reliability of the Book of Mormon witnesses
• Skepticism of the Book of Mormon witnesses
• The literal nature of the experiences of the Book of Mormon witnesses
• Did a Book of Mormon witnesses say that they only saw and handled the plates covered by a cloth or "tow frock"?
• None of the Book of Mormon witnesses ever recanted their testimony
• Did the Three and Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon place their signatures on their testimonies?
• Witnesses reaffirmed published statements in the Book of Mormon
• Oliver Cowdery and the "rod of nature"
• Oliver Cowdery joined the Methodists after leaving the Church
• David Whitmer said that God told him to "leave the Latter Day Saints"
• Martin Harris and his search for truth
• Martin Harris' "Eye of Faith" and "Spiritual Eye" statements
• Eyewitness descriptions of the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated
• Book of Mormon Translation method
• The Eight Witnesses and their experience viewing the "gold" plates
• Other Book of Mormon witnesses
• Comparison of the Strangite witnesses to the Book of Mormon witnesses
• Book of Mormon witnesses: Statements
• The Book of Mormon witnesses knew they would be ridiculed and not believed
• Witnesses persisted even in the face of persecution or death
• Revelation Allegedly Stipulating that only Three Witnesses Should See Plates

Reliability of the Book of Mormon witnesses

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: What did Oliver Cowdery's associates say about his character?
• Question: What did Martin Harris's non-Mormon associates say about his character?
• Question: What did David Whitmer's associates say about his character?
• Question: Is someone unreliable because they practiced "treasure hunting" and believed in the use of see stones to find lost objects?
• Question: Did Martin Harris change his religion five times prior to the Restoration?
• Question: Is a man unreliable because he lived in the 19th-Century?
• Question: Could Joseph Smith have hypnotized the witnesses to the Book of Mormon?
• Question: Are the Book of Mormon witnesses unreliable because many of them were related?
• Question: Does the fact that Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith distant cousins make Oliver an unreliable witness to the Book of Mormon?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith say that viewing the gold plates would result in death?
• Question: Were the Book of Mormon witnesses not neutral because they were members of the Church and believers in Joseph's mission?

Skepticism of the Book of Mormon witnesses

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• Question: Was Martin Harris a gullible witness who would simply believe anything he was told?
• Question: Did David Whitmer or Oliver Cowdery test Joseph's prophetic claims?
• Godfrey: "Martin found a rock closely resembling the seerstone Joseph sometimes used in place of the interpreters and substituted it without the Prophet’s knowledge"
• Palmyra Courier: Martin Harris was "quite skeptical, as well as superstitious"
• Question: Did Charles Anthon validate the characters that Martin Harris brought to him that had been copied from the Book of Mormon plates?

The literal nature of the experiences of the Book of Mormon witnesses

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• Question: Did the three witnesses's experience of seeing the plates and the angel take place only in their minds?
• Question: Does the belief that the experience had visionary qualities contradict the claim that the plates were real?
• Question: Did Martin Harris claim that he only saw the gold plates as they were covered "as a city through a mountain"?
• Martin Harris said that "He had seen and handled them all"
• David Whitmer (1887): "We were in the spirit when we had the view...but we were in the body also"
• Painesville Telegraph (1830): "The name of the person here, who pretends to have a divine mission, and to have seen and conversed with Angels, is Cowdray"
• Martin Harris: "As sure as you see my hand so sure did I see the angel and the plates"
• Edward Stevenson (1870): Martin Harris said "my belief is swallowed up in knowledge; for I want to say to you that as the Lord lives I do know that I stood with the Prophet Joseph Smith in the presence of the angel"
• Martin Harris: "The Book of Mormon is no fake. I know what I know. I have seen what I have seen and I have heard what I have heard"
• David Whitmer (1884): "I saw with these eyes and I heard with these ears"
• Question: Did John Whitmer, one of the Eight Witnesses, actually say that he saw the plates by a "supernatural power"?
• Question: What did the Book of Mormon witnesses mean when they used the word "supernatural" to describe their experiences?
• Question: Did the Three Witnesses have personal, subjective experiences?

Did a Book of Mormon witnesses say that they only saw and handled the plates covered by a cloth or "tow frock"?

Summary: A frequent claim is that a Book of Mormon witnesses said that he only handled the plates while they were covered in a "tow frock." However, this report is from William Smith, one of Joseph's brothers who was not a Book of Mormon witness. In fact, William insisted in the same statement that he was convinced Joseph was not lying about the plates. William also dismissed the Spalding hypothesis as nonsense.

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• Question: Did one of the Book of Mormon witnesses actually only handle the plates while they were covered in a "tow frock"?
• William Smith (1883): "he escaped to the house and brought the plates with him, wrapped up in a tow frock. He could not permit us to see them, because he said the angel told him not to do so"
• William Smith (1884): "When the plates were brought in they were wrapped up in a tow frock. My father then put them into a pillow case. Father said, 'What, Joseph, can we not see them?'"
• William Smith (1893): "I did not see them uncovered, but I handled them and hefted them while wrapped in a tow frock and judged them to have weighed about sixty pounds"

None of the Book of Mormon witnesses ever recanted their testimony

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• Richard Anderson: All eleven Book of Mormon witnesses publicly reaffirmed their testimony as printed
• Question: Did the Three Witnesses consider Joseph Smith a "fallen prophet" after they left the Church?
• Question: Did the Witnesses who left the Church continue to maintain their witness of the Book of Mormon?
• Question: Did Oliver Cowdery ever deny his Book of Mormon witness because he thought that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet?
• Question: What did Oliver Cowdery say about his witness experience after Joseph died?
• Question: Did Martin Harris ever deny his Book of Mormon witness because he thought that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet?
• Question: Did David Whitmer ever deny his Book of Mormon witness because he thought that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet?
• Oliver Cowdery's alleged 1839 Defence in a Rehearsal of my Grounds for Separating Myself from the Latter Day Saints
• Question: Did Oliver Cowdery privately admit to his law partner that the Book of Mormon was actually a hoax?
• Question: What did the Book of Mormon witnesses say about the faithfulness of other witnesses?
• Oliver Cowdery's alleged 1839 Defence in a Rehearsal of my Grounds for Separating Myself from the Latter Day Saints

Did the Three and Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon place their signatures on their testimonies?

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• Question: Did the Three Witnesses each add their own signature to the original Book of Mormon manuscript?
• Question: What happened to the original Book of Mormon manuscript?
• Question: What is the Book of Mormon "printer's manuscript" and why is it entirely in the handwriting of Oliver Cowdery?
• David Whitmer (1881): "I do now again affirm the truth of all my statement, as then made and published"
• John Whitmer (1876): "I have never heard that any one of the three or eight witnesses ever denied the testimony that they have borne to the Book as published in the first edition of the Book of Mormon"
• Question: Did the witnesses disagree with their testimony after it was printed in the Book of Mormon?
• Question: Did the witnesses make clear statements regarding their testimonies?
• Question: Regarding the gold plates, did Martin Harris claim that "the eight witnesses never saw them and hesitated to sign that instrument for that reason, but they were persuaded to do it"?

Witnesses reaffirmed published statements in the Book of Mormon

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• Question: Did the Book of Mormon witnesses hold to their published testimonies?
• Anderson:Investigating:137-18:All_witnesses_reaffirm_their_published_testimony
• Martin Harris reaffirmed his published testimony of the Book of Mormon
• John Whitmer reaffirmed his published testimony of the Book of Mormon
• Oliver Cowdery reaffirmed his published testimony of the Book of Mormon
• David Whitmer reaffirmed his published testimony of the Book of Mormon

Oliver Cowdery and the "rod of nature"

Summary: It is claimed that a revelation received by Joseph praised Oliver Cowdery's gift of using divining talents. It is claimed that the revelation was published in the Book of Commandments in its original form, then subsequently modified in the Doctrine and Covenants in order to hide the reference to the "rod of nature." Therefore, it is claimed that Joseph attempted to "cover up" Oliver Cowdery's work with a divining rod by changing a revelation. Critics also claim that Oliver would ask questions of his divining rod in faith and it would move in response.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Revelations in Context on history.lds.org: "Cowdery was among those who believed in and used a divining rod"
• Question: Was Oliver Cowdery a "treasure hunter and 'rodsman'?
• Question: What if the "rod of nature" was indeed a physical object such as a divining rod?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith attempt to "cover up" Oliver Cowdery's work with a divining rod by changing the wording of the revelation that became Doctrine and Covenants 8:6–8?
• Question: How was the wording of the "rod of nature" revelation that became Doctrine and Covenants 8:6–8 altered over time?
• Gospel Topics: "the Bible mentions other physical instruments used to access God’s power: the rod of Aaron, a brass serpent, holy anointing oils, the Ark of the Covenant, and even dirt from the ground mixed with saliva"
• Dallin H. Oaks (1987): "It should be recognized that such tools as the Urim and Thummim, the Liahona, seerstones, and other articles have been used appropriately in biblical, Book of Mormon, and modern times"

Oliver Cowdery joined the Methodists after leaving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Summary: Why did Oliver Cowdery join the Methodists if all other churches had been "condemned of God"?

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• Question: Why did Oliver Cowdery join the Methodists if all other churches had been "condemned of God"?
• Oliver Cowdery: "My eyes saw, my ears heard...It was no dream, no vain imagination of the mind—it was real"
• Scott H. Faulring, "The Return of Oliver Cowdery"

David Whitmer said that God told him to "leave the Latter Day Saints"

Summary: David Whitmer, one of the Book of Mormon's Three Witnesses, said "If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon; if you believe that God spake to us three witnesses by his own voice, then I tell you that in June, 1838, God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens, and told me to "separate myself from among the Latter Day Saints, for as they sought to do unto me, should it be done unto them." Some argue that if members accept Whitmer's witness of the Book of Mormon, then they must also accept that God wanted David to repudiate the Church as false. Some distort the historical record to make it appear that David Whitmer left the Church because he was told to, when it fact he was excommunicated prior to claiming any revelation to do so. The command to leave, if it was a true revelation, involved David's physical safety and not his membership in the Church, which he had already renounced.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Did God tell David Whitmer to leave the Church and repudiate Mormonism?
• Question: How can we accept David Whitmer as a valid Book of Mormon witness if God told him to leave the Saints?
• Question: When did God tell David Whitmer to separate himself from the Latter-day Saints?

Martin Harris and his search for truth

Summary: Some claim that Martin Harris was unstable or flighty because he investigated various religions prior to the Church's restoration, and then five more religions after he was excommunicated in 1838.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Did Martin Harris change his religion five times prior to the Restoration?
• Question: Does Martin Harris' involvement with other faiths after the Restoration discredit him?
• Question: Does Martin Harris' involvement with the Shakers undercut his testimony?

Martin Harris' "Eye of Faith" and "Spiritual Eye" statements

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Did Martin Harris tell people that he did not see the plates with his natural eyes, but rather the "eye of faith"?
• Question: Did Martin Harris tell people that he only saw the plates with his "spiritual eye"?
• Question: Why would Martin Harris use the phrases "eye of faith" or "spiritual eye" to describe his visionary experience?
• Question: Do Martin Harris's statements related to the "spiritual eye" or "eye of faith" contradict the reality of his witness?
• Question: What did the Book of Mormon witnesses mean when they used the word "supernatural" to describe their experiences?
• Question: What did the other witnesses say regarding "spiritual" versus "natural" viewing of the plates?
• Question: How did newspaper accounts describe the nature of the witnesses experience?
• Question: How did the apostle Paul describe spiritual experiences?
• Martin Harris: "The Book of Mormon is no fake. I know what I know. I have seen what I have seen and I have heard what I have heard"
• Martin Harris: "The Book of Mormon is no fake. I know what I know. I have seen what I have seen and I have heard what I have heard"
• Edward Stevenson (1870): Martin Harris said "my belief is swallowed up in knowledge; for I want to say to you that as the Lord lives I do know that I stood with the Prophet Joseph Smith in the presence of the angel"

Eyewitness descriptions of the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: What material were the plates made from?
• Question: How much did the gold plates weigh?
• Question: What was the size of each of the gold plates?
• Question: What was the thickness of each gold plate?
• Question: What was the thickness of entire volume of gold plates?
• Question: What were the characteristics of the sealed vs. unsealed portion of the gold plates?
• Question: What were the characteristics of the rings which held the gold plates together?
• Question: What was the appearance of the engravings on the gold plates?
• Question: What is the description of the stone box in which the plates were hidden?
• Question: What happened to the stone box in which gold plates were deposited?

Book of Mormon Translation method

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Was every word of the Book of Mormon translation provided directly from God?
• Question: What are the Nephite interpreters?
• Question: Did Joseph ever place the Nephite interpreters ("Urim and Thummim") into his hat?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith use the Nephite interpreters to translate? Or did he use his own seer stone?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith use his own seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon?
• Question: Has the Church tried to hide Joseph's use of a seer stone?
• Question: Did Joseph Fielding Smith say that it was not reasonable for Joseph Smith to use a seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon?
• Question: Why were the gold plates needed at all if they weren't used directly during the translation process?
• Question: Can the Book of Mormon be considered a genuine translation if the plates weren’t even used during the translation process?
• A compilation of published statements on the Book of Mormon translation method in both Church and non-Church publications

The Eight Witnesses and their experience viewing the "gold" plates

Jump to Subtopic:

• Richard Anderson: All eleven Book of Mormon witnesses publicly reaffirmed their testimony as printed
• Question: How do critics of the Church attempt to dismiss the experience of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon?
• Turley claimed that John Whitmer said: "I now say I handled those plates. there was fine engravings on both sides. I handled them...and they were shown to me by a supernatural power"
• Myron H. Bond (1878): John Whitmer "knew as well as he knew he had an existence that Joseph translated the ancient writing which was upon the plates, which he saw and handled"
• P. Wilhelm Poulson (1878): John Whitmer said "He handed them uncovered into our hands, and we turned the leaves sufficient to satisfy us"
• John Whitmer reaffirmed his testimony as printed in the Book of Mormon even after he left the Church
• John Whitmer (1876): "I have never heard that any one of the three or eight witnesses ever denied the testimony that they have borne to the Book as published in the first edition of the Book of Mormon"
• Question: Did Hiram Page, one of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, ever deny having seen the plates?
• Question: Did Hyrum Smith, one of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, ever deny having seen the plates?
• Question: Did Samuel Smith, one of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, ever deny having seen the plates?
• Question: Did Christian and Peter Whitmer, two of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, ever deny having seen the plates?
• Question: Did Jacob Whitmer, one of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, ever deny having seen the plates?
• Question: Why did Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer accept Hiram Page's seer stone revelations as authoritative?
• Lucy Mack Smith: "Here it was that those 8 witnesses recorded in the Book of Mormon looked upon the plates and handled them of which they bear witness"
• William Owen (skeptical account): "Ten persons say they have seen them and hefted them, three declare that an angel of God appeared to them and showed them to them"
• Richard Lloyd Anderson, "Attempts to Redefine the Experience of the Eight Witnesses"

Other Book of Mormon witnesses

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Are there any other witnesses to the Book of Mormon plates besides the Three and Eight witnesses?
• Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture, "Another Account of Mary Whitmer’s Viewing of the Golden Plates"

Comparison of the Strangite witnesses to the Book of Mormon witnesses

Summary: James Strang's break-off sect produced eyewitnesses of buried records. Does this indicate that Joseph's ability to do so is neither surprising nor persuasive? The Strangite witnesses were not all faithful, and some recanted and described the nature of the fraud perpetuated by Strang.

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: Who was James Strang?
• Question: Of what did the Strangite witnesses testify?
• Question: What are the differences between the Strangite witness statements and those of the Three and Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon?

Book of Mormon witnesses: Statements

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• All Three Witnesses
• Oliver Cowdery statements as one of Three Witnesses
• Martin Harris statements as one of the Three Witnesses
• David Whitmer statements as one of the Three Witnesses
• Eight Witnesses
• John Whitmer statements as one of the Eight Witnesses
• Peter Whitmer, Jr. statements as one of the Eight Witnesses
• Christian Whitmer statements as one of the Eight Witnesses
• Jacob Whitmer statements as one of the Eight Witnesses
• Hiram Page statements as one of the Eight Witnesses
• Hyrum Smith statements as one of the Eight Witnesses
• Joseph Smith, Sr. statements as one of the Eight Witnesses

The Book of Mormon witnesses knew they would be ridiculed and not believed

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• Question: Did the witnesses to the Book of Mormon realize that they would be ridiculed and not believed?
• Question: What might the witnesses to the Book of Mormon have gained if they had denied their testimonies?

Witnesses persisted even in the face of persecution or death

Jump to Subtopic:

• John Whitmer: Oliver Cowdery would not have denied his witness "at the peril of his life"
• Hyrum Smith: "I felt a determination to die, rather than deny the things which my eyes had seen"
• Holland: "quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as imposters and charlatans until the end of time?"

Revelation Allegedly Stipulating that only Three Witnesses Should See Plates

Summary: Some critics have asked whether Doctrine and Covenants 5 stipulates that only three witnesses should see the plates. This article addresses that criticism

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• Question: Does Doctrine and Covenants 5 stipulate that there be only three witnesses to the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated?

A FairMormon Analysis of Wikipedia article "Three Witnesses"

Summary: Wikipedia's treatment of the Three Witnesses is controlled by a Protestant editor, and is crafted to discredit the Witnesses by emphasizing the negative and diminishing the positive.