Book of Mormon witnesses/Hypnotism

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Overview: Summary Three Witnesses: Character/stability Faithful? Real gold plates? Hypnosis? Strangite parallels? God told David Whitmer to leave? View of the plates: Literal? "Eye of faith"? "Spiritual eye"? Result in death? Eight Witnesses: Eight witnesses Supernatural power? Other Witnesses: Other witnesses
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Joseph Smith, Jr. Book of Mormon

Contents 1 Criticism 1.1 Source(s) of the criticism 2 Response 3 Conclusion 4 Endnotes 5 Further reading 5.1 FAIR wiki articles 5.2 FAIR web site 5.3 Video 5.4 External links 5.5 Printed material

Criticism

Critics claim that the Book of Mormon witnesses may have been sincere in their testimony, but were actually the victims of 'hallucination' or 'hypnosis' induced in them by Joseph Smith.

Source(s) of the criticism

Criticisms of Book of Mormon witnesses

• Richard Abanes, Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism (Harvest House Publishers: 2005). 62, 361 n. 69-72. ( Index of claims ) (Sources: Palmer)
• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945) Chapter 5. ( Index of claims )
• Henry Caswall, The Prophet of the Nineteenth Century, or, the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints : To Which Is Appended an Analysis of the Book of Mormon (London: Printed for J. G. F. & J. Rivington, 1843), 46–47.
• Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) Chapter 6. ( Index of claims )
• Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 94–97, 108. ( Index of claims )
• Dan Vogel (editor), Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, 1996-2003), 5 vols, 3:464–472.
• Dan Vogel, Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2004), 466–469
• Dan Vogel, "The Validity of the Witnesses' Testimonies," in American Apocrypha, edited by Dan Vogel and Brent Lee Metcalf, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002), 79–121.

Response

(Note: All emphasis in the following quotes have been added.)

David Whitmer—like the other witnesses—had been charged with being deluded into thinking he had seen an angel and the plates. Joseph Smith III remembered when David was such accused, and said:

"How well and distinctly I remember the manner in which Elder Whitmer arose and drew himself up to his full height—a little over six feet—and said, in solemn and impressive tones: 'No sir! I was not under any hallucination, nor was I deceived! I saw with these eyes, and I heard with these ears! I know whereof I speak!'."^[1]

Martin Harris used the same qualifying statements to describe his experience in 1829:

"In introducing us, Mr. Godfrey said, 'Brother Harris, I have brought these young men to hear your statement as to whether or not you believe the Book of Mormon to be true.' His face was turned to the wall. He turned and faced us and said, 'Now I don't believe, but I know it to be true, for with these eyes I saw the angel and with these ears (pointing to them) I heard him say it was a true and correct record of an ancient people that dwelt upon this the American continent'."^[2]

Oliver Cowdery was asked, “Was your testimony based on a dream, was it the imagination of your mind, was it an illusion”? He responded with the exact same qualifying statements as the other two Witnesses:

"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."^[3]

Conclusion

The Three Witnesses had the opportunity to qualify their testimony, but all of them insisted that their vision was literal and unmistakable. In addition, they each verified the literalness of the event by stating that their physical ears heard a heavenly voice. Critics twist the historical record in their effort to eliminate the troublesome witnesses but their testimonies cannot be convincingly dismissed.

Endnotes

1. [back]  Joseph Smith III visited David Whitmer in 1884, along with a committee from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and several onlookers. According to Joseph III's memoirs, one of the non-believers there was a military officer, who suggested the possibility that Whitmer "had been mistaken and had simply been moved upon by some mental disturbance or hallucination, which had deceived him into thinking he saw" the angel and the plates. Joseph III's recollection of Whitmer's response is quoted above. See Memoirs of Joseph Smith III, cited in Mary Audentia Smith Anderson, Joseph Smith III and the Restoration (Independence, MO: 1952), pp. 311-12. Cited in Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1981), 88. ISBN 0877478465.
2. [back]  Alma L. Jensen, attested statement, Dayton, Ohio, 1 June 1936, L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
3. [back] Jacob F. Gates, "Testimony of Jacob Gates," Improvement Era (March 1912): 418–419. GospeLink

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

Book of Mormon witnesses wiki articles

• Book of Mormon witnesses (Summary page)

Three Witnesses

• "Mass hypnosis" of the witnesses?
• Character and mental stability of witnesses
• Faithfulness of witnesses to testimony
  • Did Oliver Cowdery admit to a hoax?
• "Eye of Faith"/"Spiritual Eye" statements by Martin Harris
• Literal nature of witness experience
• Strangite parallels for witnesses?
• David Whitmer told to leave the Church?

Eight Witnesses

• Eight witnesses
  • "shown to me by a supernatural power"

Other Witnesses

• Other witnesses

FAIR web site

Book of Mormon witnesses FAIR articles

• FAIR Topical Guide: Book of Mormon Witnesses FAIR link
  
• FAIR Topical Guide: Testimonies of the Book of Mormon FAIR link
  
• Richard Lloyd Anderson, "Explaining Away the Book of Mormon Witnesses," paper given at the 2004 FAIR Conference FAIR link (Key source)
• Scott Gordon, "The Testimony of Eight" FAIR link

Video

Explaining Away the Book of Mormon Witnesses, Richard Lloyd Anderson , 2004 FAIR Conference

• Explaining Away the Book of Mormon Witnesses

External links

Book of Mormon witnesses on-line articles

• Richard Lloyd Anderson, "Book of Mormon Witnesses," farms.byu.edu off-site (Key source)
• Richard Lloyd Anderson, "Attempts to Redefine the Experience of the Eight Witnesses," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 14/1 (2005): 18–31. off-site PDF link wiki
• Kenneth W. Godfrey, "David Whitmer and the Shaping of Latter-day Saint History," in The Disciple As Witness: Essays on Latter-Day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, edited by Richard Lloyd Anderson, Stephen D. Ricks, Donald W. Parry, and Andrew H. Hedges, (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2000), 223–256. ISBN 0934893454. ISBN 978-0934893459. off-site direct off-site
• Kirk B. Henrichsen, "How Witnesses Described the "Gold Plates"," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 10/1 (2001): 16–21. off-site [No PDF link] wiki
• Jeff Lindsay, "Circumstantial Evidence and the Witnesses of the Book of Mormon: Can They Be Ignored Any Longer?", jefflindsay.com off-site
• Matthew Roper, "Comments on the Book of Mormon Witnesses: A Response to Jerald and Sandra Tanner," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 2/2 (1993): 164–193. off-site PDF link wiki

Printed material

Book of Mormon witnesses printed materials

• Richard Lloyd Anderson, "The Credibility of the Book of Mormon Translators," in Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins, edited by Noel B. Reynolds and Charles D. Tate (eds.), (Provo, Utah : Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University ; Salt Lake City, Utah : Distributed by Bookcraft, 1996 [1982]), Chapter 9, 213–232. ISBN 0884944697 GospeLink GL direct link
• Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1981), 1. ISBN 0877478465. (Key source)
• Richard L. Anderson, "Personal Writings of the Book of Mormon Witnesses," Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins, edited by Noel B. Reynolds, (Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1997), Chapter 3 ISBN 093489325X ISBN 0934893187 ISBN 0884944697. off-site GospeLink GL direct link
• Milton V. Backman, Jr., Eyewitness Accounts of the Restoration (Orem, Utah: Grandin Book, 1983).
• John W. Welch and Larry E. Morris, editors, Oliver Cowdery: Scribe, Elder, Witness (Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2006). ISBN 978-0-8425-2661-6.