FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Difference between revisions of "Detailed response to CES Letter, Witnesses"
(→No Document of Actual Signatures: mod) |
(→: mod) |
||
| Line 74: | Line 74: | ||
|claim=After quoting some of Martin Harris's "spiritual eye" statements about viewing the plates, the author asks "Why couldn’t Martin just simply answer “yes”?" | |claim=After quoting some of Martin Harris's "spiritual eye" statements about viewing the plates, the author asks "Why couldn’t Martin just simply answer “yes”?" | ||
|answer= | |answer= | ||
| − | *Martin did directly say that he saw the plates, and he did so a number of times. The very same Wikipedia article from which the author retrieved quotes about Harris's | + | *Martin did directly say that he saw the plates, and he did so a number of times. The very same Wikipedia article from which the author retrieved quotes about Harris's superstitiousness also includes some direct quotes about his view of the plates. |
<blockquote> | <blockquote> | ||
Nevertheless, in 1853, Harris told one David Dille that he had held the forty- to sixty-pound plates on his knee for “an hour-and-a-half” and handled the plates with his hands, “plate after plate.”[34] Even later, Harris affirmed that he had seen the plates and the angel with his natural eyes: “Gentlemen,” holding out his hand, “do you see that hand? Are you sure you see it? Or are your eyes playing you a trick or something? No. Well, as sure as you see my hand so sure did I see the Angel and the plates.”[35] The following year Harris affirmed that “No man heard me in any way deny the truth of the Book of Mormon [or] the administration of the angel that showed me the plates.”[36] (paragraph from Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints), accessed on June 21, 2013) | Nevertheless, in 1853, Harris told one David Dille that he had held the forty- to sixty-pound plates on his knee for “an hour-and-a-half” and handled the plates with his hands, “plate after plate.”[34] Even later, Harris affirmed that he had seen the plates and the angel with his natural eyes: “Gentlemen,” holding out his hand, “do you see that hand? Are you sure you see it? Or are your eyes playing you a trick or something? No. Well, as sure as you see my hand so sure did I see the Angel and the plates.”[35] The following year Harris affirmed that “No man heard me in any way deny the truth of the Book of Mormon [or] the administration of the angel that showed me the plates.”[36] (paragraph from Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints), accessed on June 21, 2013) | ||
Revision as of 09:58, 15 July 2013
- REDIRECTTemplate:Test3
| [[../Priesthood Restoration Concerns & Questions|Priesthood Restoration Concerns & Questions]] | A FAIR Analysis of:
[[../|Letter to a CES Director]] |
[[../Temples & Freemasonry Concerns & Questions|Temples & Freemasonry Concerns & Questions]] |
A FAIR Analysis of the online document Letter to a CES Director section "Witnesses Concerns & Questions"
Oliver Cowdery lived in a culture steeped in biblical ideas, language and practices. The revelation’s reference to Moses likely resonated with him. The Old Testament account of Moses and his brother Aaron recounted several instances of using rods to manifest God’s will (see Ex. 7:9-12; Num. 17:8). Many Christians in Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery's day similarly believed in divining rods as an instrument for revelation. Cowdery was among those who believed in and used a divining rod.
Jeffrey G. Cannon, "Oliver Cowdery's Gift," history.lds.org off-site
- Response to section: Magical Worldview
- Response to section: Witnesses [Work in Progress]
- Response to section: Martin Harris
- Response to section: David Whitmer
- Response to section: Oliver Cowdery
- Response to section: Second Sight [Work in Progress]
- Response to section: James Strang and the Voree Plates Witnesses [Work in Progress]
- Response to section: No Document of Actual Signatures
- Response to section: Conclusion [Work in Progress]
Response Section
Magical Worldview
Martin Harris
David Whitmer
David Whitmer's gravestone, upon which is engraved his testimony of the Book of Mormon: "The record of the Jews and the record of the Nephites are one."
Oliver Cowdery
No Document of Actual Signatures
References
- [note] "David Whitmer Proclamation, 19 March 1881," Early Mormon Documents 5:69.
- [note] Andrew Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia (Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Company, 1901), 1:246.
- [note] George Godfrey, “Testimony of Martin Harris,” from an unpublished manuscript copy in the possession of his daughter, Florence (Godfrey) Munson of Fielding, Utah; quoted in Eldin Ricks, The Case of the Book of Mormon Witnesses (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1971), 65–66.