Book of Mormon/Witnesses/"Eye of Faith" and "Spiritual Eye" statements by Martin Harris

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Joseph Smith, Jr. Book of Mormon

Criticism

Martin Harris frequently told people that he did not see the golden plates and the angel with his natural eyes but rather with “spiritual eyes” or the “eye of faith.”

Source(s) of the criticism

• Richard Abanes, Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism (Harvest House Publishers: 2005). 64. ( Index of claims )
• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 78. ( 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.
• John H. Gilbert
• Pomeroy Tucker
• Stephen Burnett
• Anthony Metcalf
• John A. Clark
• Reuben P. Harmon
• Stephen H. Hart
• Jesse Townsend
• Walter Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults (Revised) (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1997), 204. ( Index of claims )
• Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson, Mormonism 101. Examining the Religion of the Latter-day Saints (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2000), Chapter 8. ( Index of claims )
• Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) 198. ( Index of claims )
• Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 108.( Index of claims )

Response

Anti-Mormons desperately desire to make it appear as though the statements made by Martin Harris about the Three Witnesses’ manifestation discount its reality. But in their zeal for the destruction of the LDS faith critics have wrenched Brother Harris’ statements out of their proper context. This vital viewpoint can be regained by simply taking a look at several passages from the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants—which all predate Martin’s public statements about the nature of his experience.

The scriptural witnesses

Ether 5꞉2–3

This prophetic passage had a direct application to Martin Harris as one of the Three Witnesses. It said: “the plates . . . . unto three shall they be shown by the power of God”

DC 5꞉11,13,24–26

“unto [three of my servants] I will show these things . . . . I will give them power that they may behold and view these things as they are.” Speaking specifically of Martin Harris: “then will I grant unto him a view of the things which he desires to see. And then he shall say unto the people of this generation: Behold, I have seen the things which the Lord hath shown unto Joseph Smith, Jun., and I know of a surety that they are true, for I have seen them, for they have been shown unto me by the power of God and not of man. And I the Lord command him, my servant Martin Harris, that he shall say no more unto them concerning these things, except he shall say: I have seen them, and they have been shown unto me by the power of God; and these are the words which he shall say.”

DC 17꞉1–3,5

All three of the witnesses were told: “you shall have a view of the plates . . . . And it is by your faith that you shall obtain a view of them, even by that faith which was had by the prophets of old . . . . And after that you have obtained faith, and have seen them with your eyes, you shall testify of them . . . . And ye shall testify that you have seen them, even as my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., has seen them; for it is by my power that he has seen them, and it is because he had faith”

From these scriptural texts it is evident that:

• The Three Witnesses were required by God to exercise faith like “the prophets of old” in order to view the angel and the plates (cf. Moroni 7꞉37; DC 20꞉6).
• God would exercise His power to enable the Three Witnesses to see things that were not usually visible to mortal eyes.
• Nevertheless, the Three Witnesses would see the angel and the plates “with [their] eyes” and “as they are” in objective reality.

Contemporary witnesses

Joseph Smith was an eyewitness to what Martin Harris said at the exact moment that the manifestation took place. He reported that Martin's words were: "Tis enough; mine eyes have beheld".^[1] Another eyewitness, named Alma Jensen, saw Martin Harris point to his physical eyes while testifying that he had seen both the angel and the plates.^[2] One of the other Three Witnesses (David Whitmer) explained how the physical and spiritual worked together during this experience. He said, "Of course we were in the spirit when we had the view, for no man can behold the face of an angel, except in a spiritual view, but we were in the body also, and everything was as natural to us as it is at any time."^[3] And to leave absolutely no doubt about the nature of the manifestation Whitmer explained, "I was not under any hallucination . . . . I saw with these eyes."^[4]

Choice of phrase

The only question that remains, then, is why Martin Harris used the particular phraseology that he did in describing his experience. Perhaps the answer lies in another passage found in the book of Ether 12꞉19 (created by June 1829). Here it is noted that those people who have "exceedingly strong" faith can see things "within the veil." But even though they see things in the spiritual realm "with their eyes" it is described as beholding things with "an eye of faith."

Another possibility can be seen in the text of Moses 1꞉11 (created in June 1830). It reads:

"But now mine own eyes have beheld God; but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes, for my natural eyes could not have beheld; for I should have withered and died in his presence; but his glory was upon me; and I beheld his face."

This dovetails nicely with the description of David Whitmer who "explained that he saw the plates, and with his natural eyes, but he had to be prepared for it—that he and the other witnesses were overshadowed by the power of God."^[5]

Conclusion

When Martin Harris said that he had seen the angel and the plates with his "spiritual eyes" or with an "eye of faith" he may have simply been employing some scriptural language that he was familiar with. Such statements do not mean that the angel and the plates were imaginary, hallucinatory, or just an inner mental image. But rather they were seen by physical eyes that had been enhanced by the power of God to view more objects than a mortal could normally see (cf. DC 76꞉12; DC 67꞉10-13).

Critics who insist otherwise do not provide their readers with all of Martin's statements, distorting the historical record.

FAIRWiki link

Endnotes

1. [note]  NeedAuthor, Times and Seasons 3 no. 21 (1 September 1842), 898. off-site GospeLink
2. [note]  Autobiography of Alma L. Jensen, 1932.
3. [note]  Anthony Metcalf, Ten Years Before the Mast (Malad, Idaho: A. Metcalf, 1888), 74.
4. [note]  The Saints' Herald, 28 January 1936.
5. [note]  Nathan Tanner Jr. Journal, 13 April 1886.

Further reading

Video

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

• Explaining Away the Book of Mormon Witnesses