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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith/Chapter 5: Difference between revisions

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Claims made in "Chapter 4: A Marvelous Work and a Wonder"
A FAIR Analysis of:
Criticism of Mormonism/Books
A work by author: Fawn Brodie
 Claims made in "Chapter 6: The Prophet of Palmyra"

Claims made in "Chapter 5: Witnesses for God"

69

Claim
  • The Church has "exaggerated the ignorance" of Joseph Smith in order to bolster the divinity of the Book of Mormon.

Author's source(s)
  • Author's opinion. No source provided.
Response

70

Claim
  • The Book of Mormon claims that Jesus was born in Jerusalem (quoting Alexander Campbell)

Author's source(s)
  • Millennial Harbinger, Vol. II, Feb. 1831, p. 85.
Response

70-71

Claim
  • Joseph added the story of the Jaredites in order to explain how animals had come to America.

Author's source(s)
  • Author's opinion.
Response

72

Claim
  • Joseph had the Jaredites bring horses, swine, sheep, cattle, and asses, yet these animals were not found in the Americas at the time of Columbus.

Author's source(s)
  • The author adds in a footnote that Mormons "point to discoveries of small prehistoric horses in the New World as evidence of the truth of the Book of Mormon, and ignore the fact that these animals became extinct long before the supposed Jaredite migration."
Response

73

Claim
  • Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery were caught in Joseph's "spell."

Author's source(s)
  • Author's conjecture.
Response

74

Claim
  • Joseph had a talent for making men see visions.

Author's source(s)
  • Author's opinion.
Response
  •  Prejudicial or loaded language
  •  Absurd claim
  • According to the author, even Joseph didn't know that he had this ability until after the Book of Mormon was completed.
  • Book of Mormon witnesses—Hypnotism

77

Claim
  • The Three Witnesses all told different versions of their experience.

Author's source(s)
  • Palmyra Reflector, March 19, 1831.
  • History of the Church, Vol. I, pp. 54-5.
Response

77

Claim
  • The Three Witnesses were hypnotized by Joseph Smith.

Author's source(s)
  • Author's opinion.
Response
  •  Absurd claim: According to the author, Joseph didn't realize that he had this ability either (it was supposedly a "unconscious but positive talent."
  • Book of Mormon witnesses—Hypnotism

78

Claim
  • Martin Harris stated that he viewed the plates through "the eye of faith."

Author's source(s)
  • Rev. John A. Clark, Gleanings by the Way, (Philadelphia: W.J. and J.K. Simon; New York: Robert Carter, 1842), 256-7 off-site
Response

78

Claim
  • Years after the event, David Whitmer embellished his story of seeing the gold plates.

Author's source(s)
  • Palmyra Reflector, March 19, 1831.
  • David Whitmer's interview with Orson Pratt, Millennial Star, Vol. XL, pp. 771-2.
Response

78

Claim
  • The Three Witnesses never denied their vision even after they all left the Church because Joseph had "conjured up a vision they would never forget."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

79

Claim
  • The first edition of the Book of Mormon said that Joseph was "Author and proprietor," which in later editions was changed to "Translator."

Response

79-80

Claim
  • Joseph convinced the Eight Witnesses by showing them an empty box and claiming that they did not have sufficient faith to see them.

Author's source(s)
  • Thomas Ford, History of Illinois, Chicago, 1854, p. 257.
Response

80

Claim
  • Joseph may have built some kind of "makeshift deception" to account for those witnesses who described the size, weight and metallic texture of the plates.

Author's source(s)
  • William Smith, Saints' Herald, Vol. XXXI, p. 644.
  • Complete speculation
Response

81

Claim
  • Hyrum suggested to Joseph that they attempt to sell the copyright of the Book of Mormon in order to obtain enough money to get it published. Joseph "looked into the Urim and Thummim and received a revelation" directing them to go to Toronto.

Author's source(s)
  • Oliver Cowdery, Defense in a Rehearsal of My Grounds for Separating Myself from the Latter-Day Saints.
  • David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, p. 31.
Response

82

Claim
  • Martin Harris sold his farm to pay for the publication of the Book of Mormon only after Joseph frightened him with the revelation found in the Book of Commandments Chapter xvi, pp. 40-41.

Author's source(s)
  • Book of Commandments Chapter xvi, pp. 40-41
Response
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