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Book of Mormon/Witnesses/David Whitmer's witness of the Book of Mormon plates and angel
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Did David Whitmer say that his encounter with the angel Moroni was not an actual visitation?
Criticism
Critics claim that in his pamphlet An Address to All Believers in Christ, David Whitmer said that his encounter with the angel "was a vision and not an actual visitation by an angelic person" (Martin, Kingdom of the Cults, 204).
To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, click here
Response
The critics quote p. 32 of Whitmer's pamphlet for this claim. Their summary, however, greatly distorts the document. Whitmer actually wrote:
- In June, 1829, the Lord called Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, and myself as the three witnesses, to behold the vision of the Angel, as recorded in the fore part of the Book of Mormon, and to bear testimony to the world that the Book of Mormon, and to bear testimony to the world that the Book of Mormon is true. I was not called to bear testimony to the mission of Brother Joseph Smith any farther than his work of translating the Book of Mormon, as you can see by reading the testimony of us three witnesses.[1]
Whitmer here endorses his printed testimony, and insists that the Book of Mormon was true and that he saw the angel.
He says nothing about it not being "an actual visitation." In other accounts, Whitmer insisted that "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!"[2]
When writing to someone who had tried to draw the same false conclusion as the critics, Whitmer explained:
- 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]
Conclusion
The critics have here distorted Whitmer's witness and the document they are quoting.
Endnotes
- [note] David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ by a Witness to the Divine Authenticity of The Book of Mormon (David Whitmer: Richmond, Virginia, 1887).
- [note] See Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1981), 88. ISBN 0877478465.
- [note] Letter of David Whitmer to Anthony Metcalf, March 1887, cit. Anthony Metcalf, Ten Years Before the Mast (Malad, Idaho, 1888), 74; cited in Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1981), 86. ISBN 0877478465.
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
FAIR web site
Video
| Explaining Away the Book of Mormon Witnesses, Richard Lloyd Anderson , 2004 FAIR Conference |