by Bob
When discussing the truth claims with my TBM relatives, the Three
Witnesses are often brought up by my believing relatives as evidence as
to why they believe that the church is true. Upon examining the magical
mindset of these three men, I can safely dismiss their testimonies as I
do the witnesses of equally fantastic tales like Bigfoot, Lochness
monster, alien abductions, etc. Here's a few facts most LDS don't know
about the Big 3:
MARTIN HARRIS
Martin Harris is shown as a smart businessman with an unwavering
testimony of the Book of Mormon. However most LDS are not aware of the
superstitious nature of Mr. Harris.
Martin Harris was anything but a skeptical witness. He was known by many
of his peers as an unstable, gullible and superstitious man. Reports
assert that he and the other witnesses never literally saw the gold
plates, but only an object said to be the plates, covered with a cloth.
Here's some accounts that show the superstitious side of Martin Harris:
"Once while reading scripture, he reportedly mistook a candle's
sputtering as a sign that the devil desired him to stop. Another time he
excitedly awoke from his sleep believing that a creature as large as a
dog had been upon his chest, though a nearby associate could find
nothing to confirm his fears. Several hostile and perhaps unreliable
accounts told of visionary experiences with Satan and Christ, Harris
once reporting that Christ had been poised on a roof beam."
John A. Clark letter, August 31, 1840 in EMD, 2: 271: "No matter where
he went, he saw visions and supernatural appearances all around him. He
told a gentleman in Palmyra, after one of his excursions to
Pennsylvania, while the translation of the Book of Mormon was going on,
that on the way he met the Lord Jesus Christ, who walked along by the
side of him in the shape of a deer for two or three miles, talking with
him as familiarly as one man talks with another." According to two Ohio
newspapers, shortly after Harris arrived in Kirtland he began claiming
to have "seen Jesus Christ and that he is the handsomest man he ever did
see. He has also seen the Devil, whom he described as a very sleek
haired fellow with four feet, and a head like that of a Jack-ass."
The Reverend John A. Clark, who knew Harris, said Martin "had always
been a firm believer in dreams, and visions and supernatural
appearances, such as apparitions and ghosts, and therefore was a fit
subject for such men as Smith and his colleagues to operate on." Lorenzo
Saunders said Harris was a "great man for seeing spooks." Presbyterian
minister Jesse Townsend of Palmyra called Harris a "visionary fanatic."
Martin and the Stone Box (from the pro-LDS Ole Jensen statement)
Brother Harris then turned over as if he had no more to say and we made
ready to leave. He spoke again and said, "I will tell you of the most
wonderful thing that happened, after Joseph received the plates. Three
of us, myself and two more, took some tools and went to the hill to dig
for more plates of gold or something and indeed we found a stone box. We
got quite excited and dug around it very carefully and just when we
were ready to lift it up out of the hole, some unseen power slid it back
into the hill. We stood and looked at it and one of us tried to drive a
crowbar through the lid to hold it, but the crowbar glanced off and the
corner of the lid was chipped off.
Sometime that box will be found and you will find one corner of the lid
broken and you will know that I have spoken the truth. Brother's just as
sure as you are standing here and see me, just so sure did we see the
Angel with the golden plates in his hand. He showed them to me and I
promised I would bear witness of this truth both here and hereafter."
His lips really trembled and tears came to my eyes. I should have liked
to ask more, but did not do so. I refreshed myself, shook hands, thanked
him and left.
This little-known story about Martin Harris shows that Martin was
capable of thinking that he was seeing things that probably weren't
really there - unless of course we really believe in stone boxes that
mysteriously move underneath the ground, which could be damaged by a
crowbar but could slide underneath the ground to avoid capture.
Critic's comment: The accounts of Martin Harris that are never talked
about at church should be also be taken into consideration when
evaluating just how much stock we should put into the testimony of
Harris regarding his testimony of the angel and the gold plates. Harris
was gullible enough to believe Smith when told that if he were to look
upon the plates, God would strike him dead. Harris was a perfect target
for any con man.
Question for true believers: If someone today testified of some strange
spiritual encounter he had, but he also told you he conversed with Jesus
who took the form of a deer, saw the Devil with his four feet and
donkey head, chipped off a chunk of a stone box that would mysteriously
move beneath the ground to avoid capture and that he interpreted simple
things like a flickering of a candle as a sign of the Devil, and had
creatures appearing on his chest that no one else could see, would you
believe his claims of his spiritual encounter?
DAVID WHITMER
There is much written about Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery and their
magical and superstitious beliefs, but what of David Whitmer? Critics
may dismiss Martin Harris for his many irrational statements and
beliefs. Critics may dismiss Oliver Cowdery similarly with his use of
divining rods or more likely theorize that he was simply in on it with
Joseph. But what of David Whitmer? He is often portrayed as the most
rational and least superstitious one of the three witnesses and not so
easily dismissed.
David Whitmer's superstitious personality
Church History in the Fullness of Times, Religion 341-343 (Institute
Student Manual for Church History), page 56-57
A late May planting was essential for successful fall crops; therefore,
David Whitmer had to plow and prepare the soil before he could take his
two-horse wagon to pick up Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. At the end
of a day of plowing he found he had accomplished in one day what
normally would have taken two days to do. David's father was likewise
impressed by this apparent miracle. Peter Whitmer, Sr., said, "There
must be an overruling hand in this, and I think you would better go down
to Pennsylvania as soon as your plaster of paris is sown."11 (Plaster
of paris was used to reduce the acidity of the soil.)
The next day David went to the fields to sow the plaster, but to his
surprise he found the work had been done. His sister, who lived near the
field, said that her children had called her to watch three strangers
the day before spread the plaster with remarkable skill. She assumed
they were men David had hired.12
Grateful for this divine intervention, David Whitmer hurried off on the
three-day journey to Harmony. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery met him as
he approached the town. Although David had not told them exactly when
he was coming, Joseph had seen in vision the details of David's trip to
Harmony.13 These three miracles witnessed by David Whitmer exemplified
the Prophet's seership and the Lord's intervention for the successful
inauguration of the Restoration.
This was the first meeting between Joseph Smith and David Whitmer. As
had happened with Oliver Cowdery, David and Joseph quickly became
friends. Soon they were on their way to Fayette, some one hundred miles
away. On this occasion Moroni took the plates to avoid danger while
transporting them. Another unusual event occurred en route. It happened
while they were riding along in the wagon. David Whitmer described the
event:
"A very pleasant, nice-looking old man suddenly appeared by the side of
our wagon and saluted us with, 'good morning, it is very warm,' at the
same time wiping his face or forehead with his hand. We returned the
salutation, and, by a sign from Joseph, I invited him to ride if he was
going our way. But he said very pleasantly, 'No, I am going to Cumorah.'
This name was something new to me, I did not know what Cumorah meant.
We all gazed at him and at each other, and as I looked around
enquiringly of Joseph, the old man instantly disappeared. …
"… It was the messenger who had the plates, who had taken them from Joseph just prior to our starting from Harmony."14
Critic's comments:
The field David plowed
David plowed a field in less time than it normally took him and jumped
to the conclusion that it was a sign from God, a miracle. His father
planted the suggestion that "there must be an overruling hand in this"
so David immediately concluded that there must be a supernatural
explanation to his rapid work - the only other explanation David or his
father could think of. This is odd and disturbing on many levels since
David plowed the field himself. He based his supernatural explanation on
nothing other than the time he spent working in the field vs the time
he remembers he did it in the past - and his father suggesting an
unworldly explanation. Those familiar with statistics call that
superstitious practice, counting the hits and ignoring the misses.
Church leaders like to tell this story with an air of objectivity,
though none is present.
The field plowed by angels
The next day, his sister said she and her children observed three men
working in the field. Since David didn't hire them, he naturally assumes
that it was "divine intervention". Well, if David can think that three
men working in the field are angels, when his sister and children who
saw them thought they were just men he hired, then obviously David is
easy to convince with very little evidence. Most people call that
gullible. In the social sciences it is called confirmation bias. (Gary
Marcus, Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind, p. 53)
David meeting Joseph
David had made plans to meet Joseph and Oliver and they met David as he
approached the town. Since David had not told them exactly when he was
coming, he was apparently surprised to have met them on the road. When
Joseph explained that he had seen in vision the details of David's trip
to Harmony, David again seized on this to determine that a vision was
the only explanation for Joseph and Oliver meeting him on the road into
the town where they had previously planned to meet.
Amazing! If I had planned in advance to meet someone and they traveled
on the same road I was using, of course I would immediately assume that
the people must have had a vision to find me.
The Institute Manual then states:
These three miracles witnessed by David Whitmer exemplified the
Prophet's seership and the Lord's intervention for the successful
inauguration of the Restoration.
What the stories actually demonstrate is the gullibility and magical
mind set of David Whitmer. He leaped to the one conclusion he was
comfortable with - supernatural explanations for commonplace events
easily explained in a commonsense way.
The disappearing traveler
Reminiscent of the vanishing hitchhiker urban legend tales that have
been told for hundreds of years in various forms, Whitmer claims to have
offered a ride to what later turns out to be Moroni taking a stroll.
The man declined the ride, then David and the other men looked at each
other and looked around, but the man vanished into thin air.
David said that Joseph told him that the man was in fact the angel
Moroni. Isn't it strange that David described the man as "old". In all
the painting and depictions of Moroni, he is never described as "old".
He was also wiping the sweat off of his forehead because it was very
warm. Do angels sweat? Was he dressed right? Joseph mocked a man in
print for describing an angel that was not dressed quite right (History
of the Church 5:267-268). Why didn't the angel extend his hand to
identify himself as the official doctrine states? (D&C 129; Words of
Joseph Smith, p. 44; History of the Church, 3:392) Isn't it strange
that when David and Oliver were later allowed to be "witnesses" and view
the angel, they had already seen him before - so why was it
extraordinary to view him again? If David could be convinced that an
ordinary looking "old man" wandering down the road wiping his brow due
to the warm sun was really an angel (and the very same angel he claimed
to see later), then it becomes obvious to most reasonablepeople that
David's testimony of seeing an angel is not convincing. The same is true
for Oliver.
Note: FARMS verifies the account and tells how Whitmer later saw this
same man/angel near his father's farm and said that Moroni showed the
plates to his mother, Mary. They conclude with "Thus, while Whitmer was
consistent in asserting that both he and his mother had seen this being,
his own statements leave us wondering who this "stranger" really was."
Whitmer's description of the angel
John Murphy interviewed David Whitmer in June, 1880.
When asked in 1880 for a description of the angel who showed him the
plates, Whitmer replied that the angel "had no appearance or shape."
Asked by the interviewer how he then could bear testimony that he had
seen and heard an angel, Whitmer replied, "Have you never had
impressions?" To which the interviewer responded, "Then you had
impressions as the Quaker when the spirit moves, or as a good Methodist
in giving a happy experience, a feeling?" "Just so," replied Whitmer.
Whitmer interview with John Murphy, June 1880, in EMD5: 63.
FAIR verifies the account and responds:
Of course, that's the trap because something is like something else
doesn't mean that it should be reduced to something else. Because
something was a vision doesn't mean that it is less than reality; it's a
vision of greater reality. And every one of these witnesses of the Book
of Mormon whether the three or eight are consistent.
Our comment: FAIR is being less than honest. They ignore that Whitmer
says that the angel "had no appearance or shape." Whitmer can only "see"
something having "no appearance or shape" if it was his over-active
imagination. This is the position of reasonable people. In addition,
Joseph described Moroni as looking like a man. He said "He had on a
loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond
anything earthly I had ever seen.… His hands were naked and his arms
also a little above the wrists". Also the statues on every temple and
the depictions of Moroni in every painting all show Moroni appearing as a
man.
If David perceived Moroni as having "no appearance or shape" but Joseph
described him being in the form of a man then apologists have a big
discrepancy to explain. Another fair question is, why did Moroni's
appearance change from an elderly man sweating due to the heat when he
saw him on the road months before, to an invisible, shapeless being with
no appearance?
The significant point that apologists want to run away from is that
David equates having impressions in his imagination with actually seeing
a physical being, an angel. This puts the David Whitmer's "vision" in a
completely different context. David imagined that he saw an angel but
didn't really see anything at all. This is reminiscent of toddlers with
an imaginary friend.
Perhaps David said the angel had no appearance or shape because there was no angel.
OLIVER COWDERY
Oliver had a magical mind set common to early 1800s thinking. He
believed that divining rods could be used for revelatory purposes. It's
also quite possible that Oliver was in on the deception with Joseph. If
so, he could have helped convince the others that they were experiencing
something not real, like the second-sight experiences many people had
at the time.
http://www.mormonthink.com/rodofaaron...
CONCLUSION
There are just so many accounts from nonbiased sources like John H.
Gilbert, the typesetter for the Book of Mormon, who did not really say
anything disparaging about Mormons or the Book of Mormon, yet said the
following: Martin was in the office when I finished setting up the
testimony of the Three Witnesses-- ([Martin] Harris--[Oliver] Cowdery
and [David] Whitmer). I said to him, "Martin, did you see those plates
with your naked eyes?" Martin looked down for an instant, raised his
eyes up, and said, "No, I saw them with a spiritual eye."
So why not simply say YES Martin? Why do people need a vision to see metal plates?
It's likely that David and Martin had "second sight" experiences
regarding their vision. Oliver probably helped prompt them along with
Joseph. It was just like with Joseph and the treasure seekers. Joseph
would convince them that they were seeing treasure in their minds and
that it was real. They believed so strongly in their second sight
"vision" that they would actually go and try to dig the treasure up that
they saw in their minds - always with the same result - no treasure.
So in conclusion, the testimonies of the witnesses do not appear to be
the factual, unquestionably objective event the LDS Church often
portrays it to be.
More on the witnesses and references for above quotes available here:
http://www.mormonthink.com/witnessesw...
