Mormon Book Essays - Book Of Mormon Witnesses, Three Witnesses

Mormon Book Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints claimed that he received the Book of Mormon as a revelation from God. He said that the heavenly being Moroni appeared to him and directed him to some buried gold plates which contained ancient writings. His task then, was to translate these ancient writings with the help of seer stones which were also buried with the gold plates. Smith received strict directions from the heavenly being that he was to show the plates to no one except for appointed individuals. The Book of Mormon in its preface identifies these as eleven persons: the three witnesses and the eight witnesses. A student of religion would now be interested in knowing something about these witnesses, for only then can we evaluate their worth as witnesses. The Book of Mormon names the three witnesses as Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris. The book also names the eight witnesses as follows: Christian Whitmer, Jacob Whitmer, Peter Whitmer, Jr., John Whitmer, Hiram Page, Joseph Smith, Sr., Hyrum Smith, and Samuel H. Smith. Who were these persons? And what can we know about them that would give us reason to either believe or disbelieve them as witnesses in this most important matter? A good place to look for information would be the publications of the Mormons themselves, since they should more than anyone else be interested in preserving histories of their principal witnesses. This approach could be used at least as a starting point for gathering information before further scrutiny and investigative work. In this study I would like to turn to two books published by the Mormons to find information about the chief witnesses. The first book is the Doctrine and Covenant, a book of authoritative scriptures for the Mormons. The second book is Church History Timeline by William W. Slaughter, published by Desert Book Company, in Salt Lake City, Utah, 1996. What follows is a brief look at the information these books contain about the witnesses and other key persons associated with the Book of Mormon. My intention here is not to provide a summary of the entire body of information but only to show that what we learn from these books do not give us much confidence in the witnesses and hence in the Book of Mormon itself. The first of the three witnesses is Oliver Cowdery, a rural schoolteacher. He was a scribe to Joseph Smith, and associate president of the Church. In April 12,1838 he was excommunicated from the Mormon Church. He was rebaptized ten years later in November 1848 and died March 3, 1850. Reading this, one must wonder why this chief witness was excommunicated during the lifetime of Joseph Smith his prophet, and be allowed back in the church after his prophet died. Smith was martyred on June 27, 1844. The second of the three witnesses is Martin Harris. He was a prosperous farmer who was known as industrious, honest, and generous. It was his $3000 that financed the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon. But, as William Slaughter informs us: Harris clashed with Church leaders over monetary practices and was excommunicated in December 1837; he was rebaptized November 27, 1842. (Church History Timeline, p. 5). The same Martin Harris was given 116 pages of the book of Mormon after Joseph Smith had translated them with the help of the seer stones. But then he allowed wicked men to take these pages for the purpose of corrupting the translation and then to accuse Joseph Smith of falsehood in his prophetic claim. Why would Martin Harris do this? The Doctrine and Covenants explains that he was a wicked man who sought to destroy Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith relates in his history how Martin Harris had previously taken sample characters from the book of Mormon along with the relevant translation of those characters and received confirmation of these in New York City from a professor Charles Anton and Dr. Mitchell. These men attested that the characters were true characters of the Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac and Arabic, and that the translation so far done by Joseph Smith was accurate. Now, one may wonder why did Harris, after he had received this confirmation, should seek to destroy Joseph Smith. And what value should we attach to the testimony of a man who sought to destroy one whom he believed was God's prophet? Since the Doctrine and Covenants call Harris a wicked man, should we place confidence in his testimony? Or should we