Testimony of the 8

The 8 Witnesses: Physical or Visionary Experience. The latest attacks by critics of the Book of Mormon witnesses have focused on the testimony of the 8 witnesses. While the 3 Witnesses gladly signed an affidavit testifying that they had beheld an angel of God who showed the Book of Mormon plates, the 8 witnesses an affidavit testifying that Joseph had shown them the plates in broad daylight and had allowed them to handle the plates with their own hands. Joseph, they claimed, had a set of physical, metal plates which appeared to be made of gold and were engraved with curious characters. The combination of the testimonies lends a strong support for Joseph's credibility and the accuracy of his claims regarding the Book of Mormon plates. Those who would doubt the testimony of the 3 witnesses because it involved the supernatural are forced to account the physical experience described by the 8 Witnesses. It is also important to note that in addition to the 8 Witnesses who handled the uncovered plates, several others-including but not limited to Alva Beman, Joseph's mother Lucy, his wife Emma, his sister Catherine, and his brother William-handled and felt the plates while they were covered with cloth. All of these witnesses confirm that Joseph had real plates. This presents a major stumbling block to critics. Since any coherent explanation for the Book of Mormon must accommodate all of the evidence, some critics claim that Joseph constructed the plates from tin. Even Joseph's chief modern critic, who believes there were no golden plates, said "I find it difficult to believe that JS [Joseph Smith] could create a set of golden plates that could pass visual inspection. If he could, he certainly would have been more open about sharing them." [1].

The most recent attacks on the testimony of the 8 witnesses attempt to prove that they did not actually see physical plates but they may have lifted something heavy in a hidden box, and that they did not handle the plates themselves but that they thought they saw the plates in a vision included by enthusiasm, mass-hypothesis, or Joseph's power of suggestion. The experience of handling uncovered plates, they charge, was merely an illusion in the mind of the 8 and is conflates with some other heavy object while covered in a box. The evidence, which the critics cite, rests primarily on a handful of secondhand accounts. Like so many anti-Mormon apologetics, such is in conflict with the historical record. According to one report, for example, John Whitmer (one of the 8) claimed that the plates were shown to him "by a super natural power." Another report has John Whitmer claiming that he saw an angel. According to some critics, this indicates that the 8 witnesses did not see or feel the plates, As historian Richard L Anderson explains, however, this added detail of an angelic messenger differs drastically from all other John Whitmer accounts an must be seen as a red flag. David Whitmer, for instance, often complained of being misquoted by many interviewers. Of the 23 reports made by John Whitmer concerning his testimony of the experience with the plates, only these two accounts have any ambiguity regarding the physical nature of handling the plates. In all other instances wherein John gives details, he speaks of seeing and handling the plates as a normal event. In the record wherein John Whitmer claims he saw the plates by a "super natural power" he also claimed to have "handled" the plates and that there were engraving on both sides. A few months before John Whitmer died, another interviewer asked him if he had really handled the plates with his hands and if they were of a material substance. John replied that he had handled the plates and that they were very real, heavy, and material. John even noted details such as the fact that each plate was thick enough to be engraved on both sides and that they were joined by three rings, each in the shape of "D". Such specific physical details disprove the claim that the 8 witnesses did not physically see the plates. The interviewer specifically asked John if the plates were covered, to which he replied in the negative. Joseph, he said, had handed over the plates-uncovered them- and they were able to handle the plates with their hands, and turn the leaves to their satisfaction. Of the 42 statements or personal reports from the 8 witnesses, over two thirds give us physical descriptions of the encounter with the plates. The remaining third basically give us generic reaffirmations to their belief in the Book of Mormon. The preponderance of evidence supports the traditional LDS belief that all of the Witnesses accurately testified of their encounters with the Book of Mormon plates. The fact that Joseph Smith had actually made metal plates rules out the possibility that he was deluded and merely imagined to be translating an ancient record. The only two remaining possibilities are that Joseph was a con man (and either fooled ALL those who handled the plates or included some or all of them as co-conspirators) or that he was telling the truth. It does not seem plausible that Joseph Smith could have fooled all of the witnesses with tin plates and ther certainly could not have manufactured golden plates. Does it seem more plausible to theorize that all or some of those who handled the plates were part of a big con (at the very least, the 8 witnesses would have been part of the deception)? When we realize that not one of the witnesses never came forth to expose the con-despite the fact that some of them left the church-such a theory seem dubious as well. The one and only theory that actually fits all of the evidence is the one proposed by Joseph Smith-he really received and translated an ancient text engraved on golden plates. As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes once said, "when you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however probable, must be the truth" [2]. Bibliography. 1. Dan Vogal posted on 18 August 2012 Mormonapologetics.org 2. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" Pg, 528.