General Questions
The world was not left with Joseph Smith’s testimony alone. There are multiple official and unofficial witnesses who corroborated aspects of Joseph’s account. Critics have long tried to dismiss or destroy the testimonies of these witnesses. This page links to subpages that discuss the various attacks in detail.
Summary: The world was not left with Joseph Smith’s testimony alone. The Book of Mormon provided multiple official and unofficial witnesses who corroborated aspects of Joseph’s account. Critics have long tried to dismiss or destroy the witnesses’ witness. This page links to subpages which discuss the various attacks in detail.
How reliable were the Book of Mormon witnesses?
- What did Oliver Cowdery’s associates say about his character?
- What did Martin Harris’s non-Mormon associates say about his character?
- What did David Whitmer’s associates say about his character?
- Is someone unreliable because they practiced “treasure hunting” and believed in the use of seer stones to find lost objects?
- Did Martin Harris change his religion five times prior to the Restoration?
- Is a man unreliable because he lived in the 19th-Century?
- Could Joseph Smith have hypnotized the witnesses to the Book of Mormon?
- Are the Book of Mormon witnesses unreliable because many of them were related?
- Does the fact that Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith were distant cousins make Oliver an unreliable witness to the Book of Mormon?
- Did Joseph Smith say that viewing the gold plates would result in death?
- Were the Book of Mormon witnesses not neutral because they were members of the Church and believers in Joseph’s mission?
How skeptical were the Book of Mormon witnesses?
- Was Martin Harris a gullible witness who would simply believe anything he was told?
- Did David Whitmer or Oliver Cowdery test Joseph’s prophetic claims?
- Godfrey: “Martin found a rock closely resembling the seerstone Joseph sometimes used in place of the interpreters and substituted it without the Prophet’s knowledge”
- Palmyra Courier: Martin Harris was “quite skeptical, as well as superstitious”
- Did Charles Anthon validate the characters that Martin Harris brought to him that had been copied from the Book of Mormon plates?
Were the experiences of the Book of Mormon witnesses literal or spiritual?
- Did the three witnesses’s experience of seeing the plates and the angel take place only in their minds?
- Does the belief that the experience had visionary qualities contradict the claim that the plates were real?
- Did Martin Harris claim that he only saw the gold plates as they were covered “as a city through a mountain”?
- What else did the witnesses say about the nature of their experiences?”
- Should we conclude from what David Whitmer told James Henry Moyle that Whitmer’s experience was not real?
- Did John Whitmer, one of the Eight Witnesses, actually say that he saw the plates by a “supernatural power”?
- What did the Book of Mormon witnesses mean when they used the word “supernatural” to describe their experiences?
- Did the Three Witnesses have personal, subjective experiences?
- What else did Martin Harris say about the literal nature of the Three Witness experience?
- Did one of the Book of Mormon witnesses actually only handle the plates while they were covered in a “tow frock”?
- Did David Whitmer say that his encounter with the angel Moroni was not an actual visitation?
Did any of the Book of Mormon witnesses ever recant their testimony?
- Richard Anderson: All eleven Book of Mormon witnesses publicly reaffirmed their testimony as printed
- Did the Three Witnesses consider Joseph Smith a “fallen prophet” after they left the Church?
- Did the Witnesses who left the Church continue to maintain their witness of the Book of Mormon?
- Did Oliver Cowdery ever deny his Book of Mormon witness because he thought that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet?
- What did Oliver Cowdery say about his witness experience after Joseph died?
- Did Martin Harris ever deny his Book of Mormon witness because he thought that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet?
- Did David Whitmer ever deny his Book of Mormon witness because he thought that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet?
- Oliver Cowdery’s alleged 1839 Defence in a Rehearsal of my Grounds for Separating Myself from the Latter Day Saints
- Did Oliver Cowdery privately admit to his law partner that the Book of Mormon was actually a hoax?
- What did the Book of Mormon witnesses say about the faithfulness of other witnesses?
- What about Oliver Cowdery’s 1839 Defence in a Rehearsal of my Grounds for Separating Myself from the Latter Day Saints?
Did the Three and Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon place their signatures on their testimonies?
- Did the Three Witnesses each add their own signature to the original Book of Mormon manuscript?
- What happened to the original Book of Mormon manuscript?
- What is the Book of Mormon “printer’s manuscript” and why is it entirely in the handwriting of Oliver Cowdery?
- David Whitmer (1881): “I do now again affirm the truth of all my statement, as then made and published”
- John Whitmer (1876): “I have never heard that any one of the three or eight witnesses ever denied the testimony that they have borne to the Book as published in the first edition of the Book of Mormon”
- Did the witnesses disagree with their testimony after it was printed in the Book of Mormon?
- Did the witnesses make clear statements regarding their testimonies?
- Regarding the gold plates, did Martin Harris claim that “the eight witnesses never saw them and hesitated to sign that instrument for that reason, but they were persuaded to do it”?
Did the Witnesses reaffirm their published statements in the Book of Mormon?
- Did the Book of Mormon witnesses hold to their published testimonies?
- Anderson:Investigating:137-18:All_witnesses_reaffirm_their_published_testimony
- Martin Harris reaffirmed his published testimony of the Book of Mormon
- John Whitmer reaffirmed his published testimony of the Book of Mormon
- Oliver Cowdery reaffirmed his published testimony of the Book of Mormon
- David Whitmer reaffirmed his published testimony of the Book of Mormon
What was Oliver Cowdery’s "rod of nature"?
Summary: It is claimed that a revelation received by Joseph praised Oliver Cowdery’s gift of using divining talents. It is claimed that the revelation was published in the Book of Commandments in its original form, then subsequently modified in the Doctrine and Covenants in order to hide the reference to the “rod of nature.” Therefore, it is claimed that Joseph attempted to “cover up” Oliver Cowdery’s work with a divining rod by changing a revelation. Critics also claim that Oliver would ask questions of his divining rod in faith and it would move in response.
- Revelations in Context on history.lds.org: “Cowdery was among those who believed in and used a divining rod”
- Was Oliver Cowdery a “treasure hunter and ‘rodsman’?
- What if the “rod of nature” was indeed a physical object such as a divining rod?
- Did Joseph Smith attempt to “cover up” Oliver Cowdery’s work with a divining rod by changing the wording of the revelation that became Doctrine and Covenants 8:6–8?
- How was the wording of the “rod of nature” revelation that became Doctrine and Covenants 8:6–8 altered over time?
- Gospel Topics: “the Bible mentions other physical instruments used to access God’s power: the rod of Aaron, a brass serpent, holy anointing oils, the Ark of the Covenant, and even dirt from the ground mixed with saliva”
- Dallin H. Oaks (1987): “It should be recognized that such tools as the Urim and Thummim, the Liahona, seerstones, and other articles have been used appropriately in biblical, Book of Mormon, and modern times”
Why did Oliver Cowdery join the Methodists if all other churches had been "condemned of God"?
- Why did Oliver Cowdery join the Methodists if all other churches had been “condemned of God”?
- Oliver Cowdery: “My eyes saw, my ears heard…It was no dream, no vain imagination of the mind—it was real”
- Scott H. Faulring, “The Return of Oliver Cowdery”
Why did David Whitmer say that God told him to "leave the Latter Day Saints"?
Summary: David Whitmer, one of the Book of Mormon’s Three Witnesses, said “If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon; if you believe that God spake to us three witnesses by his own voice, then I tell you that in June, 1838, God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens, and told me to “separate myself from among the Latter Day Saints, for as they sought to do unto me, should it be done unto them.” Some argue that if members accept Whitmer’s witness of the Book of Mormon, then they must also accept that God wanted David to repudiate the Church as false. Some distort the historical record to make it appear that David Whitmer left the Church because he was told to, when it fact he was excommunicated prior to claiming any revelation to do so. The command to leave, if it was a true revelation, involved David’s physical safety and not his membership in the Church, which he had already renounced.
- Did God tell David Whitmer to leave the Church and repudiate Mormonism?
- How can we accept David Whitmer as a valid Book of Mormon witness if God told him to leave the Saints?
- When did God tell David Whitmer to separate himself from the Latter-day Saints?
What was Martin Harris’ search for truth in other religions?
Summary: Some claim that Martin Harris was unstable or flighty because he investigated various religions prior to the Church’s restoration, and then five more religions after he was excommunicated in 1838.
- Did Martin Harris change his religion five times prior to the Restoration?
- Does Martin Harris’ involvement with other faiths after the Restoration discredit him?
- Does Martin Harris’ involvement with the Shakers undercut his testimony?
What were Martin Harris’ “Eye of Faith” and “Spiritual Eye” statements?
- Did Martin Harris tell people that he did not see the plates with his natural eyes, but rather the “eye of faith”?
- Did Martin Harris tell people that he only saw the plates with his “spiritual eye”?
- Why would Martin Harris use the phrases “eye of faith” or “spiritual eye” to describe his visionary experience?
- Do Martin Harris’s statements related to the “spiritual eye” or “eye of faith” contradict the reality of his witness?
- What did the Book of Mormon witnesses mean when they used the word “supernatural” to describe their experiences?
- What did the other witnesses say regarding “spiritual” versus “natural” viewing of the plates?
- How did newspaper accounts describe the nature of the witnesses experience?
- How did the apostle Paul describe spiritual experiences?
- Martin Harris: “The Book of Mormon is no fake. I know what I know. I have seen what I have seen and I have heard what I have heard”
- Martin Harris: “The Book of Mormon is no fake. I know what I know. I have seen what I have seen and I have heard what I have heard”
- Edward Stevenson (1870): Martin Harris said “my belief is swallowed up in knowledge; for I want to say to you that as the Lord lives I do know that I stood with the Prophet Joseph Smith in the presence of the angel”
Are there eyewitness descriptions of the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated?
- What material were the plates made from?
- How much did the gold plates weigh?
- What was the size of each of the gold plates?
- What was the thickness of each gold plate?
- What was the thickness of entire volume of gold plates?
- What were the characteristics of the sealed vs. unsealed portion of the gold plates?
- What were the characteristics of the rings which held the gold plates together?
- What was the appearance of the engravings on the gold plates?
- What is the description of the stone box in which the plates were hidden?
- What happened to the stone box in which gold plates were deposited?
What was the translation method used for the Book of Mormon?
- Was every word of the Book of Mormon translation provided directly from God?
- What are the Nephite interpreters?
- Did Joseph ever place the Nephite interpreters (“Urim and Thummim”) into his hat?
- Did Joseph Smith use the Nephite interpreters to translate? Or did he use his own seer stone?
- Did Joseph Smith use his own seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon?
- Has the Church tried to hide Joseph’s use of a seer stone?
- Why were the gold plates needed at all if they weren’t used directly during the translation process?
- Can the Book of Mormon be considered a genuine translation if the plates weren’t even used during the translation process?
- Did Joseph Fielding Smith say that it was not reasonable for Joseph Smith to use a seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon?
What was the experience of the Eight Witnesses viewing the "gold" plates?
- Richard Anderson: All eleven Book of Mormon witnesses publicly reaffirmed their testimony as printed
- How do critics of the Church attempt to dismiss the experience of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon?
- Did Christian and Peter Whitmer, two of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, ever deny having seen the plates?
- Why did Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer accept Hiram Page’s seer stone revelations as authoritative?
- Lucy Mack Smith: “Here it was that those 8 witnesses recorded in the Book of Mormon looked upon the plates and handled them of which they bear witness”
- William Owen (skeptical account): “Ten persons say they have seen them and hefted them, three declare that an angel of God appeared to them and showed them to them”
- Richard Lloyd Anderson, “Attempts to Redefine the Experience of the Eight Witnesses”
How do the Strangite witnesses compare to the Book of Mormon witnesses?
Summary: James Strang’s break-off sect produced eyewitnesses of buried records. Does this indicate that Joseph’s ability to do so is neither surprising nor persuasive? The Strangite witnesses were not all faithful, and some recanted and described the nature of the fraud perpetuated by Strang.
- James Strang claimed that Joseph wrote a letter appointing him as president of the Church after Joseph’s death
- James Strang’s Letter of Appointment
- How does James Strang compare to Joseph Smith?
- Of what did the Strangite witnesses testify?
- What are the differences between the Strangite witness statements and those of the Three and Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon?
Did the Book of Mormon witnesses know they would be ridiculed and not believed?
- Did the witnesses to the Book of Mormon realize that they would be ridiculed and not believed?
- What might the witnesses to the Book of Mormon have gained if they had denied their testimonies?
Did the Witnesses persist even in the face of persecution or death?
- John Whitmer: Oliver Cowdery would not have denied his witness “at the peril of his life”
- Hyrum Smith: “I felt a determination to die, rather than deny the things which my eyes had seen”
- Holland: “quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as imposters and charlatans until the end of time?”