Pergunta: Como os críticos da Igreja tentativa para descartar a experiência das Oito Testemunhas do Livro de Mórmon?

Índice

  NEEDS TRANSLATION  


Question: How do critics of the Church attempt to dismiss the experience of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon?

"A thousand things may be conjectured, but when a man declares openly, candidly, and seriously, of what he has seen, hefted and handled with his own hands, and taht in the presence of a God who sees and knows the secrets of the heart, no man possessed of common reason and common sense, can doubt, or will be so vain as to dispute."

—Oliver Cowdery, describing a testimony given by John Whitmer, one of the Eight Witnesses, June 1835.[1]

Some have tried to argue that the Eight witnesses only claimed a 'spiritual' or 'visionary' view of the plates, not a literal, physical one

Critics of the Church attempt to dismiss the experience of the Eight Witnesses by claiming that their view of the plates was not literal. Os 'críticos' tentam argumentar que as testemunhas só "viram" as placas em um estado espiritual, e, em seguida, foram autorizados a avaliar o peso de uma caixa coberta. Isso contradiz plenamente seus próprios registros, e os dos outros. [2] Richard Anderson has collected eight accounts of John Whitmer's that confirm the reality of his handling of the plates.[3] The critics ignore much documentary evidence in John Whitmer's case alone, simply because his witness is inconvenient for their speculations.

William Smith resumiu bem a questão quando disse que de todas as oito testemunhas

"que eles não só Viram com os próprios olhos, mas seguraram com suas mãos o referido registro. . . ninguém nem qualquer uma dessas testemunhas jamais, ao meu conhecimento, contrariou o testemunho dado acima concernente a existência real dessas placas mórmons."[4]

As Oito Testemunhas afirmaram consistentemente a precisão do seu testemunho publicado, e da realidade física de sua experiência. Os críticos terão que procurar outro lugar para apoiar suas especulações.

Notas

  1. Oliver Cowdery, "Conference Report," Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate 1 (June 1835), 143. Reproduced in Dan Vogel (editor), Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, 1996–2003), 5 vols.
  2. Many of the quotes collected here are found in Richard Lloyd Anderson, "Attempts to Redefine the Experience of the Eight Witnesses," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 14/1 (2005): 18–31. off-site PDF link wiki (Key source)
  3. Richard Lloyd Anderson, "Attempts to Redefine the Experience of the Eight Witnesses," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 14/1 (2005): 18–31. off-site PDF link wiki. See especially Anderson's discussion of Dan Vogel's tendency to ignore contrary witnesses from Whitmer that do not fit his thesis here.
  4. William Smith, "Notes Written on 'Chambers' Life of Joseph Smith,'" 15; transcribed by Richard L. Anderson.