FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mormonism and Wikipedia/Three Witnesses/Importance
An analysis of the Wikipedia article "Three Witnesses"
| The Three Witnesses | A FAIR Analysis of: Mormonism and Wikipedia/Three Witnesses, a work by author: Various
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An analysis of the Wikipedia article "Three Witnesses"
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Updated 9/28/2011
Reviews of previous revisions of this section
December 2009
Summary: A review of this section as it appeared in Wikipedia in December 2009.Section review
Importance
The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:
The example of the Three Witnesses has encouraged the practice within Latter Day Saint churches of having members regularly bear their testimony to the truth of the Mormon gospel based on personal spiritual experiences and impressions.Author's sources:
FAIR's Response
- The full quote from the Primary manual,
Bear your testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. Express your gratitude that you can be a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Encourage the children to bear their testimonies of the Book of Mormon to their families.
- Violates Wikipedia: Citing sources off-site— There is either no citation to support the statement or the citation given is incorrect.
The purpose of the Primary lesson cited is to "To help the children desire to be witnesses of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon," not to "encourage" members to "bear their testimony to the truth of the Mormon gospel." - Violates Wikipedia: Neutral Point-of-View off-site— All Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view, representing fairly, and as far as possible without bias, all significant views that have been published by reliable sources.
The use of the term "Mormon gospel" is pejorative and is an attempt to exclude Mormons from family of Christianity. (This is similar to the use of the evangelical term "Mormon Jesus") Latter-day Saints would refer to it as the gospel of Jesus Christ. - For a detailed response, see: Jesus Christ/Worship different Jesus
- For a detailed response, see: Jesus Christ/The "Mormon" vs. the "Christian" Jesus
- Violates Wikipedia: Neutral Point-of-View off-site— All Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view, representing fairly, and as far as possible without bias, all significant views that have been published by reliable sources.
The emphasis within the Church is that the witnesses saw the plates and the angel, and were therefore able to confirm Joseph Smith's claims of their existence. In fact, the Primary lesson cited asks the children, "Why do you think Joseph Smith was glad to have other people see the gold plates?" Tying the experience of the witnesses to the bearing of testimonies "based on personal spiritual experiences and impressions" is an attempt by the wiki editor to reinforce the idea that the witnesses' experience was purely spiritual in nature and based upon "impressions." Indeed, the entire article has been crafted toward this end.
Notes