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| − | {{draft}}
| + | #REDIRECT [[Question: Did Joseph Smith say that viewing the gold plates would result in death?]] |
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| − | {{question}}
| + | [[de:BMZeugen/Die Platten zu sehen habe den Tod zur Folge]] |
| − | {{BoMWitnessPortal}}
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| − | ==Criticism==
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| − | Critics claim that Joseph Smith said that the penalty for viewing the gold plates was death. This was just a way for Joseph to hide the fact that the plates really didn't exist.
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| − | ===Source(s) of criticism===
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| − | *{{AntiBook:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=37, 41, 53}}
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| − | *{{AntiBook:Palmer:Insider|pages=206-7}}
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| − | *[[The Hurlbut affidavits#Sophia Lewis|Affidavit of Sophia Lewis]], 20 Mar. 1834, ''Susquehanna Register'', 1 May 1834, 1.
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| − | *[[The Hurlbut affidavits#Charles Anthon|Charles Anthon to E. D. Howe]], 17 Feb. 1834, in Howe, ''Mormonism Unvailed'', 272.
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| − | ==Response==
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| − | Joseph Smith-History 1:42 describes the conditions under which Joseph was to handle the plates:
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| − | :Again, he told me, that when I got those plates of which he had spoken—for the time that they should be obtained was not yet fulfilled—'''I should not show them to any person; neither the breastplate with the Urim and Thummim; only to those to whom I should be commanded to show them; if I did I should be destroyed'''. While he was conversing with me about the plates, the vision was opened to my mind that I could see the place where the plates were deposited, and that so clearly and distinctly that I knew the place again when I visited it. {{ea}}
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| − | According to this, it was ''Joseph'' who risked destruction if he showed the plates to anyone unless explicitly commanded to do so by the Lord, ''not'' the person to whom he showed them.
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| − | Fawn Brodie claimed that Joseph told Martin Harris that God's wrath would strike him down if he examined the plates or looked at him while he was translating.
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| − | In the Eber D. Howe's anti-Mormon book, ''Mormonism Unvailed'', Peter Ingersoll and Sophia Lewis claimed that Joseph told them that anyone who viewed the plates would perish.
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| − | [[The Hurlbut affidavits#Peter Ingersoll|Peter Ingersoll]] was a hostile source. Here is what he claims that Joseph said to him: | |
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| − | :...On my entering the house, I found the family at the table eating dinner. They were all anxious to know the contents of my frock. At that moment, I happened to think of what I had heard about a history found in Canada, called the golden Bible; so I very gravely told them it was the golden Bible. To my surprise, they were credulous enough to believe what I said. Accordingly I told them that I had received a commandment to let no one see it, '''for, says I, no man can see it with the naked eye and live'''. However, I offered to take out the book and show it to them, but they refuse to see it, and left the room." Now, said Jo, "I have got the damned fools fixed, and will carry out the fun." Notwithstanding, he told me he had no such book, and believed there never was any such book...{{ref|unvailed.235-6}} {{ea}}
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| − | Here we have a statement alleged to have been made by Joseph Smith that "no man can see it with the naked eye and live." However, we also see that, according to Peter Ingersoll, Joseph came up with the entire idea of the "golden bible" on the spur of the moment as a way to have "fun." Then he claims that Joseph confided to him that the plates didn't actually exist at all. There are so many inconsistencies between this story and the statements of numerous other witnesses that one wonders if Peter Ingersoll was the one who was having some "fun" with his audience.
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| − | Examining the [[The Hurlbut affidavits#Sophia Lewis|testimony of Sophia Lewis]] we find:
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| − | :SOPHIA LEWIS, certifies that she "heard a conversation between Joseph Smith, Jr., and the Rev. James B. Roach, in which Smith called Mr. R. a d-----d fool. Smith also said in the same conversation that he (Smith) was as good as Jesus Christ;" and that she "has frequently heard Smith use profane language. She states that she heard Smith say "'''the Book of Plates could not be opened under penalty of death by any other person but his (Smith's) first-born''', which was to be a male." She says she "was present at the birth of this child, and that it was still-born and very much deformed."{{ref|unvailed.269}} {{ea}}
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| − | Here we find that not only could the plates not be viewed by another person, but that the only person who could "open" them would be Joseph's first-born child. Sophia Lewis's testimony is suspicious however. Hezekiah M'Kune, Levi Lewis and Sophia Lewis went together to make their depositions before the justice. Their testimonies bear a remarkable similiarity and contain the unique claim that Joseph claimed to be "as good as Jesus Christ." This claim is not related by any other individuals who knew the Prophet, suggesting that these three individuals planned and coordinated their story before giving their depositions. {{ref|nibley.128}}
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| − | ==Conclusion==
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| − | The only first-person account—that made by Joseph Smith himself—says that it was ''Joseph'' who would be destroyed if he showed the plates to any other person unless commanded to do so by the Lord. All accounts attributed to Joseph in which he is supposed to have claimed that anyone ''else'' who viewed the plates would die originated with people who were hostile to Joseph and the Church.
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| − | ==Endnotes==
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| − | #{{note|unvailed.235-6}}Eber D. Howe, ''Mormonism Unvailed'', pp. 235-6
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| − | #{{note|unvailed.235-6}}Eber D. Howe, ''Mormonism Unvailed'', pp. 269
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| − | #{{note|nibley.128}}{{Nibley11_1|start=128}}
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| − | ==Further reading==
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| − | ===FAIR wiki articles===
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| − | {{PlatesWiki}}
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| − | {{BoMWitnessesWiki}}
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| − | ===FAIR web site===
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| − | {{PlatesFAIR}}
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| − | {{BoMWitnessesFAIR}}
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| − | | |
| − | ===External links===
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| − | {{PlatesLinks}}
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| − | {{BoMWitnessesLinks}}
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| − | ===Printed material===
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| − | {{PlatesPrint}}
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| − | {{BoMWitnessesPrint}}
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