![FairMormon Logo](https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021_fair_logo_primary.png)
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.
< Book of Mormon | Witnesses
(→Response: Expanded) |
(→Response: Expanded) |
||
Line 18: | Line 18: | ||
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. | 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. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 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. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 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. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Peter Ingersoll was a hostile source. Here is what he claims that Joseph said to him: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :...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}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | 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." 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. | ||
==Conclusion== | ==Conclusion== |
This article is a draft. FairMormon editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.
This page is based on an answer to a question submitted to the FAIR web site, or a frequently asked question.
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.
Joseph Smith-History 1:42 describes the conditions under which Joseph was to handle the plates:
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.
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.
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.
Peter Ingersoll was a hostile source. Here is what he claims that Joseph said to him:
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." 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.
None
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.
We are a volunteer organization. We invite you to give back.
Donate Now