Mostrar código-fonte de Pergunta: Será que o fato de que Oliver Cowdery e Joseph Smith primos distantes significa que Oliver foi uma testemunha pouco confiável para o Livro de Mórmon?

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==Pergunta: Será que o fato de que Oliver Cowdery e Joseph Smith primos distantes significa que Oliver foi uma testemunha pouco confiável para o Livro de Mórmon?==
===Oliver was indeed a distant cousin of Joseph Smith, but they had never met before the Book of Mormon was translated===

The accusation that Oliver being a distant cousin of Joseph Smith makes him an unreliable witness to the Book of Mormon is what is known as a "ad hominem" attack on the witnesses' character. The term "ad hominem" is defined, according to Merriam-Webster, as:
#appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect.
#marked by or being an attack on an opponent's character rather than by an answer to the contentions made.

One can see that accusations that Oliver is an unreliable witness because he is related to Joseph Smith applies both of these definitions:
*Oliver was indeed a distant cousin of Joseph Smith, but they had never met before the Book of Mormon was translated. Those who put forth this criticism attempt to prejudice the reader by implying that this relationship made Oliver unreliable.
*The fact that they were distantly related has no bearing upon Oliver's reliability as a scribe or as a witness. How does this relationship make him an unreliable witness? What is the conflict of interest?

More to the point, if Oliver was covering up a fraud on the part of Joseph Smith when he acted as a scribe during the translation of the Book of Mormon simply because he was related to Joseph Smith, or if he was covering for Joseph when he acted as one of the Three Witnesses, then why didn't Oliver expose the fraud after he fell into disagreement with Joseph Smith and was excommunicated from the Church? This would have been the perfect opportunity to expose a fraud.
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[[Category:Carta a um Diretor SEI]]

[[en:Question: Does the fact that Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith distant cousins make Oliver an unreliable witness to the Book of Mormon?]]
[[es:Pregunta: ¿El hecho de que Oliver Cowdery y José Smith primos lejanos hacen Oliver un testigo poco confiable para el Libro de Mormón?]]