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Testemunhas do Livro de Mórmon
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Testemunhas do Livro de Mórmon
The world was not left with Joseph Smith's testimony alone. The Book of Mormon provided multiple official and unofficial witnesses who corroborated aspects of Joseph's account. Critics have long tried to dismiss or destroy the witnesses' witness. This page links to subpages which discuss various attacks in detail.
Resumo: It is claimed that the witnesses cannot be trusted, or are unreliable, because they were unstable personalities, prone to enthusiasm and exaggeration. Evidence amply demonstrates that the formal witnesses of the Book of Mormon were men of good character and reputation, and were recognized as such by contemporary non-Mormons.
Resumo: Some claim that Martin Harris was a gullible believer in the supernatural. But, in fact, Martin repeatedly performed empirical tests to confirm Joseph Smith's claims. He came away convinced.
Resumo: Some claim that the Three Witnesses were gullible believers in the supernatural. But, in fact, David and Oliver tested Joseph Smith's abilities as a seer. They came away convinced that he could see things that no one else could know.
Resumo: Some have attempted to associate Oliver Cowdery with a treasure-seeking group in Vermont. This goes beyond the available evidence.
Resumo: It is claimed that a revelation received by Joseph praised Oliver Cowdery's gift of using divining talents. It is claimed that the revelation was published in the Book of Commandments in its original form, then subsequently modified in the Doctrine and Covenants in order to hide the reference to the "rod of nature." Therefore, Joseph attempted to "cover up" Oliver Cowdery's work with a divining rod by changing a revelation.
Resumo: Some claim that Martin Harris was unstable or flighty because he had five religions prior to the Church's restoration.
Resumo: Some claim that Martin Harris was unstable or flighty because he had five religions after he was excommunicated in 1838
Resumo: Some claim that Martin Harris' testimony is unreliable because he associated with the Shakers after his excommunication in 1838
Resumo: A collection of all statements regarding the physical appearance, dimensions, and character of the plates and other items associated with them.
Resumo: Friendly and unfriendly accounts of those who witnessed and heard about the translation of the Book of Mormon
Resumo: Some have tried to argue that some or all of the Witnesses recanted concerning their testimony. They were all faithful to their testimonies to the end of their lives, even though many of them had personal disagreements with Joseph Smith that caused them to leave the Church.
Resumo: Some grant that the Book of Mormon witnesses may have been sincere in their testimony, but claim that they were actually the victims of 'hallucination' or 'hypnosis' induced in them by Joseph Smith. The accusation that Joseph Smith was somehow able to hypnotize the witnesses—not individually, but
en mass—is simply too preposterous to be true. This accusation vastly overstates the nature of hypnotism and the abilities of those able to practice it.
Resumo: David Whitmer, one of the Book of Mormon's Three Witnesses, said "If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon; if you believe that God spake to us three witnesses by his own voice, then I tell you that in June, 1838, God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens, and told me to "separate myself from among the Latter Day Saints, for as they sought to do unto me, should it be done unto them." Some argue that if members accept Whitmer's witness of the Book of Mormon, then they must also accept that God wanted David to repudiate the Church as false. Some distort the historical record to make it appear that David Whitmer left the Church because he was told to, when it fact he was excommunicated prior to claiming any revelation to do so. The command to leave, if it was a true revelation, involved David's physical safety and not his membership in the Church, which he had already renounced.
Resumo: Some have tried to argue that the Eight witnesses only claimed a 'spiritual' or 'visionary' view of the plates, not a literal, physical one. The witnesses left concrete statements regarding the physical nature of the plates. There were others besides the eleven who saw and felt the plates, and testified that they were real.
Resumo: It is claimed that because many of the witnesses are related, this means they are not to be trusted.
Resumo: Some critics of the Restoration have focused on a single statement reportedly made by John Whitmer in 1839 to make it appear as though the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon did not have a physical encounter with the golden plates (as they so testified on the pages of the book itself), but rather a spiritual or visionary experience only.
Resumo: Martin Harris frequently told people that he did not see the golden plates and the angel with his natural eyes but rather with “spiritual eyes” or the “eye of faith.”
Resumo: Are there any other witnesses to the Book of Mormon plates besides the Three and Eight witnesses?
Resumo: James Strang's break-off sect produced eyewitnesses of buried records. Does this indicate that Joseph's ability to do so is neither surprising nor persuasive? The Strangite witnesses were not all faithful, and some recanted and described the nature of the fraud perpetuated by Strang.
Resumo: It is claimed that the witnesses’ encounter with the angel and the plates took place solely in their minds. They claim that witnesses saw the angel in a “vision” and equate “vision” with imagination.
Resumo: A frequent claim is that a Book of Mormon witnesses said that he only handled the plates while they were covered in a "tow frock." However, this report is from William Smith, one of Joseph's brothers who was
not a Book of Mormon witness. In fact, William insisted in the same statement that he was convinced Joseph was not lying about the plates. William also dismissed the Spalding hypothesis as nonsense.
Resumo: Some of Joseph's associates were "treasure hunters" and may have believed in "second sight." Does this make them unreliable witnesses?
Resumo: Some accuse the Book of Mormon witnesses of not being "empirical" or "rational" because they lived in the 19th-Century.
Resumo: Did Joseph Smith state that the penalty for viewing the gold plates was death? Was this just a way for Joseph to hide the fact that the plates didn't actually exist?
Resumo: Why did Oliver Cowdery join the Methodists if all other churches had been "condemned of God"?
Resumo: It is claimed that because the witnesses are "interested"—i.e., they were members of the Church and believers in Joseph's mission—that they are therefore not reliable, since they cannot be "neutral" or "disinterested."
Resumo: This page collects statements from the witnesses to the Book of Mormon plates in one convenient location. The same statements are often quoted elsewhere in the wiki under specific articles.
Resumo: It is claimed that there are no actual signatures on the witness statements printed in the Book of Mormon.
Resumo: The Witnesses understood that by giving their names to the witness statements, they would suffer social costs and rejection.
Resumo: The Witnesses stuck to their claim even in the face of threats or the risk of death.
Resumo: Some witnesses were excommunicated and left the Church. However, the staunchly stuck to their witness accounts.
Resumo: The Three and Eight Witnesses did not have merely internal, assuntoive experiences. These were shared experiences, which they could and did use to confirm their reality and objectivity.
Resumo: The Three and Eight Witnesses often affirmed that others of their number had maintained their witness.
Resumo: The Three and Eight Witnesses often reaffirmed their written statement and referred others to it.
