El Libro de Mormón/Testigos

Tabla de Contenidos

Testigos del Libro de Mormón

  NEEDS TRANSLATION  

Esta evidencia [los tres y los ocho testigos] se puede pasar por alto, mientras que, al mismo tiempo, él puede tomar las declaraciones de prensa, que contiene una carta falsa con el nombre de una anciana firmado a la misma, y publicarlo para un HECHO POSITIVO, que él supone tendrá gran peso con la honesta ....

—Parley P. Pratt, Plain Facts (Manchester: W. R. Thomas, 1840), 2. off-site (Inglés) Full title

Sumario

El mundo no se quedó con el testimonio de José Smith solo. El Libro de Mormón proporciona múltiples testigos oficiales y no oficiales que corroboran aspectos de account.Critics de José siempre han tratado de descartar o destruir el testimonio de los testigos. Esta página enlaza con páginas secundarias que discuten diversos ataques en detalle.

¿Cuál fue el carácter de los testigos?

Sumario: Los críticos sostienen que los testigos no se puede confiar, o no son fiables, porque eran personalidades inestables, propensos a la ilusión y la exageración. La evidencia demuestra ampliamente que los testigos formales del El Libro de Mormón eran hombres de buen carácter y reputación, y fueron reconocidos como tales por contemporáneos no mormones.   Revisar la gramática  

• • Martin Harris repeatedly sought empirical proof—
    Sumario: 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.

Description of the plates and stone box in which they were found.

Sumario: A collection of all statements regarding the physical appearance, dimensions, and character of the plates and other items associated with them.

Description of translation method and circumstances

Sumario: Friendly and unfriendly accounts of those who witnessed and heard about the translation of the El Libro de Mormón

Did the El Libro de Mormón witnesses ever recant?

Sumario: Critics have tried to argue that some or all of the Testigos 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.

Did Joseph hypnotize the El Libro de Mormón witnesses?

Sumario: Some grant that the El Libro de Mormón 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.

Did God tell David Whitmer to leave the Church?

Sumario: David Whitmer, one of the El Libro de Mormón's Three Testigos, said "If you believe my testimony to the El Libro de Mormón; 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." Critics argues that if members accept Whitmer's witness of the El Libro de Mormón, then they must also accept that God wanted David to repudiate the Church as false. Critics 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.

Eight witnesses

Sumario: Critics 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.

"Eye of Faith" and "Spiritual Eye" statements by Martin Harris

Sumario: 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.”

Other El Libro de Mormón witnesses

Sumario: Are there any other witnesses to the El Libro de Mormón plates besides the Three and Eight witnesses?

Strangite parallels

Sumario: 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.

Were the experiences of the witnesses spiritual or literal?

Sumario: Some critics suggest 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.

• • Only handled when covered by a tow frock?—
    Sumario: A frequent claim is that a El Libro de Mormón 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 El Libro de Mormón 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.

Was it true the viewing the gold plates would result in death?

Sumario: 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?

Oliver Cowdery joined the Methodists after leaving the Church

Sumario: Why did Oliver Cowdery join the Methodists if all other churches had been "condemned of God"?

All were "interested" since they followed Joseph Smith

Sumario: 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."

Statements

Sumario: This page collects statements from the witnesses to the El Libro de Mormón plates in one convenient location. The same statements are often quoted elsewhere in the wiki under specific articles.