{"id":44595,"date":"2017-10-15T19:03:30","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T01:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=44595"},"modified":"2017-10-15T19:03:30","modified_gmt":"2017-10-16T01:03:30","slug":"church-money-david-whitmers-testimony-versified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/10\/church-money-david-whitmers-testimony-versified.html","title":{"rendered":"The Church and Its Money, and David Whitmer’s Testimony, Versified"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Bryce<\/a>
A photograph of David Whitmer in his old age, retouched and colorized by the estimable Bryce M. Haymond for the Interpreter Foundation. See http:\/\/www.mormoninterpreter.com\/david-whitmer-photograph-retouched-and-colorized\/.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

On 21 August 1883, James H. Hart, a Latter-day Saint journalist who was, at various times,\u00a0editor of the Bear Lake Democrat<\/em> (later the Southern Idaho Independent<\/em>) and associate editor of the Paris [Idaho] Post<\/em>,\u00a0interviewed David Whitmer, the last surviving\u00a0Witness to the Book of Mormon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the late Professor Edward L. Hart<\/a>, \u201cJames H. Hart\u2019s Contribution to Our Knowledge of Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer\u201d (BYU Studies<\/em>\u00a036:4 [1996-1997]: 118-124), James Hart used a form of Pitman shorthand to take his interviews with David Whitmer\u00a0down verbatim, often putting portions of them in quotation marks immediately after the interviews while his memory was still fresh. \u00a0He then transcribed his shorthand notes into his journal. \u00a0On a\u00a0return visit to David Whitmer, Hart showed the Witness\u00a0what he had written and, evidently, Whitmer\u00a0fully endorsed it as a correct expression of his sentiments.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, James Hart transformed his interview with David Whitmer into (doggerel) verse. \u00a0Here is a pair of stanzas from that poem, in which Hart assumes\u00a0Whitmer\u2019s voice:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If this be not truth, there is no truth,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And I have been mistaken from my youth.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If I\u2019m mistaken, you may know from hence<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

That there\u2019s no God, no law, no life, no sense.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I know there is a God\u2014I\u2019ve heard his voice,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And in his power and truth do still rejoice;<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Though fools may ridicule and laugh today,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

They yet shall know the truth of what I say.<\/strong>[1]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Cook, David Whitmer Interviews<\/em>, 103.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite the title of the article (and notwithstanding the fact that it\u2019s about a new book from D. Michael Quinn), this is largely a positive piece, even a faith-affirming one:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorian digs into the hidden world of Mormon finances, shows how church went from losing money to making money \u2014 lots of it\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It reminds me of an old controversy, and of some of my responses to that controversy:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOn living stipends for General Authorities\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother note on General Authority stipends\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo quotations relevant to the matter of General Authority stipends\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA few more thoughts on General Authority stipends\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA few more lines about General Authority stipends\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s a brief 2012 piece by Nate Oman that, in my judgment, makes an excellent and vital point regarding the Church\u2019s investment in the City Creek Mall, which has been indignantly criticized in some quarters:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCity Creek and the Choices of Thrift\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s always nice (not to say fun) to see the human side of the Brethren:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cElder Oaks, Elder Ballard talk about upcoming Face to Face in new video\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

You may have missed this story from Friday:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFlight 666 to HEL took off one last time this Friday the 13th\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some critics make this claim. \u00a0It\u2019s nonsense:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIs the Church Ambivalent on the Historicity and Antiquity of the Book of Abraham?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was myself (very slightly) involved in reviewing the Church\u2019s Gospel Topics essay on the Book of Abraham before it went public, and I can categorically state, from personal knowledge, that backing away from the book\u2019s historicity wasn\u2019t even remotely<\/em> a motive for, or an intention of, the essay.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 On 21 August 1883, James H. Hart, a Latter-day Saint journalist who was, at various times,\u00a0editor of the Bear Lake Democrat (later the Southern Idaho Independent) and associate editor of the Paris [Idaho] Post,\u00a0interviewed David Whitmer, the last surviving\u00a0Witness to the Book of Mormon. \u00a0 According to the late Professor Edward L. Hart, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Church and Its Money, and David Whitmer's Testimony, Versified<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    On 21 August 1883, James H. 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