{"id":70102,"date":"2019-02-06T18:15:34","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T01:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=70102"},"modified":"2019-02-06T20:14:52","modified_gmt":"2019-02-07T03:14:52","slug":"witnesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/witnesses.html","title":{"rendered":"“Witnesses”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Whitmer<\/a>
The Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon had their experience near the Peter Whitmer log home, in the Finger Lakes district of New York. \u00a0\u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thrilled to announce that the website for Witnesses<\/em>, the film project on which we\u2019ve been working, is now up. \u00a0I invite you to take a look at it:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Witnesses<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I need to explain something, though:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The current \u201csizzle reel,\u201d as film people call it, is a temporary placeholder. \u00a0That is, it isn\u2019t yet really a \u201ctrailer,\u201d strictly speaking. \u00a0The interviews that are featured represent some of the material that we have recently developed for this project. \u00a0The dramatic scenes and the music, though, are borrowed from an earlier film created essentially by this same crew. \u00a0We wanted to provide some sense of the level of quality that can be expected. \u00a0We haven\u2019t yet done the casting for this specific film project, which will be a docudrama or, as we\u2019ve been calling it, a \u201cdramatic documentary.\u201d \u00a0And we haven\u2019t yet done the \u201cdistant filming\u201d on locations in the East and the Midwest. \u00a0If all goes well, and if the funding is in place to take this step \u2014 I think that we\u2019re there, or very nearly there \u2014 we intend to do that late this spring or in the early summer. \u00a0We want to beat the crowds, but we want the leaves to be fully out.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

To say that I\u2019m very excited about this project is a considerable understatement.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In connection with this initiative and at my request, Professors Thomas G. Alexander, James B. Allen, and Richard L. Bushman, along with the late Professor Richard Lloyd Anderson, provided the following endorsements of the importance of the Book of Mormon witnesses:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Imagine the publication and distribution of the Book of Mormon without the testimony of the witnesses.\u00a0 If there were none, Joseph Smith would have had to reply on his own word that he translated the plates.\u00a0 Many, perhaps most, people would probably have rejected the word of an uneducated farm boy. \u00a0Joseph had enough difficulty even with the witnesses convincing others of the truthfulness of his story.\u00a0 Other people including the eight witnesses saw the plates, but only the three witnesses saw them in the possession of the heavenly messenger who delivered them to Joseph.\u00a0 \u00a0The Lord asked them to testify to the truthfulness of Joseph\u2019s ministry, which they did.\u00a0 Most important, during their lifetimes all three witnesses left the church.\u00a0 Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris returned to the fold, but David Whitmer remained in Richmond, Missouri, estranged from Mormonism<\/a> throughout the remainder of his life.\u00a0 Nevertheless, in spite of rumors to the contrary, all three continued to insist on the truth of their witness.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Thomas G. Alexander, Ph.D.,\u00a0Lemuel Hardison Redd, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Western History, Brigham Young University; former president of the Mormon History<\/a> Association<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The testimonies of the three witnesses is the closest we come to rational evidence for Mormon belief.\u00a0 Three men attest to a sensory encounter with the gold plates and a divine being.\u00a0 In an age of skepticism, when all religious belief is under attack, their statement becomes more relevant every day.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Richard L. Bushman, Ph.D., Gouverneur Morris\u00a0Professor of History Emeritus at\u00a0Columbia University; former\u00a0Howard W. Hunter Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University; former president of the Mormon History Association<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The testimonies of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon make Joseph Smith\u2019s account much harder to dismiss than it would otherwise be. \u00a0Plainly, since others announced that they, too, had seen and \u201chefted\u201d and heard, this means that, whatever else it was,\u00a0Joseph\u2019s account must reflect more than merely private imagination or simple personal dishonesty. \u00a0If the witnesses are judged to be reliable men of good character, their declarations pose a serious challenge to anyone who considers the claims of the Restoration.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

James B. Allen, Ph.D.,\u00a0Lemuel Hardison Redd Jr. Professor Emeritus of Western History, Brigham Young University; former Assistant Church Historian, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; former president of the Mormon History Association<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thousands of authorized copies \u00a0of the Book of Mormon have reprinted the signed experience of the eleven Book or Mormon witnesses, Three who described that an angel held and turned the individual\u00a0plates of an ancient New World Bible and Eight who narrated how they were given an ordinary experience of \u201chefting\u201d the record and examining the carefully\u00a0crafted\u00a0characters\u00a0on it. About 200 reported interviews with \u00a0these eleven are collected, which report the constant affirmation of these witnesses of seeing and lifting this historic, prophetic record, with its independent account of Christ visiting America.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Richard Lloyd Anderson, J.D., Ph.D.,\u00a0Professor\u00a0Emeritus of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 \u00a0 I\u2019m thrilled to announce that the website for Witnesses, the film project on which we\u2019ve been working, is now up. \u00a0I invite you to take a look at it: \u00a0 Witnesses \u00a0 I need to explain something, though: \u00a0 The current \u201csizzle reel,\u201d as film people call it, is a temporary placeholder. \u00a0That […]<\/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-70102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"Witnesses"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    I'm thrilled to announce that the website for Witnesses, the film project on which we've been working, is now up. \u00a0I invite you to take a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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