{"id":89988,"date":"2021-01-21T18:48:10","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T01:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=89988"},"modified":"2021-01-25T15:04:03","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T22:04:03","slug":"catch-this-mornings-interview-with-joseph-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/01\/catch-this-mornings-interview-with-joseph-smith.html","title":{"rendered":"Catch this morning&#8217;s interview with &#8220;Joseph Smith&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_89839\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-89839\" style=\"width: 597px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2021\/01\/137082735_1028685767632379_4051882139167773319_o.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-89839\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2021\/01\/137082735_1028685767632379_4051882139167773319_o.jpg\" alt=\"Our movie poster\" width=\"597\" height=\"227\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-89839\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The new movie poster for the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s rapidly approaching \u201cWitnesses\u201d theatrical film, featuring (from left) Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Joseph Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you would like to see the nearly five-minute interview with Paul Wuthrich that aired this morning on ABC Television \u2018s Salt Lake City affiliate, you can do so at the link just below.\u00a0 Paul Wuthrich is the actor who portrays Joseph Smith in the forthcoming Interpreter Foundation theatrical film, <em>Witnesses<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>ABC 4 Utah (KTVX, Salt Lake City): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc4.com\/gtu\/portrayal-of-joseph-smith-in-witnesses-shows-humanity\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cPortrayal of Joseph Smith in <em>Witnesses<\/em> shows humanity\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This has been a long time coming, not only because of the intrinsic difficulties of raising the funds and creating the film, but because of the additional challenges thrown in our way by the coronavirus pandemic.\u00a0 I\u2019m grateful to all of those who have contributed in any way the effort.\u00a0 We hope that it will do some real good.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We are moving steadily and even, in a way, at an increasing pace toward the theatrical release of this dramatic feature film and toward completion of the two-part, two-hour documentary and other related materials that will accompany it.\u00a0 More and more, as the release date approaches, we can use the assistance of the wider community.\u00a0 In this matter, there really will be strength in numbers.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At our <a href=\"https:\/\/witnessesfilm.com\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Witnessesfilm.com<\/a>, there are now three buttons indicating ways in which you can help us to get the film onto screens throughout and beyond the Wasatch Front:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Own a Theater?\u00a0 Book <em>Witnesses<\/em> Here.<\/li>\n<li>Buy a Private Screening: Families, Church, Community<\/li>\n<li>Bring <em>Witnesses<\/em> to Your City This Summer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now, there is probably not a single one of you out there who owns a theater of his or her own \u2014 though I could be surprised.\u00a0 If you do, please click on that button.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I realize, of course, that only a few of you may be in a position to buy a private screening.\u00a0 But please do consider it, for a ward or a youth group or a family gathering.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Many of you, if not in fact all of you, can be of major help in bringing <em>Witnesses<\/em> to your city.\u00a0 <em>Please, everybody, click on that link.<\/em>. Please help us to bring this film to the widest audience possible, to movie-goers along the \u201cMormon Corridor\u201d and well beyond it, and to people outside of the Latter-day Saint community as well as to already committed members of the <a href='https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/library\/mormonism' target='_blank'>Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>.\u00a0 Your help is vital to the success of the <em>Witnesses<\/em> project.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In connection with this initiative and in answer to a request from me that I\u00a0 made back when our project was initially being launched, Professors Thomas G. Alexander, James B. Allen, Richard Lloyd Anderson, and Richard L. Bushman \u2014 friends and first-rate historians all \u2014 provided the following endorsements of the importance of the Book of Mormon witnesses.\u00a0 They are still important and worthy of reflection:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>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 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<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\">Thomas G. Alexander (Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley), Lemuel Hardison Redd, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Western History, Brigham Young University; former president of the <a href='https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/library\/mormonism' target='_blank'>Mormon History<\/a> Association<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>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<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\">Richard L. Bushman (Ph.D., Harvard University), Gouverneur Morris\u00a0Professor of History Emeritus at\u00a0Columbia University in New York City; former\u00a0Howard W. Hunter Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University in California; former president of the Mormon History Association<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>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<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\">James B. Allen (Ph.D., University of Southern California), Lemuel 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<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Thousands of authorized copies \u00a0of the Book of Mormon have reprinted the signed experience of the eleven Book of 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<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\">Richard Lloyd Anderson [1926-2018] (J.D., Harvard Law School; Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley), Professor\u00a0Emeritus of Church History and Doctrine, Brigham Young University<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 If you would like to see the nearly five-minute interview with Paul Wuthrich that aired this morning on ABC Television \u2018s Salt Lake City affiliate, you can do so at the link just below.\u00a0 Paul Wuthrich is the actor who portrays Joseph Smith in the forthcoming Interpreter Foundation theatrical film, Witnesses: \u00a0 ABC [&hellip;]<\/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":[56,259,1809,5691,3112,11099,2905,1812,1815,788,55,1667,5688,4003,921,6384],"class_list":["post-89988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-of-mormon","tag-book-of-mormon-witnesses","tag-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints","tag-eight-witnesses","tag-eyewitness","tag-eyewitnesses","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-latter-day-saints","tag-lds","tag-mormon","tag-mormonism","tag-mormons","tag-three-witnesses","tag-witness","tag-witnesses","tag-witnesses-film"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Catch this morning&#039;s interview with &quot;Joseph Smith&quot;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&nbsp; 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