{"id":97027,"date":"2022-10-08T22:14:02","date_gmt":"2022-10-09T04:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=97027"},"modified":"2022-10-09T22:25:29","modified_gmt":"2022-10-10T04:25:29","slug":"did-lucy-harris-support-the-book-of-mormon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/10\/did-lucy-harris-support-the-book-of-mormon.html","title":{"rendered":"“Did Lucy Harris Support the Book of Mormon?”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Lucy<\/a>
A happy moment in the home of Lucy and Martin Harris. It won\u2019t last long. (Still photo from the set of \u201cWitnesses\u201d by James Jordan.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet another of the products of our overall \u201cWitnesses\u201d film project went up on the website of the Interpreter Foundation at 7 PM on Saturday evening, Utah time.\u00a0 You can view it, along with the other \u201cInsights\u201d videos in this series, at absolutely no charge.\u00a0 And we hope that you will share it with others.\u00a0 That\u2019s the use that we\u2019ve designed these short videos to serve.\u00a0 Please do share them with family members, aluminum siding salesmen, friends, office colleagues, ministering brothers and sisters, neighbors, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses at your door, pestilential political leaflet distributors, and anybody else that you know who might find them interesting or helpful.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWitnesses of the Book of Mormon \u2014 Insights Episode 25:\u00a0Did Lucy Harris Support the Book of Mormon?<\/em>\u201c<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Early on, Lucy Harris was a supporter of the work, but later she fell out with the Smiths\u2014and with her own husband. Who was Lucy Harris?<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the twenty-fifth in a series compiled from the many interviews conducted during the course of the Witnesses film project. This series of mini-films is being released each Saturday at 7pm MDT. These additional resources are hosted by Camrey Bagley Fox, who played Emma Smith in\u00a0Witnesses<\/em>, as she introduces and visits with a variety of experts. These individuals answer questions or address accusations against the witnesses, also helping viewers understand the context of the times in which the witnesses lived. This week we feature Daniel C. Peterson, President of the Interpreter Foundation and Executive Producer of\u00a0Witnesses<\/em>. For more information, go to\u00a0https:\/\/witnessesofthebookofmormon.org\/<\/a>\u00a0or watch the documentary movie\u00a0Undaunted<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Short clips from this episode are also available on\u00a0TikTok<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel at\u00a0https:\/\/youtube.interpreterfoundation.org\/<\/a>\u00a0and our other social media channels on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Instagram<\/a>, and\u00a0TikTok<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Fun<\/a>
After all those years, Martin Harris and Lucy Harris were finally together again, and happy, at the 2021 premiere of the \u201cWitnesses\u201d theatrical film.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back in April 2015, the following figures, which had been drawn from the previous twenty general conferences of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> \u2014 indicating the frequency with which the name Joseph Smith<\/em> was mentioned in those conferences \u2014 drew the attention of certain critics of the Church. \u00a0The numbers, they suggested, demonstrated that the Church was embarrassed by Joseph and that it was attempting to distance itself from the Prophet and, thereby, to go \u201cmainstream.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Conference<\/span><\/th>\nFrequency<\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Oct 2005<\/span><\/td>\n84<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apr 2006<\/span><\/td>\n33<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oct 2006<\/span><\/td>\n21<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apr 2007<\/span><\/td>\n39<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oct 2007<\/span><\/td>\n21<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apr 2008<\/span><\/td>\n41<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oct 2008<\/span><\/td>\n36<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apr 2009<\/span><\/td>\n27<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oct 2009<\/span><\/td>\n40<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apr 2010<\/span><\/td>\n27<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oct 2010<\/span><\/td>\n35<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apr 2011<\/span><\/td>\n21<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oct 2011<\/span><\/td>\n25<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apr 2012<\/span><\/td>\n29<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oct 2012<\/span><\/td>\n24<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apr 2013<\/span><\/td>\n27<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oct 2013<\/span><\/td>\n21<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apr 2014<\/span><\/td>\n32<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oct 2014<\/span><\/td>\n34<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apr 2015<\/span><\/td>\n4<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Average = 31.05 per conference (29.6 excluding the extremes).<\/span><\/p>\n

Median = 28.<\/span><\/p>\n

High = 84 in Oct 2005<\/span><\/p>\n

Low = 4 in Apr 2015<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I have no idea whether the figures given were accurate or not. \u00a0But, even if they were, there\u2019s an obvious explanation for the very high spike shown October 2005: \u00a0We were approaching the bicentennial of Joseph\u2019s birth. \u00a0And it\u2019s probably not insignificant, that the April 2015 general conference of the Church fell on Easter weekend. \u00a0Jesus tends to be mentioned quite a bit at Easter.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moreover, I wonder what the figures since April 2015 have been. \u00a0Does anybody know? \u00a0My guess is that that will typically have ranged from the low twenties to the high thirties, occasionally straying into the low forties \u2014 in other words, just as they were from October 2005 through October 2014. \u00a0In other words, April 2015 was very likely an outlier.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m unaware of even the slightest disposition among believing Latter-day Saints and their leaders to back away from the Prophet. \u00a0I\u2019ve detected not a trace<\/em> of such a retreat.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In any event, so as to remove any possible doubt about my own<\/em> position, I quote the words of John Taylor, who nearly died with Joseph and Hyrum at the hands of that anti-Mormon mob in Carthage, Illinois, and who eventually succeeded Joseph Smith and Brigham Young as the third president of the Church of Jesus Christ in this dispensation:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joseph Smith, the\u00a0Prophet\u00a0and\u00a0Seer\u00a0of the Lord, has done more,\u00a0save\u00a0Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. . . . \u00a0He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord\u2019s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own\u00a0blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. . . .<\/span><\/p>\n

Hyrum Smith was forty-four years old in February, 1844, and Joseph Smith was thirty-eight in December, 1843; and henceforward their names will be classed among the\u00a0martyrs\u00a0of religion; and the reader in every nation will be reminded that the Book of Mormon, and this book of Doctrine and Covenants of the church, cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world; and that if the fire can scathe a\u00a0green tree\u00a0for the glory of God, how easy it will burn up the dry trees to purify the vineyard of corruption. They lived for glory; they died for glory; and glory is their eternal\u00a0reward. From age to age shall their names go down to posterity as gems for the sanctified.<\/span><\/p>\n

They were innocent of any crime, as they had often been proved before, and were only confined in jail by the conspiracy of traitors and wicked men; and their\u00a0innocent blood<\/em>\u00a0on the floor of Carthage jail is a broad seal affixed to \u201cMormonism\u201d that cannot be rejected by any court on earth, and their\u00a0innocent blood<\/em>\u00a0on the escutcheon\u00a0of the State of Illinois, with the broken faith of the State as pledged by the governor, is a witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel that all the world cannot impeach; and their\u00a0innocent blood<\/em>\u00a0on the banner of liberty, and on the\u00a0magna charta<\/span>\u00a0of the United States, is an ambassador for the religion of Jesus Christ, that will touch the hearts of honest men among all nations; and their\u00a0innocent blood,<\/em>\u00a0with the innocent blood of all the martyrs under the\u00a0altar\u00a0that John saw, will cry unto the Lord of Hosts till he avenges that blood on the earth. Amen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I join my voice with that of John Taylor and millions of others; I\u2019m not backing away from Joseph Smith, the Prophet who opened this last dispensation. \u00a0Not even close.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from almost precisely east of New York City in the North Atlantic<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 \u00a0 Yet another of the products of our overall \u201cWitnesses\u201d film project went up on the website of the Interpreter Foundation at 7 PM on Saturday evening, Utah time.\u00a0 You can view it, along with the other \u201cInsights\u201d videos in this series, at absolutely no charge.\u00a0 And we hope that you will share it […]<\/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":[56,259,1809,1426,380,2905,1812,1815,7113,7980,1570,788,55,1667,5688,4003,921,21713],"class_list":["post-97027","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-john-taylor","tag-joseph-smith","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-latter-day-saints","tag-lds","tag-lds-church","tag-lucy-harris","tag-martin-harris","tag-mormon","tag-mormonism","tag-mormons","tag-three-witnesses","tag-witness","tag-witnesses","tag-witnesses-of-the-book-of-mormon"],"yoast_head":"\n"Did Lucy Harris Support the Book of Mormon?"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Yet another of the products of our overall "Witnesses" film project went up on the website 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