The first
week of Come, Follow Me 2020 deals with the supplementary material at
the beginning of the Book of Mormon, i.e. the Title Page, an Introduction to
the Book of Mormon, the Testimonies of the Three Witnesses and of the Eight
Witnesses, the Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and a Brief Explanation
about the organization of the Book of Mormon. In this post, I’d like to talk
about the Testimonies of these twelve witnesses of the Book of Mormon. If I
have time to write another post this week, I’ll write about the organization of
the Book, the Title Page, the different plates associated with the record and
other related issues.
Twelve Witnesses
I believe it is no accident that the
beginning of the Book of Mormon gives the testimonies of twelve modern (i.e. 19th
Century) witnesses to the Book of Mormon. Each of these 12 witnesses saw the plates and
some of them also saw and heard other important things. Twelve is one of
several “magic” or “holy” numbers in the scriptures. In this case, again not
coincidentally, the number twelve is made up by the sum of three other “magic”
or “holy” numbers of important doctrinal significance. Twelve is the sum of the
numbers 1 + 3 + 8 = 12, each of which is a “holy” number.
·
1 – One God, one Father of us all, “one Lord,
one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5)
o
One Prophet witness (Joseph Smith)
·
3 – Three members of the Godhead (the Father,
the Son and the Holy Ghost)
o
The Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon
(Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, Martin Harris)
·
8 – The age of baptism, the number of Noah’s
family saved on the Ark (1 Peter 3:20)
o
The Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon
·
12 – The number of the Tribes of Israel, the
number of apostles called by the Lord in the Old World and again in the New
World, the number of apostles in the modern Church in the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles. (Note: There are 15 living apostles in the Church today, including
the 3 apostles who are in the Quorum of the First Presidency.)
(Actually,
there were other witnesses who saw the plates. There are records of five women
who saw and/or handled the plates. I was aware of two of them, but the other
three were a surprise to me. An excellent review of their testimonies is found in
“5 Women Who Are Witnesses of the Physical Golden Plates” by Chris Heimerdinger
in Book of Mormon Central. The link is https://bookofmormoncentral.org/blog/5-women-who-are-witnesses-of-the-physical-golden-plates)
Are their stories true?
The central issue related to the
testimonies of these twelve witnesses of the Book of Mormon whose testimonies
are recorded at the beginning of the Book is if their stories are true – if
Joseph Smith really did see an angel, receive the plates from him and translate
them by the gift and power of God; if the Three Witnesses really did see an angel
who showed them the plates and the interpreters and if they really heard the
voice of God commanding them to bear testimony of what they saw and heard; and
if the Eight Witnesses really saw and “hefted” the plates. (There is a good
review of the testimonies and subsequent lives of the Three Witnesses and the
Eight Witnesses in the recently-published book by Tad Callister, A Case for
the Book of Mormon.)
The testimony of 12 witnesses would
certainly be sufficient to convict someone of a crime in a court of law. And
yet critics discount the testimonies of these witnesses because of their human
foibles and because many of them are related to each other. (Mark Twain is
reported to have said with tongue in cheek, “I couldn’t be more impressed if
they were all Whitmers!”) These
witnesses never denied their testimonies, even though some of them later became
disaffected with Joseph Smith and some left the Church. Two of them (Joseph and
Hyrum Smith) even gave their lives for their testimony of the Book of Mormon.
The proof is in the pudding!
Ultimately, the only way to know if
the testimonies of these twelve witnesses are true is to read the Book of
Mormon. As they say, “the proof is in the pudding.” If the Book of Mormon is
truly the word of God and was translated by the gift and power of God, as
Joseph Smith claimed it was, then the testimonies of these witnesses is true.
If the Book of Mormon is not true, then the testimonies of these twelve men is
of no consequence.
And how do we find out if the Book
of Mormon is true? There is only one sure way to know that the Book of Mormon
is true and that is to apply the test of Moroni, i.e. by asking God with a
sincere heart, with real intent having faith in Christ as we read it. There is
no other way to know for sure. That is why we will read the Book of Mormon
together this year and why we will prayerfully ask God to help us understand it
and know that it is true. No amount of archeological evidence, no amount of
analysis of word patterns in the Book, no amount of the learning of men is
sufficient to give us an enduring testimony of the Book of Mormon. Such a
witness and conviction can only come from the source of all truth, from God
through the Holy Ghost. So, we must read and pray to know.
The First Vision is the fulcrum
The same logic applies to learning
that Joseph Smith’s claim that he saw the Father and the Son in vision in the
year 1820. He said that he was concerned for his own sins and was confused as
to which church he should join. The truth of this “First Vision” is the fulcrum
of the claim of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be the true
and living church of Jesus Christ on earth, restored by God through His living
prophet. If Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son in a grove of trees in
upstate New York on a spring morning in 1820, as he claims he did, then it is
the most important message that can be given to the world. The message is – the
heavens are open again! God is speaking to His children through living
prophets. The truth is on earth again. The prophecies of ancient prophets are
being fulfilled. The way is open for men and women to return to their heavenly
home with all of the blessings their loving Father intends for them to have.
But Satan knew the importance of
this message to the world, so he began immediately after the First Vision
occurred to fight against Joseph Smith and he continues to this day to do all
he can to destroy faith in the reality of the First Vision. He has concocted every
conceivable argument possible to discount the testimony of the Prophet Joseph
Smith that he “had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light [he]
saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to [him].” Joseph said,
“Though I was hated and persecuted for saying I had seen a vision, yet it was
true.” He went on to say, “Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have
actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the
world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision;
I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared
I do it;” (JS-H 1:25).
(Joseph actually provided a number
of accounts of his First Vision. There are at least four accounts which he
wrote or dictated himself and five additional accounts recorded by
contemporaries. Some people are troubled because there are some variations in
the “emphasis and detail” of the accounts but “despite the differences, a basic
consistency remains across all the accounts of the First Vision. Some have
mistakenly argued that any variation in the retelling of the story is evidence
of fabrication. To the contrary, the rich historical record enables us to learn
more about this remarkable event than we would if it were less well
documented.” An excellent discussion of the First Vision Accounts is found in
the Gospel Topics Essays, from which I have quoted in this paragraph. Here is
the link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/first-vision-accounts?lang=eng)
The Book of Mormon is the prooftext
Knowing
that there would be great opposition to Joseph Smith and his account of the
First Vision, the Lord provided a way for honest seekers of truth to know if
Joseph Smith was, in fact, telling the truth about seeing God. The Book of
Mormon is the prooftext (“a passage of scripture presented as proof for
a theological doctrine, belief, or principle.”) of the truth of the First
Vision. At the time of the organization of the Church, the Lord said, referring
to Joseph Smith, “And gave him power from on high, by the means which were
before prepared, to translate the Book of Mormon; . . . Proving to the world
that the holy scriptures are true, and that God does inspire men and call them
to his holy work in this age and generation, as well as in generations of old;”
(D&C 20:8, 11)
The Book of
Mormon is true! And because the Book of Mormon is true, the testimony of Joseph
Smith about the First Vision is true and the testimonies of the witnesses of
the Book of Mormon are true. The truth is the truth – regardless of where we
stand in relation to it!
There are absolute truths
There are absolute truths in the
universe. We have a loving Father in Heaven. We lived with Heavenly Parents
before we came to this life. Jesus Christ is the only Begotten Son of God and
is our Savior and Redeemer. Our Father and the Savior did, in fact, appear to
the young man, Joseph Smith, in response to his humble prayer of faith in 1820.
An angel sent from God did actually appear to Joseph Smith three times one
night and twice the next day in September of 1823 to inform him of a book
written by ancient prophets recorded on gold tablets buried in a hill near his
home. Joseph Smith later did in fact translate a portion of those plates into
the record we know today as the Book of Mormon.
These truths are not up for vote.
They are not conditional – depending for their truth on who or how many believe
them. We cannot make them be not true by choosing to not believe them. We can
only choose to limit our blessings by turning away from them and ignoring the
truth which is presented to us by our loving Father.
Maybe I can
explain with a parable.
Parable of Two Mountain Peaks
On a bright, clear Saturday morning
a father and his young teenage son were driving in the car through some
mountainous terrain together. The father knew the area well and wanted to teach
his son a valuable lesson. So he said to his son, “There is a lesson in these
mountains about understanding truth. Would you like to learn it?” His son
somewhat reluctantly, typical of a teenage boy, agreed to cooperate. His father
pointed to two mountain peaks off in the distance to the left of the road ahead
and asked, “Which of those two peaks is higher?” His boy answered quickly,
“That’s easy, Dad! It’s clearly the one on the right, nearer to us.” His dad
just nodded and they talked about something else as they drove across the
lovely valley for about half an hour. When they got to the other side of the
valley, the dad said to his son, “Now look at those two mountain peaks and tell
me which one is higher.” The two peaks were now in the distance off to the
right of the road ahead. The young man said with some surprise, “I was wrong,
Dad. It is clearly the peak on the left that is higher.” Wanting to teach his
son a lesson, the father then said, “There is a lesson to be learned here about
the truth. Can you tell me what the lesson is?” His son thought for a minute
and then, pretty proud of himself for figuring it out, said, “It looks to me,
Dad, like the truth depends on where we stand in relation to it.”
The story
doesn’t end there. The father pulled the car off to the side of the road so
they could talk. He complimented his son on coming up with an answer that
sounded pretty good. And then he said, “There is a topographical map of this
region in the glovebox in front of you. Take it out and see if you can find
those two peaks.” The young man was familiar with topographical maps (so called
“topo maps”) because he had used them with his dad when hiking in the
mountains. He knew that the parallel curving lines represented different levels
of elevation. Without much trouble, he found the two peaks on the map. When he
did, he looked surprised. His dad asked him, “So which of the two peaks is
higher?” The son was fairly amazed and said, “Actually, Dad, they are exactly
the same height!” His father, obviously pleased, then asked his son, “So, my
boy, as I said, there is a lesson here about the truth. Can you tell me what it
is?” His son didn’t even try to venture a guess this time. He said, “No, dad,
how about you tell me?”
His father
looked him squarely in the eyes and said, “My son, the truth is the truth –
regardless of where we stand in relation to it!” He then went on to talk
with his boy about things in this life that are true and how we can come to
know that they are true. He told his son that the most important truths are
eternal truths that come from God and can only be learned from Him and by the
ways He has established for us to learn them. Finally, he warned his son that
we can break ourselves against eternal truths if we want to, but we can’t make
them become not true by choosing not to believe in or accept them.
Satan is the father of lies
Satan, the
father of lies (John 8:44), is promulgating one of his most pernicious lies in
our time. He is doing his diabolical best to convince people that there are no
absolute truths; that truth is in the eye of the beholder; that you can decide
what is true for you and I will decide what is true for me even though we may
come up with different “truths.” Further, he is teaching that to try to get
someone to believe in “your” truth is an invasion of their personal integrity
and an affront to their intelligence. All truth is relative, Satan teaches, and
we decide what “truths” we choose to believe and live by. What is true for you
is not necessarily true for me. I’m offended if you expect me to believe your
truths and if you want me to make choices based on what you “know” to be
“true.”
How we learn eternal truths
But there
are eternal truths. And we can learn them from our Father in Heaven by the
medium of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth. The promise of the Book of
Mormon is that we can know that it is true by the power of the Holy Ghost and
thus know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet who actually saw God and restored
His church to the earth and that we have living prophets and apostles on the
earth today with all of the keys, power and authority necessary to bring us
back to our heavenly home sealed together for eternity with those we love.
These truths are eternal. They are not debatable. Their verity does not depend
on whether we or anyone believes they are true.
A lesson from physics
Think of it
this way – a little logic from physics. When Joseph Smith saw the Father and
the Son in the grove of trees in the spring of 1820, he said that the pillar of
light which surrounded them was “above the brightness of the sun” and that he
saw two personages “whose brightness and glory defy all description” standing
in that pillar of light. They were not dark silhouettes within the bright
light. They were brighter than the pillar which itself was brighter than the
sun (the brightest light Joseph had ever seen). Some of that light from the
pillar of light and the Beings of light within the pillar surely escaped upward
from where They appeared to Joseph in the forest. That light is still
travelling through space at 186,000 miles per second and is now nearly 200
light years away from earth. If a person living on a world nearly 200 light
years away from our earth were to train a remarkably powerful telescope on the
planet earth orbiting a medium sized star in our Milky Way galaxy at just the
right time, they would see light coming from a small forest in the eastern part
of North America.
What I’m saying is that the reality
of the First Vision is recorded forever in the universe. It is not debatable.
It is not up for a vote. It is not relative or conditional. It is absolutely
true. It is true, regardless of where we stand in relation to it. And the Book
of Mormon is the way God has given us to know that Joseph’s story of the First
Vision is true.
Invitation to read with an open mind and a believing
heart
So, as we read the Book of Mormon
together this year, as you read it individually and with your family, have an
open mind and a humble, believing heart. Ask yourself, could Joseph Smith have
written this book by himself? Could anyone have authored this book other than
prophets from the ancient civilizations of which it speaks? What am I feeling?
Listen to the Spirit speak to you in your mind and in your heart (D&C 8:2).
My testimony
I add my testimony to those of the
twelve witnesses of the Book of Mormon whose testimonies are found in the front
of the Book. I’ve never seen an angel, let alone Angel Moroni, and I’ve never
seen the plates, but I know that the Book of Mormon is true, that it is the
word of God recorded by ancient prophets, delivered to Joseph Smith by Moroni
and translated by the gift and power of God. Because I know that the Book of
Mormon is true, I know that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet, that he saw the
Father and the Son and that they are real. And I know that the true Church of
Jesus Christ was restored to the earth in these latter days in fulfillment of
ancient prophecy through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Because I know that the Book of Mormon is true, I know that the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints is, in fact, the true church of Jesus Christ, “. .
. the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which
I, the Lord, am well pleased . . .” (D&C 1:30). And I know that President
Russell M. Nelson is the Lord’s prophet today and that His (the Lord’s) church
is securely established on the “. . . foundation of apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;” (Ephesians 2:20)
I’m grateful for the Book of Mormon
– the “keystone of our religion” and the keystone of my testimony!
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