Joseph Smith didn’t write the Book of Mormon.
“As to the plates which [Joseph Smith] professes to have, gentlemen, if you do not believe it, but continue to resist the truth, it will one day be the means of damning your souls.�� - Martin Harris (Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors for Many Generations (Liverpool, England: S. W. Richards, 1853), 134)
“Joseph Smith, Jun., the translator of this work, has shown unto us the plates of which hath been spoken, which have the appearance of gold.” - Christian Whitmer, Jacob Whitmer, Peter Whitmer, Jun., John Whitmer, Hiram Page ,Joseph Smith, Sen., Hyrum Smith, Samuel H. Smith
“I have never heard that any one of the Three or Eight Witnesses ever denied the testimony that they have borne to the book published in the first edition of the Book of Mormon. Our names have gone forth … as a divine revelation from God.” - John Whitmer
“He [Joseph] handed them uncovered into our hands, and we turned the leaves sufficient to satisfy us." - John Whitmer, (Deseret Evening News, 6 Aug 1878)
"I felt a determination to die, rather than deny the things which my eyes had seen, which my hands had handled, and which I had borne testimony to, wherever my lot had been cast."
- Hyrum Smith, (Times & Seasons 1839)
"To say my mind was so treacherous that I had forgotten what I saw. … [I]t would be treating the God of heaven with contempt, to deny these testimonies."
- Hiram Page, 1847, while he was out of the Church (to William McLellin. Ensign of Liberty)
“An angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon.” - Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, Martin Harris
"I know the book to be a revelation from God, translated by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, and that my brother Joseph Smith, Jr., is a Prophet, Seer and Revelator." - Samuel Smith
(Phineas Young, Deseret News, 1858, Anderson's Investigating)
"I was not under any hallucination, nor was I deceived! I saw with these eyes and I heard with these ears! I know whereof I speak!"
- David Whitmer, 1884
(Saints' Herald, 28 January 1936)
“I desire to testify to all that will come to the knowledge of this address; that I have most assuredly seen the plates from whence the Book of Mormon is translated." - John Whitmer, (Messenger and Advocate, 1836)
"The Book of Mormon is no fake. I know what I know. I have seen what I have seen and I have heard what I have heard." - Martin Harris
(George Godfrey, Church History Library, MS 2473)
"Of course we were in the spirit when we had the view, for no man can behold the face of an angel, except in a spiritual view, but we were in the body also, and everything was as natural to us, as it is at any time."
- David Whitmer, 1888
(to Metcalf; Cook's D W Interviews)
"Gentlemen, do you see that hand? Are you sure you see it? Are your eyes playing a trick or something? No. Well, as sure as you see my hand so sure did I see the angel and the plates."
- Martin Harris, (Deseret News, October 2, 1943)
"A thousand things may be conjectured, but when [John Whitmer] declares openly, candidly, and seriously, of what he has seen, hefted and handled with his own hands,…no man possessed of common reason and common sense, can doubt"
- Oliver Cowdery, (Messenger & Advocate 1835)
"I now say, I handled those plates; there were fine engravings on both sides. I handled them."
- John Whitmer, (Theodore Turley, EMDv5)
Peter’s remains are not in Rome and John the Beloved never died.
Thus saith the Lord, “And also with Peter, and James, and John, whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be apostles, and especial witnesses of my name” (D&C 27:12-13).
@DavoustBaldPate@FiverMacGyver I didn’t pop in and out of the grave at Joseph Smith’s whim.
God, who is Almighty, raised them from the dead, so they could physically lay their hands on Joseph Smith and ordain him to the priesthood.
But it makes perfect sense that a form member of the church leaves and
@JoshuaKbooks@FiverMacGyver They actually do. You can show as much topless nudity as you want in an art movie. Were they draw the line at NC 17 is if there is full frontal of nudity below the belt
@DavoustBaldPate@FiverMacGyver Imagine being as duped as you and 1 billion other Catholics are.
Peter has risen from a dead as has John the Baptist because the Book of Mormon exists in the testimony of the three and eight witnesses is proof as the testimony of the Holy Ghost to the individual
“Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men” (Alma 48:17).