Mormonism and Wikipedia/Golden plates/Witness accounts

Returning the plates

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An analysis of the Wikipedia article "Golden plates" (Version December 10, 2009)

Witness accounts

-	Wikipedia Main Article: Golden plates–	Wikipedia Footnotes: Golden plates–Notes	A FAIR Opinion
	Smith said the angel Moroni had commanded him not to show the plates to any unauthorized person.
	According to some sources, Smith initially intended that the first authorized witness be his firstborn son;	Chase (1834) (citing Martin Harris as stating in 1829 that Smith’s unborn son would translate the plates at the age of two (this son was stillborn), and thereafter, "you will see Joseph Smith, Jr. walking through the streets of Palmyra, with the Gold Bible under his arm, and having a gold breast-plate on, and a gold sword hanging by his side."); Hale (1834) , p. 264 (stating that the first witness would be "a young child”).	Violates Wikipedia: Synthesis off-site: Do not put together information from multiple sources to reach a conclusion that is not stated explicitly by any of the sources. The wiki editors have synthesized two sources to conclude that Joseph's firstborn son would be "an authorized witness." The sources state no such thing. The first source, Willard Chase, is a hostile second-hand retelling of something that Martin Harris is supposed to have said. The second source, also hostile, is Isaac Hale, who states that "I inquired of Joseph Smith Jr., who was to be the first who would be allowed to see the Book of Plates? He said it was a young child." These two statements have been conflated by the wiki editor to draw the conclusion given in the main text.
	but this child was stillborn in 1828.	Howe (1834) , p. 269; Smith (1853) , p. 118.	Violates Wikipedia: Neutral Point-of-View off-site— All Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view, representing fairly, and as far as possible without bias, all significant views that have been published by reliable sources. Note that this statement that the child was stillborn is given both in the footnote and the main text, and is in deliberate contrast to the preceding statement. The wiki editor wishes to subtly demonstrate Joseph's lack of prophetic ability by synthesizing the previous conclusion—Joseph's firstborn would be a witness—with the fact that the firstborn child was stillborn.
	In March 1829, Martin Harris came to Harmony to see the plates, but was unable to find them in the woods where Smith said they could be found.	In March 1829, Martin Harris returned to Harmony and wanted to see the plates firsthand. Smith reportedly told Harris that Smith "would go into the woods where the Book of Plates was, and that after he came back, Harris should follow his tracks in the snow, and find the Book, and examine it for himself"; after following these directions, however, Harris could not find the plates Hale (1834) , pp. 264–265.	Violates Wikipedia: Neutral Point-of-View off-site— All Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view, representing fairly, and as far as possible without bias, all significant views that have been published by reliable sources. Note that this is the second time that this statement from Isaac Hale about Martin attempting to find the plates in the woods has been employed. There is no objective reason for doing so. The real reason, of course, is that the wiki editor wishes to demonstrate for a second time that Joseph told Martin something that did not come to pass.
	The next day,	Hale (1834) , p. 265.
	Smith dictated a revelation stating that Harris could eventually qualify himself	To qualify as a witness, Harris had to “humble himself in mighty prayer and faith” Phelps (1833) , pp. 10–12.	Correct, per cited sources
	to be one of three witnesses with the exclusive right to "view [the plates] as they are".	Phelps (1833) , pp. 11–12. Smith’s dictated text of the Book of Ether (chapter 2) also made reference to three witnesses, stating that the plates would be shown to them "by the power of God" Smith (1830) , p. 548.
	By June 1829, Smith determined that there would be eight additional witnesses, a total of twelve including Smith.	In June 1829, around the time these eleven additional witnesses were selected, Smith dictated a revelation commanding Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer (two of the eventual Three Witnesses) to seek out twelve "disciples", who desired to serve, and who would "go into all the world to preach my gospel unto every creature", and who would be ordained to baptize and to ordain priests and teachers Phelps (1833) , p. 37. According to D. Michael Quinn, this was a reference to selecting the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, who would be a leading body of Smith's Church of Christ.[Citation needed}. Mormon religious and apologetic commentators understand this revelation as referring to the eventual (in 1835, six years later) formation of the first Quorum of the Twelve.[Citation needed}
	During the second half of June 1829,	Van Horn (1881) .
	Smith took Harris, Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer (known collectively as the Three Witnesses),	According to Smith's mother, upon hearing news in June 1929 that Smith had completed the translation of the plates Smith (1853) , p. 138, Martin Harris accompanied the Smith parents to the Whitmer home in Fayette, New York, where Smith was staying Smith (1853) , p. 138, to inquire about the translation Roberts (1902) , p. 51. When Harris arrived, he joined with Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer to request that the three be named as the Three Witnesses, and Smith's dictated revelation designating the three of them as the witnesses Smith (Cowdery) , p. 171.
	into woods in Fayette, New York, where they said they saw an angel holding the golden plates and turning the leaves.	Roberts (1902) , pp. 54–55; Smith (1830b) .	Correct, per cited sources
	The four also said they heard "the voice of the Lord" telling them that the translation of the plates was correct, and commanding them to testify of what they saw and heard.	Roberts (1902) , pp. 54–55; Smith (1830b) . David Whitmer later stated that the angel showed them "the breast plates, the Ball or Directors, the Sword of Laban and other plates". (Van Horn (1881) ; Kelley (Blakeslee) ; see also Smith (1835) , p. 171.	Correct, per cited sources
	A few days later, Smith took a different group of Eight Witnesses	The Eight Witnesses consisted of two groups: (1) the males of the Whitmer home, including David Whitmer's father Peter, his brothers Christian, Jacob, and John, and his brother-in-law Hiram Page; and (2) the older males of the Smith family, including is father Joseph Smith, Sr. and his brothers Hyrum and Samuel.	Correct, per cited sources
	to a location near Smith's parents' home in Palmyra	Smith (1853) . Because of a foreclosure on their Manchester property, the Smith family was then living in a log cabin technically in Palmyra (Smith (1883) , p. 14; Berge (1985) )
	where they said Smith showed them the golden plates.	Roberts (1902) , p. 57. Though the Eight Witnesses did not refer, like the Three, to an angel or the voice of God, they said that they had hefted the plates and seen the engravings on them: “The translator of this work, has shown unto us the plates of which hath been spoken, which have the appearance of gold; and as many of the leaves as the said Smith has translated we did handle with our hands; and we also saw the engravings thereon, all of which has the appearance of ancient work, and of curious workmanship" Smith (1830b) .	Correct, per cited sources
	Statements over the names of these men, apparently drafted by Joseph Smith,	This is the conclusion of Palmer (2002) , p. 195-96, who compared "The Testimony of Three Witnesses" to part of the Doctrine and Covenants written in 1829 (first published at Smith (Cowdery) , p. 171), and concluding that they show "the marks of common authorship". Palmer also compares a letter from Oliver Cowdery to Hyrum Smith dated June 14, 1829, quoting the language of this revelation (Joseph Smith letterbook (22 November 1835 to 4 August 1835), 5-6). Commentators generally agree that this letter refers to the revelation. See Larry C. Porter, "Dating the Restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood", Ensign (June 1979), 5.
	were published in 1830 as an appendix to the Book of Mormon.	Smith (1830b) .	Correct, per cited sources
	According to later statements ascribed to Martin Harris, the witnesses viewed the plates in a vision and not with their "natural eyes."	Gilbert (1892) (during the printing of the Book of Mormon, when asked whether Harris had seen the plates with his bodily eyes, he replied, "No, I saw them with a spiritual eye."); Burnett (1838) (Burnett "came to hear Martin Harris state in public that he never saw the plates with his natural eyes only in vision or imagination, neither Oliver nor David & also that the eight witnesses never saw them & hesitated to sign that instrument for that reason, but were persuaded to do it, the last pedestal gave away"); Parrish (1838) ("Martin Harris, one of the subscribing witnesses, has come out at last, and says he never saw the plates, from which the book purports to have been translated, except in vision, and he further says that any man who says he has seen them in any other way is a liar, Joseph not excepted."; Metcalf in EMD, 2: 347 (quoting Harris, near the end of his long life, as saying he had seen the plates in "a state of entrancement"). Harris was resolute, however, as to his position that he had seen the plates in a vision. See Letter of Martin Harris, Sr., to Hanna B. Emerson, January 1871, Smithfield, Utah Territory, Saints' Herald 22 (15 October 1875):630, in EMD 2: 338 ("No man heard me in any way deny the truth of the Book of Mormon, the administration of the angel that showed me the plates; nor the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints under the administration of Joseph Smith, Jr."). See also Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1981), 118	For a detailed response, see: Book of Mormon/Witnesses/"Eye of Faith" and "Spiritual Eye" statements by Martin Harris
	In addition to Smith and the other eleven who claimed to be witnesses, a few other early Mormons said they saw the plates. For instance, Smith's mother Lucy Mack Smith said she had "seen and handled" the plates.	Smith (1842b) , p. 27.
	Smith's wife Emma and his younger brother William also said they had examined the plates while they were wrapped in fabric.	Smith (1879) ; Smith (1884) .	Correct, per cited sources
	Others said they had visions of the plates or had been shown the plates by an angel, in some cases years after Smith said he had returned the plates.	For instances of people testifying to having seen the Golden Plates after Smith returned them to the angel, see the affirmations of John Young and Harrison Burgess in Palmer (2002) , p. 201. In 1859, Brigham Young referred to one of these "post-return" testimonies: "Some of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, who handled the plates and conversed with the angels of God, were afterwards left to doubt.... One of the Quorum of the Twelve, a young man full of faith and good works, prayed, and the vision of his mind was opened, and the angel of God came and laid the plates before him, and he saw and handled them, and saw the angel." Journal of Discourses, June 5, 1859, 7: 164.

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