4.25 Accusation: What about Joseph Smith’s revelation?

Published by 1c15 on 9th December 20199th December 2019

Like Jesus’ apostles, Smith willingly died for his beliefs. If willingness to suffer indicates truth of Jesus’ disciples, why not accept Joseph Smith’s testimony?

1. While all the apostles were willing to suffer and die for their beliefs, 6 of the 11 witnesses to Joseph Smith’s golden plates left the Mormon church. 

All the witnesses were family, close friends, or financial backers of Joseph Smith. Cowdery, Page, and the five Whitmers were related by marriage. Imagine the damage to the credibility of the testimonies of Jesus’ resurrection if Peter, James, John, and 2 other disciples had left Christianity within a few years?! However they clung to their faith until the end of their lives

2. Even if several persons did see gold plates, this says absolutely nothing about the viability of their content.

The issue is not whether there were actually eyewitnesses to the plates, but whether the plates contained revealed truth from God, of that, we really have no evidence at all.

3. There is no evidence the Book of Mormon is true

No specific archaeological findings have been linked to events and places described in the Book of Mormon. There is in contrast plenty of evidence outside of the disciples to support the claims of Jesus’ resurrection (5 facts)

4. There is evidence that the Mormon documents are not true, including the lack of archaeological evidence, where it should be and problems with the book of Abraham.

We won’t get into that here however…For more on the problems with Mormonism, see Michael R. Licona’s short book on the topic, Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock

Sources on ‘Joseph Smith’

• See Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Testimony of Three Witnesses, and Testimony of Eleven Witnesses, published as introduction to the Book of Mormon.
• Mormon witnesses leaving — https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Mormon_witnesses
• Mormon family — Grant H. Palmer, An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002), 179. Palmer devotes an entire chapter to the magical mindset of the Book of Mormon Witnesses.
• For more on the problems with Mormonism, see Michael R. Licona, Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock (Virginia Beach, Va.: TruthQuest, 1998).