Robert Bowman, a long-standing anti-Mormon, tried to call into question
the reliability of the Three and Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon due to
the lack of any females being formal
witnesses to the angel and/or the plates. His words will be in red, followed by comments in black.
Genders of witnesses. Mary Magdalene is
recognized in the Gospels and in Christian belief as the first witness to the
risen Chris. In addition, a group of five or possibly more women—Mary Magdalene,
Joanna, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, Salome, and at least one unnamed
woman—were the first witnesses to the empty tomb (Matt. 27;56, 61; 28:1; Mark
16:1; Luke 24:10). Mary Magdalene is the only
mortal mentioned in all four of the Gospel narratives as a witness to the empty
tomb. (Robert M. Bowman Jr., Jesus’ Resurrection and Joseph’s Visions: Examining the Foundations of
Christianity and Mormonism [Tampa, Fla.: DeWard Publishing Company, 2020], 300-1)
Yes, but
were any of these female witnesses medical experts trained in ancient
crucifixion techniques and anatomy to know that (1) Jesus truly died from
crucifixion and (2) did they run medical tests to ensure it was [a] Jesus and
not an imposter/look-alike and [b] was resurrected? I mean, according
to Bowman, as none of the “[Book of Mormon] witnesses could have had any
way to know or verify that the plates were many hundreds of years old" (p.
220), so what is good for the (Mormon) goose is good for the (New Testament and/or Protestant and inerrantist)
gander.
By contrast, only men are formally
recognized in the LDS religion as witnesses to the gold plates . . . A few
stories of women seeing the plates, most notably the story of Mary Whitmer
(mother of David, one of the Three Witnesses) arose half a century or more
later in the form of secondhand accounts . . . the story is that sometime while
Joseph was living at the Whitmers’ farm and translating the Book of Mormon,
Mary encountered an old man at the barn who showed her the gold plates. A
number of question may be asked about this account . . . Why is the angel represented
as an old man rather than as the luminous being that Joseph reported Moroni to
be? (p. 300)
Talking
donkeys, a rib women conversing with a talking, walking snake, and Aaron’s rod
transforming itself into a serpent are not questionable. But hey, an angelic
being appearing as an old man? Gottcha.
Anyway, in
the Bible, angelic beings have the ability to transform their appearance. Satan
(an angelic being) has the ability to transform himself and his followers (2 Co
11:14). The verb used is μετασχηματίζω, which is rare. It is used in the
Testament of Job to describe how Satan can disguise/transform himself into a
beggar (6:4); king of the Persians (17:1-2) and a breadseller (23:1). It is
also used of the Watchers transforming themselves into men (Testament of Reuben
5:6). Paul elsewhere used it in Phil 3:21 about the transformation of our
resurrected bodies. I am sure angels of God have such abilities, too. I know Bowman likes to think (mistakenly) that he has the metaphysical abilities of angels (in both LDS and Protestant theologies) nailed down, but I won't pretend to.
Furthermore,
the angelic being who appeared to Mary Whitmer may not have been Moroni; she
did refer to him as “Brother Nephi,” and as
discussed in a previous response to Bowman, early LDS leaders (e.g.,
Brigham Young; John Taylor; George Q. Cannon) believed Nephi (and other Book of
Mormon figures) also appeared to Joseph Smith (see Royal Skousen, Another
Account of Mary Whitmer’s Viewing of the Golden Plates [an article
referenced by Bowman on p. 300 n. 15]; cf. Daniel C. Peterson, “Idle
Tales”? The Witness of Women).
As for secondhand accounts, Grant Palmer, Dan Vogel, and others are reliant upon secondhand and hearsay accounts to disparage the reliability of the Three and Eight Witnesses, and many of these narratives are fanciful and coloured by anti-Mormon bias. Can Bowman admit that he uses one set of standards for himself and another for Latter-day Saints?
The women who obviously should have seen the plates (if not also
introduced to the angel), in particular Joseph’s wife Emma and his other Lucy,
were never allowed to see them. (p. 300)
I will note
that if Emma and Lucy wrote a statement affirming they say the angel and/or the
plates, Bowman and others would dismiss them as they were too close to Joseph
(wife and mother, respectively) and use such as evidence “they were in the know”
with Joseph, etc.
Furthermore,
in the blog post, 5
Women Who Are Witnesses of the Physical Golden Plates on the Book of Mormon Central Website,
we read the following about Lucy and Emma:
1. Lucy Mack Smith
Most members know of Mother Smith’s in-depth biography of
Joseph Smith. What they may not know is that she
dictated it mere months after the deaths of Joseph, Hyrum, and Samuel. She
found comfort in her grief by finally putting these events on paper. Regarding
the project, she wrote, “I have told over many things pertaining to these
matters to different persons . . . [and] indeed have almost destroyed my lungs.”[14] Now
that’s commitment and dedication!
In her history, Lucy Mack Smith testified repeatedly of
her physical proximity to the golden plates and other artifacts recovered at
Cumorah.[15] She
could hardly have avoided the plates, even covered in cloth, sitting in the
open on her front room table, as she describes. She may have also viewed them uncovered,
as reported by a British clergyman who’d lost many parishioners to Mormon
missionaries. This pastor’s book, documenting his visit to Nauvoo in 1842, is
otherwise a premeditated “hit job” against the Church, but one
face-to-face quote from Lucy Mack Smith is noteworthy:
I have seen and handled the golden plates. They are about
eight inches long, and six wide; some of them are sealed together and not to be
opened, and some of them are loose. They are all connected by a hole which
passes through a ring at the end of each plate, and are covered with letters
beautifully engraved.[16]
This book is replete with laughable efforts to disseminate
“fake news,” but this statement, if remotely accurate, is a testament of the
extraordinary trust Lucy Mack Smith had earned from her son, and the Lord.
Mother Smith was no delicate flower when it came to
bearing testimony either. From a ship’s deck she shouted to an anti-Mormon
heckler on the bank:
[It] was brought forth by the power of God and translated
by the same power, and if I could make my voice sound as loud as the trumpet of
Michael, the archangel, I would declare the truth from land to land and from
sea to sea and echo it from isle to isle, until everyone in the whole family of
man was left without excuse—for all should hear the truth of the gospel of the
Son of God![17]
For more information about this singular figure in LDS
history, go here.
. . .
3. Emma Smith
The essential—even phenomenal—role Emma played in bringing
forth the Book of Mormon has been re-examined on many fronts. Moroni first instructed
Joseph to enlist his oldest brother, Alvin, to help him recover the plates.
After Alvin’s untimely death, Joseph was told his replacement would be revealed
by revelation.[20] That
person was Emma Hale.
At midnight on the appointed date, Joseph and his new
bride arrived by wagon at the base of the hill. Joseph climbed alone in the
dark, returning hours later with the plates under his coat. Whatever his
efforts to conceal them, Emma wasn’t so dull or distracted that she failed to
notice he carried something substantial.[21]
After the plates were removed to the Hale home in Harmony,
PA, Emma acted as the volume’s first scribe.[22] An
experienced school teacher, she said that at this time her husband “…could
neither write nor dictate a coherent and well-worded letter; let alone
dictating a book like the Book of Mormon.”[23] Her
insights are considered invaluable in helping to understanding the translation
process.[24]
Emma felt obliged at times to “lift and move [the covered
plates] when she swept and dusted . . .”[25] though
she would not “uncover them to look . . .”.
I once felt of the plates,” she admitted, “as they thus
lay on the table, tracing their outline and shape. They seemed to be pliable
like thick paper, and would rustle with a metallic sound when the edges were
moved by the thumb, as one does sometimes thumb the edges of a book. [26]
Emma Smith, the “Elect lady,”[27] stands
as a compelling witness of the plates’ physicality. Also of the Nephite
Interpreters and other instruments of translation.[28] To
read more about her contribution, go here.
Notes for the Above
[15] Daniel C. Peterson, “Not Joseph’s,
and Not Modern,” in Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon,
ed. Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, and John W. Welch (Provo, Utah: FARMS,
2002), 209–210. Regarding other artifacts recovered
from Cumorah, Lucy Mack Smith wrote of the Nephite Interpreters, or Urim and
Thummim, as follows: “I . . . took the article in my hands
and, examining it with no covering but a silk handkerchief, found that it
consisted of two smooth three-cornered diamonds set in glass, and the glasses
were set in silver bows connected with each other in much the same way that
old-fashioned spectacles are made.” Regarding the Nephite
breastplate, she wrote: “he [Joseph] handed me the breastplate
spoken of in his history. It was wrapped in a thin muslin handkerchief; so
thin that I could see the
glistening metal, and ascertain <feel> its proportions
without any difficulty: It was concave on one side and convex on the
other; and extended from the neck downwards as far as the centre of the
stomach of a man of extraordinary size. It had four straps of the
same material for the purpose of fastening it to the breast: two of which
ran back to go over the shoulders, and the other two were designed to
fasten to the hips. These straps [p. 114] were just the width of two of my
fingers; (for I measured them); and they had holes in the end of them
for convenience in fastening . . . were just the width of two of my fingers;
(for I measured them); and they had holes in the end of them for
convenience in fastening [stricken text is from the original
manuscript written at Mother Smith’s dictation. Her mention of ‘glistening
metal’ was retained for the sake of interest]” Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and
His Progenitors for Many Generations (Liverpool, UK: S. W.
Richards, 1853), 99–147.
[16] Henry Caswall, The
City of the Mormons; or, Three Days at Nauvoo, in 1842, 2nd ed.,
revised and enlarged, (London, UK: J. G. F. & J. Rivington, 1843), 27.
. . .
[20] Dean Jesse, “Joseph Knight’s Recollection of Early Mormon History,” BYU
Studies17, no. 1 (1976): 2. This story was reaffirmed in the recollections
of his sister, Katherine Smith Salisbury, with Moroni explaining, “You will
know her when you see her.” Kyle R. Walker, “Katherine Smith Salisbury’s Recollections of Joseph’s
Meetings with Moroni,” BYU Studies Quarterly 41,
no. 3 (2002): 14.
[22] Amy Easton-Flake and Rachel Cope, “A
Multiplicity of Witnesses: Women and the Translation Process,” in The
Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon: A Marvelous Work and a Wonder,
ed. Dennis L. Largey, Andrew H. Hedges, John Hilton III, and Kerry Hull (Salt
Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and Religious Studies Center, Brigham
Young University, 2015), 144.
[25] John W. Welch, “The Miraculous Timing of the Translation of the Book of
Mormon,” in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine
Manifestations, 1820–1844, ed. John W. Welch, 2nd edition (Salt
Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and BYU Press, 2017), 145, doc. 43.