The Book of Mormon Witnesses Part Four — The Eight Witnesses

Finally I am able to pick up with my series of posts on the Book of Mormon Witnesses. Unlike the other posts to this point, I will briefly talk about what the eight witnesses experienced as a whole and what sets their testimonies apart from the world.

A Testimony by Any Other Name

To begin, the Book of Mormon very clearly prophesies in multiple places that three witnesses would be chosen by God to testify of the Nephite record, such as in Ether 5 and 2 Nephi 27. But where does it say anything about there being eight witnesses?  While I was serving my mission, one evangelical I had met outside a library in Garland, Texas saw this as absolute proof that Joseph Smith was a liar. He couldn't even stick to what he wrote, after all! Why did he feel the need to expand this to eight other witnesses?

Well, as passionate as (for the sake of brevity we'll call him Jonathan) he was, Jonathan didn't quite quote the source material right, and this false understanding led to what he saw as a fatal flaw of the historicity of the Book of Mormon record. (But seriously, of all the things to be upset about, you're mad that more people said Joseph was telling the truth?)

In 2 Nephi 27:12-13, when Nephi is testifying of the witnesses, he says that there will be shown the record "by the power of God," and no one else besides them and the prophet to translate the record, "save it be a few according to the will of God," will be able to see the plates. Even besides the three witnesses, there will be others who will be chosen to see them as God willed and under different circumstances than the three.

Among those witnesses (of many others) were the eight witnesses — men chosen by Joseph Smith as he felt inspired who hefted the plates and felt their engravings as they testified of in  their testimony published in the Book of Mormon. This choice could onl;y have been inspired in the highest sense of the word. For all those who would be most moved by a deeply spiritual experience, God provided the Three Witnesses to bear that testimony. For those who would still doubt, God provided eight formal witnesses who could bear testimony that the plates were real because they examined them with their own eyes — The Lord provided both spiritual and temporal witnesses for the Book of Mormon for the benefit of all of his children.

The Witnesses

Of the eight witnesses, four were in the Whitmer family, three were in Joseph Smith's immediate family, and the last (Hiram Page) married into the Whitmer clan. Why would Joseph choose people from essentially two families only? Well, if you were in the Prophet's position, who else would you turn to? People in Palmyra had tried stealing the plates on multiple occasions. Lucy Harris had practically ransacked his home, and he wasn't on the best of terms with his in laws the Hales. The only immediate witnesses available at the time were in the two families that had shown the most support to Joseph, taking into account that other friends of the Smiths like Joseph Knight probably weren't in upstate New York at the time Joseph showed them the plates. While some may see this as a critical flaw of their testimony, I see this as an obvious choice for the Prophet to make given the circumstances he was in, and considering the character of the eight witnesses, I don't have a single issue with Joseph's choice.

However, like the Three Witnesses, many of them left the Church at one point or another, and all of those came on the Whitmer side of the witnesses. However, not a single one of them ever denied having hefted the plates even when prompted to make that denial by disaffected members or unbelievers in general. A lot of the issues they had for being excommunicated (I personally believe) deals with David Whitmer's excommunication. I think we've all been in those awkward situations where someone in your family does something stupid but when you hear someone criticizing them, you tend to stick up for your family even when you think you are the only sane person in your family.

In light of the Eight Witnesses, I felt it would be good to add a brief note on their lives as members of the Church for anyone who would be interested.

CHRISTIAN WHITMER — Christian Whitmer was one of the eight witnesses who stayed true to the Gospel until his death in Clay County, Missouri in 1835. He was baptized April 11, 1830 and, according to David Whitmer, served as a scribe for the Book of Mormon translation on occasion.

JACOB WHITMER — Jacob Whitmer became disaffected from the Church and was excommunicated along with his brother David in 1838. He died in Richmond, Missouri in 1856.

PETER WHITMER, JR. — Peter Whitmer, Jr. was among the original six members of the Church of Christ organized in 1830 by Joseph Smith and as such was one of the few members baptized for the remission of sins in 1829, before the Church was organized. Like Christian, he would die in full fellowship of the Church, in 1836 in Clay County.

JOHN WHITMER — John Whitmer was baptized in 1829 for the remission of sins and acted as a scribe for the translation of the Book of Mormon. In 1831 he was appointed as the Church Historian after helping transcribe some of Joseph Smith's revelations, a calling which he fulfilled until his excommunication in 1838. He moved to Richmond with other members of his family and in 1847 he helped David Whitmer and an excommunicated Apostle, William E. McClellin, attempt to "reorganize" the Church in Missouri with David Whitmer as President, a church organization that fell apart and is no longer extant today. The history that he kept was handed on to David after his death in 1878, and in 1903 The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now called The Community of Christ) obtained it from a descendant of David Whitmer. They have allowed the Church to publish it as a part of the Joseph Smith Papers Project, however, as far as I am aware, it is still in their possession today.

HIRAM PAGE — Hiram was baptized in 1830 after the Church's organization. Sometime in 1830, he found a clear stone similar to one of Joseph's seer stones and claimed to be receiving revelation for the Church. After Joseph received D&C 28 in September 1830 in response to his claims, however, Hiram disposed of the stone and recanted all of the revelations he had received through it. He was excommunicated in 1838.

JOSEPH SMITH, SR. — The father to the Prophet, Joseph Sr. faced bad luck in farming and virtually all other business ventures, even being robbed of most of his savings by a business partner in a ginseng trade. This led to feelings of depression and even (to a slight degree) alcoholic tendencies throughout his life. Throughout his life, Joseph had many spiritual experiences, dreams, and visions that led him to believe that no organized religion then extant had any saving power, similar to his father. When Joseph Jr. told him of the angel Moroni, he was spiritually prepared to recognize it as a manifestation of God's love and power, and was baptized April 6, 1830, much to the joy of his son, the Prophet, who had a great deal of love for his father throughout his life. (Their bond was so powerful that Joseph Jr. requested only to have his father hold him during his famous leg surgery, feeling safer and more protected with his father than anything else could offer). He was the first Presiding Patriarch of the Church, and he died in 1840. Some of his last words to his sons were a request that they be baptized for his son Alvin, and then with the statement, "I see Alvin," he died surrounded by his family. Hyrum was baptized on behalf of his brother Alvin.

HYRUM SMITH — Hyrum stands as one of the two martyred prophets in Carthage, Illinois. He was called as the Presiding Patriarch after his father's death and then as the Assistant President to the Church to replace Oliver Cowdery and received all of the keys that Joseph Smith held. When Joseph chose to go to Carthage, Hyrum followed, loyal to the end, even though Joseph almost begged Hyrum to stay behind. There, pistol and ball took his life for his testimony.

SAMUEL SMITH — Samuel took Oliver Cowdery to meet the budding prophet in 1828 and was baptized in 1829 and an original member of the Church of Christ in 1830. Samuel rode quickly to Carthage upon hearing the news that a mob was forming. He arrived to late to save his brothers. He was chased by the mob and escaped, but complained of a pain in his side ever since that likely led to his death only thirty-four days after Joseph and Hyrum had been martyred in cold blood. 

Conclusion

These eight witnesses of the Book of Mormon all were called of God to bear their own testimony of the reality of the gold plates. They stand as eight pillars in the divine quorum of witnesses that God had prepared for the work of salvation in the latter days, and as such, their testimonies cannot be taken lightly. Either they in reality did lift plates that they described in great detail or they (especially those who became disaffected) were the most gullible fools in the world to be tricked by whatever Joseph Smith could quickly make to look like he had authentic gold plates. 

To me, there is only one possibility. They, like the other witnesses God had called, told the truth.