Is "Witnesses" an Attempt to Usurp the Brethren's Authority?

[Doctor Scratch]

Well. When you make an authoritative statement like this on your personal vanity blog:

However, his handing of a heavy box to Isaac Hale in which, he claimed, the plates were hidden gives a tangibility to the matter that makes it more difficult — not quite impossible yet, but definitely more difficult — to maintain that Joseph’s experiences were purely personal and subjective. This palpable object seems to point, instead, to either genuine authenticity or deliberate fraud. It begins to confront us with a very stark either/or choice.

You’re pretty much forcing the Brethren’s hands. Do they just accept Brother Peterson is a de facto Internet General Authority? Seems that way.

- Doc

It seems to me that Dr. Peterson is beginning to lose track of his own far-fetched statements. He writes that "[Joseph's] handing of a heavy box to Isaac Hale..." (emphasis mine). Uh, handed? Remember, DCP has said repeatedly that the they've aimed for "accuracy" in the Witnesses movie, with the plates weighing upward of 50 pounds. If that's true, then it's probably safe to assume that a sturdy wooden box would add an additional 10-15 pounds, meaning we're looking at something weighing *75* pounds being "handed over." Have you ever "handed over" a 75 lb. object to someone? I mean, maybe if the thing was sitting on the ground and you were asked to heft it, but no one is simply "handing" a 75 lb. box over to somebody--that just isn't happening. Even if you assume--as the Mopologists no doubt do--that Joseph Smith was an Olympic-caliber athlete with near super-human strength, I doubt they think the same thing about Isaac Hale, who, due to his relative lack of faith, was probably a limp-wristed weakling.

[Shulem]

was probably a limp-wristed weakling.

Peterson, a limp-wristed weakling? Oh my.



Seriously, the added weight of a sturdy box designed to hold the dense weight of gold compressed over the short square inch area within the box is quite significant. The box would have required thickness and metal fasteners in order to carry the plates over distance and time. It would be heavy. Who made and designed the box?

I'd like to see Peterson carry the box of plates. It's one thing to make a movie about such fantasies and it's quite another to actually heft a heavy box filled with gold.

[Moksha]

Have LDS apologists ever floated the idea that the angel placed a gravity dampening field on the plates? If not, this idea could be a game-changer at the FAIRMormon Conference to be held online in August.

[Shulem]

Have LDS apologists ever floated the idea that the angel placed a gravity dampening field on the plates? If not, this idea could be a game-changer at the FAIRMormon Conference to be held online in August.

So the heavy hunk of gold in the heavy box floated about by the miracle of levitation in which it was made light in the prophet's arms.

Yeah, that must be what happened.

[Moksha]

So the heavy hunk of gold in the heavy box floated about by the miracle of levitation in which it was made light in the prophet's arms.

Yeah, that must be what happened.

If this hypothesis is not disprovable then it becomes one more useful argument in the apologetic arsenal.