https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... -lied.html
So many people would have to had lied about Mormonism that it is essentially by default true. The burden of proof is on YOU, dear apostate, to prove that they lied and it's all a giant conspiracy. You are the crazy conspiracy theorist.Leaving a general conference session a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a
demonstrator holding a sign announcing that Joseph Smith had “lied.”
Now, I don’t buy this for a second. The evidence for Joseph’s overall sincerity
(including his apparent willingness to die for his claims, but also exhibited in his
personal papers and letters, which, though never intended for publication, are
now being made available to a general audience) is strong and compelling.
But, I found myself wondering, is it really only Joseph who has to have lied if
dishonesty, false witness, is supposed to account for Mormonism and the
restored church?
Not by a long shot.
Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris and David Whitmer would need to have lied
about their encounter with Moroni, the plates, the Urim and Thummim, a
number of other exotic objects and the audible voice of God. Christian Whitmer,
Jacob Whitmer, Peter Whitmer Jr., John Whitmer, Hiram Page, Joseph Smith
Sr., Hyrum Smith and Samuel Harrison Smith must have lied about seeing and
“hefting” the plates of the Book of Mormon. Hyrum Smith, in fact, must have
maintained that lie through four months of winter misery in Liberty Jail in
Missouri and right up through his clearly foreseen martyrdom in Carthage, Ill.
Lucy Mack Smith must have borne false witness in claiming to have held the
breastplate that came with the Nephite record. Emma Smith and Katherine
Smith Salisbury must have lied in their descriptions of the Book of Mormon
plates. William Smith must have lied in estimating the weight of the plates at
about 60 pounds. Mary Whitmer must have lied to her son and grandson in
claiming to have seen them.
Oliver Cowdery must have lied about the hands of John the Baptist and then of
Peter, James and John being laid upon his head to confer priesthood authority.
Sidney Rigdon must have borne false witness about the vision of the three
degrees of glory that he supposedly shared with Joseph Smith (Doctrine and
Covenants 76). Philo Dibble must also have lied in recalling his experience with
Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon on that occasion.
More than 120 witnesses must have falsely testified about Brigham Young’s
transformation before their eyes upon his succession to the presidency of the
church. Brigham Young himself must have lied about receiving the revelation
contained in Doctrine and Covenants 136. Joseph F. Smith, too, must have lied
when he claimed a vision of the redemption of the dead, now canonized as
Doctrine and Covenants 138. Spencer W. Kimball must likewise have been lying,
in early June 1978, about receiving the revelation on priesthood now identified
with “Official Declaration — 2” in the Doctrine and Covenants. Elders Bruce R.
McConkie and David B. Haight, with other members of the Council of the
Twelve Apostles, must also have lied when they bore testimony of their
experience during that revelation, as did the two apostles who, weeping, told
historian Leonard Arrington what had just happened to them in the Salt Lake
Temple.
Lorenzo Snow must have lied to his granddaughter about his vision of Christ in
the temple at the death of President Wilford Woodruff, and President George Q.
Cannon must have been lying when, on at least three occasions that I know of,
he testified before spellbound audiences about having spoken with the Savior
face to face.
I don’t believe it. I don’t believe that Joseph Smith and his associates were liars. I
see no direct indication of it. And I don’t believe these other witnesses have been
deliberate, conscious deceivers. The evidence for their sincerity is, once again,
overwhelming, and persuasive.
But perhaps, a critic might respond, a significant proportion of these people
were simply mad. Not likely. Joseph Smith would have to have been unerringly
successful in identifying crazy and hallucinatory people, ahead of time, who
would corroborate rather than expose his baseless concoctions. And the odds of
this being the case are, in my judgment, extraordinarily low — so minuscule, in
fact, as to amount to virtual impossibility.
No, what gave rise to the Restoration, and what keeps it going, is the force of
experiences and convictions diffused among, and sincerely held by, hundreds of
thousands, even millions, of good, earnest people over the better part of two centuries now.
Important as he is, and much as we honor him, it doesn’t all rely
just upon Joseph Smith.