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Friday, June 28, is the 195th anniversary of the day three witnesses experienced a vision of the angel Moroni with the golden plates that Joseph Smith would translate into the Book of Mormon.
A new 53-minute video makes great use of the historical sites of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as it explores the evidence for the Book of Mormon provided by the histories of more than a dozen witnesses to the plates.
The video includes reenactments of events in 1829 as well as visits to church history sites by host Scott Christopher and three scholars:
- Dan Peterson, an emeritus professor of Arabic studies and producer of the 2021 feature-length film “Witnesses.”
- Casey Griffiths, a religious studies professor at Brigham Young University and co-host of the podcast “Church History Matters.”
- Steven Harper, a BYU professor of church history and doctrine and editor-in-chief of BYU Studies.
The group talks about the history on location in Palmyra and Fayette, New York; Harmony, Pennsylvania; and Kirtland, Ohio.
The video was published recently by Book of Mormon Central as Episode 5 of its series “A Marvelous Work.” Book of Mormon Central is a division of Scripture Central, a nonprofit organization founded in 2008 that describes its mission as “building enduring faith in Jesus Christ by illuminating the Book of Mormon and other restoration scripture, making them more accessible, defensible and comprehensible to people everywhere.”
Every copy of the Book of Mormon includes “The Testimony of the Three Witnesses,” who saw the plates when Moroni appeared to them, and “The Testimony of the Eight Witnesses,” whom Joseph Smith showed the plates and who handled and held them.
The group also talks about what they call unofficial or informal witnesses who saw or touched the plates, people like Josiah Stowell and Mary Whitmer and Joseph Smith’s mother and sisters.
Latter-day Saint history is replete with stories of how the three witnesses separated from the church at times but were never separated from their testimonies about what they saw.
“It’s interesting you can have that sense of spiritual conviction coexisting with very human slights and perceived insults and being overlooked and damaged ego, financial difficulties, that sort of thing,” Peterson says. “That can not overwhelm your witness because you maintain it, but it can separate you from the community. It can literally disfellowship you, in a way.”
“The work of the witnesses isn’t to persuade or not, it’s to stand as a witness,” Harper says. “All of us have to decide, ‘What will I do with that witness?’”
Christopher notes that the three witnesses all experienced tremendous challenges, but “regardless of their circ*mstances, none of them ever denied what they saw,” which for some of them included testifying in courts of law, under oath, about their experiences holding the plates, talking with angels and hearing God’s voice.
“These are what lawyers call witnesses,” Christopher says, “meaning they perceived through their senses, sight, hearing, touch, the things Joseph Smith claimed to be real and true. Their testimonies, under sacred, solemn oath, corroborate Joseph’s claims. These percipient testimonies become evidence published worldwide — in fact, over 200 million times — that the Book of Mormon is true.”
Here is a list of links to the first five episodes of “A Marvelous Work”:
- Episode 1: The Greatness of the Evidence.
- Episode 2: The Allegory of the Olive Tree.
- Episode 3: Is There A God?
- Episode 4: The Book of Mormon is a Literary Masterpiece.
- Episode 5: The Witnesses of the Book of Mormon.
My recent stories
(June 24)
What happened when 20 Latter-day Saints sat down with a famed British theologian (June 21)
Religious freedom for women is a key component to global peace, Latter-day Saint leader says (June 20)
About the church
Church leaders conducted the 2024 mission leaders seminar over the weekend. You can read summaries of the talks from the rich, annual event and see photos here. Speakers included:
- President Russell M. Nelson, who said, “The truths of the Book of Mormon are filled with power.”
- President Dallin H. Oaks, who advised leaders to teach young people to use Jesus Christ as their perfect role model.
- President Henry B. Eyring, who asked mission leaders to treat each missionary “as a sacred trust for whom you were personally prepared.”
- President Jeffrey R. Holland, who taught mission presidents how to help missionaries become lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ.
The church announced a new missionary training center for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The First Presidency announced the site location for the Springfield Missouri Temple and the groundbreaking date for the Santiago West Chile Temple.
Ground was broken for the Ribeirão Preto Brazil Temple.
Take an early look at which Latter-day Saint athletes will compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
My colleague Trent Toone wrote a look at the history and relationship between Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ (formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). He shares a scene that happened when Nancy Cervi, a Community of Christ pastor, was removing items from the Kirtland Temple as it was being transferred to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sister Sue Grow, a Latter-day Saint missionary, embraced Cervi and wept with her. “I was deeply moved and taught,” Elder Kyle S. McKay said. “Here was Sue Grow with a historic reason to rejoice, setting it aside so that she could mourn with a dear friend whose cause to mourn was on some level Sue’s cause to rejoice. It was beautiful, even sacred.”
What I’m reading
This is a great story about the human spirit, friendship and forgiveness: How one skydiver survived everyone’s worst nightmare.
I really appreciated my colleague Kelsey Dallas explaining her own personal journey about how to refer to Latter-day Saint missions in a story titled “Is it a mission — or a mission trip?”
One university’s football ticket promotion inspired spinoffs, including one from BYU that touted it as having the “coldest chocolate milk in college football.”
I really enjoyed this piece on whether trendy baby names actually are trendy or evidence of “lockstep individualism.”
I’m celebrating the 18th NBA title won by my Boston Celtics. Here’s a story on how BYU legend Danny Ainge played a key role in building the core of the championship roster.
