Wednesday with Pascal: "No one dies for a lie."

{Pascal the existential Russian blue cat has grudgingly come to admire Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon faith, who, say what you will about his veracity, pulled an American scripture out of his hat.}

“No one would die for a lie.” (Claim frequently made by Christian apologists)

Just as Christianity depended for its force on the claim that Jesus rose from the dead, Mormonism depended on Joseph Smith’s claim to have had a series of visits from an angel named “Moroni” and to have unearthed and translated a set of ancient golden plates upon which the text was inscribed which became the Book of Mormon. St. Paul famously insisted that if Jesus did not rise, Christians’ faith was in vain; similarly, one could say that if Joseph’s golden plates were fraudulent, then Mormons have been duped.

Why should it be harder to believe that ancient plates containing divinely inspired texts were uncovered at Hill Cumorah in 1827 than to believe, as do most Christians, that it is possible (and even advisable) to consume the body and blood of the resurrected Christ two thousand years after his death? Mormons at least have eyewitness testimony to the reality of the gold plates:

The Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon were Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris. The following is their testimony that can be found in the first pages of the Book of Mormon:

“Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come: That we, through the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, which is a record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites, their brethren, and also of the people of Jared, who came from the tower of which hath been spoken. And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true. And we also testify that we have seen the engravings which are upon the plates; and they have been shown unto us by the power of God, and not of man. And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear record that these things are true. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Nevertheless, the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should bear record of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of God, we bear testimony of these things. And we know that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men, and be found spotless before the judgment-seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in the heavens. And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.”

OLIVER COWDERY / DAVID WHITMER / MARTIN HARRIS

Eight other individuals later swore that they had been shown the plates (and even allowed to examine them) by Joseph Smith. ¹ 

“No one would die for a lie” is an evergreen trope among Christian apologists, but it applies as well to other religions (Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, etc.), since the founders and adherents of those faiths also testified to miracles and wonders, visions and revelations. Proclaimers of (and believers in) such things were not infrequently persecuted and even killed for refusing to recant. Joseph Smith was murdered by an angry mob in Illinois, proving, then, by this logic, the legitimacy of his religious claims, his visions of God and Jesus, his periodic encounters with the angel Moroni, his discovery and then translation of the Book of Mormon, and so forth. 

Whatever one thinks of Mormonism, it seems clear that Joseph Smith must have been extraordinarily persuasive, even charismatic. He sold an entirely implausible tale, created a seemingly fantastical religion, and attracted a group of followers who in turn went out and converted others. Smith withstood dissent within his ranks, weathered charges of forgery and deceit, and went on to organize not just a church but a community. He won people’s trust and their loyalty despite the apparent outrageousness of his claims and the hardships that following him entailed. ²

Whether a religious visionary or an inspired charlatan, Joseph Smith emerged from the superstitious milieu of upstate New York’s “burnt-over district” and achieved unexpected and inexplicable success. While I do not believe a single word that came from his mouth or his pen, I can no more refute his stories than I can refute the Christian gospels with all their miraculous events. Do angels, demons, and gods exist? Do they traffic with humans? I have never encountered such beings, but many people claim to have done so. Perhaps some people are simply more attuned to a spiritual dimension which for me is nothing more than wishful thinking—or, as some would have it, “a very big humbug.” To paraphrase St. Paul, in this life we all see through Urim and Thummim darkly; who am I to deny that ultimate Truth might be found on a set of golden plates buried in a hillside in upstate New York, or deciphered at the bottom of a 19^th-century hat?

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FYI: Mormon historian Richard Lyman Bushman has just published Joseph Smith’s Gold Plates: A Cultural History, a book on which he worked for over a decade. Not a forensic examination of the evidence for the plates but a survey of their significance over the years, Bushman’s volume is as much about America as it is about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

¹ Four of the eight were members of the Whitmer family, three others were Joseph Smith’s father and two of Joseph’s brothers, and the last of the witnesses was Hiram Page, who was Peter Whitmer’s son-in-law.

² To be clear, more than a few of Smith’s earliest converts eventually either left the Mormon fold of their own accord or were excommunicated over differences with Smith’s developing doctrines. The conflicts were never over the authenticity of the golden plates or of the Book of Mormon itself; rather, some followers were concerned that Joseph Smith had developed a disturbingly convenient (for him) habit of getting new revelations at the drop, as it were, of a hat.

The Disgraceful Murder of Joseph Smith