Did the Book of Mormon Witnesses Really See Golden Plates? - John Turner Part 5 | Ep. 2033
Mormon Stories Podcast
Dr. John Dehlin
4.6 • 5.2K Ratings
🗓️ 20 June 2025
⏱️ 115 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
In this episode, we continue our in-depth series with historian John G. Turner, author of Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet. Covering chapter five of his book, we take a deep dive into the claims of the Three and Eight Witnesses to the golden plates. Did they actually see physical plates—or was it a visionary experience?We explore the early translation period, the role of the Whitmer family, the revelations guiding Joseph Smith, and the complicated testimonies of Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer. Were the golden plates material objects, or were they seen with "spiritual eyes"? We also discuss later accounts, contradictions, and the ongoing debate among scholars and believers.Highlights:The experiences of the Three and Eight WitnessesSpiritual vs. physical claims of the platesTestimonies, contradictions, and controversiesWhat happened to the plates—and the witnesses—afterwardSubscribe for more episodes exploring Joseph Smith’s life, early Mormonism, and the origins of the Book of Mormon.___________________
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone, and welcome to another edition of Mormon stories podcast. |
| 0:03.5 | I'm your host, John DeLinn. |
| 0:04.7 | It is June 18th, 2025. |
| 0:06.9 | This episode is part of our Joseph Smith, the podcast series. |
| 0:12.0 | It's part five of our series with the Dr. John G. Turner. |
| 0:17.4 | We are covering the new book out by Yale University Press called Joseph Smith, |
| 0:22.6 | The Rise and Fall of an American Profit. |
| 0:25.6 | Please buy it at benchmark books. |
| 0:27.6 | And if you can't buy it there, then buy it either from Yale University Press or on Amazon. |
| 0:32.6 | It should be widely available by the time this episode hits the airwaves. |
| 0:38.7 | Again, this is part five in a series. |
| 0:41.5 | Today we're going to be finishing chapter five. |
| 0:43.3 | We're going to be talking about the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon and the |
| 0:46.7 | eight witnesses to the Book of Mormon. |
| 0:48.7 | In previous episodes, we've talked about Joseph Smith's family of origin. |
| 0:52.5 | We've talked about his treasure digging. We have talked |
| 0:54.8 | about the golden plates, the translation of the Book of Mormon with Martin Harris and the 116 pages |
| 1:01.6 | lost with Lucy. And then we've talked about the translation of the Book of Mormon with Oliver |
| 1:06.7 | Caldrey. And that gets us to sort of the midway through chapter 5. Today we're going to be |
| 1:13.0 | talking about one of the most pointed to sets of evidences, according to Mormon believers or |
| 1:21.4 | the church or apologists, to substantiate the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. And that is that |
| 1:27.1 | there allegedly |
... |
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