Book of Mormon Witnesses

I've just started reading the Book of Mormon again, and listening to a podcast of BYU's Book of Mormon Roundtable Discussions (available here). One of the things mentioned in the Introductory podcast is that when you combine the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Three Witnesses (Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris), and the Eight Witnesses (Christian Whitmer, Jacob Whitmer, Peter Whitmer, Jr., John Whitmer, Hiram Page, Joseph Smith, Sr., Hyrum Smith, and Samuel H. Smith), you have twelve individual witnesses of the Book of Mormon's validity and divine origin.

Another interesting point is that the testimony of Eight Witnesses nicely complements the testimony of Three Witnesses. The Eight saw the plates with their own eyes in broad daylight. Joseph Smith showed the plates to them; they hefted them, turned the leaves, and examined the engravings with their own eyes. The testimony of the Eight is completely derived from what they were able to observe naturally through their physical senses---almost a scientific observation, confirming that the plates did, in fact, exist, and looked exactly like Joseph said they looked.

In contrast the testimony of Three Witnesses was derived from a spiritual experience---the three testified that they saw the engravings on the plates "by the power of God, and not of man." An angel from God came down from heaven and showed them the plates, and they heard the voice of God testify of the truthfulness of the record and the translation.

Critics who believe in God, but have trouble accepting the Book of Mormon could claim that Joseph fabricated what looked like gold plates and deceived the Eight into thinking that they had actually seen an ancient record. But what then of the testimony of the three, who claim to have heard the voice of God declaring that the record was true and the translation correct, and to whom the plates were shown, not by Joseph Smith, but by an angel? And those critics who deny God and the supernatural could claim that the Three were simply hallucinating must somehow explain how Joseph came up with the heavy gold plates that were shown to eight men in broad daylight. In this way the physical testimony of the Eight, and the spiritual testimony of the Three are mutually reinforcing and and strengthen each other against attack from various perspectives.

The text of the Testimony of the Three Witnesses is especially compelling to me (read it here), in part because each man who so testified never denied his testimony, even when that testimony required leaving possessions and family behind, and even when they were disaffected with the Prophet Joseph and could have recanted their testimony in order to hurt him or the Church. Each went to his grave affirming that what he had said years before was true.

Of course none of this proves to anyone that the Book of Mormon is true. But hopefully these Book of Mormon witnesses create enough room to believe that we are willing to try the experiment and find out for ourselves. I'm looking forward to renewing my own witness of the book as I start reading again.

Jack and Nathan are my heroes

I just wanted to share what to my eyes was a miracle on Thursday. It was Jack's birthday, and we had planned on using our newly minted So Cal Disneyland passes to spend the afternoon in that happiest place on earth. We got there and presented our passes at the Guest Services window so that Jack could get his free birthday pin and disney dollars in honor of his big day, only to find out that our passes did not in fact work on June 4th. Should have checked that before we left San Diego. Am and I braced ourselves for the worst---our boys have previously demonstrated an uncanny ability to come unhinged when their reality fails to exceed their expectations. But not Thursday. We explained the situation, and Jack basically shrugged his shoulders and suggested we go to the beach or to the splash park instead. Nathan said, "that's OK, we can make Disneyland at our house." I was shocked. Mouth-gaping-open shocked. Instead of holding my feet to the fire for such a huge mistake on this special day, Jack and Nate were so even keeled. So we drove home and went to the park and got ice cream and that was that. No complaints at all. So that's what Mosiah 3:19 means...and I thought I was the one doing the parenting.

Hello, world! It's me, Dr. J. I figured it was finally time to jump on the bandwagon and start a blog. I'm writing from San Diego, home of UCSD Prof. Roger Tsien, who just received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on GFP (green fluorescent protein). As the title probably indicates, I'm a chemist (a bioorganic chemist, to be specific). I recently finished my Ph.D, and have just started a postdoc here in sunny southern CA.

But fear not, my friends. I won't be talking exclusively about chemistry during my first foray into the blogosphere. I'll also probably be sharing my thoughts and views about a number of different things, like family, politics, religion, etc. You know, the kinds of things I'm often too scared to talk about with people one on one for fear of rejection, argument, etc. Kind of counter-intuitive to post these things on a blog where anonymous comments are enabled...but whatever.

For starters, you should know that I have a wife and three little boys, who are the light of my life. I'm also a Mormon (i.e. a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Though it may sound strange to some of you, I absolutely know that the Church is true---hopefully as things unfold I'll have a chance to tell you how and why. I hope to persuade you as I share some of my experiences that science and religion are not mutually exclusive, but are both ways of discovering truth, and that rational, intelligent people (you'll have to decide whether or not I fall into this category) can indeed be comfortable with both ways. To paraphrase the great chemist Henry Eyring, the conflict between science and religion is man-made, there is no such schism in the mind of God.

So, there you have it. I hope the journey will be fun for everyone!