"Witnesses" Want a taster for how good it is?

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_Tom
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Re: "Witnesses" Want a taster for how good it is?

Post by _Tom »

Dr Moore wrote:
Thu Aug 20, 2020 10:36 pm
Serious question -- what is the historical grounding for the mob scene? I'm not familiar with that story.
A few sources:

“[W]hen the mob again assembled, they went to the houses of several of the leading Mormons; and, taking Isaac Morley, David Whitmer, and others, they told them to bid their families farewell, for they would never see them again. Then driving them at the point of the bayonet to the public square, they stripped and tarred and feathered them, amidst menaces and insults. The commanding officer then called twelve of his men, and ordering them to cock their guns and present them at the prisoner's breasts, and to be ready to fire when he gave the word,--he addressed the prisoners, threatening them with instant death, unless they denied the Book of Mormon and confessed it to be a fraud; at the same time adding, that if they did so, they might enjoy the privileges of citizens. David Whitmer, hereupon, lifted up his hands and bore witness that the Book of Mormon was the Word of God. The mob then let them go.”

John P. Greene, Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons or Latter-day Saints, from the State of Missouri, Under the "Exterminating Order" (1839), http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/Jersey Girl ... souri.html.

“I have been surrounded by hostile mobs, on one occasion numbering four or five hundred, demanding I should deny what is published over my name in the Book of Mormon; but the testimony I gave to that mob made them fear and tremble, and I escaped from them. One gentleman, a doctor, an unbeliever, told me afterwards that the bold and fearless testimony borne on that occasion and the fear that seemed to take hold of the mob had made him a believer in the Book of Mormon.”

Letter from James H. Hart, Deseret Evening News, Sept. 4, 1883, p. 2, https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/file?id=23176783 (third column from left).
“A scholar said he could not read the Book of Mormon, so we shouldn’t be shocked that scholars say the papyri don’t translate and/or relate to the Book of Abraham. Doesn’t change anything. It’s ancient and historical.” ~ Hanna Seariac
_I have a question
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Re: "Witnesses" Want a taster for how good it is?

Post by _I have a question »

The historian Fawn Brodie speculated that one of John Johnson's sons, Eli, meant to punish Smith by having him castrated for an intimacy with his sister, Nancy Marinda Johnson, but author Bushman states that hypothesis failed.[8] He feels a more probable motivation is recorded by Symonds Ryder, a participant in the event, who felt Smith was plotting to take property from members of the community and a company of citizens violently warned Smith that they would not accept those actions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_J ... land,_Ohio
_I have a question
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Re: "Witnesses" Want a taster for how good it is?

Post by _I have a question »

It's clear the film makers haven't paid too much attention to realism. The Smith family home imagined in the film is a far cry from the actual Smith Family farm as can be seen here . In the film the home shown has immaculately painted walls, neat rendering and carpentry, it's clean and adorned with nice ornaments and pictures. It's clean, bright and well lit. A home like that in the 1800's would have been that of a wealthy family.

The translation scene bears no realism to any of the witness statements or historical data available to the film makers. Joseph in the film is simply reading as if from a book in front of him, whole passages are spoken quickly without pause. The people behind the film know for a surety that this is not what supposedly happened. It's an attempt to make it look less weird. However, the scene will still do damage to those members who still think Joseph translated gold plates. If distributed widely it will cause shelves to buckle.

In the court scene Harris goes to great lengths to say Joseph didn't ask him for anything. Well, that's a bit of a fudge on history.
Martin Harris was a wealthy and respected resident of Palmyra, New York, and was one of Joseph Smith’s earliest supporters. He defended Joseph to critics and gave him $50 to help him move from Palmyra to Harmony, Pennsylvania, where Joseph would have more privacy to translate the Book of Mormon. Martin then hired someone to manage his family’s farm so he could serve as the Prophet’s full-time scribe.
When the translation was finished, Joseph found printing costs to be prohibitive. To pay the printer for the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon, Martin Harris mortgaged his home and farm for $3,000.2 It is difficult to confirm, but Harris family tradition states that Martin carried that sum of money to the printer in this wallet.
Three thousand dollars is a generous loan in any era. That amount in 1830 would be equal to $67,000 today. By some estimates, however, if you compare Martin’s wealth to the local economy at that time, his gift would be worth more than $1.6 million today.3
To help repay the mortgage on Martin’s farm, Joseph Smith gave him the right to sell copies of the book.4 The books did not sell as well as they had hoped, however, and Martin struggled to repay the loan. In a revelation given through Joseph Smith, the Lord told Martin:
I command thee that thou shalt not covet thine own property, but impart it freely to the printing of the Book of Mormon, which contains the truth and the word of God. . . . Impart a portion of thy property, yea, even part of thy lands, and all save the support of thy family. Pay the debt thou hast contracted with the printer. Release thyself from bondage. (Doctrine and Covenants 19:26, 34–35)

Obeying this commandment, Martin sold 151 acres of his property to pay the debt.
https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org ... r?lang=eng

I thought this was supposed to be a candid retelling of the controversial events surrounding the Witnesses? In large part what they've produced seems to be fiction!

And finally, where is the social distancing and Covid-19 precautions between Daniel and Tom (his technical support)?
_Lemmie
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Re: "Witnesses" Want a taster for how good it is?

Post by _Lemmie »

At 54:54 in DCP’s fireside, he shows a still with the movie title over it. That still is from the scene from an older movie that was in the newer trailer-not-trailers.

It’s a still from the same clip that I posted about last Feb:
Lemmie wrote:
Sat Feb 29, 2020 9:39 pm
So, the video is connected to pella media’s Vimeo account where they posted, over a year ago, Trailer #2, which was according to Peterson, composed of interviews and older clips from previous movie efforts regarding the witnesses.

The problem is, that if you look at the most recent trailer, apparently from the new filming done last fall, there is a scene where they all reverently touch the plates, however, this scene is IDENTICAL to the scene from the trailer posted a year ago.

Compare 1:04 of the trailer last year,
https://vimeo.com/314347484

With 1:33 from the new clip,
https://vimeo.com/394108007

IT IS THE SAME CLIP.

What on earth is going on? Why is Peterson presenting this trailer as coming from his million dollar movie, when it still has clips from older movies in it?

Here is Peterson’s explanation, from Feb 2019:
The current “sizzle reel,” as film people call it, is a temporary placeholder. That is, it isn’t yet really a “trailer,” strictly speaking. The interviews that are featured represent some of the material that we have recently developed for this project. The dramatic scenes and the music, though, are borrowed from an earlier film created essentially by this same crew.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... esses.html
So the trailer for Peterson’s film contains “borrowed” scenes from a previous film.
And his new fireside about his million dollar movie STILL contains that “borrowed” scene from a previous film, with the new movie title printed over it.
_I have a question
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Re: "Witnesses" Want a taster for how good it is?

Post by _I have a question »

From the clips shown I'd suggest an equivalent result could've been achieved with a few volunteers, some iPhones and a bit of post production on a MacBook. For Instance.
It'll be interesting to see if they ever reveal a full and transparent accounting of how they've spent the >$1 million supposedly used to produce it.
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