Need for witnesses - 1 John 1

I taught the Epistles of John today. I hope it went well. John starts the epistle by giving his testimony. He knew the Savior and knew he was risen (as he says, "our hands have handled") and bears testimony of him:

Here's the verses:

1 ^aThat which was from the ^bbeginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the ^cWord of life;

2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and ^ashew unto you that ^beternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

3 That which we have ^aseen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our ^bfellowship iswith the ^cFather, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

4 And these things ^awrite we unto you, that your joy may be full.

It made me think of how powerful a personal witness of something is. Below is a quote by Hugh Nibley about the power of a witness. I believe the witnesses of the Apostles and what they have written and say. I know they are honest men.

There is nothing paradoxical about the resurrection… [But many have to see it to believe it]. When falls of meteorites were reported in the eighteenth century, the learned members of the French Academy argued with perfect and unanswerable logic that such a thing simply could not be. In the spirit of the Enlightenment, Thomas Jefferson is reported to have said regarding a meteorite that fell in Connecticut in 1807, “I could more easily believe that two Yankee professors would lie than that stones would fall from heaven.” … They were convinced that what their science had not officially noted simply did not exist, and that what could not be scientifically explained—by them—was necessarily impossible…

Once the fall of meteorites was proved by witnesses in 1803, the Academy promptly shifted from complete denial to complete acceptance, and all acted as if they had never questioned such a thing for a moment. So it was with the resurrection. In a moment, Thomas changed from doubt to assurance so perfect that he was astonished and humiliated at ever having doubted anything so obvious. No matter how wildly improbable or paradoxical or utterly impossible a thing may seem to the cleverest people on earth, only by witness and not by reason, theory, or speculation may its truth be ultimately established, whether the truth be scientific or religious. “This is the testimony . . . which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him . . . and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father” (D&C 76:22-23). Compare this testimony of modern prophets with that of the ancients: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; . . . That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.” (1 John 1:1, 3) After all, it is the testimony of the prophets that gives us the real Easter. (The World and the Prophets, 3rd ed. [Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1987], 162.)