Experiment upon the Word and the Wood of the Sacred Grove Witness Trees' Offspring

[nuclearfuels]

1. Animals and plants have spirits or souls. This would include the Witness Trees at the Sacred Grove. ("Witness Trees" here is the term used by a senior missionary who told me a few years ago that there were a few Witness Trees left).

2. Man (in his/her mortal body) can not see God and live. Let us presume this also applies to plants and animals, since they have souls and "are children of God."

3. I called the Sacred Grove Visitor's Center in Palmyra NY and asked if I could purchase a Witness Tree - after it has died and when it's being removed. The kind Mission President told me: All trees, Witness or otherwise, are left in the grove for the health of the forest / grove. None are removed. Also, I couldn't buy one if they were removed per Church policy. (IMHO - perhaps trying to avoid members building shrines? which I heard as a reason why a nearby Temple when it was under construction, members were not allowed to have, keep or buy parts of the Temple that were being replaced. 

4. Intelligences exist, are eternal, and eventually earn mortal bodies. I presume Intelligences are something like atoms, quarks, protons, neutrons, dark matter, etc.

5. The Savior's Disciple Thomas went to or may have preached in India after the Savior's resurrection. After he died a family he had been teaching had a son who died. THe father went to Thomas' grave and took something, dust, bones, a bone, etc. back to his son, sprinkled it on him and he was healed. 

Hypothesis:

The Witness Trees have been translated. Their offspring, "Half Witness Saplings" which we'll call Halflings (Sorry Tolkien), at the cellular level will manifest effects non-Witness Trees do not.

The Proposed Experiment:

1. Travel to the Sacred Grove

2. Pick up seeds from Witness Trees as identified by senior missionaries

3. Bring them home and plant in greenhouse

4. At the same time, plant seeds of the same tree. 

5. When the halflings and the other sample population are of sufficient age, examine part of their cells without killing them.

QUESTIONS:

1. Is the faith of the person growing the seeds a confounding factor? a significant factor? is it material? Is it relevant - as the grower did not place the trees in the Sacred Grove.

2. What would Halfling tree cells look like? What would they manifest that would differentiate themselves from trees of the same type? Advanced healing? 

3. Of the ten types of trees that grow in the Sacred Grove, five produce products for human consumption. 3 of those 5 make lotions or similar creams for healing. Would using them to help heal - along with lotions or active ingredients of the same type being used to heal, reveal a faster healing rate using the Halflings material? 

• Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum): Maple syrup, maple sugar, and maple cream are made from the sap of this tree.

• Black Cherry (Prunus serotina): The fruit of this tree is edible and can be consumed raw or used to make jams, jellies, and wine. The wood is also used to make cherry flavoring and oil.

• American Beech (Fagus grandifolia): The nuts of this tree, known as beechnuts, are edible and can be roasted or pressed for oil.

• White Ash (Fraxinus americana): The seeds of this tree are edible and can be used as a coffee substitute.

• Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus): The seeds of this tree, known as pine nuts, are edible and can be used as a snack or added to recipes.

Additionally, some of these trees may also provide other products, such as:

• Timber: Many of the trees in the Sacred Grove, including the Sugar Maple, American Beech, and Eastern White Pine, are harvested for their wood, which can be used for furniture-making, construction, and other purposes.

• Dye: The bark and leaves of some trees, like the Black Cherry and American Beech, can be used to create natural dyes.

Further, for lotions and healing: 

• Black Cherry: The kernel oil from black cherry seeds can be used in skincare products, including lotions, due to its moisturizing and emollient properties.

• Eastern White Pine: Pine tar, derived from the resin of eastern white pine, has been used historically in skincare products, including lotions, for its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties.

• Sugar Maple: While not typically used in lotions, sugar maple sap can be used to produce a natural humectant, which can help retain moisture in the skin.

 

Sources:
1. 

• Joseph Smith's King Follett Discourse (1844) - "The animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms are all spiritual..."

• Joseph Fielding Smith's "The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith" (1938) - "The spirit of the animal, the spirit of the plant, and the spirit of the mineral are all governed by the same laws..."

• Bruce R. McConkie's "A New Witness for the Articles of Faith" (1985) - "All living things—men, animals, plants, and minerals—are children of God, and as such, they have a spark of divinity within them..."

• "True to the Faith" (2004) - "All living things have a spirit and are children of God...

2. 

• Joseph Fielding Smith's "The Way to Perfection" (1931): "Man cannot see God and live, for the glory of the Lord is too great for mortal eyes to behold...But through translation, man can become like the angels, and see and know as they do."

• Bruce R. McConkie's "A New Witness for the Articles of Faith" (1985): "To see the face of God, one must be translated, changed from mortality to immortality, from corruptible to incorruptible, from mortal to immortal."

• "True to the Faith" (2004): "To behold the glory of God, one must be purified and changed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and thus become worthy to see the face of God."

3.   Uh...I really called and this is what I was told.

4. 

• Abraham 3:22-23: "Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These will I make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; yea, even from the beginning; thou wast chosen."

• Doctrine and Covenants 93:29-33: "Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence. Behold, here is the agency of man, and the condemnation of him that maketh a mock of it. The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth."

• Joseph Smith's King Follett Discourse (1844): "The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end...The intelligence of man is coequal with God's intelligence."

• Joseph Fielding Smith's "The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith" (1938): "The intelligence of man is eternal; it has always existed and will always exist. It is a part of the eternal Godhead."

• Bruce R. McConkie's "A New Witness for the Articles of Faith" (1985): "Intelligences are eternal, coequal with God, and have always existed."

5. 

• The Acts of Thomas (3rd century apocryphal text): This text describes Thomas' missionary work in India and includes the story of the sick son being healed by Thomas' bones.

• The Apocryphal New Testament (edited by M. R. James, 1924): This collection of apocryphal texts includes "The Acts of Thomas" and provides an introduction to the text.

• Eusebius' "Ecclesiastical History" (4th century): Eusebius mentions Thomas' missionary work in India and Parthia (modern-day Iran).

• Gregory of Nazianzus' "Oration 33" (4th century): Gregory mentions Thomas' missionary work in India and his martyrdom.

• The "Thomma Parvam" (an ancient Tamil Christian text): This text describes Thomas' missionary work in India and includes the story of the sick son being healed.

• The "History of the Church of the East" (by the Rev. A. Mingana, 1928): This book provides an overview of the history of Christianity in India and mentions Thomas' missionary work.

Regarding the specific story of the sick son being healed by Thomas' bones, it is mentioned in:

• The Acts of Thomas (Chapter 17)

• The Thomma Parvam (Chapter 10)

[Calm]

Interesting ideas.  Are you just playing thought experiments or do you consider these ideas likely?  I am not going to mock you if you are invested in them, even though I don’t believe you will be able to find measurable differences that couldn’t be explained by other factors.  I consider such things possibilities as in not unreasonable, but low probability.

Edited November 23, 2024 by Calm

[nuclearfuels]

9 minutes ago, Calm said:

consider these ideas likely

I consider these ideas likely

[MiserereNobis]

1 hour ago, nuclearfuels said:

Their offspring, "Half Witness Saplings" which we'll call Halflings (Sorry Tolkien)

I don't know if you need to apologize. You had threads about the "valiancy of trees" and now this one. I think Tolkien would have approved of your spiritual love of trees.

[webbles]

Wouldn't the witness trees have been transfigured and not translated?  Translated beings have changed so that they don't experience death and it sounds like the witness trees are dying off.

[Dario_M]

What an interesting topic. Yes all those trees and animals are made by God. So we need to respect the nature. But unfortunatly we humans are not doing a good job at that. We should do beter.

Anyway... i feel the presents of God the most when i'm in nature. That's why i love to pray there. 

[Nevo]

12 hours ago, nuclearfuels said:

Sources:
1. 

• Joseph Smith's King Follett Discourse (1844) - "The animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms are all spiritual..."

• Joseph Fielding Smith's "The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith" (1938) - "The spirit of the animal, the spirit of the plant, and the spirit of the mineral are all governed by the same laws..."

• Bruce R. McConkie's "A New Witness for the Articles of Faith" (1985) - "All living things—men, animals, plants, and minerals—are children of God, and as such, they have a spark of divinity within them..."

• "True to the Faith" (2004) - "All living things have a spirit and are children of God...

"Sources" lol. All these quotes are fake.

[CV75]

13 hours ago, nuclearfuels said:

1. Animals and plants have spirits or souls. This would include the Witness Trees at the Sacred Grove. ("Witness Trees" here is the term used by a senior missionary who told me a few years ago that there were a few Witness Trees left).

2. Man (in his/her mortal body) can not see God and live. Let us presume this also applies to plants and animals, since they have souls and "are children of God."

3. I called the Sacred Grove Visitor's Center in Palmyra NY and asked if I could purchase a Witness Tree - after it has died and when it's being removed. The kind Mission President told me: All trees, Witness or otherwise, are left in the grove for the health of the forest / grove. None are removed. Also, I couldn't buy one if they were removed per Church policy. (IMHO - perhaps trying to avoid members building shrines? which I heard as a reason why a nearby Temple when it was under construction, members were not allowed to have, keep or buy parts of the Temple that were being replaced. 

4. Intelligences exist, are eternal, and eventually earn mortal bodies. I presume Intelligences are something like atoms, quarks, protons, neutrons, dark matter, etc.

5. The Savior's Disciple Thomas went to or may have preached in India after the Savior's resurrection. After he died a family he had been teaching had a son who died. THe father went to Thomas' grave and took something, dust, bones, a bone, etc. back to his son, sprinkled it on him and he was healed. 

Hypothesis:

The Witness Trees have been translated. Their offspring, "Half Witness Saplings" which we'll call Halflings (Sorry Tolkien), at the cellular level will manifest effects non-Witness Trees do not.

The Proposed Experiment:

1. Travel to the Sacred Grove

2. Pick up seeds from Witness Trees as identified by senior missionaries

3. Bring them home and plant in greenhouse

4. At the same time, plant seeds of the same tree. 

5. When the halflings and the other sample population are of sufficient age, examine part of their cells without killing them.

QUESTIONS:

1. Is the faith of the person growing the seeds a confounding factor? a significant factor? is it material? Is it relevant - as the grower did not place the trees in the Sacred Grove.

2. What would Halfling tree cells look like? What would they manifest that would differentiate themselves from trees of the same type? Advanced healing? 

3. Of the ten types of trees that grow in the Sacred Grove, five produce products for human consumption. 3 of those 5 make lotions or similar creams for healing. Would using them to help heal - along with lotions or active ingredients of the same type being used to heal, reveal a faster healing rate using the Halflings material? 

• Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum): Maple syrup, maple sugar, and maple cream are made from the sap of this tree.

• Black Cherry (Prunus serotina): The fruit of this tree is edible and can be consumed raw or used to make jams, jellies, and wine. The wood is also used to make cherry flavoring and oil.

• American Beech (Fagus grandifolia): The nuts of this tree, known as beechnuts, are edible and can be roasted or pressed for oil.

• White Ash (Fraxinus americana): The seeds of this tree are edible and can be used as a coffee substitute.

• Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus): The seeds of this tree, known as pine nuts, are edible and can be used as a snack or added to recipes.

Additionally, some of these trees may also provide other products, such as:

• Timber: Many of the trees in the Sacred Grove, including the Sugar Maple, American Beech, and Eastern White Pine, are harvested for their wood, which can be used for furniture-making, construction, and other purposes.

• Dye: The bark and leaves of some trees, like the Black Cherry and American Beech, can be used to create natural dyes.

Further, for lotions and healing: 

• Black Cherry: The kernel oil from black cherry seeds can be used in skincare products, including lotions, due to its moisturizing and emollient properties.

• Eastern White Pine: Pine tar, derived from the resin of eastern white pine, has been used historically in skincare products, including lotions, for its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties.

• Sugar Maple: While not typically used in lotions, sugar maple sap can be used to produce a natural humectant, which can help retain moisture in the skin.

 

Sources:
1. 

• Joseph Smith's King Follett Discourse (1844) - "The animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms are all spiritual..."

• Joseph Fielding Smith's "The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith" (1938) - "The spirit of the animal, the spirit of the plant, and the spirit of the mineral are all governed by the same laws..."

• Bruce R. McConkie's "A New Witness for the Articles of Faith" (1985) - "All living things—men, animals, plants, and minerals—are children of God, and as such, they have a spark of divinity within them..."

• "True to the Faith" (2004) - "All living things have a spirit and are children of God...

2. 

• Joseph Fielding Smith's "The Way to Perfection" (1931): "Man cannot see God and live, for the glory of the Lord is too great for mortal eyes to behold...But through translation, man can become like the angels, and see and know as they do."

• Bruce R. McConkie's "A New Witness for the Articles of Faith" (1985): "To see the face of God, one must be translated, changed from mortality to immortality, from corruptible to incorruptible, from mortal to immortal."

• "True to the Faith" (2004): "To behold the glory of God, one must be purified and changed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and thus become worthy to see the face of God."

3.   Uh...I really called and this is what I was told.

4. 

• Abraham 3:22-23: "Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These will I make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; yea, even from the beginning; thou wast chosen."

• Doctrine and Covenants 93:29-33: "Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence. Behold, here is the agency of man, and the condemnation of him that maketh a mock of it. The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth."

• Joseph Smith's King Follett Discourse (1844): "The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end...The intelligence of man is coequal with God's intelligence."

• Joseph Fielding Smith's "The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith" (1938): "The intelligence of man is eternal; it has always existed and will always exist. It is a part of the eternal Godhead."

• Bruce R. McConkie's "A New Witness for the Articles of Faith" (1985): "Intelligences are eternal, coequal with God, and have always existed."

5. 

• The Acts of Thomas (3rd century apocryphal text): This text describes Thomas' missionary work in India and includes the story of the sick son being healed by Thomas' bones.

• The Apocryphal New Testament (edited by M. R. James, 1924): This collection of apocryphal texts includes "The Acts of Thomas" and provides an introduction to the text.

• Eusebius' "Ecclesiastical History" (4th century): Eusebius mentions Thomas' missionary work in India and Parthia (modern-day Iran).

• Gregory of Nazianzus' "Oration 33" (4th century): Gregory mentions Thomas' missionary work in India and his martyrdom.

• The "Thomma Parvam" (an ancient Tamil Christian text): This text describes Thomas' missionary work in India and includes the story of the sick son being healed.

• The "History of the Church of the East" (by the Rev. A. Mingana, 1928): This book provides an overview of the history of Christianity in India and mentions Thomas' missionary work.

Regarding the specific story of the sick son being healed by Thomas' bones, it is mentioned in:

• The Acts of Thomas (Chapter 17)

• The Thomma Parvam (Chapter 10)

I would say the offspring of subsequently translated parents are on their own. No matter the righteousness of the parents or blessings pronounced upon the children,  mortals be mortals.

ETA: if you meant to say "transfigured" , same thing!

Edited November 23, 2024 by CV75

[webbles]

17 minutes ago, Nevo said:

"Sources" lol. All these quotes are fake.

Interesting.

Here's a link to the various versions of King Follet Discouse and none of them have that text - https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/site/accounts-of-the-king-follett-sermon

Here's The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith and I can't find the text in it - https://archive.org/details/teachingsofproph00smit/page/n3/mode/2up

Here's True to the Faith and I can't find the text in it - https://preview.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/36863_eng.pdf?lang=eng

I can't find A New Witness for the Articles of Faith online.

[InCognitus]

45 minutes ago, webbles said:

Interesting.

Here's a link to the various versions of King Follet Discouse and none of them have that text - https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/site/accounts-of-the-king-follett-sermon

Here's The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith and I can't find the text in it - https://archive.org/details/teachingsofproph00smit/page/n3/mode/2up

Here's True to the Faith and I can't find the text in it - https://preview.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/36863_eng.pdf?lang=eng

I can't find A New Witness for the Articles of Faith online.

I have the Folio Bound VIEWS Infobase, LDS Collectors Library (from years ago), and it includes A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, as well as many other titles, and I couldn't find anything remotely like that quote in the entire database, let alone A New Witness for the Articles of Faith.

[InCognitus]

Here are a few sources that include references to the words "mineral", "vegetable", and "animal" in the same paragraph:

Discourses of Brigham Young, p.101:  "The animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms abide the law of their Creator; the whole earth and all things pertaining to it, except man, abide the law of their creation. 9:246." 

Discourses of Brigham Young, p.101 - p.102:  "The earth will abide its creation, and will be counted worthy of receiving the blessings designed for it, and will ultimately roll back into the presence of God who formed it and established its mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. These will all be retained upon the earth, come forth in the resurrection, and abide for ever and for ever. 8:8."

John Taylor, The Gospel Kingdom, p.70:  "The art of photography has not been long known. When I was a boy people would have laughed at you if you had talked of taking a man's likeness in a minute's time; yet it is done. Did not light always possess the same properties? Yes, but man did not understand it. The same thing applies to the mineral world, the vegetable kingdom, the animal creation, and all the works of God. They are all governed by certain laws. The vegetables which you grow here, how were they organized? God organized them and placed them upon the earth, and gave them power to propagate their species. So also with regard to the animal creation, as well as birds, fishes, insects, etc."

James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, Ch.3, p.26 - p.27
"Such then is the need of a Redeemer, for without Him mankind would forever remain in a fallen state, and as to hope of eternal progression would be inevitably lost. The mortal probation is provided as an opportunity for advancement; but so great are the difficulties and the dangers, so strong is the influence of evil in the world, and so weak is man in resistance thereto, that without the aid of a power above that of humanity no soul would find its way back to God from whom it came. The need of a Redeemer lies in the inability of man to raise himself from the temporal to the spiritual plane, from the lower kingdom to the higher. In this conception we are not without analogies in the natural world. We recognize a fundamental distinction between inanimate and living matter, between the inorganic and the organic, between the lifeless mineral on the one hand and the living plant or animal on the other. Within the limitations of its order the dead mineral grows by accretion of substance, and may attain a relatively perfect condition of structure and form as is seen in the crystal. But mineral matter, though acted upon favorably by the forces of nature -- light, heat, electric energy and others -- can never become a living organism; nor can the dead elements, through any process of chemical combination dissociated from life, enter into the tissues of the plant as essential parts thereof. But the plant, which is of a higher order, sends its rootlets into the earth, spreads its leaves in the atmosphere, and through these organs absorbs the solutions of the soil, inspires the gases of the air, and front such lifeless materials weaves the tissue of its wondrous structure. No mineral particle, no dead chemical substance has ever been made a constituent of organic tissue except through the agency of life. We may, perhaps with profit, carry the analogy a step farther. The plant is unable to advance its own tissue to the animal plane. Though it be the recognized order of nature that the "animal kingdom" is dependent upon the "vegetable kingdom" for its sustenance, the substance of the plant may become part of the animal organism only as the latter reaches down from its higher plane and by its own vital action incorporates the vegetable compounds with itself. In turn, animal matter can never become, even transitorily, part of a human body, except as the living man assimilates it, and by the vital processes of his own existence lifts, for the time being, the substance of the animal that supplied him food to the higher plane of his own existence. The comparison herein employed is admittedly defective if carried beyond reasonable limits of application; for the raising of mineral matter to the plane of the plant, vegetable tissue to the level of the animal, and the elevation of either to the human plane, is but a temporary change; with the dissolution of the higher tissues the material thereof falls again to the level of the inanimate and the dead. But, as a means of illustration the analogy may not be wholly without value."

Journal of Discourses, Vol.7, p.285, Brigham Young, October 9, 1859
"All this vast creation as produced from element in its unorganized state; the mountains, rivers, seas, valleys, plains, and the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms beneath and around us, all speaking forth the wonderful works of the Great God.  Shall I say that the seeds of vegetables were planted here by the Characters that framed and built this world--that the seeds of every plant composing the vegetable kingdom were brought from another world?  This would be news to many of you.  Who brought them here?  It matters little to us whether it was John, James, William, Adam, or Bartholomew who brought them; but it was some Being who had power to frame this earth with its seas, valleys, mountains, and rivers, and cause it to teem with vegetable and animal life."

There were other references I found, but not as relevant. 

[Calm]

3 hours ago, Nevo said:

"Sources" lol. All these quotes are fake.

@nuclearfuels, Google says this is the only place that has these ‘quotes’ online.  Where did you get them?  I am wondering if they are someone’s extrapolations from those sources and you’ve assumed they were quotes for some reason?

[InCognitus]

4 hours ago, InCognitus said:

John Taylor, The Gospel Kingdom, p.70:  "The art of photography has not been long known. When I was a boy people would have laughed at you if you had talked of taking a man's likeness in a minute's time; yet it is done.

This John Taylor quote is funny.  Today people would laugh at the idea that it took "a minute's time" to capture a man's likeness  

Times have really changed.

[Calm]

25 minutes ago, InCognitus said:

This John Taylor quote is funny.  Today people would laugh at the idea that it took "a minute's time" to capture a man's likeness  

Times have really changed.

I was thinking the same thing, lol

[nuclearfuels]

On 11/23/2024 at 10:28 AM, Nevo said:

"Sources" lol. All these quotes are fake.

Let's assume they're all "fake." lol.

The point is: plants have spirits. Full stop.

@Calm Meta.ai

Edited November 25, 2024 by nuclearfuels

[webbles]

9 hours ago, nuclearfuels said:

Let's assume they're all "fake." lol.

The point is: plants have spirits. Full stop.

@Calm Meta.ai

Ah, AI hallucinations.  That makes sense.

But back to your original hypothesis, wouldn't it also mean that Joseph Smith's children would have a difference?  Would his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc?  How long does this difference last?  Since transfiguration is a temporary condition, why do you think it would affect the transfigured entities children?

If the story of Thomas is true, couldn't you just grab some of the branches, leaves, etc of one of the witness trees?  The father just needed a part of Thomas's dead body so wouldn't the dead parts of the witness trees be similar?  And, is Thomas's body special because he was transfigured, or was he special because of his amount of faith?  For example, Carlo Acutis is a new Catholic saint and the first miracle attributed to him is that a sick 4 year old touched a piece of clothing that had been owned by Carlo Acutis and was healed (see https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/11/20/blessed-carlo-acutis-saint-relics-millennial-miracle).  It sounds pretty similar to the Thomas story and I don't think Carlo was ever transfigured.

Edited November 25, 2024 by webbles

[Calm]

3 hours ago, webbles said:

Ah, AI hallucinations

Perfect label for them, lol

[nuclearfuels]

On 11/25/2024 at 9:59 AM, webbles said:

But back to your original hypothesis, wouldn't it also mean that Joseph Smith's children would have a difference?  Would his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc?  How long does this difference last?  Since transfiguration is a temporary condition, why do you think it would affect the transfigured entities children?

If the story of Thomas is true, couldn't you just grab some of the branches, leaves, etc of one of the witness trees?  The father just needed a part of Thomas's dead body so wouldn't the dead parts of the witness trees be similar?  And, is Thomas's body special because he was transfigured, or was he special because of his amount of faith?

But back to your original hypothesis, wouldn't it also mean that Joseph Smith's children would have a difference?  Yes and those differences would still need to overcome temptations, the natural man, hunger, thirst, fatigue, etc.

Would his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc?  Yes and those differences would still need to overcome temptations, the natural man, hunger, thirst, fatigue, etc.

How long does this difference last?  I dont know. We should research it.

Since transfiguration is a temporary condition, why do you think it would affect the transfigured entities children? Good question. I'm assuming transfiguration changes the cells of the person, plant, animal that is transfigured. Perhaps this is why non-Christians feel goosebumps when they visit places the Savior visited during His mortality.

If the story of Thomas is true, couldn't you just grab some of the branches, leaves, etc of one of the witness trees? In theory, yes but how would I know which leaves and branches came from witness trees? How would I collect these samples without the Sacred Grove visitor center missionaries asking me not to or having security restrain me?
 

The father just needed a part of Thomas's dead body so wouldn't the dead parts of the witness trees be similar? I suppose - but wouldn't that apply "within their own sphere and element," implying such debris would at best heal trees of the same type? Wouldn't it be reasonable to presume healing of tree to tree within the same species would be more effective when both the healing tree and the to-be-healed tree were viable?

And, is Thomas's body special because he was transfigured, or was he special because of his amount of faith? Transfigured. I'm assuming transfiguration changes the cells of the person, plant, animal that is transfigured. I could be wrong though