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The church has spent a lot of money on its new web sight JosephSmith.net. It is a faithful hard-on for the prophet. Full of glossy details about JS's life, in the authorized Boyd K. Packer sanctioned faithful history mode. My friend, a BYU Professor is in charge of this project. Sadley, it is exactly what one would expect from the church...a whitewashed portrayal of his life.
No mention of his treasure seeking /glass looking days.
No mention of his looking in a hat for his supposed translation.
No mention of his second sight activity.
No mention of his marrying other men's wives.
No mention of his polygamy.
No mention of his being crowned King of the earth.
No mention of his ordering the death of a sitting governor of Missouri.
No mention of his bank and real estate frauds.
No mention of his drinking activities.
No mention of his threatening woman with destruction if they turned down his marriage proposals.
No mention of his unfulfileld prophecies
No mention of his posthumously changing canonize scripture
No mention of his inability to keep his fact straight when telling a story (First Vison)
No mention of his socopathic tendancies
Basically it is just a total whitewash of his life.... no warts...Gee, Joseph was such a great guy...an amazing historical figure...One of the top 100 Americans...
Only problem is that it is all a sham....
But I wouldn't expect anything else from the church...they will NEVER be honest with their Main Man Joseph...just like his lies...he NEEDS lies to prop him up so the church can continue to worship him...
| I have to chuckle.
Now I truly know there is an answer for everything in the world of apologetics.
I recently rebutted a fellow in an email exchange about Smiths wacky behaviors at the end of his life. We talked briefly about the genesis behind Smith's bid to be president of the USA, the council of the 50, and Smith having himself crowned king over all the earth.
My friend conceded finally that it all added up to nonsense (!)
BUT... after 1830, it did not matter what the prophet did because God's church was restored. And that was God's prime objective.
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely" he cried.
The final parting thought was,
"If joseph was in error sexually, politically, militantly (with his 3000 man militia threatening the countryside) etc then God took Smith out of the equation and prepared Brigham Young to take his place.... after all, BY stayed faithful by Smith's side through thick and thin.... because God was preparing BY.
It's all good. Let's just summarize:
If you perform God's prime objective, then come up with a plan of your own... God has you killed.
It just tickles me that I used to think like that!
I am just glad I don't have to ride that train of thought any more.
Noggin
(Mike)
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
|  | Don't Be Deceived - Church Warns Members To Avoid Internet Sites That Deceive Us About Joseph Smith
Article Archived: Thursday, Sep 29, 2005, at 07:27 AM
Stored Under Topic: JOSEPH SMITH - SECTION 2
Outside Link To Article: RIGHT CLICK - COPY LINK LOCATION
Original Author Of Article: Anonymous |  | |
At SM last week, the speaker explicitly warned the congregation to avoid Internet sites which deceive us about Joseph Smith. His warning came as yet another installment of the JS lovefest (praise-a-thon) that has been occuring in our part of Zion.
This is the first time that I had ever heard such a warning from the pulpit.
But, who is deceiving who?
From my experience, it is the "pro" sites, particularly the church's own site, that do the deceiving by omitting important details about JS life, such as his plural marriages, financial schemes, the BoA translation debacle and his marital troubles with Emma, among other things.
The so-called "anti" sites seem to be faithful to the truth, letting people make their own decisions from the history as it stands. To be sure, there are sensationalist anti-types, but, IMO, the truth speaks volumes.
So, I ask again, who is deceiving who?
- -
I agree, it is ridiculous, considering the biggest lies about the man are being peddled by LDS Inc.
Another project of mine, half-done and probably never to be finished, is the draft of a biography of Joseph Smith. In Spanish, sparing no details and without any of the born again junk that normally accompanies "true history" in Spanish. I write in spurts, with my greatest energy coming after the Corporation does something to piss me off.
I really don't care if anyone leaves the church because of it, or if anyone stays. But if they do stay, and they do continue to pay tithing, they ought to at least get a glimpse of some of the life of the founder.
And I get to practice neat words that don't come up in everyday conversation: estupro (sexual relations with minors), desfalco (embezzlement), desviado sexual (sexual deviant).
- -
That's exactly why it is not discussed more from the pulpit. Many people (not just teenagers) would be curious and check it out. Not the overzealous obedience drones, but everyone else.
I think the Brethren's obsession with internet pornography is really more about their fear of anti-Mormon websites (which by definition is anything that is not pro-Mormon.) They are deathly afraid of the non-faith promoting materials that can be found on the Internet, so they hammer on the porn issue and hope the message gets across that anti-Mormon internet stuff is bad, too. I'm sure they consider anti-Mormon websites to be spiritual pornography.
http://www.aimoo.com/forum/postview.c...
| Robert K. Dellenbach says,
"Just as in the Prophet Joseph Smiths day, the ability to translate holy writ today is a spiritual gift from God...No other person with such limited education as Joseph has single-handedly translated in such a short period of time from ancient writings more than 500 pages of scriptural text." (The Message: The Miraculous Translation of the Book of Mormon)
And yet, Grant Palmer said,
"My conclusion is that a large body of evidence demonstrates that Joseph mistranslated a number of documents. I know of no subtantial evidence to support his claim to have ever literally translate any document, leaving me to appreciate his writing at face value rather than because of their antiquity." (Grant Palmer, An Insiders View of Mormon Origins, p. 36)
I think the only people who agree with Mr. Palmer are those not using their testimonies to guide their "research".
| The following are excerpts from the endnotes of Cowdrey, Wayne; Davis, Howard; and Vanick, Arthur. Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Spalding Enigma. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2005. The information here is so rare that I thought others might be interested:
Page 488:
As has been the case in so many other politically motivated assassinations, the circumstances surrounding Smith's death have been rich fodder for any number of conspiracy theiroes. One of the most intriguing of these is a largely uninvestigated story offered by Josephine (Jesse) Rigdon Secord, Sidney Rigdon's last surviving grandchild, during an interview with Noel B. Croft on August 23, 1972. According to Mrs. Secord, then about 90, her aunt Athalia (Rigdon's eldest child, born August 11, 1821) told her around the turn fo the 20th century that "the killing of Joseph Smith was the result of a complex political plot which included, among others, the Masons, John C. Bennett, and (Athalia's own husband) George W. Robinson." Once Smith was out of the way, the conspirators intended to "control the church through Sidney Rigdon, whom they considered to be mentally unstable. . . [and] easily controlled by them." All that can be said at this point is that careful review of the circumstances leading up to Smith's murder certainly leaves room for such a possibility. In later years, both Robinson and Rigdon retired to Friendship, N.Y., where both joined the local Masonic Lodge and where both, according to local legend, lived in constant fear of vengeance from the Utah church headed by Brigham Young--Robinson even going so far as to have heavy bars placed over some of the lower windows of his home and a bulletproof room constructed for him in his bank.
Page 510, regarding the bank notes issues by the failed Kirtland Bank:
The one-dollar note of this worthless currency portrays a man fleecing a sheep, and the series included $3.00 bills.
Page 541, emphasis added by authors:
Joseph's letter to Oliver of October 22 contains a rare and candid admission by the Prophet himself that should not to be [sic] passed over lightly. This reads as follows:"I arrived at home on Sun morn. the 4th [of October] after a prosperous journey. . . . people all friendly to us except a few who are in opposition to every thing unless it is the same thing that is exactly like themselves and two of our most formidable persecutors are now under censure and are cited to a trial in the church for crimes which if true are worse than all the Gold Book business.
|  | Spending Christmas With Joseph And Emma - Move Aside Jesus, You Are Just Not As Hip As Joseph
Article Archived: Friday, Dec 9, 2005, at 08:29 AM
Stored Under Topic: JOSEPH SMITH - SECTION 2
Outside Link To Article: RIGHT CLICK - COPY LINK LOCATION
Original Author Of Article: Infymus | | |
As speculated before in other parts of the Ex-Mormon world, we are beginning to wonder how long it will take the LDS Corporation to clean up Joseph Smith's background so that he can replace Jesus Christ. More emphasis is put on how absolutely wonderful Joseph Smith is and very little attention is paid to Jesus Christ anymore. Look at the latest Ensign - smack dab on the cover is Joseph Smith. I think they did mention Jesus somewhere in there, buried back on page 28 in small print.
Mormons don't need Jesus, they have Joseph. No man has done more for mankind than Joseph. Joseph restored the gospel. Joseph restored the handshakes, passwords and new names. Joseph restored the garments.
I want to run down the hall yelling out Joseph's name. JOSEPH! JOSEPH! JOSEPH!
Who's that Jesus Christ fellow anyway? Oh who cares anyway, we have JOSEPH SMITH!
From the Mormon owned Deseret News:
"As a great-great-granddaughter of Joseph Smith, Gracia N. Jones has both a historical and a personal interest in that question. A few years back, as she was researching the lives of her ancestors, she began to ponder the holiday connection. "I wondered what Joseph and Emma did at Christmas. In doing my earlier research, it seemed that Joseph was seldom home, so they had very little family time and certainly not much uninterrupted family time because people came constantly to see Joseph, and he never turned anyone away. I wanted to know how this affected their Christmases.
She also wondered if any of the traditions in her own family had been handed down from those earlier generations (her family line comes through Joseph and Emma's son Alexander).
The results of her research ended up in a little book called "The Holidays With Joseph and Emma" (Covenant, $12.95)."
So there you have it, now a Mormon has come out with a book that shows how wonderful Smithmas (er.. Christmas) was with Joseph and Emma.
I wonder if during Christmas Emma allowed all of Joseph's wives to come over for the day. A kind of "free for all" deal. What about the wives of those husbands Joseph took away and married for himself?
Smells like another bullshit book published by a Mormon who has been kept in the dark her whole life.
Click the link to read more on the lies and deception Mormonism has woven into their new Savior, Joseph Smith.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249...
| | | Joseph Smith: Prophet Of The Restoration (Two Thumbs Down - I'd Give It More If I Had Them)
Article Archived: Monday, Dec 19, 2005, at 08:00 AM
Stored Under Topic: JOSEPH SMITH - SECTION 2
Outside Link To Article: RIGHT CLICK - COPY LINK LOCATION
Original Author Of Article: Livingston | | |
I had the dubious privilege of seeing the LDS Inc's newest movie production, Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. It was worse than I would ever have suspected.
It began with a sister missionary sobbing out her testimony that Joseph was like Jesus because he loved us and suffered for us and sacrificed his life for us.
Next the movie began. I had seen a trailer for this and was expecting something better than Legacy. No facts but lots of action and feel good adventures, and a lot of tears. Not so. The plot was complicated and preachy, striking a missionary tone from the start. The movie was disjointed and the plot bogged down with every vision ever filmed in any other church history film. The first vision did include the "satanic attack" on Joseph. This was done using scary filming reminiscent of horror movies such as The Ring along with scary noises and what seemed like a silhouette. They even gave Satan a diabolical laugh! If it weren't so stupid it would be terrifying. I would not recommend that you take young children to see this. The Satan laugh and cinematography came back in every period of intense suffering through the film. I have never seen Satan so personified in any film the church has made. Maybe they will go into horror next!
The remainder of the movie was filled with the abuse that Joseph received during his life and did not show any of the reasons people had to be angry with him except he "asks to much of people."
Richard Dutcher will not have any competition from the church... that much is clear. This movie stank. I went expecting to see a humorously ignorant feel good Joseph story and instead got a laborious lobotomizing film about Joseph's near divinity. They should have called it The Passion of Joseph Smith. What a relief it was when it was finally over.
Go if you must... but you have been warned.
Oh I almost forgot the translation. In the movie they made it look like Joseph translated directly from the plates just across the table from his scribe. There was not even a screen between them. They were careful not to show the whole scene so that the curtain between them was never shown. I assume this was so they could claim at least a little honesty. If this keeps up pretty soon they will have his scribe sitting next to him while he translates.
Merry Smithmas! Ick...
| Immediately after publishing the Book of Mormon in 1830, Joseph received a revelation that Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery were to go to Toronto, Canada to sell the copyright of the Book of Mormon. They failed to do so, (partly because the revelation sent them to the wrong town) and upon their return, accused Joseph Smith of falsely prophesying.
Joseph looked into the hat in which he placed the stone, and received a revelation that some of the brethren should go to Toronto, Canada, and that they would sell the copyright of the Book of Mormon. Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery went to Toronto on this mission, but they failed entirely to sell the copyright, returning without any money. Joseph was at my father's house when they returned. I was there also, and am an eye witness to these facts. Jacob Whitmer and John Whitmer were also present when Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery returned from Canada. Well, we were all in great trouble; and we asked Joseph how it was that he had received a revelation from the Lord for some brethren to go to Toronto and sell the copyright, and the brethren had utterly failed in their undertaking. Joseph did not know how it was, so he enquired of the Lord about it, and behold the following revelation came through the stone: "Some revelations are of God: some revelations are of men: and some revelations are of the devil." So we see that the revelation to go to Toronto and sell the copyright was not of God, but was of the devil or of the heart of man.
- David Witmer, AN ADDRESS TO ALL BELIEVERS IN CHRIST, 1887, http://www.irr.org/mit/address4.html
Oliver Cowdery related his own account of Joseph Smith's "revelation" to sell the Book of Mormon copyright:
"that some among you will remember which sent Bro. Page and me, so unwisely, to Toronto, with a prediction from the Lord by "Urim and Thummim," that we would there find a man anxious to buy the "First Elder's copyright." I well remember we did not find him, and had to return surprised and disappointed. But so great was my faith, that in going to Toronto, nothing but calmness pervaded my soul, every doubt was banished, and I as much expected that Bro. Page and I would fulfill the revelation as that we should live. And you may believe, without asking me to relate the particulars that it would be no easy task to describe our desolation and grief. Bro. Page and I did not think that god would have deceived us through "Urim and Thummin [sic], " exactly as came the Book of Mormon.
- Oliver Cowdery, Defense, p. 229
So why did Joseph Smith try selling the Book of Mormon copyright?
"Joseph Capron wrote that Smith hoped his volume would "relieve the family from all pecuniary embarrassment." There is evidence from Mormon sources to confirm Capron's recollections. Smith himself admitted in his unpublished history that "he sought the plates to obtain riches."
"Hyrum Smith wrote to his grandfather, Asael, that he believed that service to the Lord would bring the family their long-awaited prosperity. In October 1829, Joseph wrote excitedly to Oliver Cowdery that Josiah Stowell had a chance to obtain five or six hundred dollars and that he was going to buy copies of the Book of Mormon. Lucy Mack Smith said that when it was finally published in March 1830 the family had to sell copies of the book to buy food."
"The economic situation of the Smith families was so desperate at this time that Joseph tried to sell the copyright of the Book of Mormon. Hiram Page wrote with bitterness years later that the prophet heard he could sell the copyright of any useful book in Canada and that he then received a revelation that "this would be a good opportunity to get a handsome sum." Page explained that once expenses were met the profits were to be "for the exclusive benefit of the Smith family and was to be at the disposal of Joseph." Page indicated that they hoped to get $8,000 for the copyright and that they traveled to Canada covertly to prevent Martin Harris from sharing in the dividend. Smith evidently believed that Harris was well enough off while his own family was destitute. When Page, Cowdery, and Knight arrived at Kingston, Ontario, they found no buyer. Martin Harris apparently learned of what was done, and Joseph guaranteed him in writing that he would share in any profits made from the subsequent sales of the book. In the spring of 1830 Harris walked the streets of Palmyra, trying to sell as many copies of the new scripture as he could. Shortly after Joseph Smith and Jesse Knight saw him in the road with books in his hand, he told them "the books will not sell for nobody wants them."
- Marvin S. Hill, Quest for Refuge, p.20-21
So when selling the Book of Mormon didn't make them money as they had hoped, they organized a church.
| Most Mormons today don't know it, but Joseph Smith had a real talent and habit of making up phoney names. You see this throughout Smith's original "revelations" besides the Book of Mormon.
Here are some expamples from Joseph Smith's original revelations as recorded in the original 1835 versions of the Doctrine and Covenants:
Original D&C (1835), Section 86:4:
"Therefore, verily I say unto you, that it is expedient for my servant Alam and Ahashdah, Mahalaleel and Pelagoram, and my servant Gazelam, and Horah, and Olihah, and Shalemanasseh, and Mehemson, be bound together by a bond and covenant that cannot be broken by transgression except judgment shall immediately follow, in your several stewardships, to manage the affairs of the poor, and all things pertaining to the bishopric both in the land of Zion, and in the land of Shinehah, for I have consecrated the land of Shinehah in mine own due time for the benefit of the saints of the Most High..."
Original D&C (1835), Section 98:5:
"And again, let my servant Shederlaomach have the place upon which he now dwells. And let my servant Olihah have the lot which is set off joining the house which is to be for the Lane-shine- house, which is lot number one: and also the lot upon which his father resides. And let my servant Shederlaomach and Olihah have the Lane-shine-house and all things that pertain unto it..."
Explanations:
"Section 82 of the Doctrine and Covenants, dated 26 April 1832, guided the formation of a united order in the Joseph Smith era. Until recently, code names were shown for the nine participants: Ahashdah (Newel K. Whitney), Pelagoram (Sidney Rigdon), Gazelam (Joseph Smith), Olihah (Oliver Cowdery), and Mahemson (Martin Harris). The remaining names, Alam, Mahalaleel, Horah, and Shalemanasseh, have recently been identified as Edward Partridge, Sidney Gilbert, John Whitmer, and W. W. Phelps (Whittaker 1983). The 1981 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants eliminated the secret names from Section 82, substituting the real names where known. Code names were similarly deleted from sections 78, 92, 96, and 104 dealing with the United Order."
- Kent W. Huff, Dialogue, Vol.19, No.2, p.146
"The Doctrine and Covenants, first edition (1835), carried some new off-biblical names, like Shalemanasseh (section 82), Shederlaomach (112 and 104), and Tahhanhes (104) -- names which have a familiar ring, sounding like Shalmaneser and Manasseh, Chedorlaamer and Tahpanhes. "Ahman," part of the name Adam-ondi-Ahman, closely resembles in sound and idea the name Amen in Revelation 3:14."
"Other invented names found in 82 and 104, such as Shinehah and Laneshine house and Olihah, Pelagoram, and Gazelam, are hardly biblical in sound. When Joseph had reason to use pseudonyms, he could have borrowed from the Bible names like Hananeel, Hadoram, Ahiman, Aholiab, Argob, Tirzah. He uses the biblical "Mahalaleel" both as a real name and as an oblique name. "Cainhannoch" for "New York" is a linkage of Cain and Hanoch which is both closely biblical and strangely different..."
"But, in the 1844 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, two revelations (1914: 103 and 105) appeared for the first time, containing invented names which did require a knowledge of Hebrew. And this despite the fact that they are concerned with Zion's Camp and are dated April and June, 1834! In Section 103, Joseph gives himself another pseudonym besides "Gazelam": namely, Baurak Ale, repeated in 105:16 and 27.
- Louis C. Zucker, Dialogue, Vol.3, No.2, p.49
Look at Smith's "translations" of Facsimile #2 in the Book of Abraham and you'll see he also demonstrated a talent for making up names. We know today that Smith's so-called translations of the this Egyptian hyroglyph are completely fraudulent. But it was pretty impressive to early Mormons and is still proudly shown in today's Pearl of Great Price.
See:
http://nowscape.com/mormon/kolob-defined.htm
| Most Mormons believe that Joseph Smith's and Sidney Rigdon's tarring in February 1832 was done by an "anti-Mormon mob" inspired by the devil.
To the contrary, they were tarred not by an "anti-Mormon mob," but by their own followers, for two primary reasons.
First was their plan to have all of their church members sign over all of their assets and properties to the "United Order" communal experiment. Some members saw this as Smith and Rigdon's scheme to fleece them, and rightly so; the financial disaster that was the United Order, which culminated in the Kirtland Bank scandal, caused many Mormons to lose their life savings, and about half of all church members abandoned the faith over the incident, including most of the original twelve apostles.
The proof that it was his own church members who did the tarring was Smith's own statement that he recognized the perpetrators in church the morning after the incident, primarily one Symonds Rider and the sons of John Johnson. Smith, Emma, and Rigdon had been boarding with the Johnson family 35 miles from Kirtland at Hiram, Ohio. They weren't subjecting themselves to the communal lifestyle that they demanded of their followers at Kirtland.
Second, it was alleged that Smith made a pass at Johnson's 15 year-old daughter, Nancy Marinda, and that was her brothers' motivation for attacking Smith. "Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith" supports this idea, but in his "In Sacred Loneliness" Todd Compton doubts it for lack of convincing evidence. It's likely true that Smith made the pass at Marinda for five reasons:
1. Joseph Smith had already taught his "plural marriage" concept in his 1831 "revelation" commanding a group of married men to "take ye wives from among the Lamanites" in 1831 (the tarring occurred in February 1832). This indicates that he had extra-marital relations on his mind during that period.
2. Joseph Smith eventually "plural married" Marinda in April of 1842, after sending her husband, Orson Hyde, on a mission. (Marinda later said she thought Smith was the father of her son, Frank.)
Thus, it is likely that Smith had his eye on Marinda since he had met the 15-year-old girl at Hiram in 1831, and that his 1842 "plural marriage" to her was his formalization of a long-existing desire for her (as it was also in the documented cases of Mary Rollins and Sarah Ann Whitney). The essence of Smith's "spiritual wifery" concept was that people knew each other in the "pre-existence," and that part of their earthly mission was to find their "soul mates" (Remember "Saturday's Warrior?") Once Smith had designated a female as one of his "soul mates," or "spiritual wives," they were to be "his" for eternity, even if they were already married to someone else; in this case, Orson Hyde.
3. Third, Smith's "plural" relationship with the 16-year-old Fanny Alger began in 1833. Since the 1832 tarring incident occurred between the 1831 marry-the-Lamanite-girls revelation and the 1833 beginning of his affair with Fanny, it's entirely likely that the tarring was at least partly because of Smith's budding unorthodox sexual concepts, which he tried out on fifteen year-old Marinda.
4. Fourth, it seems more likely that Marinda's brothers would want to castrate a man because of a sexual advance on their teenage sister, rather than over an issue of money.
5. The mob of church members that attacked Rigdon and Smith that night did not attempt to castrate Rigdon. Smith was the sole target of castration by Marinda's brothers.
Here is a little of LDS member and historian Todd Compton's views on the subject:
According to Luke Johnson, Smth was stretched on a board, then 'they tore off the night clothes that he had on, for the purpose of emasculating him, and had Dr. Dennison there to perform the operation. But when the Doctor saw the prophet stripped and stretched on the plank, his heart failed him, and he refused to operate.
The motivation for this mobbing has been debated. Clark Braden, a late, antagonastic, secondhand witness, alleged in a polemic public debate that Marinda's brother Eli led a mob against Smith because the prophet had been too intimate with Marinda. This tradition suggests that Smith may have married Marinda at this early time, and some circumstantial factors support such a possibility. The castration attempt might be taken as evidence that the mob felt that Joseph had committed a sexual impropriety; since the attempt is reported by Luke Johnson, there is no reason to doubt it. Also, they had planned the operation in advance, as they brought along a doctor to perform it.
The first revelations on polygamy had been received in 1831, by historian Daniel Bachman's dating. Also, Joseph Smith did tend to marry women who had stayed at his house or in whose house he had stayed. [Joseph Smith was living in the home of Marinda at the time.]
Many other factors, however, argue against this theory. First, Marinda had no brother named Eli, which suggests that Braden's accusation, late as it is, is garbled and unreliable. In addition, two antagonistic accounts by Hayden and S. F. Whitney give an entirely different reason for the mobbing, with an entirely different leader, Simonds Ryder, an ex-Mormon, though the Johnson brothers are still participants. In these accounts the reason for the violence is economic: the Johnson boys were in the mob because of 'the horrid fact that a plot was laid to take their property from them and place it in the control of Smith.' The castration, in this scenario, may have only been a threat, meant to intimidate Smith and cause him to leave Hiram, Ohio.
While it is not impossible that Marinda became Smith's first plural wife in 1831, the evidence for such a marriage, resting chiefly on the late, unreliable Braden, is not compelling. Unless more credible evidence is found, it is best to proceed under the assumption that Joseph and Marinda did not marry or have a relationship in 1831.
- "In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith," 231-232. Of course, Braden's recollection of an "Eli" could possibly have referred to a nickname for one of Marinda's brothers.
Faithful Latter-day Saint Mary Elizabeth Rollins testified that Joseph had a private conversation with her in 1831; she was then twelve years old. She said Joseph 'told me about his great vision concerning me. He said I was the first woman God commanded him to take as a plural wife.'
- Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner to Emmeline B. Wells, summer 1905, LDS Archives
Within six months of Joseph's conversation with 12 year-old Mary Elizabeth Rollins, he and Emma had moved into the John Johnson home, where 15 year-old Marinda lived. Orson Pratt later quoted Lyman Johnson as saying that 'Joseph had made known to him as early as 1831 that plural marriage was a correct principle,' but remarked also that 'the time had not yet come to teach and practice it.'
- Orson Pratt, "Latter-day Saints Millennial Star (Liverpool England), 40 (16 Dec. 1878):788)
Perhaps Joseph was not discreet in his discussions about plural marriage, because rumor and insinuation fed the fury of the mob that tarred and feathered him. When the Johnson boys joined the mob that entered their own home, they clearly suspected an improper association between Joseph and their sixteen-year-old sister, Nancy Marinda."
- "Joseph Smith: the First Mormon", p.146.
If Joseph Smith had been successfuly castrated that night in 1832, it's unlikely that there would ever have been secret Mormon temple ceremonies, sealings, garments or even temples as they exist today. After all, these are all relics of Joseph Smith's attempts to practice and conceal his plural marriage.
See:
http://www.i4m.com/think/temples/temple_legacy.htm
Castration that night in 1832 may have done Joseph Smith and his followers more harm than good.
| According to the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith deserves all of the praise he's getting this time of year. After all, we cannot be saved without him...
"If we get our salvation, we shall have to pass by Joseph Smith; if we enter our glory, it will be through the authority he has received. We cannot get around him."
- 1988 Melchizedek Priesthood Study Guide, p. 142, Apostle George Q. Cannon quoted
"Our entire case as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rests on the validity of this glorious First Vision. ... Nothing on which we base our doctrine, nothing we teach, nothing we live by is of greater importance than this initial declaration. I submit that if Joseph Smith talked with God the Father and His Beloved Son, then all else of which he spoke is true. This is the hinge on which turns the gate that leads to the path of salvation and eternal life."
- The Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign Mag., Nov. 1998, pp.70-71
[There is] "no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith. If Joseph Smith was verily a prophet, and if he told the truth...no man can reject that testimony without incurring the most dreadful consequences, for he cannot enter the kingdom of God"
- The Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, p.190
"No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith...every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are... [Joseph Smith] reigns there as supreme a being in his sphere, capacity, and calling, as God does in heaven. Many will exclaim"Oh, that is very disagreeable! It is preposterous! We cannot bear the thought!" But it is true."
- The Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, p.289-91
"He that confesseth not that Jesus has come in the flesh and sent Joseph Smith with the fullness of the Gospel to this generation, is not of God, but is anti-christ"
- The Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 9, p.312
"I tell you, Joseph holds the keys, and none of us can get into the celestial kingdom without passing by him. We have not got rid of him, but he stands there as the sentinel, holding the keys of the kingdom of God; and there are many of them beside him. I tell you, if we get past those who have mingled with us, and know us best, and have a right to know us best, probably we can pass all other sentinels as far as it is necessary, or as far as we may desire. But I tell you, the pinch will be with those that have mingled with us, stood next to us, weighed our spirits, tried us, and proven us: there will be a pinch, in my view, to get past them. The others, perhaps, will say, If brother Joseph is satisfied with you, you may pass. If it is all right with him, it is all right with me. Then if Joseph shall say to a man, or if brother Brigham say to a man, I forgive you your sins, "Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them;" if you who have suffered and felt the weight of transgressionif you have generosity enough to forgive the sinner, I will forgive him: you cannot have more generosity than I have. I have given you power to forgive sins, and when the Lord gives a gift, he does not take it back again."
- The Apostle Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p.154-155
"It is to be feared that in course of a century, some gifted man like Paul, some splendid orator, who will be able by his eloquence to attract crowds of the thousands who are ever ready to hear, and be carried away by, the sounding brass and tinkling cymbal of sparkling oratory, may command a hearing, may succeed in breathing a new life into this modern Mahometanism, and make the name of the martyred Joseph ring as loud, and stir the souls of men as much, as the mighty name of Christ itself. Sharon, Palmyra, Manchester, Kirtland, Far West, Adam-ondi-Ahman, Ramus. Nauvoo, and the Carthage Jail, may become holy and venerable names, places of classic interest, in another age; like Jerusalem, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives, and Mount Calvary to the Christian, and Mecca and Medina to the Turk."
- The Prophet Brigham Young, History of the Church, Vol. 7, p.40-41
These and other teachings are why so many people say the Mormon Church is not Christian:
http://www.i4m.com/think/history/mormon_christians.htm
What are non-Mormons to make of how Mormons adore Joseph Smith at Christmas time?
| The story of Joseph Smith is pretty cut and dried. Nothing in the man's story holds up under scrutiny: anachronistic scriptures, obviously false translations, false and altered revelations, visions invented years after the fact. Add to that the bank fraud, the adultery/polygamy, the lying to his wife and to the public, seducing teenagers with promises of eternal life, sending friends on missions so he could "marry" their wives, skipping out of Kirtland so that impoverished members would lose $38,000 in bail money, and so on.
At least you would think so, right? I've often wondered what it is that drives people who well know the history and the evidence and choose to spin it all away. I was lurking over on FAIR, and someone gave essentially the same summary as my first paragraph here, and they were accused of mudslinging. Separately, someone asked how to reconcile Joseph's obviously wrong translation of the facsimiles in the Book of Abraham, and they were told to see the latest publications from FARMS, as if some real or imagined parallel overcomes the enormous problems known since 1968.
I've concluded that these spinners are no different from the people I know who say facts don't matter, testimony from "the spirit" is what counts. The only difference is that these guys feel some need to find a rational justification for their feelings. But in the end, it's feelings that trump all. I watched a BYU-TV program in which a returned missionary told his brother that he needed to "stop thinking things through, and start feeling them through." And that in a nutshell is Mormonism. Turn off your brain, but if need be, start spinning.
That sounds much more bitter than I intended. I'll end on a silly note.
There once was a boy from Jerusalem
He sought Laban's plates; couldn't get 'em
He cut off his head
Made sure he was dead
And the plates? Now we're stuck with them.
| | | Why Joseph Smith's Claim That American Indians Were Hebrews Was Believable In 19th Century New York
Article Archived: Monday, Jan 30, 2006, at 08:02 AM
Stored Under Topic: JOSEPH SMITH - SECTION 2
Outside Link To Article: RIGHT CLICK - COPY LINK LOCATION
Original Author Of Article: SusieQ#1 | | |
How and why 19th Century people of New York believed Joseph Smith and his claims that the American Indians were Hebrews from Israel is reviewed in a book I found several years ago.
I love to buy books at garage/yard sales and a few years ago, I bought a book published by Readers Digest for $2.00 about ancient America with lots of great pictures and historical information that I laid flat on the bottom shelf of a huge bookcase because it was so large.
I had not paid particular attention to it until my TBM hubby, a few years later found it in our bookcase and plopped it down in front of me, with great glee as proof that Joseph Smith was correct, opening it to the section: "Lost Tribes in the New World."
The book is called: "Mysteries of the Ancient Americas" The New World Before Columbus Published by Readers Digest 1986
The information related in this book explains many of the reasons why people in Joseph Smith's time, with Biblical underpinnings in their religions would believe wholeheartedly that the American Indians were Hebrews from Israel.
Here are a few short quotes from one chapter:
"Lost Tribes in the New World" pg. 32-38
The thrust of this chapter is the lost tribes from the Biblical accounts.
There is also a section on: Descendants of "White" Indians -These blue eyed Indians were sometimes called "Welsh Indians," as there were claims that they were conversant in the Welsh tongue.
An author in the late 18th century, James Adair, a trader in Indian territories for at least 40 years said that he heard chants among he Choctaw and Chickasaw and their neighbors that he said was the name Jehovah which he said was the Indian phrase for dead or lost.
Another phrase he said meant "gone to Canaan" and he claimed that the word "kora" was borrowed unchanged from the Hebrew.
This is a fascination book and shows two drawings and the research of Lord Kingsborough (Edward King, Viscount Kingsborough) who, in the 19th century was a young member of Parliament.
He "was convinced that the Indians of Mexico were directly descended from Israel's Ten Lost Tribes. As proof he spent his fortune on reproducing volumes of Aztec codices that, he claimed illustrated biblical events. "
He relied heavily on Adair. He died in 1837 pg. 37
In 1650 one answer to the "Jewish Ancestors" question was published "The Hope of Israel" by Manasseh ben Israel, a rabbi in Amsterdam.
He told of a Spanish Jewish traveler, Antonio de Montezinos whose Indian Guide on one South American trip greeted him with "Shema Israel (Hear, O Israel)" pg 36
This author saw Old Testament customs in practice: ritual calendars, purification rites, circumcision, flood myths, sacrifices to gods, the veneration of a tribal ark.
I turned to page 40 and imagine my surprise to see a large picture of a painting of Joseph Smith and the angel Moroni delivering the golden plates on a hillside in New York.
Here are a few quotes from the several paragraphs relating to Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon:
"According to Mormon history, these plates told how their ancestors came to America from the "land of Jerusalem."
"No other document, inscription, or legend now known shows a lose correspondence with this account of the peopling of America, but there are tempting inferences that can be drawn from the evidence that does exist."
"It is wishful thinking, then, or the legacy of Spanish political propaganda that keeps alive the belief that the native Americans were eagerly awaiting the coming of he white man in the 16th century - (referring to Quetzalcoatl).
So far as is known, today, the existence of such a thing had never been imagined by the Aztec or Inca."
"We now know that Viking kings preceded Columbus to North America by 500 years."
This is a huge book with over 300 pages and hundreds of beautifully done pictures.
This book, shows that the combination of the Spaniards and the subsequent peopling of America from Europe with their acceptance of Biblical history as their religious reference point,(and a great reliance on it being historically correct) led many to interpret the languages and drawings of the Indians as having Hebrew - Old Testament correlations.
Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon fell right in line with the thinking of the day. He went along with what he read that was accepted as the prevailing notions of the history of the American Indians.
What he claimed in his stories in the Book of Mormon was plausible to the religious public. Even the procurement of the claimed original documents by angels, and visions, was religiously acceptable as a representative manifestation of God working in their lives.
Understanding this background shows that it was not hard for Joseph Smith to gain so many followers.
It might explain why even Jewish people would go along with Joseph Smith's claims.
Believing Mormons, nearly 170 years later will take anything even remotely resembling an acceptance of a tiny scrap of fact or possible evidence or opinion, and use it to prove Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon is a true, factual book.
I was astounded to find a book published in 1986 with references to the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. After reading the whole chapter, I understood why it was included.
Correlations between the American Indians and the Bible seems to be more a matter of heavily invested religious beliefs and wishful thinking of the times.
I suppose one could say that The Mormon Church is still stuck in the 19th Century New York as it has not followed the most current scientific evidence of the last 20 years of the real history of the Americas.
One does wonder if they will ever get up to date!
I share this info because, in my efforts to understand how Mormonism was still alive and well today, I had to gain a greater knowledge of how it got started in the first place. Once I knew more about the times, and the religious thinking of the day, it all fell into place.
D. Michael Quinn has an excellent book on the subject also:
"Early Mormonism and the Magic World View."
My surprise was finding that Readers Digest book from 1986 that elucidated further how Mormonism got it's foot hold in the 19th Century.
| Ever since the church remodeled the old Hotel Utah and renamed it the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, there has been a huge refocusing on Joseph Smith. Gordon B. Hinckley stated that the church over the years had become focused on Brigham Young and the Mormon Pioneers and he was going to put the focus back on Joseph Smith.
Since Gordo came in as the new prophet huge restoration projects in Nauvoo have taken place including rebuilding the Nauvoo Temple. A PBS program on the Joseph Smith came out. New movies showing Joseph Smith have been produced. The church right now is awash in Joseph Smith fever.
Huge mistake. The church would have been better off leaving Joseph Smith in the shadows and continue the focus on the Mormon Pioneers and the Mormon work ethic. Mormons are known for building something out of nothing and it's the Mormon work ethic that is the most respectable thing in Mormonism. Bringing Joseph Smith back, brings his teachings to the forefront. A big problem with the DNA contriversy.
The dilema is now the church has to go with modern science without castrating Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It's impossible; especially since Gordo has built the image of Joseph Smith so huge lately.
Now the church is going to try and say not all American indians are Lamanites when it's clear Joseph said they were. The DNA dilema would be easier to spin without Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon. Why not focus on the Utah pioneers again and bring the Beehive back?
Gordon B. Hinckley's huge Joseph Smith image restoration couldn't have come at a worse time. Oh well, at least he isn't shoving the Book of Mormon down the members throats like Ezra Taft Benson did. At least as badly.
What these idiots can't see is either the DNA research is right and Joseph was wrong or Joseph was right and the DNA research is right. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is going to try and have it both ways and they are going to trip all over themselves trying to do so. Especially when the new DNA findings are a revolutionary scientific breakthrough that with only get more press coverage and create lots of excitement. The Mormons will have to go the way of the world but try to say Joseph was still right. Good luck! Ha!
| The following article appeared on FARM. The link is: http://farms.byu.edu/questionday.php?id=12
Mormons often speak of Joseph Smith as a "martyr" who died for his religious beliefs. But Smith fought off the mob at Carthage with a pistol, killing two of them in the process, which disqualifies him as a martyr. A real martyr willingly lays down his life for Christ.
The term martyr is a Greek word meaning "witness." Many early witnesses of Christ died because of their beliefs, leading to the later identification of the word with one who dies in a cause. But one need not die to be a martyr, just as one can die without being a martyr.
Some biblical prophets were martyred in the same way. When the king sent soldiers to arrest the prophet Elijah, he twice called down fire from heaven and killed a hundred men (2 Kings 1:9-12). Elijah's successor, Elisha, when mocked by a group of 42 young men in the name of the Lord. "And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them" (2 Kings 2:23-24). Even the apostle Peter, in the garden of Gethsemane, drew a sword and wounded a man, in an attempt to prevent the arrest of Jesus (John 18:10).
Joseph Smith's actions in the Carthage jail were much like those of Peter in Gethsemane. He had promised to defend his companions, even at the risk of his own life, and kept that promise.
According to the Christian stories about Jesus, Jesus laid down his life willingly. He did not fight back, did not call down pillars of fire, and did not cause bears to come out of the woods to eat people (possibly because Gethsemane is not known for its huge bear population). In fact, there are so many references to Jesus being like a lamb, that we cannot possibly believe he fought back. He knew he was going to die, and he knew why, according to Christian teachings.
So why in the world would a man who knows he is going to lay down his life willingly have a pistol? Because he didn't know he was going to be killed. He thought, by all accounts of people who knew him, that he was superhuman. He thought he could fight his way out. Obviously, Joseph underestimated the mob.
The FARMS definition is a little off. Dictionary dot com (I like online resources because they are readily available to everybody here) says the following:
Martyr
1. One who chooses to suffer death rather than renounce religious principles. (emphasis mine)
2. One who makes great sacrifices or suffers much in order to further a belief, cause, or principle.
tr.v. martyred, martyring, martyrs
1. To make a martyr of, especially to put to death for devotion to religious beliefs. (emphasis mine)
2. To inflict great pain on; torment.
If you look up the definition, youll notice that I cut out the part of the definition that does not apply.
Church publications use the word martyr to mean somebody that has died for his religion, not solely as someone who was a witness. The following makes the whole proposition of interchanging the word witness with martyr simply ridiculous:
>> With the authorized servants martyred and both authority and doctrines gone, the world plunged into the Dark Ages
(see Isa. 60:2)
Spencer W. Kimball, Absolute Truth, Tambuli, July 1979, 1
As for arguing over definitions, this is just a typical FARMS tactic. As a child, I was taught that Joseph Smith was martyred. Not only that, I was taught that he went as a sheep to the slaughter and willingly laid down his life just as Jesus did. Suddenly, were asked to believe that he went out like a lion, gun in hand, just like prophets of old? Why the sudden change in posture? Why were we taught for so many years that Joseph foretold of his own death, and that he told the Saints not to worry. He had premonitions of his own death and hastened to confer on the Quorum of the Twelve all the priesthood keys. Merrill C. Oaks, The Living Prophet: Our Source of Pure Doctrine, Ensign, Nov. 1998, 82
In the meantime, even church leaders admit that the governor of Illinois, Thomas B. Ford, accused Joseph of being a fraud. Thus fell Joe Smith, the most successful impostor in modern times. (In History of the Church, 7:35).
As an aside, if he knew of his own death, and arranged for the Twelve to receive the keys, why did he not arrange for a successor? Why were the Saints so thrown when he died, so much that groups claiming the real lineage of the prophet split off from the mainstream LDS church? Once again, because Joseph did not foresee his own death. He was an arrogant man by many accounts, and thought he could charm his way out of it. Not only that, he had a gun and thought he could shoot his way out. By other accounts, he tried to sign his way out using a Masonic distress sign and phrase, "Oh Lord, My God, is there no help for the widow's son?"
In the typical obfuscating style we see on a regular basis with apologetics, let me point out that they refer to the Greek meaning as a complete red herring, an intimidation tactic that stops critical thought with a little bet you didnt know factoid. Joseph Smith was killed in 1844. He was not Greek, the people who killed him were not Greek, nor was he killed in Greece. So why does it matter if in Greek martyr and witness are the same thing? It doesnt.
To put it simply, the argument that Joseph Smith was really a martyr because in Greek martyr means witness is a joke. He had a gun, and he shot back. He even called out with a Masonic distress call. Lets just cut through the crap. Joseph Smith is no hero. He was a charlatan that had a penchant for young women and fantasies of talking with God. He ripped people off, they got mad, and they killed him for it. Thats it.
Finally, to compare Joseph Smith to Peter in Gethsemane is quite a Freudian slip. Didnt Peter deny Christ? These guys are really counting on members not doing their research.
34 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. Luke, 22: 34
Besides, what does it matter that there were fantasy figures in a work of ancient science fiction (or as apologetics refer to it now allegory)? Saying that those fantasy figures fought against people who attacked them with pillars of fire and she bears then attempting to draw a parallel to a delusional sex fiend packing a six-shooter is completely ridiculous. Its weak. And its insulting, not only to the prophets of old that Mormons that say that they revere so much, but to the man they are still making excuses for.
| | Smith refers several times to his teen years and mentions some kind of moral "weakness" that he struggled with. the 1838 version of the "first vision" includes a similar reference. His | |
