Posted on 06/26/2009 8:50:07 AM PDT by Colofornian
He wanted an apology to Emma Smith's family.
"What?!" Brigham Young's descendants said, according to Mary Ellen Elggren. "What are they talking about?"
In 2007, Elggren was president-elect of the Brigham Young Family Association when she first heard that Michael Kennedy, president of the Joseph Smith Jr. Family Organization, wanted an apology.
"I was totally puzzled over this," Elggren said.
Kennedy, however, was not puzzled. He was baptized as a Mormon in 1973 -- the first male descendant of Joseph and Emma Smith to join the LDS Church and be ordained an elder. He knew firsthand the prejudices that kept the families of Emma and Brigham apart.
"From the LDS perspective you've got a woman who did not come West. She is living very well. Her life is set. She's financially stable. She has not had to go through near the heartaches or the troubles that the Latter-day Saints did when they were trying to cross the plains and come up here and start everything afresh. So there is a little bit of resentment there," Kennedy said. "She didn't come West. She hated Brigham Young. And she wanted her kids to be running the church -- and we learned that those things aren't true."
From the Latter-day Saint perspective in the 19th-century West, the whole world was against them. "Brigham Young is hearing comments of Emma stating this or that, most of which are taken out of context because he is hearing them through third parties. ... So he makes all these harsh statements about Emma -- and those harsh statements get back to Emma. And so she responds by making harsh statements back about Brigham," Kennedy said.
Historian Ronald W. Walker, who is writing a new biography on Brigham Young, also thinks that miscommunication lies at the heart of the tension between Brigham and Emma.
"It has all the classic signs of people probably doing their very best in a very unsettled and difficult time. Sometimes in those circumstances, on both sides, there's a misreading of motive. You know, if they had had an opportunity to sit down and talk it through it might have evaporated," Walker said. "Without a telephone and 1,200 miles between them, it became very hard."
Kennedy approached the Young family organization. "Brigham Young never would have said any of the things he did had he had the correct information. And so I figured that maybe, if he were alive, he would come before Emma and apologize. And that's what began this was those thoughts," he said.
The initial reaction of the group was negative to the idea. People stood up and were upset. "Brigham Young doesn't need to apologize for anything!" Kennedy recalls them saying. "And so there was this stiffness that was definitely there," he said.
Then the Young family learned the prejudices that the Smith family held onto.
They had been taught that Brigham had Joseph killed, according to Kennedy. "These descendants have been raised (to think) that Brigham was part of the conspiracy, that Emma didn't want anything to do with Brigham, that they very much did not like each other."
Elggren and the rest of the group were won over. "I did not begin to know the amount of baggage that (Smith descendants) were carrying around in the way of oral tradition, father to child, about Brigham Young. I had no idea," she said. "They've got an obstacle in their path, and somehow it's Brigham Young."
The group decided to have Elggren draft the document.
It came to her in a quick burst of inspiration, she said. In July 2007, she flew to Nauvoo, Ill., to present what is called "The Healing Document" to the Joseph Smith Jr. Family Organization meeting.
There were representatives from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and from the Community of Christ. There were descendants of the Smith family from the LDS Church, Community of Christ, Church of Christ (Temple Lot) and those who did not belong to any church.
Elggren read the document aloud to a quiet room. "For a century and a half we have grieved over the loss of the fellowship of our dear Emma Hale Smith, her children and her descendants. We feel in our hearts an abiding longing to join once again these two families in a common celebration of their ancestors," she began.
The document spoke of a commitment to correct false traditions and to honor Emma's "noble life." It ended with a desire to "rebuild that bridge of friendship between our two families that existed not so long ago."
"There was no one, including the leaders, after that presentation was over that was not emotional," Kennedy said.
Many of the descendants who were not LDS came up to Kennedy and told him, "This should have been done a long time ago."
A friend of Elggren's in the Community of Christ later told her the statement wasn't really a full-blown apology. "I know," Elggren said. "But it is a bridge of friendship."
"The apology is not for things that Brigham Young did not do," Elggren said. "The apology is for the time we've lost. It really is for our not understanding what they were dealing with. It is reaching our hand out and saying, 'You know, we love you. Our families (were once) close and they need to be close again.'"
In the two years since the healing document was presented, Kennedy produced a movie titled "Emma Smith: My Story" as part of his ongoing efforts to correct the record, end prejudice and promote healing. A sequel to the movie that deals with Emma's life after the martyrdom of her husband is in the works.
But much remains to be done.
"But even when I sent (the movie "Emma Smith: My Story") out, we had stake presidents and bishops who refused to have anything to do with the movie because they assumed that the fact that it was sponsored by the (Joseph Smith Jr. & Emma Hale Smith Historical Society) and Emma's name is part of that society therefore it must be anti-Mormon," Kennedy said. "The harder attitudes are more of my grandmother's generation who had it well-instilled inside of them. Their children and grandchildren, they're a lot more receptive and open, and they want to know what really did happen."
Elggren also notices a generational difference.
"The Lord says that things will be visited on families for three or four generations," Elggren said. "Is there a possibility that that means that at four generations you are far enough away from the pain that now you can bring your family back together and you can heal those wounds and bind up those injuries and bridge those breaches and bring those families back? Because these families loved each other."
One sentence of Elggren's original draft of the healing document was taken out of the final printed version. For her, it was her favorite part. The phrase was, "Please accept our regrets for things past and things lost and our hand in love and fellowship for the future where all is to be gained."
"It was actually that sentence that made me cry when I received it because I think that was the apology," she said.
When Emma was old, she may have sensed that the rift could be healed if she could just meet face-to-face with Brigham. According to Kennedy, she contemplated taking the three-day train ride to Salt Lake City. But Brigham died before she had the opportunity to speak with him.
Elggren believes they had that face-to-face after they had both died.
"The last words out of Emma's mouth when she died were 'Joseph.' And the last words out of Brigham's mouth, and he died before Emma, were 'Joseph,'" Elggren said. "Joseph came and got each of them. They have settled their differences."
THE HEALING DOCUMENT
Brigham Young Family Association
June 9, 2007
For a century and a half we have grieved over the loss of the fellowship of our dear Emma Hale Smith, her children and her descendants. We feel in our hearts an abiding longing to join once again these two families in a common celebration of their ancestors, two men who loved each other and gave their lives together in the service of our Lord, Jesus Christ. The Prophet Joseph Smith, who stands at the head of this dispensation, is second only in our affections to the Lord Himself, and we hold in the highest esteem our progenitor, Brigham Young, whose dying words in this world were the repeated name of his greatest friend and mentor, Joseph.
If there are any misunderstandings that continue to exist in the lexicon of traditions in our family concerning the Prophet's beloved wife whom we revere as a truly great and saintly lady, we would commit ourselves to do whatever is needed to publish to the world our deep regard for her noble life.
It would be our earnest desire to rebuild that bridge of friendship between our two families that existed not so long ago.
David Knight -- President
Mary Ellen Elggren -- President Elect
Kari Robinson -- Historian
Kathy Schmidt -- Secretary
Gaylen S. Young Jr. -- Treasurer
Eric Pollei -- Board of Directors
Peter Kennedy -- John Young Family Representative
Mary P. Barfuss -- President, Brigham Young Granddaughters Association
Wendee Valentine -- President Elect, Brigham Young Granddaughters Association
Whitney Sprunt -- Vice President, Brigham Young Granddaughters Association
(For those who don't know, Smith's son, grandson, great grandson, etc. became "prophets" of the breakaway Missouri-based Reorganized Church of Latter-day Saints -- Emma Smith's family...which later changed its name to Community of Christ...they don't like to be called "Mormons")
From the article: There were descendants of the Smith family from the LDS Church, Community of Christ, Church of Christ (Temple Lot) and those who did not belong to any church.
Church of Christ, Temple Lot, is another break-off group of the Mormons. They own the Independence, MO land that several of the Lds groups say Jesus Christ will return on.
Here's two of Temple Lot's beliefs: We believe a temple will be built in this generation, in Independence, Missouri, wherein Christ will reveal himself and endow his servants whom he chooses with power to preach the gospel in all the world to every kindred, tongue and people, that the promises of God to Israel may be fulfilled. (Mic 4:1-2; Mal 3:1-4; 3 Ne 10:4; Eth 6:8). We believe that a New Jerusalem shall be built upon this land "unto the remnant of the seed of Joseph. . . " ". . . which city shall be built, beginning at the Temple Lot." (3 Ne 9:57-59, 10:1-4; Eth 6:6-8; Revelation to Joseph Smith given Sept, 22 & 23, 1832)
What's also interesting in all this is that mainstream Mormons want to be known as Christians -- yet if you ask them if the Community of Christ church or the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) are Latter-day saints, you usually get a no answer or an emphatic "no!"
The article addresses the bad feelings that still exist among the groups -- even after this so-called "apology" -- which a Community of Christ member was frank and said, "What apology?":
A friend of Elggren's in the Community of Christ later told her the statement wasn't really a full-blown apology. "I know," Elggren said.
(The article above includes the so-called "apology" at the end...What "apology" is there imbedded in there? No wonder the article says: The initial reaction of the group was negative to the idea. People stood up and were upset. "Brigham Young doesn't need to apologize for anything!" Kennedy recalls them saying. "And so there was this stiffness that was definitely there," he said.)
Kennedy was actually the first-ever Joseph Smith descendent to become a Mormon in 1973!!! He described the hostile feelings Lds have -- even post-"apology" -- toward Smith's descendents: "But even when I sent (the movie "Emma Smith: My Story") out, we had stake presidents and bishops who refused to have anything to do with the movie because they assumed that the fact that it was sponsored by the (Joseph Smith Jr. & Emma Hale Smith Historical Society) and Emma's name is part of that society therefore it must be anti-Mormon," Kennedy said.
[It seems to Lds, everybody is "anti-Mormon" -- even Joseph Smith's descendents!!!]
They had been taught that Brigham had Joseph killed, according to Kennedy.
_______________________________________________
Yes, given the nature and history and greed of Brigham Young, that could be a possibility...
Plus how fast he got all the way supposedly from New york to Nauvoo...
and immediately commence a power struggle before Joey’s body was hardly cold...
Not to praise “caesar, but to bury him” and take over..
Plus his relentless “blood letting” vengence ..
Emma hated Brigham Young...
Why ????????????
"The last words out of Emma's mouth when she died were 'Joseph.' And the last words out of Brigham's mouth, and he died before Emma, were 'Joseph,'" Elggren said. "Joseph came and got each of them. They have settled their differences."
Gimme a break!
What a collection of silly sectarian nonsense.
This can’t be, after all mormonism is monolithic and Christianity is splintered
This is a useful list: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1994515/posts
#1...Was this removed because Brigham Young's descendents don't think Brigham could be relationally guilty of anything? (anybody closer to this clan know?)
#2...does the reference "fellowship for the future where all is to be gained" include a reference to their perceived after-life unity? Or a reference to where the Smith blood & spiritual offshoots all come together on Temple Lot in Missouri and wait for their Jesus to return?
The mainstream Mormons aren't exactly happy campers that they don't own the land Joseph Smith prophesied about back in July 1831 in Jackson County, Missouri -- which Smith called "Zion": ...this land, which is the land of Missouri, which is the land which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the saints. Wherefore, this is the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion...Behold the place which is now called Independence is the center place; and a spot for the temple is lying westward, upon a lot which not far from the court-house. (Lds Doctrine & Covenants 57:1-3)
As we can see -- with Smith being so specific as he was -- "not far from the courthouse"...
...[Oh, sure, that's the way the God of the universe conveys revelations from on high "Oh, over there by that spec of dust -- not far from the courthouse"]
...anyway, with this prophesy there isn't the normal wiggle-room lds like to exercise to get out of yet another Smith false prophesy.
Ah, yes, the grassroots Mormon and the apologist Mormon's convenient blinder that lds schisms don't exist -- whenever they point to all the Christian denominations!
This is a useful list: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1994515/posts [Vladimir998]
Indeed it is! (Only 97 Joe Smith offshoots, eh? All in only 165 years since his death? Averaging more than one offshoot every two years!)
Some of these offshoots are small -- according to one article, There are only about 600 temple lot Mormons in the world. http://www.bible.ca/mor-church-of-christ-temple-lot-mormons-1830.htm -- a bit surprising given their statement of beliefs emphasizing missionary work.
According to this same article belief distinctions among these three Smith offshoots include:
Temple Lot (TL) vs. Main line Mormons (Lds) vs. RLDS Reformed:
First Presidency: No (TL); Yes (Lds); Yes (Rlds)
High Priests: No (TL); Yes (Lds); Yes (Rlds)
Patriarchs: No (TL); Yes (Lds); Yes (Rlds)
12 Apostles at the head: Yes (TL); No (Lds); No (Rlds)
A prophet at the head: No (TL); Yes (Lds); Yes (Rlds)
Prophets: (Yes across the board)
Church name as of 1830: Yes (TL); No (Lds); No (Rlds)
Bible: (Yes across the board -- but with my caveat that each adhere to thought that where contradictions exist, the D&C among mainstream Mormons usually trumps the Bible, which they don't regard as a completely correct translation...which leads to the question as to why they don't just all use Smith's version of the Bible -- the JST -- and the reason is because the Rlds hold copyright!)
Book of Mormon: (yes across the board)
Book of Commandments [the original Doctrine & Covenants]: Yes(*) (TL); No (Lds); No (Rlds)
Doctrine & Covenants: Yes(*) (TL); Yes (Lds); Yes (Rlds)
Pearl of Great Price as "scripture": No (TL); Yes (Lds); No (Rlds)
Baptism by Immersion: (Yes across the board)
Baptism for the dead: No (TL); Yes (Lds); No (Rlds)
Celestial Marriage: [Marriage for eternity] No (TL); Yes (Lds); No (Rlds)
Polygamy: No (TL); Yes/No (Lds) -- "Utah D & C provides for plural marriages, but the practice was since declared illegal by President Woodruff"; No (Rlds) -- except for "polygamists in India accepted into fellowship" (Rlds)
Man to become a God: No (TL); Yes (Lds); No (Rlds)
God, once a man: No (TL); Yes (Lds); No (Rlds)
Temple in Zion (Indep., Mo.): (Yes across the board)
Other temples (except at Jerusalem): No (TL); Yes (Lds); Yes (Kirtland, OH only)
I guess the above rings another "death knell" to a common Lds apologetical claim -- that Smith was picked by God to restore pure doctrine from a so-called "tangled mess"...Looking at the above, I'd say the RLDS, Temple Lot disagree on some pretty major items with the Lds -- like whether...
--people can become gods...
--God was once a man...
--the Pearl of Great Price constitutes "scripture"
(Of course, on the other hand, what do the Rlds and Temple Lot then do with Smith's preaching at a funeral where he taught some of these things?)
One other note: the * above indicates that Temple Lot tries to weasel out of Smith's "revelations" by saying (*) Joseph Smith gave some divine revelations, but not all were divine. They must be compared with the Bible and Book of Mormon, the only safe standards. ... My question is: How can you give a "revelation" that's not "divine" and then call it only a "safe standard...revelation" of man -- not God?
I remember years ago the LDS kids would set on one side of the school bus and the RLDS kids on the other side.
Then often they would start...
LDS..”WE ARE RIGHT!”
RLDS..”NO, WE ARE RIGHT!”
LDS..’WE ARE RIGHT!”
RLDS..”NO WE ARE RIGHT!”
Now I suppose they will be lovey dovey for a while till they find something else to fight over like who is the real “prophet” of the LDS or RLDs organizations.
FLDS - "You both are wrong"
***...anyway, with this prophesy there isn’t the normal wiggle-room lds like to exercise to get out of yet another Smith false prophesy. ***
Years ago, in New Mexico, Mormon friends invited me to their church so I went with them. After their services when they broke up and went into classrooms the lesson was on Christ’s Return.
The teacher pointed out that at that time (the return of Christ), they would all return to Jackson County Missouri. that was the first I had ever heard of a return to Missouri.
Well, frankly, the Lds have a LOT [seriously, no pun intended] of under-the-surface reasons to be "lovey dovey" toward at least the Temple Lotters. After all, the Lotters won the Lds "lottery" by coming into prime real estate where the Lds jesus will supposedly return. [Gee, and here we Evangelicals thought for some reason that Jesus' return would draw immediate worldwide notice]
Of course, what militates against such "lovey-doveyness" is the vociferous bloodline defenders of Brigham Young and Joseph Smith.
And, as long as you have associations like the one this article highlights -- groups like the Brigham Young Granddaughters Association and the Joseph Smith, Jr. Family Organization -- I don't see any unity, do you?
BTW, I'm all for informal family networking, but what's with it with formal groups like these even existing under these titles? I mean, come on, the Joseph Smith, Jr. Family Organization kind of sounds like the "God mob"...and Brigham Young Granddaughters Assocation? Could you imagine new tribes of Israel popping up like the Isaiah Granddaughters Association?
What kind of a historian is it who seeks to overhaul (not even just "touch up") portraits that look less-than-healthy with a major photoshop-like job?
Why is it when other churches spazz into schisms, people look with remiss...but when Lds schism, it's "people probably doing their very best..."
I think it has to do with Mormon Wasatch/Rocky Mountain psychology...a type of psychology where sins aren't part of who you are...no, those are just "momentary lapses"...or at worst, a "bad habit" -- both of which can supposedly be shed.
What does the Bible say? Shed your old self -- your old identity...
...and put on Christ -- every day -- just like brand new clothes. ('Cause our old self is rather ragged -- taken care of by Jesus' ole rugged cross)
FLDS - "You both are wrong"
GOD - "Um, hate to tell you this...."
LOL
What is this “relentless blood-letting”?
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