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Acceptance of the Bible by the Mormon Church is qualified by a statement credited to Joseph Smith and which now appears in article eight of the Mormon Articles of Faith, "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly." Joseph Smith is also quoted as saying, "I believe the Bible as it read when it came from the pen of the original writers. Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors."1 Proclaiming belief in the Bible as originally written, as opposed to a corrupt contemporary version,...

(To see Cal Grondahl’s cartoon that goes with this post click here) The months in Nauvoo following the murder of the LDS Church founder Joseph Smith were not surprisingly, filled with turmoil and political intrigue. The recent publication of “The Nauvoo City and High Council Minutes” by Signature Books provides detailed accounts of the Nauvoo Stake’s high council meetings. It’s very interesting reading. The High Council was a political tool, a body used to cast out prominent church members who did not support Brigham Young’s claim of leadership, or the church’s still-secret embrace of polygamy. The purge of those who...

From the Life of Joseph SmithThe winter and spring of 1843–44 was a time of great tension in Nauvoo, as Joseph Smith’s enemies increased their efforts to destroy him and the Church. Knowing his mortal ministry would soon come to a close, the Prophet met frequently with members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to instruct them and to give them the priesthood keys necessary to govern the Church. These preparations culminated in a meeting with the Apostles and a few other close associates in March 1844. In this extraordinary council, the Prophet charged the Twelve to govern the...

...June 29, 2012 SNIP Session #1A Mormonism and the MediaSNIP Thomas G. Evans Journal of Religion, Identity and Policy: “Cross-Cultural Case Studies: The ‘Mormon Jesus’ in Mexico and in Cyberspace” SNIP Session #2A Reconsidering Joseph Smith’s Marital PracticesLawrence Foster Georgia Institute of Technology: “Why Polyandry Isn’t the Right Term to Describe Joseph Smith’s Marriages to Women Who Remained Legally Married to Other Men: Reflections on a Difficult and Challenging Issue” Brian C. Hales Layton, Utah: “Joseph Smith’s Sexual Polyandry and the Emperor’s New Clothes: On Closer Inspection, What do We Find?” Commentator: D. Michael Quinn ...June 30... Session #4B Early...

Many naive Americans believe that Mormonism is merely another branch of protestant Christianity. Well that’s not what the founders and leaders of Mormonism believed. According to its founder, Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young, Smith’s successor, Mormons are the only true people of God on the earth. All non-Mormons and their religions are “wrong, an abomination, blind, damned, of the devil, whores, not Christians, groveling in darkness, heathens, ignorant, devoid of fact, pagan and hatched in Hell.” When Romney made a speech about his religion in 2008 he refused to distance himself from his faith and fully affirmed his Mormonism. Responding...

Given the depth and breadth of the cumulative circumstantial and direct physical evidence related to the timing of the Mormon movement, the character and motive of Joseph Smith, the manner in which Smith claimed to find and translate the Book of Mormon, the errant and peculiar characteristics of the Book of Mormon and the true and contradictory translation of the Book of Abraham, there is more than enough reason to conclude that Joseph Smith was a fraud and that the Book of Mormon is a work of fiction.

Two Nevadans are being heard from on the subject of Mitt Romney and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salon carried an article by Boulder City native Sally Denton, author of bestsellers like The Blue Grass Conspiracy and The Money and the Power. The article is titled “Romney and the White Horse Prophecy.” Denton’s article recalls the presidential campaign of Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith in 1844: “Challenging Democrat James Polk and Whig Henry Clay, Smith prophesied that if the U.S. Congress did not accede to his demands that ‘they shall be broken up as a government and...

He took as many as 48 wives. Sources: [Official LDS website: FamilySearch.org] [A comprehensive PDF] [Wikipedia]Many were teenagers, as young as 13 years old. Many were already married to other men and continued in polyandry: having more than one husband.He married pairs of sisters, and even took a mother and her daughter for wives. The wives of the prophetsThe first seven Mormon prophets had at least 135 wives. Mormon prophet Number of wives Joseph Smith 48 Brigham Young 55 John Taylor 7 Wilford Woodruff 5 Lorenzo Snow 11 Joseph F. Smith 6 Heber J. Grant 3 Summary of Events...

MORmONS come up with the most insane idiocy, and then they expect others to believe it because they say so, then they get offended when others dont. LDS INC has been working very hard to keep this video blocker and off of youtube because it helps shows just how stupid MORmON claims really

"When the family organization was revealed from heaven—the patriarchal order of God, and Joseph began, on the right and the left, to add to his family, what a quaking there was in Israel. Says one brother to another, "Joseph says all covenants [previous marriages] are done away, and none are binding but the new covenants [marriage by priesthood sealing power]; now suppose Joseph should come and say he wanted your wife, what would you say to that?" "I would tell him to go to hell." This was the spirit of many in the early days of this Church. . ....

Years ago a child was born in an obscure village to poor parents residing in a dwelling they did not own but one that was made available to them through the kindness of others. The child grew to be an extraordinary individual and though he died before his 40th birthday, he transformed the society and world in which he lived. Dec. 23 will mark the 207th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith Jr., the prophet of the Restoration. Joseph entered the world on a cold Monday morning in Sharon, Vt., shortly before the close of 1805...Interestingly, Joseph’s circumstances share...

The history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began in the Sacred Grove when fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith prayed to know which church was true. But Heavenly Father had been preparing Joseph Smith throughout his life for that marvelous First Vision—the most important message the world has received since the time of Jesus Christ. This preparation began on December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont, when Joseph Smith, Jr., was born.

Sharon, Vermont, could rightly be called the cradle of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it was here that Joseph Smith Jr. was born on December 23, 1805. The fifth child of Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph Jr. was nurtured and loved as he developed gradually into his role as the Prophet of “the dispensation of the fulness of times” (Eph. 1:10).

What most LDS have been taught in church and believe as truthPolygamy was illegalPolygamy contradicts 12th Article of FaithWere there more women than men?LDS scriptures condemn polygamyPolygamy was started by Joseph Smith not Brigham YoungJoseph married other men's wives while they were still married to their husbandsDid Joseph have sex with his wives?Joseph married girls as young as 14 years oldJoseph lied about practicing polygamyThe Church condemned polygamy when Joseph practiced itThe Church continued to practice polygamy after 1890The Reed Smoot HearingsQuotes from the prophetsIs polygamy a doctrine of the LDS Church?How many people in the Church practiced polygamy?Will...

In January 1819, Joseph Smith Sr. and his eldest son, Alvin, initiated a lawsuit against Jeremiah Hurlbut, the eldest male member of a prominent founding family in Palmyra, N.Y. As a byproduct of his work on the legal papers of Joseph Smith, lawyer and legal historian Jeffrey Walker analyzes the documents surviving from the suit in his article "Joseph Smith's Introduction to the Law: The 1819 Hurlbut Case," which appeared in the spring 2010 issue of "Mormon Historical Studies," a semiannual publication of the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation. The specific issues of the case — the sale of a pair...

“No, we don’t worship Joseph Smith,” I explained to the investigator. “We respect him as a prophet.” “You mean, like Mohamed?” he asked. “No, more like Moses, or John the Baptist.” It was a standard comparison that I had used repeatedly on my mission. Joseph Smith is just a prophet. He’s just like John the Baptist, or Moses, or Peter, James, and John. Of course, there are a few problems with that characterization, aren’t there? Chief among them — if Joseph Smith is really just like John the Baptist, then why don’t we treat the two similarly? And despite doctrinal...

"Come on! ye prosecutors! ye false swearers! All hell, boil over! Ye burning mountains, roll down your lava! for I will come out on top at last. I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the...

First of all, let’s make this clear: Joseph Smith deserves to be celebrated. He is the founder of a major religion, a bona fide historical heavyweight, and revered prophet of millions. Nobody would begrudge a commemoration in favour of John Wesley or Ellen White. My sense is that Latter-day Saints are happy to honour Joseph’s 200th birthday… …But there’s one problem, an elephant that I think may be in the room for some Mormons. If only his birthday were not on December 23! The exmo boards are all a-flutter over “Smithmas” (a nasty and pejorative word) and the Joseph “nativity”...

Joseph Smith Jr.— It is a constantly recurring mystery to me how some people speak with admiration for the Church and its work while at the same time disdaining him through whom, as a servant of the Lord, came the framework of all that the Church is, of all that it teaches, and of all that it stands for... SNIP Proclaiming a Prophet ...we acknowledge the Prophet; we proclaim him; we respect him; we reverence him... SNIP The story of Joseph’s life is the story of a miracle. SNIP Praise to the Man When I was a boy 12 years...

In 1844, there were approximately 26,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yet, when W.W. Phelps penned a song of tribute to his beloved, fallen Prophet, he promised that "millions shall know Brother Joseph again." SNIP Now known not only to the millions of members of the LDS Church, but also by countless more around the world, Joseph Smith has taken a unique and respected place in American and religious history. SNIP An advance copy of the CD was presented to President Thomas S. Monson... SNIP He reminisced about serving as a mission president in Toronto,...