“Moses was chastened by the Lord for messing up from time to time. Does that mean he was not a prophet? Hardly.”
Equating Moses with Joseph Smith is quite a laugh. It’s a catch 22 for Mormons if you put him on that level, cause are you saying Joseph Smith parted a Sea and led his CHOSEN PEOPLE to Utah!? If that is the case, then the “Chosen Mormons” are above all other Christians and all this bull pucky about everyone being at the same level has been one big lie.
Of course, there is no $3 bill with Moses’s signature on it. Plus Moses could actually read hieroglyphics instead of just faking the translation of a funery list of gods as the book of Abraham.
So while Moses gave every indication of being an honest prophet from the start, Joseph Smith has every indication of being a petty grifter:
1) searching for buried pirate treasure,
2) losing the gold tablets (if there were any)
3) losing his first translation of the BOM,
4) translating with a seer stone found in a well and kept in his hat
5) claiming to translate hieroglyphics
6) being an adulterous multiple philanderer who tricked a bunch of gullible girls into marriage
7) running a bank scam at Kirtland
If those qualifications are the bona fides of a prophet, then the Prophet/God FastCoyote has some desert land near Searchlight to sell you. I’ve seen the future I tell you, and it’s IN PLASTICS :)
He died in Illinois. Brigham Young and the other apostles led the people to Utah.
Latter-Day Saints do have more light and knowledge because we continue to receive revelation from the Lord and we are required to live by it. However, God is no respecter of persons and all are beloved sons and daughters to Him.
The hieroglyphics were produced and attested to by authorities in the field.
I've seen the websites with the supposed facsimile that is supposed to be the original from which Joseph Smith referenced. If that is all you know on the subject then you are woefully uninformed. What did the detractors use to come up with their translation?
1. I have no idea what you are talking about
2. He never lost the gold plates and there were many witnesses to them as you will find in the preface to the Book of Mormon. Those who became disaffected never recanted their witness of the plates.
3.He did not lose a "first translation of the Book of Mormon". The manuscript for the first book within that set of scriptures, the "Book of Lehi" was taken and never returned.
4.Do you know what Moses and the Priests of Arron called the Urim and Thummim? That's in the Old Testament, if you've never read it.
5.His claim is in over a hundred different languages. There is no claim.
6.Like Abraham and Jacob?
7.He did not run a bank in Kirtland and if you were familiar at all with U.S. history you would know that there was a national bank failure at the time, which happened to affect Kirtland. Kirtland was did not start it, was not the center of it, and certainly was insignificant as to the national scope of the crisis.
And yes, Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. Gordon B. Hinkley is the living prophet at this moment. Revelation has not ceased, nor the ministering of angels, nor Christ's intimate dealings and direction with His Apostles. The heavens are not shut and yes, the Book of Mormon is the word of God and testifies that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten of the Father in the flesh.