Anyone who could marry more than 33 wives sure was a miracle worker. Eleven of Smith's wives were between ages 14 and 20, nine were in their 20s, eight were in Smith's own peer group of 31 to 40, two were in their 40s and three in their 50s. And not only was he sleeping with younguns, a lot of the women were still married to others. It truly is a miracle he didn't die of an STD.
"He died in Illinois. Brigham Young and the other apostles led the people to Utah."
That was pretty soon after his $3 Kirtland bank scam. Brigham Young was surely inspired, he married 11 of Joseph's wives. A regular Sodom and Gomoroh
"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."
Why, with all that revealed light and knowledge, why not skip straight to getting your own planet instead of hanging around with us dumb Christians who are just going to hell anyway if we don't bow to Joseph Smith.
I receive revelations myself every day, they are filled with (light and knowledge) squared, so I'm more full of it than anyone. And you know I'm telling the truth because I've never told a lie.
"However, God is no respecter of persons and all are beloved sons and daughters to Him."
Except those Christians and Jews who Joseph Smith said were abominations. Unless he was wrong about that, cause he seems to have been wrong a whole bunch.
"The hieroglyphics were produced and attested to by authorities in the field."
No they weren't, I posted a big link to the Mormon curator who tried to get them authenticated but gave up when four out of four real translators told him Joseph Smith's translations were a crock.
"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?"
Um, they used the same funeral wrappings Joseph Smith used. Of course, there are now literally thousands of funeral casks around, and not one of them has the same book of Abraham wrappings that Joseph Smith sucked out of thin air.
"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."
So, where are they now? They must be worth billions. I guess they got made into the graven images you have on top your Temples.
"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."
That would be called "losing it" in anything other than Mormon speak. Mormon speak let's you always be right, unless you are wrong, in which case there's always a new revelation to make up for the mess you've created.
"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."
I sure do know what they are, cause I have them right here. And I'm using them to translate the hieroglyphics I found wrapped around the imported computer parts I just got from Taiwan. They say "Joseph Smith not able translate bean soup".
I was going to use my secret decoder ring to translate my secret hieroglyphics, but the plastic broke and I lost it - oooops, I mean it was taken from me, the Prophet Fast Coyote never loses any sacred paraphenalia (unless the cops are headed my way, in which case it was a friend's).
"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."
Then you must feel pretty stupid seeing as how Joseph Smith signed a $3 bill from Kirtland bank.
"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."
With all those saintly prophets running around, it's pretty hard to say that I couldn't just as well be a prophet. I think the BOM has been superceded by the Book of Zelph, look it up, it's highly enlightening.