Posted on 12/18/2004 11:44:17 AM PST by yonif
To loyal Mormons, Joseph Smith Jr. was an American prophet whose creed is preparing for Christ’s Second Coming. To skeptics, he was a reprobate impostor – if a remarkably successful one.
Now as Smith’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints prepares to celebrate the bicentennial of his birth (Dec. 23, 1805), the occasion will certainly renew debates over one of America’s most important – and wooliest – religious careers.
The oft-persecuted Smith was hounded out of New York, Ohio and Missouri, tarred and feathered, jailed and accused of serious crimes. He repeatedly alienated close associates.
In Illinois, he ruled a theocratic city-state as prophet, mayor, judge and commander of a 5,000-man militia. In 1844, he was secretly anointed an earthly king while campaigning for the U.S. presidency. When Smith had officers pillage an opposition newspaper, he was arrested, then murdered by a mob.
Smith’s prophethood was founded upon his report that, in 1827, an angel gave him golden plates inscribed in an unknown language and buried near Palmyra, N.Y. The plates told the history of Indians’ ancient ancestors, who had migrated from Israel and were visited by Jesus. Smith said God miraculously empowered him to understand the language and dictate the Book of Mormon, after which the angel retrieved the plates.
Employing similar means, Smith revised – and in his view corrected – large sections of the Bible. He also produced writings attributed to biblical Abraham and 134 revelations of his own as latter-day scripture.
Both Mormons and non-Mormons still argue over Smith’s authenticity.
Just last Sunday, a church tribunal in Utah disfellowshipped Grant Palmer, a retired teacher and executive for classes the church provides to high school and college students, because his “An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins” says evidence for Smith’s claims is “either nonexistent or problematic.”
Church bicentennial doings include an authorized Book of Mormon publication by secular Doubleday, though last year’s University of Illinois Press “reader’s edition” is more useful for non-Mormons.
Other upcoming events: a Library of Congress symposium; Volume 1 in the vast “Joseph Smith Papers” series; and a new Smith film for visitors to the church’s Salt Lake City headquarters.
The landmark, however, will be Richard Bushman’s biography “Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling,” due next October. Bushman, an emeritus professor at Columbia University, is the leading historian of America among devout Mormons.
Bushman said in an interview that the hostility Smith suffered is hardly surprising, given that his theological views were alien, even abhorrent, to most Christians.
For example, Smith’s position on God the Father “is incredibly heretical” by orthodox Christian standards, Bushman said.
Smith said that matter is eternal so “God is the master of the universe, not the creator,” Bushman explained, and humans “are all gods in embryo.” Smith also taught that God was not always God but “was once as we are now, and is an exalted man.”
Mormons “are just driven to continually exalt” Smith, Bushman said. “What I say will run against this idealized version.”
Another major controversy is Smith’s practice of polygamy, which the church abandoned under federal government pressure in 1890. Bushman finds it unsettling that 10 of Smith’s 28 or so wives were already married to other men.
The biography also treats the now-established fact that, before he reported unearthing the golden tablets, Smith was active in searches for buried treasure by gazing into so-called magic peep stones. Jan Shipps, a non-Mormon historian, said Smith’s critics argue that “he couldn’t be a prophet because he was a money-digger,” but maybe there’s no contradiction and “he began somehow to search for treasure of much greater value.”
Another perennial issue is whether Smith’s unconventional creed is Christian, particularly since he said God regarded teachings of all other churches as “an abomination.” Shipps, emeritus professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, terms Mormonism a “new religious tradition” that emerged from Christianity, like Christianity did from Judaism.
A church that started with a handful of disciples in 1830 has grown into America’s fifth-largest denomination. It has a total of 12 million adherents worldwide.
oh no, Here we go again a Mormon thread.
12 million adherents? I wonder how many people convert each year.
Got a link to his review?
I'm not a Mormon, but still am shocked by the inherently anti-Mormon starting place of this sentence. What makes the Mormon religion any less believable, and its prophets any less honorable, than that of any other religion?
With no offense to non-Mormon Christians, you could say, "Christians gather to celebrate the 2000th birthday of Christ. To loyal Christians, Jesus was the Son of God. To skeptics, he was a reprobate impostor." But you would never see such a sentence in any mainstream publication.
Where are the original "gloden tablets" that Smith got from this angel now?
What makes the Mormon religion any less believable, and its prophets any less honorable, than that of any other religion?
The preponderance of evidence. The founder of this religion committed what many people would consider immoral acts. He also had numerous run-ins with the law. Being so far out of mainstream with little to support your views lends to making one a target.
Yes. The University of Newfoundland has a religious studies area that catalogs many religions. Their main religious studies page is here:
http://www.mun.ca/rels/
The document to which I'm referring, scanned and converted to text, is on this page:
http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/acampbell/mh1831/DELUSION.HTM
Correspondence from readers through 1831 led to this article in 1832:
http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/acampbell/delusions.html
What makes the Mormon religion any less believable, and its prophets any less honorable, than that of any other religion?
How well or poorly it matches with real world history.
I see what you are saying. Still, since there is a strong element of faith in every religion I find it hard to distinguish among them. And while non-Mormon Christians surely believe that there is much to support their views, they would also have to acknowledge that Jesus "had numerous run-ins with the law" and was seen as "being . . . far out of mainstream."
Not sure I follow you. Could you please expand on your comment? In what sense does traditional Christianity match better with real world history than Mormonism?
have to acknowledge that Jesus "had numerous run-ins with the law" and was seen as "being . . . far out of mainstream."
There is a distinct difference to me in religious and secular laws. Polygamy and destruction of private property doesn't carry the same weight as "healing on the Sabbath day" crime. Yes Jesus was far out of the mainstream because He claimed equality with God. He was either crazy and delusional or correct. Each person has to make that call on their own.
Fair enough.
They misspelled profit.
I'd encourage you to learn about Mormonism -- from favorable sources. You'll find that Mormonism requires a couple of extra leaps of faith. Believe it or not, South Park summarized it pretty well.
Hey, South Park is my most trusted source of information for most important issues in life ;-)
Name one source, other than Joseph Smith, which says that when one dies, they become a god, inheret a planet and have celestial sex?
Hey, South Park is my most trusted source of information for most important issues in life ;-)
Indeed.
I learned more about the LDS from Southpark than I ever thought.
Brigham Young? Sidney Rigdon? (the latter purported to be the actual writer of the original Book of Mormon via his ancient language mastery)?
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