In defense of Beck and Joseph Smith I will give you one small piece of evidence that Joseph Smith might be right.
Joseph Smith says at age 17 The Angel Moroni appeared to him and said: (I will paraphrase) God had a work for him to do and that his name would be had for good and evil in all nations. This has always been in Joseph Smith History. There are two answers, either a back woods farm boy in 1822 made that statement or an angel did.
In this electronic age it is easy to prove: Do a search of Joseph Smith Jr. with as many objectionable adjectives as you can think of. Try False Prophet, Evil, Fake, Idiot, fraud, etc; There are millions of sites.
Then you decide.
I'll give you one small piece of evidence from a Mormon source (edited by Preston Nibley) originated from Joe Smith's own mom that Joey made it all up:
(It all comes to down to men & women placing their 100% spiritual trust in what a mere lad said he saw).
Here's what Lucky Mack Smith said about her 17 yo son, Joseph Smith, Junior):
"During our evening conversations, Joseph would occasionally give us some of the most amusing recitals that could be imagined. He would describe the ancient inhabitants of the continent, their dress, mode of traveling, and the animals upon which they rode; their cities, their buildings, with every particular; their mode of warfare; and also their religious worship. This he would do with as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life among them. On the twenty-second of September, 1824, Joseph again visited the place where he found the plates the year previous; and supporting at this time that the only thing required, in order to possess them until the time for their translation, was to be able to keep the commandments of God...he fully expected to carry them home with him. (Lucy Mack Smith, edited by Preston Nibley, History of Joseph Smith, p. 83, Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, 1958)
What Mormons often miss in this account is that Lucy Mack Smith was saying Joseph gave these storied details before he ever even "interpreted" these gold plates. [The context of her story is that Smith is age 17 & he's about to retrieve the gold plates again a year after being given them...and he's yet to interpret them]. A lot of it was either already there or influenced by other author(s) of his era -- in his active, imaginative mind!
You left out FALLEN angel...
I am used to the more polished vagaries of your more seasoned LDS pros or the totally disjointed and logically twisted missives of your LDS true believers...
Youre different, it really will be fun.
Joseph Smith says at age 17 The Angel Moroni appeared to him
There are two answers, either a back woods farm boy in 1822 made that statement or an angel did.
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And the answer is...
A 27 year old con artist named Joey Smith said in 1832 that an angel, a god in two sets of flesh, one god in a set of flesh andf other pink elephants and yellow warthogs visited him ...
Oh the apparitions happened back when he was 17...
no, made that 16,...
wait 15...
Oh might as well go all out and make it 14...
If ya gonna tell a tall tale to yer drinkin buds...make it a whopper...
Embellish a bit...outdo the other guy...