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http://lifeongoldplates.blogspot.com/2008/08/bushmans-introduction-to-joseph-smith.html ^
| August 14, 2008
| Richard Bushman
Posted on 08/15/2008 1:47:27 PM PDT by greyfoxx39
The following is Richard Bushman's introduction to the 2008 summer seminar, Joseph Smith and His Critics, given July 29, 2008. I also have a poor mp3 recording of the paper and in the next week or so I plan on blogging any additions Bushman made in reading the paper to the group. For my thoughts on the seminar in general, see "Preliminary Thoughts on the 2008 Bushman Seminar," and "Follow-up Thoughts on the 2008 Bushman Seminar." For notes on the presentations themselves, see Juvenile Instructor's "Notes on the 2008 Bushman Seminar," parts one and two.
Introduction
Richard Bushman
Increasingly teachers and church leaders at all levels are approached by Latter-day Saints who have lost confidence in Joseph Smith and the basic miraculous events of church history. They doubt the First Vision, the Book of Mormon, many of Josephs revelations, and much besides. They fall into doubt after going on the Internet and finding shocking information about Joseph Smith based on documents and facts they had never heard before. A surprising number had not known about Joseph Smiths plural wives. They are set back by differences in the various accounts of the First Vision. They find that Egyptologists do not translate the Abraham manuscripts the way Joseph Smith did, making it appear that the Book of Abraham was a fabrication. When they come across this information in a critical book or read it on one of the innumerable critical Internet sites, they feel as if they had been introduced to a Joseph Smith and a Church history they had never known before. They undergo an experience like viewing the famous picture of a beautiful woman who in a blink of an eye turns into an old hag. Everything changes. What are they to believe?
Often church leaders, parents, and friends, do not understand the force of this alternate view. Not knowing how to respond, they react defensively. They are inclined to dismiss all the evidence as anti-Mormon or of the devil. Stop reading these things if they upset you so much, the inquirer is told. Or go back to the familiar formula: scriptures, prayer, church attendance.
The troubled person may have been doing all of these things sincerely, perhaps even desperately. He or she feels the world is falling apart. Everything these inquirers put their trust in starts to crumble. They want guidance more than ever in their lives, but they dont seem to get it. The facts that have been presented to them challenge almost everything they believe. People affected in this way may indeed stop praying; they dont trust the old methods because they feel betrayed by the old system. Frequently they are furious. On their missions they fervently taught people about Joseph Smith without knowing any of these negative facts. Were they taken advantage of? Was the Church trying to fool them for its own purposes?
These are deeply disturbing questions. They shake up everything. Should I stay in the Church? Should I tell my family? Should I just shut up and try to get along? Who can help me?
At this point, these questioners go off in various directions. Some give up on the Church entirely. They find another religion or, more likely these days, abandon religion altogether. Without their familiar Mormon God, they are not sure there is any God at all. They become atheist or agnostic. Some feel the restrictions they grew up with no longer apply. The strength has been drained out of tithing, the Word of Wisdom, and chastity. They partly welcome the new freedom of their agnostic condition. Now they can do anything they please without fear of breaking the old Mormon rules. The results may not be happy for them or their families.
Others piece together a morality and a spiritual attitude that stops them from declining morally, but they are not in an easy place. When they go to church, , they are not comfortable. Sunday School classes and Sacrament meeting talks about Joseph Smith and the early church no longer ring true. How can these people believe these fairy tales, the inquirers ask. Those who have absorbed doses of negative material live in two minds: their old church mind which now seems naive and credulous, and their new enlightened mind with its forbidden knowledge learned on the internet and from critical books.
A friend who is in this position described the mindset of the disillusioned member this way:
Due to the process of learning, which they have gone through, these [two-minded] LDS often no longer accept the church as the only true one (with the only true priesthood authority and the only valid sacred ordinances), but they see it as a Christian church, in which good, inspired programs are found as well as failure and error. They no longer consider inspiration, spiritual and physical healing, personal and global revelation limited to the LDS church. In this context, these saints may attend other churches, too, where they might have spiritual experiences as well. They interpret their old spiritual experiences differently, understanding them as testimonies from God for them personally, as a result of their search and efforts, but these testimonies dont necessarily have to be seen as a confirmation that the LDS church is the only true one.
Since the social relationships between them and other ward (or stake) members suffer (avoidance, silence, even mobbing) because of their status as heretics, which is usually known via gossip, and since the extent of active involvement and range of possible callings are reduced because of their nonconformity in various areas, there is a risk that they end up leaving the church after all, because they are simply ignored by the majority of the other members.
He then offers a recommendation:
It is necessary that the church not only shows more support and openness to these apostates but also teaches and advises all members, bishops, stake presidents etc., who usually dont know how to deal with such a situation in terms of organizational and ecclesiastical questions and out of insecurity fail to treat the critical member with the necessary love and respect that even a normal stranger would receive.
Those are the words of someone who has lost belief in many of the fundamentals and is working out a new relationship to the Church. Other shaken individuals recover their belief in the basic principles and events but are never quite the same as before. Their knowledge, although no longer toxic, gives them a new perspective. They tend to be more philosophic and less dogmatic about all the stories they once enjoyed. Here are some of the characteristics of people who have passed through this ordeal but managed to revive most of their old beliefs.
1. They often say they learned the Prophet was human. They dont expect him to be a model of perfect deportment as they once thought. He may have taken a glass of wine from time to time, or scolded his associates, or even have made business errors. They see his virtues and believe in his revelations but dont expect perfection.
2. They also dont believe he was led by revelation in every detail. They see him as learning gradually to be a prophet and having to feel his way at times like most Church members. In between the revelations, he was left to himself to work out the methods of complying with the Lords commandments. Sometimes he had to experiment until he found the right way.
3. These newly revived Latter-day Saints also develop a more philosophical attitude toward history. They come to see (like professional historians) that facts can have many interpretations. Negative facts are not necessarily as damning as they appear at first sight. Put in another context along side other facts, they do not necessarily destroy Joseph Smiths reputation.
4. Revived Latter-day Saints focus on the good things they derive from their faiththe community of believers, the comforts of the Holy Spirit, the orientation toward the large questions of life, contact with God, moral discipline, and many others. They dont want to abandon these good things. Starting from that point of desired belief, they are willing to give Joseph Smith and the doctrine a favorable hearing. They may not be absolutely certain about every item, but they are inclined to see the good and the true in the Church.
At the heart of this turmoil is the question of trust. Disillusioned Latter-day Saints feel their trust has been betrayed. They dont know whom to trust. They dont dare trust the old feelings that once were so powerful, nor do they trust church leaders. They can only trust the new knowledge they have acquired. Those who come back to the Church are inclined to trust their old feelings. Their confidence in the good things they knew before is at least partially restored. But they sort out the goodness that seems still vital from the parts that now seem no longer tenable. Knowledge not only has given them a choice, it has compelled them to choose. They have to decide what they really believe. In the end, many are more stable and convinced than before. They feel better prepared to confront criticism openly, confident they can withstand it.
- - - -
The members of the seminar on Joseph Smith and His Critics, a group of Religious Education and CES faculty who met at BYU for six weeks in the summer of 2008, are among those who have known Latter-day Saints in this state of confusion and doubt. We have had many opportunities to talk to questioners about their problems and admit that we have often fallen short in our answers. We came together in hopes of learning to do better. Besides gathering information on a series of specific issues, we have discussed how best to deal with questioning Saints. What way of speaking is most likely to win their trust and convince them we have their best interests at heart?
We began by agreeing that criticisms of Joseph Smith should not be dismissed as foolish or purely evil. The negative attacks that disturb first-time readers are usually based on facts, not merely prejudiced fabrications. To play down the force of the criticism, we believe, only convinces the seekers that we do not understand. We appear to be sweeping trouble under the rug. They may have been devastated by a criticism; we must show that we understand why. Consequently, the seminar took as its first principle to state the negative argument as fully and accurately as we can. We try not to minimize the difficulty or prejudice the case against the critic. In no other way can we persuade the doubters that we understand the problem.
Secondly, we try to avoid dogmatic answers. Rather than replace the dogmatic negative attacks of the critics with our own dogmatic answers, we attempt to show that a more positive interpretation is possible. Critics often claim that Josephs sins were so egregious as to utterly disqualify him as a prophet. We can understand their viewpoint, but we think there is another side to the story. Rather than destroy the critics, we want to loosen their grip. In the long run, we believe this approach will persuade questioners more effectively than claims to certainty where none is possible. We believe in stating our own strong convictions about the church as a whole, but we do not to pretend to perfect knowledge about complex historical questions.
We know that airing criticisms troubles many Latter-day Saints. Like most Church teachers, the members of the seminar do not want to draw attention to questions that will only unsettle faithful members. But we also feel that silence is not the answer. The absence of instruction troubles questioners more than anything. They feel they have been betrayed because they came through their Church classes ignorant of the devastating information now a few clicks away on the internet. The gaps in their education leave them disillusioned and angry.
To counteract this lack of preparation, the seminar members have taken as our motto the scripture that begins: As all have not faith, teach one another (D&C 88:118). We are encouraged by the scriptural recognition that not all have faith, and by the appealing remedy, teach one another. For many questioners, loneliness is the heart of the problems. No one seems to understand. We are enjoined by this scripture to find these seekers and bring them into a fellowship of inquiry. We hope that our papers will help Church teachers create safe havens where questions may be asked and answers explored--where we can teach one another.
____________________________________________
TOPICS: General Discusssion
KEYWORDS: lds; mormon
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To: greyfoxx39
Dang!
I thought DU was back ‘til I saw YOUR name! ;^)
281
posted on
08/18/2008 11:10:44 AM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: Reno232
Those who oppose calling the Latter-day Saints Christians need to explain whether Peter and Paul are Christians... No they don't.
MORMONs need to explain why they follow the teaching of two satanic messengers dressed as angels of light.
282
posted on
08/18/2008 11:12:51 AM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: ejonesie22
Diversion is the stock and trade of the LDS? Is that why you didn’t provide any explanation to the scriptures in post #189. And your explanation of Genesis 1:26 stating “let us make man in our image” is the inference that it is referring to heavenly hosts? If your interpretation of Genesis 1:26 were accepted, then it would mean the heavenly hosts, and not God, made man. Sorry, doesn’t pass Biblical muster. The “us” in Genesis 1:26 isn’t referencing “heavenly hosts,” its referencing the Godhead.
To: greyfoxx39
It is a shame the thread got locked down, as there was a great deal of work and research posted there.No problem - the truth is timeless - we'll merely recycle it over and over to help those who have less knowledge about the LDS Organization®'s devious ways come up to speed.
284
posted on
08/18/2008 11:15:08 AM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: Reno232
Can you show me that verbage & explanation in the Bible?What good would it do?
You are merely a failful minion of the Organization®.
You probably wouldn't get it any more than Ol' Joe and the subseqeunt leaders got the ONE WIFE thing in the Bible and the BoM as well.
285
posted on
08/18/2008 11:17:20 AM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: restornu
We have profound differences of opinion.
I wish you well and will pray for you daily.
However at this point in time it is pointless to continue this conversation between the two of us.
Below is what I believe to be true.
May the Lord reveal Himself to you.
In the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in their original writing as fully inspired by God, and accepts them as the full and final authority for faith and life.
In one God eternally existing in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
That the Lord Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and is true God and true Man.
That God created man in His image; that man sinned and thereby incurred the penalty of death, physical and spiritual, and that all human beings inherit a sinful nature which issues in actual transgression involving personal guilt.
That the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, a substitutionary sacrifice, according to the Scriptures, and that all who believe and trust in Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood.
In the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, His ascension into heaven, and His present life as our High Priest and Advocate.
In the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the personality of the Holy Spirit, His regenerating work, and abiding presence in the true believer. That the Holy Spirit indwells all true believers and that He has been sent to be the Comforter and Empowerer of the Christian Church, to produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to the Scriptures.
That all who repent of their sin and receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God.
That all Christians are called to a life of holiness, devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and service to Him.
In the resurrection both of the just and the unjust, the eternal blessedness of the redeemed, and the eternal banishment from God of those who have rejected the offer of salvation.
That the whole company of those who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour have been redeemed by Him and regenerated by the Holy Spirit and form the one true Church, and that each local church on earth should take its character from this concept. Therefore, the new birth and personal confession of faith in Christ are essentials of Church membership.
In the priesthood of all believers in Jesus Christ.
That the ascended Christ has given various ministries or ministers to the Church in order to bring all believers to the place of Christian maturity in the understanding of truth, and the performance and function of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11; Romans 12:4-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:10 ff.).
That the healing of the sick in the name of Jesus Christ is still active in the Church (Mark 16:16-18; Matthew 8:16-17; 1 Corinthians 12:9; James 5:14-15).
That God never removed the gifts of the Holy Spirit from the Church, and that the Scriptural commands to “seek earnestly the best gifts”, and to “forbid not to speak in tongues”, are still applicable today (1 Corinthians 12,13 & 14:1-39).
That the miracles as recorded in the Bible were real miracles, and are possible in the present day (John 14:12 and 1 Corinthians 12:10).
That all believers are called to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).
That Christ is the Head of His body, the Church, and that in all things He has pre-eminence.
286
posted on
08/18/2008 11:19:43 AM PDT
by
svcw
(There is no plan B.)
To: Elsie
To: ejonesie22
John 1.14. "And the Word was made flesh*
*You left off the AGAIN part...
17 It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the otherThis is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!
You KNOW that the FATHER has a FLESH body too!
MormonDude(Why do I keep explaining all this?)
.
288
posted on
08/18/2008 11:20:29 AM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: ejonesie22
Welcome folks, to our daily session of Theological discussions about Mormonism: Is it Christian?
Feel free to enter the talks at any time.
If you get dizzy, feel free to leave at any point.
All points are valid;
and, all points will be discussed.
289
posted on
08/18/2008 11:21:54 AM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: ejonesie22
First of all, I answered your questions in post 240. Not sure what is alluding you.
Second, let's do start in Genesis. Genesis 1:26 - "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth".
Genesis 11:7 - "Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.."
Who's US if they're one God? What I'm trying to understand is this SEEMING belief that the Lord is somewhat skitzophrenic. He talks to Himself, He prays to Himself, He commands Himself, & he Asks Himself for deliverance from the bitter cup in Gethsemane. At times He speaks in singular, & at times He speaks in plural.
Just think about this, if you were trying to teach someone in outer Mongolia who had never heard of Christ or His Gospel, this Trinity discussion we're having, don't you think he would laugh at the complexity & contradictions put forth by Orthodox Christianity? It makes no sense.
When Mary saw the Lord at the tomb, & He stated, "touch me not, for I have not ascended to my Father". Or when He told Mary to go to the brethren & tell them that was going to His Father & their Father, His God & their God, to what was He referring? Why not just say, tell the brethren, I go to Heaven, I'll be back to teach them tomorrow?
It just doesn't make sense. And the Gospel of Jesus Christ should make abundant sense. After years of searching throughout Christianity for sense, I finally found it in the LDS church. I thank the Lord every day for that. I witness that the Lord is our Savior.
290
posted on
08/18/2008 11:22:35 AM PDT
by
Reno232
To: Elsie
Well, at least we know those two messengers told the truth about Presbyterianism, don’t we Elsie?
To: ejonesie22
You are suppose to INHALE it; Dude!
292
posted on
08/18/2008 11:22:46 AM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: MHGinTN
Sometimes...
...sometimes it ain’t!
293
posted on
08/18/2008 11:23:58 AM PDT
by
Elsie
(Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
To: ComeUpHigher
And you can't answer even simpler questions.
God made man, that is plain, so your obfuscation is unneeded. “Our image” is God, the Holy Spirit, and since God also made the heavenly hosts, their image was part of that as well. Every wonder why we resemble Angels in form.
No back to the question since you are on duty now, and I will simplify it as I did for Reno
Is there more than one God? yes or no
Is Jesus a Deity? yes or no
294
posted on
08/18/2008 11:25:37 AM PDT
by
ejonesie22
(Bigoted Neanderthal Evangelicals support Eric Cantor for VP. Shalom.)
To: ComeUpHigher
Yet you follow a prophet who had a personal experience with the dark side.
His prayer was interrupted by an encounter with an evil spirit. According to an account from his diary, Smith stopped praying because his tongue became swollen in his mouth and because he heard a noise behind him like someone walking towards him. He tried to pray once more, and when he heard the noise grow louder, he sprang to his feet and looked around but saw no one. The third time he knelt to pray, his tongue was loosed and he received the vision.[44] In a later description of his encounter with the evil spirit, Smith said that when he first began to pray, he was immediately overcome by an evil “being from the unseen world” whose power was greater than that of any being he had previously felt.[45] The spirit bound his tongue and covered him with a thick darkness, and he thought he would be destroyed.[46] Nevertheless, at his darkest moment, he summoned all his power to pray, and, as he felt ready to sink into oblivion, the vision rescued him.[47]
Since Satan can masquerade as and angel of light, how do we know the evil thick darkness left Joseph Smith during his hallucination? I don’t think it did, I think it fooled JS and you.
295
posted on
08/18/2008 11:29:05 AM PDT
by
colorcountry
(To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: Reno232
No you did not, at best you made an attempt on the Jesus part, but not an answer.
So again, and I am not going to even read this post further, answer the basic question. Just a yes or no. You are smart, this is a no brainer.
Is there more than one God? yes or no
Is Jesus a Deity? yes or no
296
posted on
08/18/2008 11:29:51 AM PDT
by
ejonesie22
(Bigoted Neanderthal Evangelicals support Eric Cantor for VP. Shalom.)
To: Elsie
Someone is inhaling something, but it ain't us...
297
posted on
08/18/2008 11:30:55 AM PDT
by
ejonesie22
(Bigoted Neanderthal Evangelicals support Eric Cantor for VP. Shalom.)
To: ejonesie22
Sorry, no bait and switch. Explain the scriptures in post #189.
To: colorcountry
No, it was God the Father and Christ that appeared to Joseph Smith. I have had that confirmed to me by a witness from the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth.
However, as for you, the fact that Presbyterianism still believes in the trinity despite having gay clergy and teaching that fornication isnt a sin doesnt mean they arent part of the true church of Christ because, after all, the trinity is the only thing that matters to be a true Christian, right?
To: ComeUpHigher
That is what I though. I answered you, and in the post you just responded to as well as others.
but you can’t answer me. I know, it would mess up the whole “becoming god” bit.
That is all I need to know. Maybe Reno will do better. The questions are very simple and the possible answers I already provided.
300
posted on
08/18/2008 11:39:20 AM PDT
by
ejonesie22
(Bigoted Neanderthal Evangelicals support Eric Cantor for VP. Shalom.)
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