Now, you're really getting incoherent! You're telling us if you were in these circumstances:
...arrested for high treason for abuse of power...
...due to implementing martial law as mayor of a city...
...as a means of trying to avoid arrest for the destruction of a printing press--putting what would have been a weekly publication permanently out of business...
...You would have...done the same thing...by...
...accepting a smuggled pistol while in jail...???
Really?
So-called messianic connection: Apparently J. Smith made some remark as he was heading back into town that he was going like a lamb to the slaughter. McKeever pointed out in the vid clip I posted how Mormons like to quote Smith as an attempt to portray him as some Messianic-like figure.
But what are the comparative facts? What if the Lamb of God, Jesus, had acted like Joseph Smith?
Imagine Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He realizes he's going to be arrested.
So what does he do? Does he rebuke sword-wielding Peter and heal the soldier's ear had he been Smith-like? (No) Instead...
#1...before the soldiers arrived, the Mormon-like jesus would have hightailed it out of the garden across the river in order to not face consequences for his actions...
#2...then he would have had to be goaded back into town by a letter accusing him of cowardice (in Smith's case, the letter was from his first wife)...
#3...Instead of the true Jesus being helped along in carrying the cross by Simon of Cyrene, the Mormon-like jesus would have been "helped along" in carrying his cross by Cyrus of Nauvoo, who smuggled a weapon to the Mormon-like jesus...
#4...the Mormon-like jesus, instead of when threatened, would have actually joined Peter in cutting off ears with swords in hand and probably slitting throats...
#5...the Mormon-like jesus would have injured or killed three people...
#6...instead of having the famous line, "he who lives by the sword dies by the sword," I guess we have "he who lives by the smuggled pistol, dies by the rifle" -- but it's not very "Messianic" when we realize that what the true Jesus was teaching Peter has been turned on its head in the person of Joseph Smith.
#7...and then to top it all off...had the true Jesus acted like the Mormon-like jesus, we would have many millions more who would never even know that Jesus' "sword" words actually constituted a rebuke of Peter...
#8...and, in fact, we do see millions of the Mormon-like jesus followers now concluding (like you do): You know what, in a similar situation, I would have done the same -- and this entails not just taking up swords to cut off ears -- but actually still generations later defending criminally illegal actions of...
...(a) weapon smuggling into arrest situations;
...(b) possessing weapons in arrest situations -- and calling it "jesus-like";
...(c) using those weapons to try to kill multiple people.
[Yeah, just try mentioning you favor that the next time you try witnessing to a law enforcement officer or prison corrections officer]
Yeah, that's the portrait we want of the cross: A Roman soldier hammering a nail into the Lamb of God, and the Lamb of God responds by pulling a sword out of the soldier's sheath and proceeds to wound or kill three of them. (end sarc)
If I were in custody of someone who had joined in a murderous conspiracy against me and my friends, I would use any weapon at my disposal to defend myself and those with me.
But you seem to think that I would be wrong to do so. Indeed, you have tried to excuse the actions of a lynch mob because their intended victims dared to fight back. You even suggested—contrary to all evidence—that the mob attacked because they knew the victims were armed and ready to defend themselves. Even you could not sustain such a ludicrous theory.
So-called messianic connection: Apparently J. Smith made some remark as he was heading back into town that he was going like a lamb to the slaughter. McKeever pointed out in the vid clip I posted how Mormons like to quote Smith as an attempt to portray him as some Messianic-like figure.
I watched the video clip. The "messianic connection" exists only in the mind of McKeever and those foolish enough to believe what he says.
I will be as clear as possible: The Latter-day Saints do not regard Joseph Smith as the Messiah; we do not worship Joseph Smith; we do not believe Joseph Smith is the equal of Jesus Christ. We do believe Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, who is deserving of great honor and respect for the work he performed. But we are clear that Jesus Christ is the Master and Joseph Smith the servant.
But what are the comparative facts [sic]? What if the Lamb of God, Jesus, had acted like Joseph Smith?
Since Mormons do not believe that Joseph Smith was or is the Lamb of God, your comparison is fatuous at best.