“When I began to study and had to be very specific, I thought either Joseph Smith was a verifiable genius or it had to be inspired.”
I believe both are true.
Of course you do...
What, you didn’t “KNOW” that JS was a “genius”? I thought all lds “KNEW” the church was true, therefore they had to “KNOW” the facts of the foundation of the church, right?
Of course he’s a genius, look at the many millions who are still under the influence of his “genius”.
There have been many geniuses in this world, not all of them good. JS falls into that category. He used his so-called “genius” for nefarious deeds.
I will give you a genius and charismatic and perhaps even inspired but the inspiration certainly was not of God. God would not inspire someone to contradict Him. God does not throw out spiritual “red herrings.”
The tales in the Book Of Mormon are consistent with common views and beliefs of Indians at the time. He plagiarized entire chapters of the Bible INCLUDING WORDS NOT CONTAINED IN THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGES but put in for clarification by the translators of the KJV.
The Book of Mormon is a amalgamation of current folklore, biblical texts, and quite possibly a couple of contemporary fictional accounts.
It is anything but scripture.
Study some more and you'll learn that JS was a verifiable conman and had a WILD imagination - of which his MOTHER had testified!
Reaganaut: I thought either Joseph Smith was a verifiable genius or it had to be inspired.”
SD: I believe both are true.
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Well, Saundra, Joey Smith was quite a guy to come up with those lines to seduce the unwilling girls...
Angels with flaming swords, would kill Joey if the girl didnt have illicit sex with him...
The mormon god told him she must or else..
If she didnt have illicit sex with Joey she wouldnt go to the mormon afterlife...
If she didnt have sex with him her parents wouldnt go to the mormon after life...
and of course as Joey Smith himself decided that he would be the one who lets mormons into the mormon after life and decides who goes or not... that was quite a stroke of “genius” on his part..
Hugh Hefner could take lessons...
D&C 132 was the original Playboy c 1830...
Was Joey “inspired” ???
Of course he was...
Sexual deviants and conmen and bank scam artists usually are..
Joey Smith had to always stay one step in front of the law,
one reason beyond the people he scammed and stole from with his hair brained money making schemes..be they “glass looking” for Spanish gold with the same rock from his hat that he used to so called “write” the book of mormon..
and one excuse in front of the unwilling virgins he was attempting to beguile into his or her bed...whether he had to go to the exasperating extreme (in his mind) of pretending to “marry” her in secret using one of his buddies as a phony “marrying man”..
Yeah ol Bro Joe was quite the lad...
I believe both are true. [SD]
Well both are "true" (to a degree): I mean if I plagiarized portions of the Bible, that which were exact quotations of the Bible would still be inspired! (And Smith copied thousands & thousands of words line by line from the Bible...he paraphrased thousands of other words from Biblical phrases...sometimes even leaving in italicized notes added by KJV translators that weren't in the original Hebrew text of the book of Isaiah)
As for the "genius" label, Joseph Smith's mom already knew he was an ingenius story teller by the time he was 17!
"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 Smith's "make-up ability" was already there; plus was no doubt influenced by other author(s) of his era -- all part of his active, imaginative mind!