Does anyone think that the way Joseph Smith died is a reason TSCC is still alive today? I mean, I'm sure there wasnt only one golden bible con-man in that religious revival time. Maybe the great story of how the mormons' young, poor farm boy turned martyred prophet workes better for the church than if he had lived to an old age.

What are your thoughts?

After the secret Council of Fifty crowned him
King of the World in 1844, there was nowhere
for Holy Joe to go but down.

His assassination very likely saved the Church
from some something like a massive Waco disaster
in the late 1840s.

The Mormon leaders in Salt Lake City should erect
glorious statues to the memory of William Law and
Thomas Sharp -- their true saviors of 1844.

UD

"His assassination very likely saved the Church
from some something like a massive Waco disaster
in the late 1840s."

You really think he was headed for a mass-extinction event? I'm not so sure - but I defer to your opinion on the matter ... :)

Definitely. Being martyred is a type in Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The "martyrdom" was played up to great effect immediately. This, along with the strong leadership ability of BY allowed the church to get through this critical bottleneck. Several splinter groups immediately formed, but the Brighamites survived the cut for several practical reasons, including the apocryphal story of Brigham speaking with the voice of Joseph when he advocated himself as being the new chosen one.

I've always thought it did. I don't belive he coulda kept it up 30+ years longer, but he was exceptional.

It acted as a catalyst to divide the church into a bunch of smaller groups, some that still exist today.

Only the Brighamites carried out the original church and moved to Utah Territory some years later, where it has established world wide headquarters.

Brigham Young didn't have the charismatic personality of Joseph Smith but he had the organizational skills and ability to keep the majority of the members following him as he carefully reiterated how he was following Joseph Smith Jr.

If Joseph Smith had lived he would have had to stand trial. All the polygamy stuff would have come out. He would have probably gone to jail much like Jeffs has. He would have then been a "prophet" but without the web of secrecy that he had woven in Nauvoo. That would create a tarnished legacy.

But by dying as a "martyr." and "sealing his testimony" he allowed Briggy to lead the Church west and be a "minor prophet." It's OK to say that Briggy's Adam-God doctrine was wrong but you can't say that Joseph didn't quite know what he was talking about--It's all based on Joseph.

Martyrs are martyrs because of the story that gets told.

The Martyr story is a fabricated story anyway. The chrch has just made it a sensationalized and emotionaly charged call to arms. The war agianst evil in in the heads of the extreemists.

No question. If JS would have lived he would have continued to run the church...right into the ground.

Funny, it was on my mission that I came to that conclusion...took several years for that seed to actually come to fruition but it was worth it.