I'm standing in the visitors center. I just read this artifact from 1846.

"This may certify that Hiram W. Mikesell is entitled to the privilege of The Baptismal Font, having paid his Tithing & Labor tithing in full April 12th 1846."

I also used my family search login to find out I'm related to like a ton of old tyme Nauvoo residents.

a lot of the old timers. Not at all surprised.

I'm not envious of where you are. Not in the least.

I'm not either.

When I was at Nauvoo a perky sister missionary helped me find the record of where great, great grandpa had his house. The whole time I was wondering if my ancestor was in on the scam or one of the scammed. Still don't know.

I'm related to both scammers and the scammed.

That's the beauty of Mormonism: you start out as the scammed but can become a scammer.

As you are, scammers once were. As scammers are, you may become.

I’m pretty sure that to become a scammer, you need the second anointing.

In other words, in order to scam, you must have been thoroughly scammed.

Multi level ministry at it's corporate finest.

That's spot on. There are three stages in the transformation:

First, one is scammed.

Then, one is scammed and learns to participate in the scam.

Finally, having made so many compromises that feelings of guilt are basically gone, one enters the ranks of the inveterate scammers.

They give the Second Anointing to those in Category Three, for they no longer have any scruples and will do whatever is asked of them.

Labor tithing ?

Yup.

Was big thing even in early Utah.

You had the privilege of working for the church. Could be building church buildings or working on church farms.

You did have the option of paying someone to work for you.

Church members in Nauvoo were expected to labor for free every 10 days to help build the temple, etc. The free labor was considered tithing.

This is an excerpt from the book, A Journey Up The Mississippi, by Aitken, W. He was a never-mo from England who traveled down the Mississippi river in 1842 and stopped in Nauvoo. He met Joseph Smith and wrote about his impressions of Nauvoo and the Mormons.

Here's what he wrote about tithing labor:

"Each individual, who is a member of the church, has to give every tenth days labour upon the temple. Also one day in ten to an hotel that was building of stone, at which hotel was to be the principal landing place for all goods and passengers coming to Nauvoo - a circumstance which cannot fail to make the hotel a valuable one"

Here's a link to the book. It's an interesting never-mo's impression of Nauvoo and the Mormons in 1842, and also what it was like traveling down the Mississippi river when slavery was legal. It's heart wrenching. The Nauvoo part starts on page 30, with the temple description on page 35.

https://archive.org/details/journeyupmississ00aitk

Easier to read version:

https://digital.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-lincoln%3A37055

Listening to the Jo worship at Carthage right now. It is a moment of silence.

Did your missionary guide at Carthage cry when they told how the evil mob slaughtered the helpless prophet?

She teared up.

I only went there once and the guide cried real tears. How many tours per day and per week can they cry like that?

My mother in law was surprised how few people were in Nauvoo and Carthage. She expected way more. I knew what it was. A couple of holy sites for a religion of a couple million people in a nation of hundreds of millions. My mother in law thinks her religion is Disney.

I'm sure many tours aren't taken. We were in a couple of just us at Nauvoo.

Interesting trip. Joseph was a poor boy that ended as an influential con man surrounded by people attached and attracted to his visions, dreams, and preaching.

I find it hard to believe that he did what he did to amass riches. He did what he did because that was where he was from a family of credulous treasure dealers, sealers, and wheelers. They just turned their tricks religious and used others and their readings to refine their "work."

You can read about our visit to Nauvoo and Carthage in 2001 here:

http://packham.n4m.org/travelog.htm

You might find some interesting insights - we found it quite hilarious sometimes (Mormons don't realize how dumb they sound)

Interesting. Many things have changed but the ignorance of the guides about little flecks of history of both churches has increased.

And as an aside I just read this.

https://www.deseret.com/faith/2022/6/23/23170322/8-church-history-insights-to-learn-joseph-smith-papers-volume-lds-kidnapping-nauvoo-missouri?_amp=true

It was fascinating given I just visited Nauvoo and Carthage.

They make wine in Nauvoo. The French settled the place after the Mormons left. I always wondered if Nauvoo vino was any good.