Looking into matters of faith... A member who wants truth...

Q:

1. Did Emma Smith know about JS's polygamy? I have read that she denied knowing about it--don't remeber where...seems like a husband given direct revelation from God would not keep it from his wife.

2. What is the best source(s) to read about church history that is now from a bashing perspective?

3. What are the revalations of JS that didn't make into the the D&C that are verified to be inaccurate?

Thanks! A troubled memeber who seeks truth but not looking to bash anyone.

#1. Emma knew about Smith's polyging but went into profound denial, driven at least in part by her economically precarious position after Smith's assassination which led her to want to stay in the good graces of the local anti-polygamy Reorgs. (Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippets Avery, "Mormon Enigma;" Donna Hill, "Joseph Smith: the First Mormon;" and George D. Smith, "Nauvoo Polygamy" have some helpful details on this and/or the general practice of Mormon multi-wifery).

#2. D. Michael Quinn has some great books: "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View," "The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power" and "Extensions of Power" (2 vols). I suggest that you start with those.

Other good sources include Dan Vogel's "Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon," plus Jerald and Sandra Tanners' "The Changing World of Mormonism," along with Fawn Brodie's "No Man Knows My History."

Check out, as well, Vernal Holley's "The Book of Mormon: A Closer Look" on the Solomon Spaulding origins of the text (all these works are certainly critical of the Mormon Church but nonetheless historically reliable).

#3. Try the two volume set, "Joseph Smith Begins His Work" for an examination of how the D&C was put together, plus the "Lectures on Faith" (which were removed from canonized scripture by the Mormon Church in the 1920s because they were deemed to be contrary to currently-taught LDS doctrine--particularly Lecture 5 on the nature of God).

Also, BYU professor of history Thomas Alexandar's essay, "The Reconstruction of Mormon Doctrine: From Joseph Smith to Progressive Theology" in Sunstone magazine, 1980.



Edited 9 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2011 09:51PM by steve benson.

The most damming things you can read come from Journal of Discourses by BY and History of the Church by JS. Or the History of the Church by BH Roberts.

Check out Todd Compton's In Sacred Loneliness which should open your eyes about what JS was doing with the ladies. Compton is a member in good standing.

I know you are conditioned to suspect anything not from the church or anything not faith promoting as not telling the truth and being "anti." But let me tell you, the only way you will do a real investigation is to read both sides. Weigh the quality of argument and scholarship.

Stay away from whack job exmormons like Ed Decker. He sensationalizes and exaggerates. There are some kooks out there that Mormons like to pretend represent exmormon attacks on the church. He's a waste of time.

When you have gone through church historical books and begin to see the problems and inconsistencies, do yourself a favor and look at books like:

By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus by Charles M. Larsen. I think you can get it free online. If you think the polygamy was bad, wait until you see the shenanigans JS pulled with the Book of Abraham papyrus fiasco.

When you are ready, buck up and read Fawn Brodie's No Man Knows My History. Check out her footnotes to verify things. Know the church could only refute a couple minor details and instead attacked her personally. (She was related to prophet David O McKay and was a respected historian scholar.)

Read, read, read. Do your homework and learn for yourself. Your bishop won't and can't do it for you. It's all out there for those who want to know. It always was.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2011 09:45PM by steve benson.

Agree. It was Larson's book that set my mind free. Warning: learning the truth can be--is--painful, when you've invested so much of yourself in something. But I'd rather know the truth and hurt than live under a lie, no matter what.

I believe Ed Decker was never Mormon. Not sure though.

I pick Door #3--

Smith gave a speech of his predictions, and informed everyone that there were people on the moon, who were ten feet tall and dressed like Quakers.

Betcha Smith figured NOBODY would ever set foot on the moon and find out for themselves!

~VOW

Remember, voweaver, lack of evidence doesn't mean there is no evidence. Just because Apollo didn't see any Quakers doesn't mean God didn't inspire them to hide so our faith could be tested.

Anagrammy

They'll be back later, I'm sure.

What is the source for the statement below?

voweaver Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I pick Door #3--
>
> Smith gave a speech of his predictions, and
> informed everyone that there were people on the
> moon, who were ten feet tall and dressed like
> Quakers.
>
> Betcha Smith figured NOBODY would ever set foot on
> the moon and find out for themselves!
>
> ~VOW

Vogel provides a detailed biography of Smith and his family right up to the organization of the Mormon Church and, I think, gives some very good insight into Smith's motives and methods.

Joseph Sr. was very likely an alcoholic and a poor businessman who was inclined to speculate on a risky deal. After Alvin, the oldest son and apparently caring and hardworking, died, the Smith family lost its best chance to get out of near poverty until Joseph became the Prophet. As I see it, Joseph Smith had more than enough of poverty and life near the bottom of the social order, and he used his considerable talents at story-telling and conning to first create the money-making scheme called the Book of Mormon and the head of the nascent Mormon Church, once he figured out how to carve out a bigger and more prominent role for himself than his co-conspirator Sidney Rigdon had in mind for him. My opinion isn't solely the result of Vogel's book, but his book is what clicked things into place for me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2011 10:48PM by robertb.

1. Emma joined the RLDS church (today called Community of Christ and no longer really Mormon). She denied polygamy to her dying day and taught her and JS's sons that he didn't do it. It is only quite recently that any of JS's descendents joined the LDS church.

While D&C 132 specifies that the wife must be involved, JS often married without her knowledge it's well documented.

3. A great site for truth about Mormonism from our own Richard Packham, this link is about prophecies specifically:
http://packham.n4m.org/prophet.htm

1) I'm not a professional historian on Mormonism so I can't provide you off the top of my head direct sources, but from what I recall Emma Smith has always, at least publicly, denied that Joseph had ever practiced polygamy. She even denied this fact to her sons. She obviously knew about it but when exactly she learned about it is not really known. Reading from all historical sources it sure sounds like Joseph was a womanizer who tried to keep his affairs from Emma and later concocted the "Celestial Marriage" revelation to justify it to her. Its also seems obvious that she did NOT always (if ever) approve of his plural wifery.

According to pro-Mormon historical documents Joseph Smith started "marrying" plural wives in the 1830's (and most definitely beginning in 1841) but strangely enough, the official revelation justifying his polygamous actions, and addressed to Emma, was from 1843 (as if it was an afterthought).

I also recommend reading Emma Smith Mormon Enigma about this question.

2) I am where you were 10 years ago. I was an active RM wanting the truth but also being wary of the sources for it. For Mormon history that is not "bashing" I recommend the books sold by Signature Books and the periodicals Sunstone and Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. There may be more I can't think off the top of my head.

If you really want to go straight to all the problems in Mormon history then I highly suggest reading the books written by Jerald & Sandra Tanner. They are obviously critical of Mormonism but they do a great job of documenting everything. Most of what is in their books are simply quotations of early Mormon documents. There's really nothing to refute. Its for the reader to decide what conclusion they come to.

http://www.utlm.org/booklist/orderauthortitle.htm#Tanner, Jerald & Sandra

Below is my personal comprehensive list of books for anyone interested in the full truth of Mormon history. I have placed asterisks next to the ones I consider priority reading:

History/Joseph Smtih
* Mormonism - Shadow or Reality? (or, The Changing World of Mormonism) by Jerald & Sandra Tanner
* An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins by Grant Palmer
* No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith by Fawn M. Broadie
* The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power by D. Michael Quinn
* The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
Mormon America, The Power and the Promise by Richard Ostling, Joan K. Ostling
One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church by Richard Abanes
Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Lyman Bushman
Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet by Dan Vogel
The Prophet Puzzle: Interpretive Essays on Joseph Smith by Bryan Waterman
Joseph Smith and the Origins of The Book of Mormon by David Persuitte
The Keystone of Mormonism by Arza Evans
The New Mormon History: Revisionist Essays on the Past by D. Michael Quinn

Polygamy
* In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith by Todd Compton
* Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith by Linda King Newell
Mormon Polygamy: A History by Richard S. Van Wagoner
Solemn Covenant: The Mormon Polygamous Passage by B. Carmon Hardy

Book of Mormon
*New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology by Brent Metcalfe
*Quest for the Gold Plates: Thomas Stuart Ferguson’s Archaeological Search for the Book of Mormon by Stan Larson
American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon by Dan Vogel and Brent Lee Metcalfe
Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church by Simon G. Southerton

Book of Abraham
*By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus: A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri by Charles M. Larson

Folk Magic/Occult Practices
* Early Mormonism and the Magic World View by D. Michael Quinn

Temple
Evolution of the Mormon Temple Ceremony: 1842-1990 by Jerald and Sandra Tanner
The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship - David John Buerger

Mountain Meadows Massacre
Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows by Will Bagley
The Mountain Meadows Massacre by Brooks, Juanita

Misc
Line Upon Line: Essays on Mormon Doctrine by Gary James Bergera
Power From On High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood - Gregory A. Prince

Notable Mentions
Joseph Smith: The First Mormon by Donna Hill
Nauvoo Polygamy: “… but we called it celestial marriage” by George D. Smith
Mormon Mavericks: Essays on Dissenters - John Sillito and Susan Staker


Good luck on your question for truth! Let us know if you have any more questions!

#3
The fact that Joseph Smith was not planning on doing any other work besides the Book of Mormon is verified by the revelation given in March of 1829. This revelation was printed in the Book of Commandments as chapter 4. Verse 2 reads as follows: "...and he has a gift to translate the book, and I have commanded him that he shall pretend to no other gift, for I will grant him no other gift."

By the year 1835, when this revelation was reprinted in the Doctrine and Covenants, Joseph Smith had pretended to at least one other gift besides that of translating the Book of Mormon. He had pretended to the gift of correcting the Bible (his so-called Inspired Version), and a short time after this he brought forth the Book of Abraham. Certainly this revelation commanding Joseph Smith to pretend to no other gift but to translate the Book of Mormon could not remain in its original form. The church had decided to go beyond the Book of Mormon and accept Joseph Smith's other writings as Scripture. This change in church policy necessitated a change in the revelation. Therefore, it was changed to read as follows: "And you have a gift to translate the plates; and this is the first gift that I bestowed upon you; and I commanded that you should pretend to no other gift, until my purpose is fulfilled in this; for I will grant unto you no other gift until it is finished" (Doctrine and Covenants, 5:4). http://utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech3.htm

It was written by Samuel Taylor, grandson of the prophet. It's a hoot.