I remembered something. Do you all remember hearing when Joe had surgery on his leg as a little boy and he refused the alcohol to numb it? Was this true? Oh gawd, I remember teachers crying that "he believed in the word of wisdom so much..." blah blah bullshit. What was the deal with that?

May in fact be true - what young boy would really want to knock back some liquor anyway?

The major counterpunch to this faith-promoting story is to point out that Joseph certainly didn't refrain from alcohol at other times in his life, including Carthage jail.

That "faith promoting story" probably was true. But that doesn't mean it should in any way "promote faith".

1) It occured many years before he invented the Word of Wisdom so he couldn't possibly have been obedient to it.
2) He probably would have hated the taste of strong liquor anyway, and may well have known this because he had already tried it.
3) He drank throughout his entire life, including after he invented the Word of Wisdom.

These three facts (OK, 2 is an opinion) are known to a great many Mormons, yet it doesn't stop their faith being "promoted" by hearing the stories.

He did not create the word of wisdom. He plagerized it from a temperance pamplet of the day. The only reason for it was because Emma was temperance and a nag.

To see the depths of Joseph's indulgence in alcohol one should take a look at the Nauvoo period.

1. Nauvoo House was conceived as a B&B with a bar downstairs. It was planned that Joseph and Orin would tend bar. Emma forced the moving of the bar to the barn. She was tempernace and a nag.
2. Joseph contributed some land in downtown for the establishment of a brewery.
3. Church History details temple sacrament meetings in the assembly room to which quantities of bread and wine were brought. These meetings are said to have continued late into the night and included dancing with fiddles etc.. They were curtailed because of over indulgence.

In defense of Joseph, he did ban the sale of distilled spirits and fortified wines, forcing traveling whiskey salesmen to set up outside the town boundries. Get too close and Joseph would have your stock destroyed.


In Utah, BY had saints develop wineries in "Dixie" so that the profits from selling alcohol would be kept in the territory. Tithes in kind using wine were accepted at the PB's Storehouse up into the 20th century.

The acceptance of the wofw as commandment was delayed until BY was able to give up tobacco. He gave a report of his progress at practically every conference. The issue was forced by the brethren missing the spitoons in the tabernacle and the sisters complaining about having to clean up the filthy mess. The sisters learned from Emma and were nags.

Church History is such a playground for the informed and unbelieving.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/2012 02:56PM by slatheredtwice.

From ProphetJosephSmith.org:

"...Joseph requested that he not be bound during the surgery, but would have his father hold him instead. Joseph also refused liquor to deaden the pain. He asked his mother to go somewhere where she would not hear his cries of pain, because he was concerned at how exhausted she was and knew that she could not stand it. The surgery was performed and Joseph immediately began to recover. There was no sign of the infection, but the leg took a long time to heal and Joseph was on crutches for three years. He limped for the rest of his life.The cost of doctors and treatment left the family destitute again. Their destitution limited the educational opportunities of all the children and forced the Smith family to relocate again. However, their poverty caused them to end up in Palmyra, very close to where the gold plates (Book of Mormon) were buried, so the hand of God can be seen in the family’s afflictions."

I suppose there are some 6 year olds out there that could be mature enough to be looking out for their parent's emotional distress, but I have to say I have a hard time believing that a small child at the age of 6 would send their Mother away. And as far as not being bound, I would think that would be a scared child, not wanting to be tied down. They feel more safe in their parent's arms, not that they are some ultra-human. It all sounds too much like something you would read in a Greek mythology piece about a child who has one parent that is a god.

As I understand it, this story comes from a history written by his mother, who you will note from the passage quoted, wasn't at the actual surgery.

I don't think anyone else mentions it.

She was there. For her original hand-written account, look here:

http://signaturebookslibrary.org/?p=9199

Scroll down to [p.303] where the story begins. She's quite detailed.

Wasn't ( wood type)alcohol used to sterilize instruments at the time and used in surgery' ?

Was there 2 types of alcohol there? Since the story was written

by his mother who was not there.

The story always gets better when told after the fact by

someone else. Perhaps some embellishment going on ?

My neighbor thinks she is "ultra human" and a stronger woman because she gave birth 'naturally' without an epidural "like women have been doing for centuries" (her words).

Well whoop-tee-do-dah-day!!! Bet if that b*t*h had to have sugery now a days without anesthesia she wouldn't but why not? People did it for centuries! Lame. I need a shot right now just thinking about this silliness ;-)

I believe the story was about 90% embellishment and the purpose of it was to enhance Joseph's bid for godhood. His parents were as big at lying as he was.
I very seriously doubt that any of Joseph's family believed any thing about the church. I would think they were in on it all the time.

I think because a lot of Mormons have never drank they may overestimate the effectiveness of alcohol as analgesia; and underestimate the complications that might arise by giving alcohol to a young inexperienced drinker.

Alcohol is a poor analgesia and was used out of desperation and not necessarily because it was effective.

The reason JS did not want to drink alcohol, was because he was afraid that the doctors would cut off his leg. He was afraid to fall asleep and wake up without a leg. At least that is what I was told.