“[E]very man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are — I with you and you with me. I cannot go there without his consent” (Journal of Discourses 7:238. See also Search These Commandments, 1984, pg. 133).
Bill McKeever talks about the importance of looking to published statements of the LDS institution as more representative of Mormonism than neo-orthodox writings of BYU professors.
On an earlier thread I had written,
“If I’m reading the snippets correctly from Astronomical Tables of the Sun, Moon, and Planets, the Autumnal equinox would actually have been on the 23rd for all the years in question (1823-1828). But this is irrelevant, because Smith would have gone off the local almanacs of his time. According to what I read, September 22nd was listed as the equinox for 1823 in local almanacs.”
GB, rejected my claim, asking, “What is wrong with using scientific calculations to determine facts in the absence of historical documents?” I responded,
“It’s wrong when you use a 20th or 21st century modern scientific formula anachronistically in a 19th century context. GB, it seems we are at an impasse. I am appealing to Quinn, someone who has immersed himself in the historical documents, while you are appealing to something anachronistic. I’d be glad to dig deeper to find something perhaps more compelling for you.”
At a recent address Daniel Peterson said,
“Joseph Smith obtained the plates of the Book of Mormon from the angel Moroni on the 22nd of September, 1827, which was not only the autumnal equinox, but Jewish new year’s day, Rosh Hashanah, the so-called birthday of the world.” (Daniel Peterson, “Eyewitnesses and Ancient Paralles: The Revelations of Joseph Smith”, 2008 BYU Education Week address)
An interesting little tidbit given the previous kvetching over the date. I wonder if GB will be sending a corrective e-mail to Daniel Peterson?
Discuss! Although, it’s probably a good idea to read through the earlier discussion first.
Last week The Associated Press reported,
Defense asks for no Mormons on murder trial jury
OGDEN, Utah — An attorney for a man charged with aggravated murder have filed a motion to keep off the jury any members of the Mormon church who might believe that the only way for him to be forgiven by God is to be executed.
Sharon Sipes, a public defender for Riqo Perea, filed the motion in 2nd District Court. She says a belief among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that the only way to receive true forgiveness from God after committing a serious offense is to shed one’s own blood.
Sipes says that although the church has indicated blood atonement isn’t part of official doctrine, members widely believe it.
Perea, 21, is charged with two counts of aggravated murder in a gang-related 2007 shooting. Perea could face the death penalty. (Wednesday, 11 February 2009)
Mormon leaders unapologetically taught the doctrine of individual blood atonement from the early years of the LDS Church into the twentieth century.
Guest post
I often ask people of other faiths, “What would be a problem for your belief system?” It is a question that gets to the heart of the matter quickly. For many people, there is nothing that could assail their faith; for many more, they have not even thought of their faith in that way. I ask this question because many will try to assail my faith when nothing would change their minds’ about their own. This seems a bit disingenuous to me.
I once had a friend recommend the movie The Body, with Antonio Banderas. In the movie, a tomb (with a body) in Israel is found that is possibly the burial place of Jesus of Nazareth. The Roman Catholic church dispatches a priest (Banderas) to ascertain if indeed the tomb is that of Jesus. A struggle ensues between Palestinians and the Israeli government to try gain the Vatican’s support; each side wants to use the dead body of Jesus as tool to black mail the largest religious body in the world in order to gain a political advantage.
The film hits on an important point. If Jesus did not rise from the dead then all stripes of Christianity are meaningless. It doesn’t matter if the religion works for you or not, it doesn’t matter if you want it to be true, the whole thing is a fraud.
In this month’s First Presidency Message (February 2009), Dieter F. Uchtdorf wrote of how Joseph Smith’s First Vision blesses people’s lives. He wrote,
“Through his [Joseph Smith's] work and sacrifice, I now have a true understanding of our Heavenly Father and His Son, our Redeemer and Savior, Jesus Christ, and I can feel the power of the Holy Ghost, and know of Heavenly Father’s plan for us, His children. For me, these are truly the fruits of the First Vision.” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, First Presidency Message, Precious Fruits of the First Vision, Ensign, February 2009, page 8 )
Beginning with the First Vision, Joseph Smith’s work brought about the understanding within his community of believers (i.e., those who believe in him as a true prophet) that Heavenly Father is an exalted Man, a God who achieved Godhood “the same as all Gods [had] done before [Him].”
Joseph’s work brought about the Mormon understanding that Jesus Christ is the literal offspring of Heavenly Father and the “mother in heaven,” a Savior whose atonement paid for many–but was insufficient to pay for all–sins.
Joseph’s work brought about the LDS understanding that the Holy Ghost is a third god relative to this earth, a “spirit man” whose comforting presence within each Mormon believer flees at the first sign of trouble.
Joseph’s work brought about the Mormon understanding that God’s plan is for faithful and worthy Mormons to someday achieve Godhood, create their own worlds, and populate them.
Accompanying President Uchtdorf’s article in the Ensign were “Ideas for home teachers.” It was suggested, “Ask the family [you teach] what they feel are the fruits of the First Vision.” (Ensign, February 2009, page 8 )
For me there is one big, broad piece of fruit resulting from Joseph Smith’s First Vision story: Heresy.
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For more information about the Father, Son, Holy Ghost and gospel plan of Mormonism:
Who is the One Mormons Call Elohim?
Who is the Living Christ of Mormonism?
Latter-day Spirit
Celestial Marriage & Eternal Exaltation
We’ll try another round of live conversation this Friday at 8pm MST. This time it’s through TokBox, which doesn’t require any download (provided your browser has a recent version of Flash). I’ll post a link to the live feed here Friday before the conversation. You shouldn’t need to register an account with TokBox to tap into the feed. I look forward to your participation!
Update: I’m setting it up early, but won’t start conversing until 8:00pm MST. If you want to participate, please plug in your microphone and/or webcam, or you can just lurk and contribute text messages.
Update 2: We’re done. It was fun!
One Sunday morning a few weeks back my pastor, discussing the relationship between science and creation, mentioned a newspaper hoax that took place in 1835. It seems New York reporter Richard Adams Locke wrote a six-part series of articles detailing new scientific discoveries that exposed the existence of life on the moon. From lunar forests to space animals to flying moon men who worshipped in a golden temple, Mr. Locke spun his story. Though he finally admitted the hoax, for many years people continued to believe that there was intelligent life on the moon. These people included early LDS leaders.
LDS author John Heinerman has compiled a lot of information regarding the universe in his book, People in Space (1990). Since he has pulled together early LDS teachings on the subject of life on the moon, I will quote him here:
According to a close ally and disciple of his [Joseph Smith's], Oliver B. Huntington, people like the 19th-Century Quakers resided within the moon. Writing a short, one-page article in an 1892 Mormon Church publication, Young Women’s Journal (3:262), this is what Huntington reported:
“Nearly all the great discoveries of men in the last half century have, in one way or another, either directly or indirectly contributed to prove Joseph Smith to be a prophet (of God).
“As far back as 1837, I know that he said the moon was inhabited by men and women the same as this Earth, and that they lived to a greater age than we do–that they live generally to near the age of 1,000 years.
“He described the men as averaging near six feet in height, and dressing quite uniformly in something near the Quaker style.
“In my Patriarchal Blessing,” given by the father of Joseph the Prophet in Kirtland (Ohio), 1837, “I was told that I would preach the gospel to the inhabitants upon the islands of the sea, and–to the inhabitants of the moon, even the planet you can now behold with your eyes.” (Patriarchal blessings are given to worthy young Mormon men and women by Priesthood holders called church patriarchs. Such blessings are the worldly equivalents of getting your fortunes told with tarot cards.)
Philo Dibble, another early Mormon pioneer remembered Smith giving details about such lunar residents this way:
“The inhabitants of the moon are more of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the Earth, being about 6 feet in height. They dress very much like Quaker style and are quite general in style, or the fashion of dress. They live to be very old; coming generally, near a thousand years. This is the description of them as given by Joseph the Seer and he could ’see’ whatever he asked the Father in the name of Jesus to see.
“I heard him say that ‘he could see what he would ask of the Father in the name of Jesus and it would be granted’ and I have no more doubt of it than I have that the mob killed him.” (Unpublished typescript, p. 166, located in the Utah State Historical Society archives and used with their kind permission.)
Yet a third Latter-Day Saint by the name of George Laub, who resided in Nauvoo, Illinois, remembered Hyrum Smith (Joseph’s older brother) saying that “the Sun & Moon is inhabited & the Stars” in an 1843 sermon on the “plurality of gods & worlds.” Laub’s entire diary with this quote in it was published in the scholarly journal BYU Studies (18:177)…
Even Joseph’s successor, Church President Brigham Young, taught similar doctrine in a sermon delivered to several thousand Latter-Day Saints on July 24, 1870. As recorded in the Journal of Discourses (13:271), he remarked concerning the world’s knowledge about such lunar residents: “When you inquire about the inhabitants of that sphere you find that the most learned are as ignorant in regard to them as the most ignorant of their fellows.” Basically he was saying that the world’s wisest men know just as much about the people in the moon as the world’s most stupid men know, which is absolutely nothing!
Those who find it hard to believe that people live inside the craters of the moon either don’t have much of the spirit of truth about them or else they just lack plain common sense…
A more complete history of these lunarians may be found in the archives of eternity somewhere. [People in Space, 8-11; all spelling, capitalization and parenthesis in the foregoing quote has been retained from the original]
In 1835 some scientists suggested there was life on the moon. Richard Locke “confirmed” it. According to Philo Dibble, Joseph Smith ran with the idea and today there are LDS Ph.D.s (or at least one) who believe it must be true.
Not long ago a new LDS web site was launched: The Red Brick Store. The web site describes itself like this:
“A collaboration amongst editors of Mormon-related journals and magazines to nurture and share good writing and good thinking in Mormonism.”
One of The Red Brick Store contributors, Stephen Carter told Mormon Times,
“We wanted the blog’s name to draw its resonance from Mormon history…. The Red Brick Store was Joseph Smith’s store in Nauvoo. It was where the Relief Society was organized, where the first endowments were performed and where Joseph Smith finished translating the Book of Abraham. It was also an important gathering place for the Nauvoo Saints.”
This is not all Joseph’s Red Brick Store was known for. Reading the article in Mormon Times reminded me of another Red Brick Store story found in Fawn Brodie’s No Man Knows My History reprinted below.
“[A] self-possessed eighteen-year-old English girl, Martha Brotherton, chose to speak her mind. Brigham Young, who had not been lax in following his prophet’s lead [in taking plural wives], had set his heart on the high-spirited English lass. He took her to the famous rendezvous over Joseph’s store, locked the door, and proceeded with the curious, bobtailed, hortatory courtship that was becoming so common in the city:
“‘Brother Joseph has had a revelation from God that it is lawful and right for a man to have two wives… If you will accept of me I will take you straight to the celestial kingdom, and if you will have me in this world, I will have you in that which is to come, and brother Joseph will marry us here today, and you can go home this evening, and your parents will not know anything about it.’
“When the girl demurred and begged for time, Brigham called in Joseph, who also urged her to make an immediate decision. ‘Just go ahead and do as Brigham wants you to,’ he said, and added with a laugh: ‘He is the best man in the world, except me.’ Then he went on more seriously: ‘If you will accept of Brigham, you shall be blessed – God shall bless you, and my blessing shall rest upon you…and if you do not like it in a month or two, come to me, and I will make you free again; and if he turns you off, I will take you on.’
“‘Sir, it will be too late to think in a month or two after,’ Martha answered wryly. ‘I want time to think first.’
“To this the prophet replied: ‘But the old proverb is, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”‘
“Finally and reluctantly they let her go home, where she promised to pray in secret for guidance. The moment she arrived, however, she wrote down the whole episode while it was still fresh in her memory, and showed it to her parents. The Brothertons in high dudgeon took a steamboat to St. Louis, but not before they had given Martha’s recital enough circulation so that everyone in Nauvoo knew it within a week. Eventually Martha published her account in a St. Louis paper.” (306-307)
Though Martha’s character was badly maligned by Mormons in Nauvoo and her story condemned as a base falsehood, after her death Brigham Young was sealed to her by proxy in the Salt Lake Endowment House on August 1st, 1870 (see Mormon Polygamy: A History, page 26, footnote 7).
Mormon Coffee is the official blog of Mormonism Research Ministry.
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