Attack of the Wiener Man

Talking Heads "Burning Down the House"

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime - Video Dailymotion

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime - Video Dailymotion

Kennedy Center Honors 2012 - Led Zeppelin

Heart - Stairway to Heaven Led Zeppelin - Kennedy Center Honors

Weekend Bike Trip

The Lost Book of Abraham

Top 10 Mormon Problems Explained

The Death of Reason and Freedom This is not my story, but an anonymous post from exmormon.org ORIGINS I was born into the church by parents whose lineage goes back to the founding of the LDS church. While they had their faults and mistakes, I was raised in a loving home with a very dedicated mother and father. They were wonderful examples to me of faith and endurance in trying circumstances and they tried every day to center their family's life on the principles of the LDS Gospel. I was born with a membrane disease in my lungs that nearly took my life at birth. My parents, extended family and several members of their local LDS congregation fasted and prayed many times on my behalf. My parents had already endured the devastation of losing their first-born son two days after his birth and they begged God not to take me. By virtue of the fact that I am writing this, I am there miracle baby. I was spared. I went through all of the LDS Church rights of passage: Baptism at 8, priesthood at 12, president of my priesthood quorums, Seminary graduate/scripture mastery, mission at 19, marriage at 23 and two beautiful daughters by the age of 28. By all accounts I was on the highway to heaven. I was the good son with the ideal family, budding successful career, faithful service in church callings, and extensive understanding of the LDS gospel. SHOCK In January of 1995 I prepare to go through the temple for the first time in preparation for my mission. I have been taught through the years that I would learn all that was necessary to gain my salvation by going through the temple. I believe it to be the pinnacle of true worship. I have expectations of learning great things through the covenants and true order of prayer as these parts of the temple have been quietly intimated to me through the years by my parents and teachers. My parents, grandparents, various uncles and aunts and myself meet at the Idaho Falls Idaho temple on a bright clear Saturday morning. I am a little nervous about the unknown but tremendously excited that I have reached this point in my life. I have one older sister who had made some serious mistakes and fallen away from the faith during her teen years. I am the first of my parents children to make it to the temple and it is the healing balm for their souls to see their oldest son staying the course. Let me take you now through my first experience in the temple I get my temple clothing packet from the rental counter. The first two whispering questions surface to my conscious mind ~What is this clothing for? ~Why are there moneychangers in the temple? No matter I rationalize, I am hear to receive enlightenment and make covenants in the House of the Lord. I go with my father to a small room that serves as some kind of office. There, the temple president explains to me the sacred nature of the Garment and the need to wear it from this point on as a shield and a protection. I go through the Washing and Anointing and New Name ceremony without much concern. I accept these ordinances based on references in the bible regarding the washing and anointing of priests and the periodic assignment of new names to various biblical patriarchs in the Old Testament. I proceeded to the waiting chapel to sit and meditate until the time of the next session. The time has arrived and the company of people assembled in the chapel is ushered into the creation room (the Idaho Falls Temple still has separate creation, garden, telestial and terrestrial rooms with the video and audio segments appropriate for those parts of the ceremony queued up in succession). I sit and wait. ~The company is seated ~The lights grow dim ~I sit silently in the darkness... ~This is the beginning of the end You will be required to take upon yourselves sacred obligations, the violation of which will bring upon you the judgment of God. For God will not be mocked ~I feel fear in the darkness If any of you wish to withdraw rather than receive these covenants of your own free will and choice, you may now make it know by raising your hand ~I look around in the darkness ~I see my family silhouetted in the darkness ~I feel fear in the darkness ~I remain seated in the darkness I witness the creation and go into the garden room. The fruit is eaten. The fall has commenced Take some fig leaves and make you aprons. Father will see your nakedness. Quick! Hide! Brothers and Sisters put on your aprons. ~I obey Satan I make my first covenant to obey Gods law and keep his commandments. I see the sisters bow their heads in submission to their husbands. I am now ready to receive the first token of the Aaronic Priesthood with its accompanying name and sign. ~What is a token? ~What will I do with it? I receive the first token: A secret handshake. ~A secret handshake I make the sign. I make the covenant. I, Jesse, solemnly covenant before God, Angels, and these witnesses at this altar, that I will never reveal the first token of the Aaronic Priesthood with its accompanying name and sign ~A secret combination All my life I have been taught from the Book of Mormon that secret signs, oaths and societies are from the devil. They are responsible for the destruction of civilizations and untold misery. ~I have joined a secret society ~I am now a part of a secret combination ~I feel fear Adam and Eve are cast out of the garden. I go into the telestial room. ~Satan is looking at me I have a word to say concerning these people. If they do not walk up to every covenant that they make at these altars in this temple today, the will be in my power ~I feel terror Satan is cast out. I receive more tokens and signs. I put on strange clothing. ~I look at my father ~His face a mask of concentration, staring resolutely ahead ~I look at my mother ~Her face devoid of emotion, following by rote I look around at all the other patrons following en mass  All dressed in strange ceremonial clothing. All bow their heads and say yes. ~I am in a cult ~My mind whispers quietly: Please God no Each of you bow your head and say yes. The company chants in unison:YES ~I am trapped ~My mind screams: PLEASE DEAR GOD NO! EACH OF YOU BOW YOUR HEAD AND SAY YES ~I bow my head ~I say yes Raise both hands high above the head and while lowering the hands, repeating three times the words: O God, hear the words of my mouth ~Everyone raises their hands ~I raise my hands ~Everyone repeats the chant ~I repeat the chant The sound of many voices as one has a numbing effect ~I am no longer an individual The True order of prayer is introduced. I feel relief. Finally a prayer to sooth my tortured mind. We gather in a circle around the altar. This sisters veil their faces. We do not pray. We make the signs of all the tokens of the priesthood. We each take the hand of the sister to our left in the patriarchal grip, raise our left arms to the square, and rest them on the shoulder of the person to our left. ~The officiator kneels ~He begins to pray Those in the circle will repeat the words of the prayer ~We repeat the words of the officiator ~Our words are a monotone chant ~I am in a seance The sound of many voices as one has a numbing effect ~I am no longer an individual ~I feel my mind growing numb ~I obey ~I accept I pass through the veil after receiving the name of the second token of the Melchizedek Priesthood and go into the celestial room. Family congratulating me in hushed and reverent tones surrounds me. I sit for a moment to ponder. ~I am in a cult ~Dear God what have I done? ~I am in shock ~I have learned nothing I visit the temple repeatedly to gain more insight. None comes. I just accept it all as I have been taught to do and eventually the questions and doubts are silenced as the euphoria of accomplishment enshrouds me. ~I made it ~I am one of the elite ~This is the beginning of the end UNANSWERED QUESTIONS After my first time through the temple, I learn from my mother that the ordinances have been changed recently. I simply nod in acknowledgement of here statement, still too shocked to really respond to this revelation. Looking back, it was the perfect time to broach the subject, as I would not give it another thought for 10 years. While on my mission I become aware of the existence of the Masonic order. I learn that Joseph Smith was a Mason. I learn of the similarities between the Masonic and Temple ceremonies. I learned that the temple endowment ceremony was introduced within two months of Joseph Smiths induction into the Masonic Order. I learned that Joseph restored the endowment to its full purity from its ancient and corrupted Masonic origins. I am too indoctrinated as a missionary to even entertain a concern about the whole situation. I accept it all. In my second year of college in 1999 a fellow student, upon learning that I was a Mormon confides in me that he used to be a Mormon but that he left because of the Book of Abraham. As I listen, he explains to me that is was nothing more than a common Egyptian funerary text and that Joseph Smiths translation was completely false. He tells me how everybody told him to read this or read that writing written by various apologists to explain away the problem but none of it made any sense. He summarizes by saying that maybe he doesn't have enough faith. He cannot reconcile the glaring inconsistency. My faith was unwavering. I feel pity for him. By the end of 2004 I am a traditional believing married Mormon Father of two with a home in the northern Utah suburbs and a college degree completed. I am in the elders quorum presidency, working in my field of interest and life is good. Over the last few years, I have encountered and resolved to my satisfaction a multitude of evidences and questions that would shed doubt upon the divinity and authenticity of the church. I am a stalwart member. In October of 2004 I get a job offer within my company for a position at the corporate headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. My wife and I prayerfully consider and accept the offer. This is the first big move for us. My wifes father works at the Bountiful Utah temple and he and his wife are preparing to serve a mission. We sell our home during the Christmas season and move to a small suburb north of Atlanta in January 2005. We are now on our own. Shortly after our move to Georgia, my wife relates to me a phone conversation she had with her parents (they call usually once a week) in which her father mentioned in passing that the Initiatory ordinance had been changed. The comment passes and the conversation continues. All is well. ~All is not well ~Deep inside my mind, a thought emerges COLLAPSE ~It keeps gnawing at me ~I cant seem to shake it ~Ill get over it I take the time one day to peruse the junk mail and run across an Oprah mail order book club list. I am browsing through the titles when I come across the title: Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith by Martha Beck. I am intrigued and I read the brief description. I am always interested in why people leave the church if only to reinforce the various arguments I have constructed to bolster my faith. I do a search online at work and find that this is the daughter of Hugh Nibley, the most renowned church apologist. I read a few excerpts online ~There is a crack in the foundation of my fortress of faith ~The Book of Abraham is back ~For reasons I know not, I cannot ignore it this time I begin to read. I read stories online about why people leave the LDS church. I read for two months. I collect their stories. I laugh with them, cry with them, I sympathize with them. I am now in violation of question number six in the temple recommend interview: Do you affiliate with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or do you sympathize with the precepts of any such group or individual? ~I bow my head and say yes HOPE ~I begin to think ~I begin to question ~I begin to doubt ~I begin to learn ~I begin to awaken I spend every available break time at work reading on the Internet. I revisit all of my concerns with an objective point of view. The evidence is devastating. It has been here all along and I have refused to see it in the light of rational thought. I have forcefully refused to use the brain that God gave me for over 10 years. I drink from the fountains of knowledge like a man dying of thirst. I have never felt so liberated. I ask God if what I am doing is right. I feel an incredible sense of peace and love envelope me and I know in my heart and mind that what I am doing is right. ~I am an individual! ~I am alive! ~I am free! I am married to a devout Mormon woman and I have two daughters. I am in the elders quorum presidency. I am in a large Mormon family that, with only 2 exceptions, is all devout believers. I start to think again. We are on our own now. Family is thousands of miles away. I begin to hope. If I make the information passively available, my wife will listen to the voice of reason. I share my concern of the changing temple ordinances with her. She is shocked but tries to understand and agrees that I need to prayerfully study my concerns to get the answers that I am seeking. I bring By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus by Charles Larson home to casually read. I am reading more and more each day. Finding a special thrill in entertaining serious questions and using my reason and intellect along with inspiration to find the truth. I am learning to love absolute truth without loyalty to any organization. It has truly set me free. I can question anything! I can reach my own carefully thought out conclusions! No information is off limits! I can truly exercise my mind! It is incredibly intoxicating. ~I know the truth now ~The Mormon Church is a man made institution ~It has no claim to exclusive authority ~I know ~I am so happy By this time I have stopped paying tithing. I am getting a better handle on the family finances as a result. I am cultivating a more tolerant and loving worldview. I am less judgmental. I no longer view life through the confining prism of Mormonism. ~The freedom is intoxicating ~I don't tell my wife ~This is my fatal mistake Thursday, July 28th, 2005: we come to an emotional confrontation that lasts until four o'clock in the morning. Because I now hold the church in suspect, my wife tells me that our marriage is based on a lie. She tells me that she wishes that our children had never been born. She tells me that she does not want her daughters raised in a home with an unbeliever. ~I read the writing on the wall TRAPPED Friday, July 29th, 2005: I come home from work and my wife tells me she has come to some conclusions. We sit and talk. She has read By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus. She tells me that the truth is anti Mormon. She has thrown away the book. She tells me that Satan is tempting me with the facts. She tells me her testimony is unshakable. She tells me that in order for her to support me in my journey, I must do things her way. I must study only the scriptures and approved church scripture study guides alone and with her. She tells me I must put aside the facts and the truth for now. If at the end I still feel that the church is not true, she does not know what she will do. She may go into therapy. She may leave me. She may take my children away. She has called her parents and my parents while I am at work. They have all agreed to open their homes to her immediately if necessary. She tells me that my parents are prepared to come to my home this weekend and if necessary, she will go back with them. She has set an appointment with the bishop for Sunday morning. ~I am trapped DECISION Saturday, July 30, 2005  midnight: I cannot sleep. I go to the downstairs living room. I lay on the couch. I talk with God. I know the truth now. I love my family more than life itself. I would rather die than lose my children. ~Truth is irrelevant ~Truth must be ignored once again ~Facts must be buried once again ~Freedom must be surrendered once again ~I put on the blindfold ~I put on the shackles ~I am a voluntary prisoner in my own mind ~I commit intellectual suicide tonight ~I commit spiritual suicide tonight ~I do this willingly, fully aware of the consequences, for the rest of my life ~Freedom and reason are buried under the crushing weight of the foundation of my prison ~I cry tonight ~My soul dies tonight I go to the bishop Sunday morning. I say what is necessary. I will conform. I talk to my parents that night. I will conform. Because I love my family more than life itself I will conform. This is the legacy of Mormonism: conformity. I voluntarily submit myself to the horrifically comforting mental conditioning once again. I close forever the covers of enlightening literature. I will read and understand only what is approved. ~It is so easy ~It is so simple ~Yes ~I understand ~I bow my head and say yes ~But ~Buried in the recesses of my conscience, there will always be a bright spark of pure truth ~Lingering ~I know REMEMBER US To those of you on the outside reading this, I beg you, please do not forget us. Please remember the hundreds of thousands of unique, special, beautiful individuals that are currently serving life sentences in the prison of Mormonism. Please do not cease to pray; to whatever God you serve, for our deliverance. Some of us have no hope for redemption or liberation. For the greater good, we willingly sacrifice our souls upon the altar of conformity and orthodoxy. Our pain is real. Our sentence is absolute. I will always hold out hope that one day, perhaps within my lifetime though not likely, that pure truth will prevail. I hope someday that the desire to understand the truth at all costs will override the desire to maintain tradition and conformity. Until that day I will try to find some grain of happiness somewhere, anywhere, in the spiritual abyss that I have willingly entered into. ~I bid farewell to progress ~I bid farewell to truth ~I bid farewell to reason ~I bid farewell to freedom To those of you on the outside, I thank you. I thank you for your courage. I thank you for your wisdom and insight. I thank you for your compassion and understanding. I thank you for your stories. I thank you for showing me the truth and allowing me to bask in its warmth, even if for a small moment. I love you all. I hope that truth will ultimately prevail. I hope that you and I will live to see it. Until that time, I go, quietly, shackled and blinded once more into the prison that awaits me. I bid you all farewell. Remember me Remember us ~I feel myself submerge once again into the group ~I feel the darkness close around my mind ~Strange ~It feels so comfortable ~So familiar ~It doesn't hurt very much anymore ~I feel my identity slipping quietly away ~I am no longer and individual ~I bow my head and say yes

#42 Official Mormon Church Doctrine- Quick Questions for Mormons

My Journey

 

Over the last several years I have been on a spiritual journey in an effort to discover what it is I truly believe.  As one who was born and raised in the Mormon faith, I accepted and believed the truthfulness of Mormonism without a serious investigation into the validity of the truth claims I accepted as a youth, as an adult, as a parent and eventually a grandparent.  I have throughout my lifetime read, pondered and prayed regarding the truthfulness of the restored gospel.  I accepted, taught, proselytized and defended the claims of the church, vigorously at times and passionately in others.  I also accepted as truth that the Mormon Church was the one and only true church on the face of the earth, having been restored by Joseph Smith.  As a follower of the faith I also accepted latter-day scripture as brought forth by Joseph Smith and subsequent prophets.  Today I no longer believe these claims and will attempt to address some of my reasons in this letter.

 

In 2009 I was asked by an acquaintance, who was not Mormon, regarding the method of translation of the Book of Mormon.  She had heard that the Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith using a rock placed inside his hat, he would then place his face in the hat and words would appear to him.  These words were written by a scribe and thus came forth the Book of Mormon.  When this question was posed to me if this was indeed true or not, I was indignant that her story was the “craziest thing I have ever heard”.  I reassured her that I was a lifelong member of the church, well versed in the origins of the church.  I further cited my weekly attendance to church for over 40 years including, primary lessons, Sunday school, priesthood meetings, seminary graduate and missionary.  Furthermore I taught from the manuals of the church for years regarding the history of the church and other topics. I have read the history of the church as told by Joseph Smith as well as many other church officials and authors regarding the origins of the Book of Mormon.  What she was saying was patently bogus, false and absolutely absurd!  She must have heard that from someone who was anti Mormon.  She was not swayed by my obvious authority of the subject and responded to the effect of, “I believe that’s the way it happened”.  We closed our conversation and I was determined to find the evidence to defend my position as well as the honor of Joseph Smith and ultimately the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 

Study

 

It was at this juncture that I would say my journey began in earnest.  As a believing Latter-day Saint and wanting to be obedient to church counsel, I was careful to avoid sources that would be anti, or of a questionable source.  One of my first sources outside the official Church publications was Richard Lyman Bushman’s book entitled, “Joseph Smith, Rough Stone Rolling”.  Richard Bushman is a practicing, believing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Bushman has a PhD in the History of American Civilization from Harvard.  He also taught at Harvard and BYU as well as other universities.  Bushman has served as a missionary, seminary teacher, bishop, stake president and patriarch.  Needless to say this guy was safe for me to read.  This book opened my eyes to many things that I was never taught or exposed to by lessons or reading of Church material for my 40 plus years in the church.  One of the quotes in Bushman’s book would prove my friend correct in her statement and made me feel like a fool in defending it.  Emma Smith, Joseph’s wife, was interviewed in 1879 and said, “In writing for Joseph Smith.  I frequently wrote day after day, often sitting at the table close to him, by sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it and dictated hour after hour, with nothing between us…” 

 

His face buried in a hat with a stone in it?  Wait a minute, what happened to my primary and seminary teachers telling me of Joseph Smith translating from gold plates, with the Urim and Thummim?  What of all the pictures depicting Joseph sitting at a table pouring over the plates?  In all my years and training not a word regarding a peep stone and a hat as the primary method of translating the Book of Mormon.  I kept reading Bushman’s book, after all he is pro Joseph Smith; pro Mormon Church there had to be a good explanation why I hadn’t heard this before.  By the way, the stone used in the hat was NOT the Urim and Thummim but the peep stone Joseph had used for years to seek treasure. Joseph found this stone years earlier while digging a well.  Joseph believed and told people this peep stone had magical abilities such as finding hidden treasure and translating ancient text. He was paid by people who he told that he could find treasure using the stone, there was never any treasure found.  I looked further and found a quote by David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon, he said, “I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated.  Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat; drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine.  A piece of something resembling a parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing.  One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English.  Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was the principle scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear.  Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by the power of man.”  Whitmer was also quoted, “I, as well as all my father’s family, Smith’s wife. Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris, were present during the translation…He (Joseph Smith) did not use the plates in translation.” 

 

But wait, I know I was taught that Joseph used the plates for translation, I’ve seen the pictures in all the church manuals, paintings in the visitor’s center etc.  Now I am confused… I read on.

 

Martin Harris another one of the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon said, “…The prophet possessed a seer stone, by which he was able to translate as well as from the Urim and Thummim, and for convenience he used the seer stone…By aid of the seer stone, sentences would appear and were read by the Prophet and written by Martin and when finished he would say “written,” and if correctly written that sentence would disappear and another appear in its place, but if not written correctly it remained until corrected, so that the translation was just as it was engraven on the plates, precisely in the language then used.” 

 

But wait, there’s more…

 

Isaac Hale, the father of Emma Smith, stated in an 1834 affidavit:

 

“The manner, in which he pretended to read and interpret, was the same as when he looked for the money-diggers, with a stone in his hat, and his hat over his face, while the books of plates were at the same time hid in the woods.”

 

But wait, there’s more…

 

Michael Morse, Emma Smith’s brother-in-law wrote an article in 1879 for an RLDS publication, he wrote:

 

“When Joseph was translating the Book of Mormon, I had occasion more than once to go into his immediate presence, and saw him engaged in translation.  The mode of procedure consisted of Joseph’s placing the Seer Stone in the crown of a hat, then putting his face in a hat, so as to entirely cover his face, resting his elbows on his knees, and then dictating word after word, while the scribes – Emma, John Whitmer, O. Cowdery, or some other wrote it down.”

After reading these and other accounts I am conflicted with emotions.  At this point I have to readily admit that the Book of Mormon was principally if not totally translated using a peep stone that Joseph had prior to receiving the plates and Urim and Thummim and by many accounts was the principle method used in the translation.  While this information was unnerving, I now had a greater problem in my mind.  While I could maybe accept the fact that this was how the BOM was translated, why had I not heard this before?  Why was I taught from the youngest youth to a High Priest with a considerable calling in the Church a different story from reality?  The only conclusion was that the Church didn’t want me to know, or a different version from reality, if it did it would have taught me about it.  So rather than the truth, I was taught a more readily acceptable version that would be either more palatable or more marketable, either way it is a deception from the truth.

 

I had just realized there was no Santa Clause and now I was wondering if there was an Easter Bunny.  So I kept reading….

 

In my study I have discovered that this deception and historical revisionism has been a pattern from early in the church until the present day.  Boyd K. Packer said, “I have a hard time with historians... because they idolize the truth. The truth is not uplifting; it destroys. Historians should tell only that part of the truth that is inspiring and uplifting.”

- Apostle Boyd K. Packer, as related by D. Michael Quinn, “Pillars of My Faith,” talk delivered at Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 19, 1994.

 

I was also taught in church and home that telling only part of the truth is a lie.  By telling only part of the truth is a tactic of deception to drive someone to the beliefs you want them to believe in.  If I were to sell Elder Packer a car and only tell him the “inspiring and uplifting” things about the car but failed to mention the crack in the engine block, would that be wrong?  Of course it would.  Does religion get a pass when it comes to telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth?  President Monson in October Conference 2008 said, “May we be men and women of honesty and integrity in everything we do”.  A half truth is not honest.  Elder Marvin J. Ashton wrote in an Ensign article from 1982, “A lie is any communication given to another with the intent to deceive…a lie can be effectively communicated without words ever being spoken.  Sometimes a nod of the head or silence can deceive.  Recommending a questionable business investment, making a false entry in a ledger, devious use of flattery, or failure to divulge all pertinent facts, are a few other ways to communicate the lie.”  Robert J. Mathews an LDS educator and BYU professor who also helped compile the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, wrote in the October 1994 Ensign, “Even sharing the truth can have the effect of lying when we tell only half-truths that do not give the full picture.  We can also be guilty of bearing false witness and lying if we say nothing, particularly if we allow another to reach a wrong conclusion while we hold back information that would have led to a more accurate perception.  In this case it is as though an actual lie were uttered”.  The Book of Mormon warns those who lie in 2 Nephi 9:34.  Brigham young said, “Honest hearts produce honest actions”.  It is quite obvious that the Church teaches us to be honest in ALL our dealings, but has not practiced what it preaches, at least in regards to its history. 

 

POLYGAMY

 

This leads me to another problem I was never taught or read in Church manuals or classes.  Joseph Smith started to secretly take plural wives around 1833 but publically denied doing so his entire life.  In fact he took his first plural wife three years before he said he received the sealing power.  Why would the Prophet of God deny a practice he was commanded to practice by God himself?  While it is troubling that Joseph Smith and others, including later prophets, denied practicing polygamy when they were in fact married to many, and in some cases dozens of women.  There are a number of disturbing facts regarding polygamy that are difficult for me to accept.  I will relate only a few here.

 

Clear documentation (Including Family Search) shows that Joseph was married to at least 33 women.  There is reason to believe the number is actually much higher.  One very troubling statistic is 11 of Joseph’s wives were married to other men when Joseph married them. Of the 11 men six were active Latter-Day Saints.  Additionally there were two 14 year olds, two 16 year olds and three 17 year olds among his wives.  Joseph’s first plural wife, Fanny Alger was the 16 year old house guest of the Smith’s.  Fanny Alger was considered by Emma Smith as an adopted daughter.  Joseph hid the relationship from Emma and others, until it was discovered by Emma who then threw Fanny out of the household.  Oliver Cowdery, a witness to the Book of Mormon and close friend of Joseph Smith said of the affair with Fanny Alger, “A dirty, nasty, filthy affair”.  It seems that if you were a young woman in the Smith home you were destined to be married to Joseph.  Sarah and Maria Lawrence both young teenagers were orphaned soon after reaching Illinois and lived in the Smith home.  Both girls were soon married to Joseph Smith.  Interestingly Eliza and Emily Partridge were also orphaned when their father Bishop Edward Partridge passed away in 1840.  The two young girls were taken into the Smith home as hired helpers.  They too were soon married to Joseph Smith. 

 

In 1842 Joseph sought an “interview” with Lucy Walker.  In this interview Lucy reports that Joseph said, “I have a message for you, I have been commanded by God to take another wife, and you are the woman”.  Joseph went on to give Lucy an ultimatum that she had until morning to decide.  If she chose not to marry him her salvation would be “closed”, but if she did marry him her whole family would be assured celestial glory.  Of the relationship, Lucy said, “It was not a love matter, so to speak, in our affairs, -at least on my part it was not, but simply the giving up of myself as a sacrifice to establish that grand and glorious principle that God had revealed to the world.”

 

“During the summer of 1841, shortly after Heber’s return from England, he was introduced to the doctrine of plural marriage directly through a startling test, a sacrifice which shook his very being and challenged his faith to the ultimate.  He had already sacrificed homes, possessions, friends, relatives, all worldly rewards, peace and tranquility for the restoration.  Nothing was left to place on the altar save his life, his children and his wife.  Joseph demanded for himself what to Heber was the unthinkable, his Vilate (Heber’s wife).  Totally crushed spiritually and emotionally, Heber touched neither food nor water for three days and three nights continually sought confirmation and comfort from God.  Finally after some kind of assurance, Heber took Vilate to the upper room of Joseph’s store on Water Street.  The Prophet wept at this act of faith, devotion and obedience.  Joseph never intended to take Vilate.  It was all a test.” – Biography of Heber C. Kimball, Mormon Patriarch and Pioneer by Stanley B. Kimball, page 93. 

 

Joseph did not take Heber’s wife from him, but did marry his 14 year old daughter Helen Mar Kimball in May of 1843. 

 

I have read and heard many apologists reasoning for the practice of polygamy in the early church.  Some of the arguments include:  There was more women than men, the women taken as plural wives needed the support of the men who took them in, and the marriages were spiritual in nature and not a physical one.  These arguments are all bogus and hold no merit to the facts and the evidence.  For my purposes here I will not labor on to refute each of these.  There is ample evidence to prove these arguments are wrong.  According to the United States Census, the average age of first marriage in 1840 was between 21 and 22 years of age.  According to the U.S. Census, the age dropped to 20 years of age in 1950.  While it was not unheard of for teenagers to be married, it certainly was not the norm. 

 

 

 

BOOK OF ABRAHAM

 

Part of the LDS canonized scriptures includes the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price.   The Book of Abraham was “Canonized” as scripture in 1880 by unanimous vote.  In July of 1835, Michael Chandler, a showman, was touring with an exhibit of four Egyptian mummies and papyri and came to Kirtland Ohio.  Joseph Smith was intrigued by the papyri and was given permission to view them.  When he examined the writings, he declared them a great discovery.

 

“…with W.W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery as scribes, I commence the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt, etc.”  (History of the Church, Vol. 2. P. 236)

 

Several members of the church pooled money to buy the papyri and mummies from the showman.  The cost was $2400.  It took approximately seven years for Joseph to complete the translation of the scroll he called the Book of Abraham.  Wilford Woodruff noted in his personal journal on February 19, 1842 that the Book of Abraham was “literally written by Abraham himself”.

 

When Joseph Smith was killed in 1844, the papyri became the property of Emma Smith.  The papyri were donated to a museum in Chicago and thought to have been destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.  In 1966 a researcher from the University of Utah discovered the papyri while going through the archives of the museum.  The researcher recognized the facsimile from the LDS scriptures.  The papyri were identified and returned to the LDS church in 1967 as a gift from the museum.  A caveat of note is that in 1799 the Rosetta stone was discovered by French soldiers digging near some ruins in Egypt.  The Rosetta stone unlocked the Egyptian language which had been undecipherable for thousands of years.  It now became possible for Egyptian hieroglyphics and drawings to be understood.  It did take roughly 30 years to break the code which wasn’t available for general knowledge until the mid to late 1800’s.  After the papyri was translated by Joseph Smith.  It now became possible to compare what Joseph Smith translated to the translation from Egyptologists who now understood the language because of the discovery of the Rosetta stone.  Unlike the gold plates that were returned to an angel.  The physical papyri were now in our possession and a true comparison could be made. 

 

An investigation ensued by both LDS scholars and others to understand the papyri and facsimiles.  Not only did we now have the original papyri but also handwritten copies of the translation work done by Joseph Smith.  In those handwritten translations were Egyptian characters in the margins of the pages with Joseph’s English translation next to them.  These Egyptian characters are clearly visible in one of the recovered papyri sections and in exactly the same order.  Scholars both inside and outside the church in numerous occasions have determined that there is absolutely no connection with the characters in the papyrus and the translation performed by Joseph Smith.  The papyri are in fact ordinary funeral scrolls which give the dead guidance in the after-life, and include spells that the deceased would use to learn to “breathe” again.  The scrolls have been tested and dated and has been determined without question that they date to the first century AD, nearly 2000 years after Abraham was alive.  It is impossible that the papyri were “written by the hand of Abraham” as Joseph said. 

 

Another discovery was made with the discovery of the papyri.  Some of the pieces of papyri were missing when Joseph Smith had them, including facsimile 1.  The missing part was “filled in” by Smith or someone he had do it.  The parts that were filled in are obviously incorrect when compared to Egyptian records.

 

 

The original papyri

 

 

 

 

The completed illustration as it should be

 

 

Joseph’s “filled in” version which is in the Pearl of Great Price

 

 

 

 

 

Professor of Egyptology and Chairman of the Department of Egyptology at Brown University, Richard A. Parker, stated in the Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol 3, no. 2, Summer 1968, p. 86:

 

“This is a well-known scene from the Osiris mysteries, with Anubis, the jackal-headed god, on the left ministering to the dead Osiris on the bier.  The penciled restoration is incorrect.  Anubis should be jackal-headed.  The left arm of Osiris is in reality lying at his side under him.  The apparent upper hand is part of the wing of a second bird which is hovering over the erect phallus of Osiris (now broken away).  The second bird is Isis and she is magically impregnated by the dead Osiris and then later gives birth to Horus who avenges his father and takes over his inheritance.  The complete bird represents Nephthys, sister to Osiris and Isis.  Beneath the bier are four canopic jars with heads representative of the four sons of Horus, human-headed Imseti, baboon-headed Hapy, jackal-headed Duamutef and falcon-headed Kebehsenuf.  The hieroglyphs refer to burial, etc…”

 

Klaus Baer, Associate Professor of Egyptology at the University of Chicago made similar statements in the same Mormon publication in the fall of 1968. 

 

The other facsimiles namely 2 and 3 are also similarly incorrect in Joseph’s translation.  I will not go into those here, but just to say there is ample evidence as to the correct translation of these facsimiles as well. 

 

I watched a recent interview of Elder Jeffery R. Holland by the BBC.  Holland was asked about the Book of Abraham difficulties.  Excerpts of that interview can be seen here:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws4vgihE3Q0&feature=related

 

Holland says, “What got translated got translated into the word of God.  The vehicle for that I do not understand, don’t claim to know and I know no Egyptian.”  It is troubling to me that he does not address the obvious issues, which he is certainly familiar with.  As always seems the case, the church skirts the issues and will not address the obvious problems with the teachings. 

 

Scriptural Changes

 

I have often heard over the years and people have said to me in defense of the Book of Mormon, something to the effect of, “I know the Book of Mormon is true because Joseph Smith was too uneducated to write it.  No man could write that book”.  When I take the current Book of Mormon in my hands and read it, I can understand that statement.  The Book of Mormon we have now is very different from the book that Joseph Smith sent to the printer and became the Book of Mormon for the first time.  To make the statement that Joseph could not have written that book, you must look at the book he produced.  The scriptures we have today have been changed, edited, and modified for over 150 years by thousands of people working for the church.  The reality of the book that Joseph created is a crude and doctrinally different book than the one we have today. 

 

The Book of Mormon was published in 1830; the next printing was in 1837.  Even in the second printing of the Book of Mormon, thousands of words were changed.  Most of the changes were to correct spelling and grammar problems, however significant doctrinal changes were made as well.  Joseph Smith said he returned the plates and Urim and Thummim back to the angel Moroni, so the changes couldn’t have been made from referring to the source of the document.  Additionally it seems odd to me that according to witnesses of the translation as well as Joseph himself said that he would read the translation as given by the power of God, it was then written word for word and they could not go forward in the translation until it was written correctly, the way God told him.  The most correct book on Earth.

 

It seems that Joseph was having an evolutionary view of the nature of the God.  A central tenant to Mormon theology is the nature of the God-Head.  Namely that God the Father has a body as does Jesus Christ.  In four places the phrase “the son of” was added when referencing God.  Page 25 of the first edition states, “Behold the virgin which thou seest, is the mother of God, after the manner of flesh.”  The second edition was changed to read, “Behold the virgin thou seest, is the mother of the son of God”, which is now 1 Nephi 11:18.  This change was made in four different places which makes it difficult to believe that it was the exact same typo in four different places.  Another substantial change was made when there was an obvious chronological error in the first edition.  Page 200 of the first edition and Mosiah 21:28 in later editions referred to King Benjamin rather than his successor King Mosiah.  The same mistake was also corrected in Ether 4:1, page 546 in the 1830 edition.  It seems unreasonable that the writers of the original records on the plates would have forgotten the name of their current king.  Another item of note is the title page of the first edition of the Book of Mormon.  Joseph Smith Jr. is cited as Author and Proprietor.  In later editions he is listed as Translator, not author or proprietor.

 

 Joseph’s intention for the Book of Mormon was to sell the rights to the book in Canada and in fact sent Hiram Page, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Knight Sr. and Josiah Stowell.  Joseph gave the orders to the men after receiving a revelation in 1829-30.  They were directed to sell the copyright of the Book of Mormon for $8,000.  After expenses, the money was to go to the Smith family.  The men were unsuccessful to find a buyer for the rights of the book.

 

There have been many changes in many of the following editions of the Book of Mormon. As of 1965 there have been 3,913 changes. The first edition is so full of grammatical and spelling errors that it is hard not to determine that someone who was not very educated to be central in its inception. The first edition was in novel form and later was changed into chapters and verses similar to the KJV of the Bible.  In 1981 another significant change was made in the wake of controversy with blacks and the priesthood.  2 Nephi 30:6 prior to 1981 reads, “…A white and delightsome people”, referring to the skin changing color from black to white when the Lamanites embraced the gospel.  After 1981 the verse reads, “A pure and delightsome people”.  Did the gold plates have it wrong and it was only discovered in 1981?  Many of the footnotes and chapter headings were changed to also reflect the changing times.  For example, Mormon chapter 5 heading used to read, “The Lamanites shall be a dark, filthy and loathsome people”, it now reads, “Because of their unbelief, the Lamanites will be scattered and the Spirit will cease to strive with them”. 

 

B. H. Roberts President of the First Quorum of Seventy and Church Historian conducted an extensive study to find proof of the validity of the Book of Mormon.  In his manuscript entitled, “A Book of Mormon Study”, B.H. Roberts frankly admits that Joseph Smith had a vivid enough imagination and source material necessary to have produced the Book of Mormon without the aid of the gold plates.  B.H. Roberts believed that LDS leaders needed to come to grips with the problems with the Book of Mormon and not sweep them under the rug. 

 

In a letter to Apostle Richard R. Lyman, B.H. Roberts wrote;

You perhaps will recall our conversation of a few days ago in relation to the inquiry we had before the Council of the Twelve Apostles on some problems associated with the Book of Mormon, and how I reminded you that on the former occasion here alluded to I announced that what I had presented did not constitute all our B. of M. problems, that there were others. You then asked, "Well, will these help solve our present problems or will it increase our difficulties?" to which I replied, "It would very greatly increase our problems." At which you said (and I thought rather lightly) "Well, I don't see why we should bother with them then. To this I answered that I should go on with my studies nevertheless. And the other day I told you, if you remember that I had continued my investigations and had drawn up a somewhat lengthy report for the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve. . . . I thought I would submit in sort of tabloid form a few pages of matter pointing out a possible theory of the Origin of the Book of Mormon that is quite unique . . . which in the hands of a skillful opponent could be made, in my judgment, very embarrassing.

I submit it in the form of a parallel between some main outline facts pertaining to the Book of Mormon and matter that was published in Ethan Smith's "View of the Hebrews" which preceded the Book of Mormon, . . . It was published in Vermont and in the adjoining county in which the Smith Family lived in the Prophet Joseph's boyhood days, so that it could be urged that the family doubtless had this book. . . the Parallel that I send to you is not one fourth part of what can be presented in this form, and the unpresented part is quite as striking as this that I submit." (Letter from B. H. Roberts to Richard R. Lyman, dated October 24, 1927, carbon copy of the original)

[B. H. Roberts' manuscripts are now printed in Studies of the Book of Mormon.

 

DNA

Writing in Anthropology News, Thomas Murphy and Simon Southerton observed:

Genetic research into Native American and Polynesian origins is sending shock waves through Mormon communities around the world. The Book of Mormon, claimed as scripture by 11 million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), purports to tell of three migrations from the ancient Middle East to the Americas. The title page claims that the descendants of the migrants from Jerusalem "are the principal ancestors of the American Indians." Mormon folklore, likewise, postulates a Middle Eastern heritage for Polynesians.

Southerton has completed a book-length manuscript on the subject [Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church]. Simon Southerton, a plant geneticist, resigned his position as bishop and withdrew his church membership. In Mar 2000, he published the story of his disillusionment on the Internet. [http://www.exmormon.org/whylft125.htm] He "failed to find anything that supported migration of Jewish people before Columbus" and found "no reliable scientific evidence supporting migrations from the Middle East to the New World."

“Investigation of mitochondrial DNA of more than 5,500 living Native Americans reveals that 99.4% can be traced back to Asia primarily via maternal lineages known as A, B, C, D and X. Only 0.6% came from Africa or Europe, most likely after 1492. Lineages A through D are only found in Asia. While the X lineage also is found in Europe and the Middle East, Asian and American lineages have distinctive markers that indicate an ancient separation long before the events described in the Book of Mormon. Similar results from nearly 1,000 paternal lineages substantiate a Northeast Asian origin of American Indians. Likewise, approximately 99% of the Polynesians surveyed to date can trace their maternal lineages back to Southeast Asia. The other 1% almost certainly came from Europe in the recent past.”

Folk biological claims of an Israelite ancestry, a curse with a dark skin, and a whitening of dark-skinned Native American and Polynesian Mormons fail to stand up to scrutiny among scientifically literate Latter-day Saints ("Genetic Research a 'Galileo Event' for Mormons," by Thomas W. Murphy and Simon Southerton, Anthropology News, February 2003, p. 20).

The lack of evidence that Israelites came to America and grew to a major population prior to the arrival of the Europeans certainly raises serious questions about the historicity of the Book of Mormon.  Another interesting item of note is the introduction to the Book of Mormon.  Bruce R. McConkie contributed to the intro statement by adding, “After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are the principal ancestors of the American Indians.”, After DNA evidence has been established, the intro has been changed to read, “After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are among the ancestors of the American Indians”.

 

 

Archeology

A letter dated January 11, 1990 from the National Geographic Society reads:

“The Society has never used the Book of Mormon to locate archaeological sites, and we do not believe that any of the places named in the Book of Mormon can be placed geographically by the evidence of archaeology. So far as we know there is no archaeological evidence to verify the history of early peoples of the Western Hemisphere as presented in the Book of Mormon.

I hope you will find this information useful.”

Signed by, Pamela Tucci, Research Correspondent.

This and the following excerpt are in response to LDS tracts and rumors that both institutions were using the Book of Mormon as a resource for archeological discoveries.

In a letter from 1996 the Archeology Department of the Smithsonian Institute said the Book of Mormon was not considered a historically accurate text and that the Smithsonian should not be cited as using the Book of Mormon for Archeological purposes.

The archeological evidence or lack thereof, is another problem with the Book of Mormon.  Again I will not go into great detail here but want to mentions issues such as things mentioned in the Book of Mormon that were not present in North America at the time (horses, elephants, wheat, barley, silk and steel).  No metallurgical evidence.  No human remains where millions of people were supposed to have died (Cumorah).  Not one bone, not one sword, shield, breastplate, etc. 

When I was growing up, one of the main evidences of the Book of Mormon was the ancient Mayan ruins in Mexico and Guatemala.  The Maya were pagan society and the history and timing is not consistent with Book of Mormon writings.  Another problem with the Mayan connection is the DNA as stated previously is of Asian heritage. 

In 1973, Michael Coe, one of the best known authorities on archaeology of the New World, wrote an article for Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1973. After summarizing Book of Mormon claims, he frankly stated:

Let me now state uncategorically that as far as I know there is not one professionally trained archaeologist, who is not a Mormon, who sees any scientific justification for believing the foregoing to be true. . . nothing, absolutely nothing, has ever shown up in any New World excavation which would suggest to a dispassionate observer that the Book of Mormon. . . is a historical document relating to the history of early migrants to our hemisphere. (pp. 42, 46)

Some LDS scholars are beginning to publicly admit that archaeology does not furnish any significant evidence for the Book of Mormon. Dee F. Green, who at one time served as editor of the University Archaeological Society Newsletter, published at the Church's Brigham Young University, made it plain that archaeological evidence did not prove the Book of Mormon:

“The first myth we need to eliminate is that Book of Mormon archaeology exists. . . . If one is to study Book of Mormon archaeology, then one must have a corpus of data with which to deal. We do not. The Book of Mormon is really there so one can have Book of Mormon studies, and archaeology is really there so one can study archaeology, but the two are not wed. At least they are not wed in reality since no Book of Mormon location is known with reference to modern topography. Biblical archaeology can be studied because we do know where Jerusalem and Jericho were and are, but we do not know where Zarahemla and Bountiful (nor any other location for that matter) were or are. It would seem then that a concentration on geography should be the first order of business, but we have already seen that twenty years of such an approach has left us empty-handed.” (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1969, pp. 77-78)

There are scores of books and papers authored regarding the archeology of the Book of Mormon.  Some pro, mostly con.  In the final pages of the Book of Mormon a huge battle was waged at the site of the hill Cumorah, were 2 million people were said to have been slaughtered.  To this date there is zero evidence archeological or other wise to substantiate this story.  A battle of this epic proportion would leave a plethora of evidence, there is none.  Also not present are human or animal remains of the massive slaughter, metal swords or shields, not even an arrow head. 

Kinderhook Plates

The Kinderhook plates were six bell shaped brass plates that were said to be discovered in 1843 in an Indian mound near Kinderhook, Illinois.  These plates were actually manufactured and made to look as if they were of an ancient origin.  The plates were made by Wilbur Fugate, Bridge Whitten and Robert Wiley.  These men devised the plan to test Joseph Smith’s ability to translate.  Joseph was in nearby Nauvoo.  On May 3rd of 1843 an account was written in the Quincy newspaper.

 

“It appears that a young man by the name of Wiley, a resident in Kinderhook, dreamed three nights in succession that in a certain mound in the vicinity, there was treasures concealed. Impressed with the strange occurrence of dreaming the same dream three nights in succession, he came to the conclusion, to satisfy his mind by digging into the mound. For fear of being laughed at, if he made others acquainted with his design, he went by himself, and labored diligently one day in pursuit of the supposed treasure, by sinking a hole in the centre of the mound. Finding it quite laborious, he invited others to assist him. Finally, a company of ten or twelve repaired to the mound, and assisted in digging out the shaft commenced by Wiley. After penetrating the mound about 11 feet, they came to a bed of limestone, that had apparently been subjected to the action of fire, they removed the stone, which were small and easy to handle, to the depth of two feet more, when they found SIX BRASS PLATES, secured and fastened together by two iron wires, but which were so decayed, that they readily crumbled to dust upon being handled.

 

By whom these plates were deposited there, must ever remain a secret, unless someone skilled in deciphering hieroglyphics, may be found to unravel the mystery. Some pretend to say, that Smith the Mormon leader, has the ability to read them. If he has, he will confer a great favor on the public by removing the mystery which hangs over them. We learn there was a Mormon present when the plates were found, who it is said, leaped for joy at the discovery, and remarked that it would go to prove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon – which it undoubtedly will.

 

The plates above alluded to, were exhibited in this city last week, and are now, we understand in Nauvoo, subject to the inspection of the Mormon Prophet. The public curiosity is greatly excited, and if Smith can decipher the hieroglyphics on the plates, he will do more towards throwing light on the early history of this continent, than any man now living.”

— Bartlett & Sullivan

 

History of the Church, Vol. 5, p. 372, Joseph Smith states the following:

 

“I insert facsimiles of the brass plates found near Kinderhook, in Pike County, Illinois, on April 23, by Mr. Robert Wiley and others, while excavating a large mound.  They found the skeleton about six feet from the surface of the earth, which must have stood nine feet high.  The plates were found on the breast of the skeleton and were covered on both sided with ancient characters. I have translated a portion of them and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found.  He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the ruler of Heaven and Earth.”

The Kinderhook Plates were presumed lost, but for decades the Church published facsimiles of them in its official History of the Church. In 1920, one of the plates came into the possession of the Chicago Historical Society (now the Chicago History Museum). Some determined the markings were engraved, whereas others concluded they were acid etched, as Fugate attested.

In 1966, this remaining Kinderhook Plate was tested at Brigham Young University. The inscriptions matched facsimiles of the plate published contemporaneously, but the question remained whether this was an original Kinderhook Plate, or a later copy.

Though there was little evidence of whether the Kinderhook Plates were ancient or a contemporary fabrication, some leaders of the LDS Church believed them to be genuine. In 1979 apostle Mark E. Petersen wrote a book called Those Gold Plates! In the first chapter Peterson describes various ancient cultures that have written records on metal plates. Then Peterson claims: "There are the Kinderhook plates, too, found in America and now in the possession of the Chicago Historical Society. Controversy has surrounded these plates and their engravings, but most experts agree they are of ancient vintage."

In 1980 Professor D. Lynn Johnson of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University examined the remaining plate. He used microscopy and various scanning devices and determined that the tolerances and composition of its metal proved entirely consistent with the facilities available in a 19th century blacksmith shop and, more importantly, found traces of nitrogen in what were clearly nitric acid-etched grooves. This matches what was stated in 1879 by Wilbur Fugate in a letter to James T. Cobb: "Wiley and I made the hieroglyphics by making impressions on beeswax and filling them with acid and putting it on the plates. When they were finished we put them together with rust made of nitric acid, old iron and lead, and bound them with a piece of hoop iron, covering them completely with rust..."

In addition, Johnson discovered evidence that this particular plate was among those examined by early Mormons, including Smith, and not a later copy. One of the features of the plate was the presence of small dents in the surface caused by a hexagonally-shaped tool. Johnson noticed that one of these dents had inadvertently been interpreted in the facsimile as a stroke in one of the characters. If the plate owned by the Chicago Historical Society had been a copy made from the facsimiles in the History of the Church, that stroke in that character would have been etched, like the rest of the characters. He concluded that this plate was one that Smith examined, that it was not of ancient origin, and that it was in fact etched with acid, not engraved. 

In 1981, the official magazine of the LDS Church ran an article stating that the plates were a hoax. In it, the author claimed that there was no proof that Smith made any attempt to translate the plates: "There is no evidence that the Prophet Joseph Smith ever took up the matter with the Lord, as he did when working with the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham."

            

 

 

Evolution of Joseph Smith’s Doctrine

 

Prior to around 1837, Joseph Smith believed in and taught a traditional concept of God and Jesus Christ.  Namely that God is without a body and Jesus Christ is the embodiment of God made flesh on Earth.  How can this be?  Remembering that Joseph Smith had his First Vision in 1820 and The Book of Mormon was published in 1830.  Both the First Vision and the Book of Mormon testify of the separate and physical nature of the Godhead, don’t they?  They do now but they didn’t until later. 

 

“Our whole strength rests on the validity of Joseph Smith’s vision.  It either occurred or it did not occur.  If it did not, then this work is a fraud.  If it did, then it is the most important and wonderful work under the heaven’s”

Gordon B. Hinckley, October General Conference 2002

 

In the September 1994 Ensign, Ezra Taft Benson said the First Vision was, “The first pillar of our faith”, and “Bedrock theology to the church”.

 

The First Vision as canonized in the LDS scriptures tells a compelling story of a young man earnestly seeking an answer of which church is true, in prayer to his Heavenly Father.  This vision is paramount to one’s testimony of the “truthfulness” of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Without a belief in the first vision as portrayed in the official version, one’s confidence and faith in the church is hollow at best and most likely crumbles beneath them.  Because this event is absolutely critical to one’s faith in the church, it deserves a sincere and thorough study. 

 

The First Vision was not taught in the church until 1842, 22 years after the vision was to have taken place and 12 years after the Church was organized.  There was no published information regarding the First Vision until after the 1830’s.  Joseph Smith began work on The History of the Church in 1838.  The History was written by a scribe as Joseph would dictate.  The official version wasn’t published until 1842 as a serial in the newspaper, The Times and Seasons.  There are indeed several versions of the First Vision and even in Joseph Smith’s own handwriting.  These other and earlier versions differ greatly from the officially recognized version of today.  The first time Joseph wrote the account was in 1832, or 12 years after the event was to have happened.  The first account of the first vision by Joseph tells a very different story from the one we recognize today. 

 

 

Transcript of Joseph Smith’s First Vision by Joseph Smith 1832

marvilous even in the likeness of him who created him (them) and when I considered upon these things my heart exclaimed well hath thewise man said the (it is a) fool (that) saith in his heart there is no God my heart exclaimed all all these bear testimony and bespeak an omnipotant and omnipreasant power a being who makith Laws and decreeeth and bindeth all things in their bounds who filleth Eternity who was and is and will be from all Eternity to Eternity and when I considered all these things and that (that) being seeketh such to worship him as worship him in spirit and in truth therefore I cried unto the Lord for mercy for there was none else to whom I could go and to obtain mercy and the Lord heard my cry in the wilderness and while in (the) attitude of calling upon the Lord (in the 16th year of my age) a piller of fire light above the brightness of the sun at noon day come down from above and rested upon me and I was filled with the spirit of god and the (Lord) opened the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord and he spake unto me saying Joseph (my son) thy sins are forgiven thee. go thy (way) walk in my statutes and keep my commandments behold I am the Lord of glory I was crucifyed for the world that all those who believe on my name may have Eternal life (behold) the world lieth in sinand at this time and none doeth good no not one they have turned asside from the gospel and keep not (my) commandments they draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and mine anger is kindling against the inhabitants of the earth to visit them acording to th[e]ir ungodliness and to bring to pass that which (hath) been spoken by the mouth of the prophets and Ap[o]stles behold and lo I come quickly as it [is] written of me in the cloud (clothed) in the glory of my Father and my soul was filled with love and for many days I could reioice with great Joy and the Lord was with me but [I] could find none that would believe the hevnly vision nevertheless I pondered these things in my heart about that time my mother andbut after many days

In this telling of the First Vision there are significant and compelling differences to the version we teach today.  In this version Joseph was visited by the “Lord”, not two personages.  Joseph is in his 16th year and is seeking a forgiveness of his sins, not to know which church is true.  No mention of a religious fervor in the community.  There is also no mention of churches of any kind being wrong and not to join them.  Additionally there is no dark presence trying to stop him from praying.

 

There is another version of the first vision in an account given to Erastus Holmes on November 14, 1835 and was later published in the Deseret News on May 29, 1852.  In this version it is similar to the 1832 version but mentions angels who affirm the Sonship of Jesus Christ.  There is still no mention at this point of God the Father and Jesus Christ as two separate embodied beings, rather in this version he uses the term, “angels”, also no mention of other churches being false and not to join any of them, or of religious excitement. 

 

If you look at a timeline of teaching one can easily see how there was a definite evolution in the basic and fundamental teachings held as true and eternal.

 

1830

•             Book of Mormon published and teaches that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are one God.  (2 Nephi 31:21; Mormon 7:7; Mosiah 15:1-5; 3 Nephi 11:27)

•             Title Page of the Book of Mormon reads, “Jesus is the Christ the Eternal God”.

•             God is a spirit.  (Alma 18:26-28; 22:8-11)

•             The Father and the Son are the same person. (Ether 3:14)

 

1832

•             Only Jesus mentioned as appearing in the First Vision

•             Dictated section 84 of the D&C stating that no man can see the face of God without the priesthood

1834

•             Oliver Cowdery with Joseph Smith publishes the first history of Mormonism in the LDS paper Messenger and Advocate, December 1834

•             Says that Smith prayed to know if a Supreme Being existed and if he was accepted by him in 1823

•             No mention of a vision prior to the 1823 vision in Smith’s bedroom.

 

1835

•             Lectures on Faith, lecture 5 included in the Doctrine & Covenants which says, “The Father being a personage of spirit, The Son, a personage of tabernacle.

•             Joseph relates his first vision to two different men.  Both accounts relate seeing angels but not God or Jesus

•             The Nov. 9, 1835 Account (Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, pp. 75-76, 1984 ed., p. 105 in the 2002 edition. Also in An American Prophet's Record, p. 51. This account appeared in the serial printing of Smith's history in the Millennial Star, Vol. 15, p. 396. However, this account has been deleted from the History of the Church, Vol. 2, p. 304.)

•             Did not know which church teaching was true

•             No mention of a revival

•             Went to a grove to pray

•             Saw many angels in the vision

•             Two personages appeared one of which testified that Jesus Christ is the Son of God

•             Smith begins to study Hebrew learning of Elohim and plural gods

1837

•             Changes relating to the godhead were made in the second edition of the Book of Mormon. The phrase "the son of” was added to several verses to distinguish between the Father and Son. (i.e. 1 Nephi 11:18, 21, 32 and 1 Nephi 13:40)

1838

•             Joseph starts work on his history but wasn’t published until 1842

 

1842

•             The letter to John Wentworth, March 1, 1842 Account (Personal Writings, p. 213). Also printed in Times and Seasons, Nauvoo, Ill., March 1, 1842, Vol. 3, No. 9, pp. 706-710.

•             At about 14 Smith started wondering which church was right.

•             Went into the grove to pray.

•             "Two glorious personages" appeared and informed him that none of the churches "was acknowledged of God."

•             He was told not to join any of them but wait for further revelation.

•             In 1823 an angel appeared to tell him about the plates

•             Smith published his 1838-39 account in the Times and Seasons, Nauvoo, Ill., March 15, 1842, Vol. 3, No. 10, pp. 727-728; pp. 748-749; pp. 753.

•             When he was in his 15th year (age 14) his mother, sister, and two brothers joined the Presbyterian Church due to a revival in the neighborhood. The revival started with the Methodists and soon spread to the Presbyterians and Baptists.

•             Joseph went into the grove to ask God which church to join "for at this time it had never entered my heart that all were wrong." Two beings appeared. One spoke, pointed to the other being and said "This is my beloved Son, hear him."

•             He was told to join none of the churches "for they were all wrong...all their creeds were an abomination in his sight;..."

•             On Sept. 21st, 1823 he again prayed and the angel "Nephi" appeared to him to tell him of the plates ("Nephi" was later changed to "Moroni" in the History of the Church, Vol. 1, p. 11).

•             Joseph wrote a prayer in 1842 referring to the Father as Jehovah and Elohim.**

•             Current Mormonism teaches that Jehovah is Christ and Elohim is the Father.

•             Tri-theism—belief in three gods.**

•             Smith printed the Book of Abraham in the Times and Seasons. The creation story is told as the work of a council of gods.

1843

•             Smith dictated section 130 of the Doctrine and Covenants, which taught that God and Jesus both have bodies but not the Holy Ghost.

•             If Joseph Smith had actually been teaching since 1820 that God had a body why did he need this revelation?

•             Smith's temple ritual was introduced. Elohim, Jehovah and Michael were depicted as creators.

1844

•             Smith gave sermons in April and June on the plurality of gods. (History of the Church, Vol. 6)

 

It wasn’t until sometime between 1835 and 1837 that Joseph Smith started to believe and teach that God the Father had a physical body as did Jesus Christ.  How could this be if his First Vision is as we are taught now?  Other evidences include the fact that Joseph Smith petitioned to join the Methodist Church in 1828 and attended some classes there.  He was denied membership. Why would Joseph want to join the Methodist Church after being told by God himself that all churches were and abomination and he should join none of them?

“When Joseph Lewis, who was twenty-one at the time (about a year and a half younger than Smith), learned of this act, he felt that Joseph's manner of life rendered him unfit to be a member and told him either to "publicly ask to have his name stricken from the class book, or stand a disciplinary investigation." Mr. Lewis gave further details about the incident a month after the first article appeared in the Amboy paper, and he wrote:

   “I, with Joshua McKune, a local preacher at that time, I think in June, 1828, heard on Saturday, that Joe Smith had joined the church on Wednesday afternoon, (as it was customary in those days to have circuit preaching at my father's house on week-day). We thought it was a disgrace to the church to have a practicing necromancer, a dealer in enchantments and bleeding ghosts, in it. So on Sunday we went to father's, the place of meeting that day, and got there in season to see Smith and talked with him some time in father's shop before the meeting. Told him that his occupation, habits, and moral character were at variance with the discipline, that his name would be a disgrace to the church, that there should have been recantation, confession and at least promised reformation-. That he could that day publicly ask that his name be stricken from the class book, or stand an investigation. He chose the former, and did that very day make the request that his name be taken off the class book. (The Amboy Journal, June 11, 1879, p.1).”

Again, if Joseph Smith was told in 1820 by God that all other churches were an abomination and he should join none of them, why would he do exactly opposite? 

Why does the first printing of The Book of Mormon teach the traditional Christian view of the nature of God?

It is quite clear that Joseph Smith changed both his story of the first vision and The Book of Mormon to coincide with his evolved belief of the nature of the God-Head. 

Trinity Teachings by Joseph Smith

Eight years after the first edition of the Book of Mormon was released, Joseph went back to the book in 1837 and changed several passages that taught the long held traditional Trinitarian view of God.  If the Book of Mormon of 1830 was as Joseph said, “Translated by the gift and power of God”, “the most correct book on earth” and that in translation he could not continue translating until each word was written exactly as given by God, why would there be foundational doctrinal changes or any changes for that matter?  Another perplexing question in my mind is, if Joseph returned the plates and the Urim and Thummim back to the angel Moroni then these changes were not from the source material, namely the plates themselves.  See 1 Nephi 11:18, 21, 32; 13:40. 

 

The Book of Mormon clearly teaches a Trinitarian view of God.  Even in the current edition of the book there are many different passages testifying to this doctrine. 

 

Mosiah 15: 1-5

 

“And now Abinadi said unto them: I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people.  And because he dwelleth in the flesh he shall be called the Son of God, and having subjected himself to the will of the Father, being the Father and the Son.  The Father, because he was conceived by the power of God; and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and the Son.  And they are one God, yea, the very eternal Father of heaven and of earth.  And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation, but suffereth himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people.”

 

Alma 18: 26-28

 

“And then Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit?  And he said, yea.  And Ammon said:  This is God.  And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in heaven and in the earth?”

 

Moroni 8:18

 

“For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity”

 

3 Nephi 11:27

 

“And after this manner shall ye baptize in my name; for behold verily I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one.”

 

2 Nephi 2: 14

 

 “God created the heavens and the earth”. 

 

While Mormonism teaches that Jesus created the earth, they also teach as most do that God created the heavens, or the universe.  This is also mentioned in other BOM passages stating that God created the earth and the heavens. 

 

Alma 11: 26

 

"And Zeezrom said unto him: Thou sayest there is a true and living God? And Amulek said: Yea, there is a true and living God. Now, Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God? And he answered, no. Now Zeezrom said unto him again: How knowest thou these things? And he said: An angel hath made them known unto me."

 

In the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants dated 1835, the Lectures on Faith were included.  In the fifth lecture we are taught,

 "... the Father being a personage of spirit, glory, and power, possessing all perfection and fullness, the Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, a personage of tabernacle... "(Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., p. 53).

The Lectures on Faith not only taught that God the Father is a "personage of Spirit," but also that God is "omnipresent" which means present everywhere at the same time.  This again is a traditional Trinitarian doctrine taught by the prophet prior to changing the doctrine taught in the church today. The Lectures on Faith were removed from the Doctrine and Covenants in 1921 and all subsequent editions. 

 

John 4:24

 

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth”

 

Jesus himself taught that God is a spirit. 

 

John 1: 18 declares, “No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the Bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”

 

John 5:37 “and the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me.  Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.”

 

Deuteronomy 4: 35 “Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightiest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him.”

 

Matthew 28:19 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

 

Conclusion

The church I grew up in and supported, proselytized, served, donated time and money to for 45 plus years is not the church that began in 1820 in New York.  Not even by a long stretch.   This is significant to me because the church today has worked tirelessly for me and everyone else to believe that it is.  People have said to me, “that’s in the past; I don’t let those things bother me”. 

I go to church to learn truth and connect with God.  It is hard to rely on truth that keeps changing with the times or for political expediency.  Some say that I am being deceived, I have been deceived from the historical truths of the church my whole life.  Who is being deceived?  I don’t claim to know all the truth, only that I seek truth and to know God.  Those who claim to know the truth but refuse to look at fact are fooling themselves.  God gave me an intellect and a spirit.  I use both to determine truth.  To deny the obvious because it isn’t convenient to your understanding of the truth is laziness and cowardly.  I cannot deny the Sun is shining while I see it in the sky above no matter how hard I want it to be the Moon.  Convincing myself it is the Moon rather than the Sun is possible if I only want “to know badly enough”.  I don’t want to know anything badly enough to convince myself despite fact, logic and spiritual understanding.  If I am wrong, I am wrong but can stand and look the Savior in the eye and say, I did what I truly believed he wanted. I was true to my heart and soul in my search to know and understand Him.  What I have written here in these pages is but a small part of what I have come to know and by a shear preponderance of evidence I have come to the conclusions that I have. I had been told as a youth as have all the youth from Joseph Smith’s time and the generations after me that we had been held back to come to earth now at this time to prepare the world for the Savior’s return.  That we are in the last dispensation before the Lord returns, that we live in the fullness of times where the “whole” and complete truth has been restored to the earth, that Joseph Smith brought to the earth for the very last time the true gospel of Jesus Christ.  God waited for hundreds and nearly thousands of years to restore His truth for the very last time before the end.  If this is indeed true the significance cannot be overstated.  My nagging question is why would God in this absolutely crucial event, choose to do it with the dark cloud of all I have illustrated above and much more, through changing doctrines and people who used and abused their “authority” in the basest ways imaginable.  My faith has been lost in the institution of Mormonism because of the light of truth that has exposed the nature of the founders of Mormonism.  I freely admit that people, even prophets are human and can “fall short of the glory of God”, what I cannot accept at this juncture is the overwhelming evidence that screams out to me that what is purported to be of God is not Godly in its practice, but of man.  I want the gospel to be true more than most, but I want to know God more than I want to give my allegiance to an institution.  By peeling away the layers of institutional, bureaucratic, brick and mortar religion with Mosaic Law expectations, I am now free to commune with God in a way that I have never been able to before.  For the first time in my life there is no one standing between me and the Lord.  

 

 Rick Wahlquist September 2012

Note:  The information here was drawn from various sources, while much of the material is my own; I have quoted from those sources.  Most of the information in this letter can be found at UTLM.org.