Many people have made the claim that people only believe in the church because they convince themselves it is true. They say that either people have a want or a need to believe. According to their criticism, people either want to believe it is true because they feel like there must be more to life than what is presented. The people that have a need to believe fall in the category of people that have strong social and/or cultural ties to the church.
First of all, I would like to say that this may be true for some people. However, people make it sound like the only reason people believe in Mormonism is because they convince themselves. I think it is true to a degree just like anything, but that is like taking a small percentage of people and making them seem like they are the majority. Unless we took a poll, we would really never know for sure. The other issue is that we are dealing with the individual and trying to generalize the group with a very broad brush. I can't really speak for others on the hows and the whys.
However, I can tell you about my individual case. I am telling you now that I have felt something that has touched my heart. I can't explain it and will not go into too much detail at this time, but it happened as I read the Book of Mormon. It changed my whole outlook on life.
I think in a way, we can choose what we believe.
Joshua 24:15 "choose you this day whom ye will serve"
God has given us free agency and I think that includes our thoughts as well as beliefs. I suppose that if I decided I am going to like country music, I could download all the songs and convince myself that I really like country music, even thought I like classical and jazz.
However, my conversion to the Book of Mormon was completely different. I truly felt an external force at work cheering me on. Although I had friends and family in the church, that had nothing to do with my conversion. I felt a spiritual connection between God and I. When I look at those poor people looking for physical evidence to authenticate the Book of Mormon, I can't help but feel sorry for them as that journey will only lead to disappointment and resentment. The only evidence one needs of the authenticity of the message in the Book of Mormon is to read the words and I am confident you will feel the same spirit that I did.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Joseph Smith Was Eiether a Con-Man, Delusional, or a Prophet.
In all my research, I have found one thing is certain: Joseph Smith was a man.
Do not fall in the trap of thinking that he was somehow infallible or perfect like Jesus. Prophets make mistakes. Do you think Noah was perfect, or Moses was perfect? Yes, Joseph Smith was a treasure seeker in his youth, but that part of his life became insignificant when he took on the role of prophet and leader of a church. Yes, his behaviour regarding his first plural wife Fanny Alger particularly was very suspect at best. She was a 16 year old housekeeper in the Smith home when she became his first plural wife, and he did it without Emma's knowledge or consent. I struggle with this myself, but perhaps Joseph felt that Emma wasn't ready to receive the doctrine of polygamy, I mean if I told my wife that I received a revelation that I was to take on multiple wives, I would probably get smacked on the head with a hymnal after she laughed in my face. Perhaps Joseph did receive the revelation on celestial plural marriage, but the way he practiced it secretly demonstrated his own weakness. The church does not recognise plural marriage of living women at this time.
Although Joseph Smith denied publicly that he practiced polygamy, he never denied who he was as a prophet of God. After doing extensive research on the biography of Joseph Smith, there are really only 3 conclusions one can come to, Joseph Smith was either: a con-man, delusional, or a prophet.
If Joseph Smith was a con-man, I would say he was one of the worst con-men to have ever existed in the world. If Joseph Smith was a con-man, what exactly did he gain? He never made any money. The money donated to the church was constantly poured into buildings like temples. Why wouldn't he just take the money and run? Why would he feel the need to keep the con going even if it means building elaborate temples and establishing and colonizing entire cities like Nauvoo just to keep his "big con" going? Joseph Smith as a con-man just doesn't make any sense. Would any con-man ever REALLY die to keep their con going? At some point, if faced with death, any con-man that knows he is lying is going to waive the white flag and say "o.k, o.k., you got me, I made the whole thing up!". However, if Joseph Smith was a con-man, he was a lousy con-man because he never made any money, and he was a foolish con-man because he gave up his life to keep it going. I think that Joseph Smith really believed he was a prophet and experienced celestial visions, even if these visions were not visitations. This brings me to the only 2 other possible scenarios: Delusional or Prophet of God.
Was Joseph Smith just delusional? I am convinced that he did in fact believe what he was teaching. I think he was a prophet of God. I also believe that the way in which Joseph received his messages from God may be different than we are led to believe. I think Joseph was inspired by many aspects of his own culture and time period. The same can be seen of Jesus, how he used examples and cultural aspects of his own time period in his teachings. Jesus taught in parables. It isn't to say that the stories Jesus taught are to be taken literally. However, it is the spiritual message that can be applied to our lives. The same is found with the Book of Mormon. I believe that Joseph Smith received a spiritual revelation from God. The means at which Joseph gave us this revelation was given through Joseph by a means that people can understand. And yes, Joseph was inspired by things that were prevalent at the time. I am sure that Jesus had to learn about how the coinage system worked growing up before he could give his parable on the talents. Jesus used "props" if you will, to teach people in a way that they could understand at the time. It is my opinion that Joseph Smith simply did the same. However, as I stated before, I don't think Joseph Smith was in any way comparable to Jesus, but I think that he did have a message from God to give to us.
Do not fall in the trap of thinking that he was somehow infallible or perfect like Jesus. Prophets make mistakes. Do you think Noah was perfect, or Moses was perfect? Yes, Joseph Smith was a treasure seeker in his youth, but that part of his life became insignificant when he took on the role of prophet and leader of a church. Yes, his behaviour regarding his first plural wife Fanny Alger particularly was very suspect at best. She was a 16 year old housekeeper in the Smith home when she became his first plural wife, and he did it without Emma's knowledge or consent. I struggle with this myself, but perhaps Joseph felt that Emma wasn't ready to receive the doctrine of polygamy, I mean if I told my wife that I received a revelation that I was to take on multiple wives, I would probably get smacked on the head with a hymnal after she laughed in my face. Perhaps Joseph did receive the revelation on celestial plural marriage, but the way he practiced it secretly demonstrated his own weakness. The church does not recognise plural marriage of living women at this time.
Although Joseph Smith denied publicly that he practiced polygamy, he never denied who he was as a prophet of God. After doing extensive research on the biography of Joseph Smith, there are really only 3 conclusions one can come to, Joseph Smith was either: a con-man, delusional, or a prophet.
If Joseph Smith was a con-man, I would say he was one of the worst con-men to have ever existed in the world. If Joseph Smith was a con-man, what exactly did he gain? He never made any money. The money donated to the church was constantly poured into buildings like temples. Why wouldn't he just take the money and run? Why would he feel the need to keep the con going even if it means building elaborate temples and establishing and colonizing entire cities like Nauvoo just to keep his "big con" going? Joseph Smith as a con-man just doesn't make any sense. Would any con-man ever REALLY die to keep their con going? At some point, if faced with death, any con-man that knows he is lying is going to waive the white flag and say "o.k, o.k., you got me, I made the whole thing up!". However, if Joseph Smith was a con-man, he was a lousy con-man because he never made any money, and he was a foolish con-man because he gave up his life to keep it going. I think that Joseph Smith really believed he was a prophet and experienced celestial visions, even if these visions were not visitations. This brings me to the only 2 other possible scenarios: Delusional or Prophet of God.
Was Joseph Smith just delusional? I am convinced that he did in fact believe what he was teaching. I think he was a prophet of God. I also believe that the way in which Joseph received his messages from God may be different than we are led to believe. I think Joseph was inspired by many aspects of his own culture and time period. The same can be seen of Jesus, how he used examples and cultural aspects of his own time period in his teachings. Jesus taught in parables. It isn't to say that the stories Jesus taught are to be taken literally. However, it is the spiritual message that can be applied to our lives. The same is found with the Book of Mormon. I believe that Joseph Smith received a spiritual revelation from God. The means at which Joseph gave us this revelation was given through Joseph by a means that people can understand. And yes, Joseph was inspired by things that were prevalent at the time. I am sure that Jesus had to learn about how the coinage system worked growing up before he could give his parable on the talents. Jesus used "props" if you will, to teach people in a way that they could understand at the time. It is my opinion that Joseph Smith simply did the same. However, as I stated before, I don't think Joseph Smith was in any way comparable to Jesus, but I think that he did have a message from God to give to us.
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