View source for Criticism of Mormonism/Books/An Insider's View of Mormon Origins/Chapter 7

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{{H1
|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/An Insider's View of Mormon Origins/Chapter 7
|H=Response to claims made in "Chapter 7: Priesthood Restoration"
|T=[[../../|An Insider's View of Mormon Origins]]
|A=Grant Palmer
|<=[[../Chapter 6|Claims made in "Chapter 6: Witnesses to the Golden Plates"]]
|>=[[../Chapter 8|Claims made in "Chapter 8: The First Vision"]]
}}
[[File:Chart.insiders.view.chapter 7 priesthood.png|center|frame]]
<onlyinclude>
{{H2
|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/An Insider's View of Mormon Origins/Index/Chapter 7
|H=Response to claims made in An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, "Chapter 7: Priesthood Restoration"
|S=
|L1=Response to claim: 216, n2 - the revelation received through the Urim and Thummim gave Joseph and Oliver the authority to baptize
|L2=Response to claim: 218 (footnote) - "Joseph intended to keep his and Oliver's baptisms and receipt of authority to baptize from their enemies, not from devoted believers"
|L3=Response to claim: 219 - An angelic ordination to the higher priesthood is not mentioned by Joseph at the time the church was organized
|L4=Response to claim: 221 - The book claims that Alma received authority to baptize through the "Spirit" - not by laying on of hands
|L5=Response to claim: 222, n12 - Authority is claimed to be received only through the "Spirit of the Lord" rather than by laying on of hands
|L6=Response to claim: 225, n22 - The Whitmer family and Oliver Cowdery accepted Hiram Page's revelations as authoritative
|L7=Response to claim: 225-226 - D&C 84 is claimed to not refer to the physical laying on of hands by an angel
|L8=Response to claim: 226, n25 - The author claims that Joseph's statement that he had the priesthood conferred upon him by an angel is not "unequivocal"
|L9=Response to claim: 227, n27-28 - The restoration of priesthood from an angel was a spiritual vision rather than a physical event
|L10=Response to claim: 228 - The author claims that Joseph invented the story of the angel restoring the priesthood to counter Hurlbut's accusations
|L11=Response to claim: 232 - The events surrounding the priesthood ordination are claimed to have been reinterpreted to bolster Joseph's status
}}
</onlyinclude>

==Response to claim: 216, n2 - the revelation received through the Urim and Thummim gave Joseph and Oliver the authority to baptize==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=An Insider's View of Mormon Origins
|claim=The author claims that the "original" view was that the revelation received through the Urim and Thummim gave Joseph and Oliver the authority to baptize. The author quotes Lucy Mack Smith's 1845 preliminary manuscript:
<blockquote>
[T]hey immediately went down to the susquehana river and obeyed the mandate given them through the urim and Thummim[. A]s they were on their return to the house they overheard samuel [Smith] in a secluded spot engaged in secret prayer[.]
They had now received authority to baptize ... and they [then] spoke to Samual who went withe them straightway to the water and was baptized.
</blockquote>
|authorsources=<br>
#Lucy Smith's Preliminary Manuscript, dictated to Martha Jane Coray, 1844-45, quoted in Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents'', 1:381.
}}
{{misinformation|How is it that the author believes that an account written seven years ''after'' Joseph stated that he had received the priesthood now represents the "original view" of the event? From Lucy's perspective, this is exactly what she would have seen. From Joseph Smith's 1838 history (written 7 years prior to Lucy's 1845 manuscript), this is what was written:
<blockquote>
71 Accordingly we went and were baptized. I baptized him first, and afterwards he baptized me—after which I laid my hands upon his head and ordained him to the Aaronic Priesthood, and afterwards he laid his hands on me and ordained me to the same Priesthood—for so we were commanded. <br>
72 The messenger who visited us on this occasion and conferred this Priesthood upon us, said that his name was John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament, and that he acted under the direction of Peter, James and John, who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which Priesthood, he said, would in due time be conferred on us, and that I should be called the first Elder of the Church, and he (Oliver Cowdery) the second. It was on the fifteenth day of May, 1829, that we were ordained under the hand of this messenger, and baptized. (Joseph Smith&mdash;History 1:71-72.
</blockquote>
}}
<!-- ====217====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|claim=
*David Whitmer never believed that an angel had given Joseph and Oliver the authority to baptize:
<blockquote>
Oliver stated to me in Josephs presence that they had baptized each other seeking by that to fulfill the
command ... I never heard that an Angel had ordained Joseph and Oliver to the Aaronic priesthood until the year 1834[, 183]5[,] or [183]6-in Ohio.
</blockquote>	
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
|authorsources=<br>
#David Whitmer, interview by Zenas H. Gurley Jr., 14 Jan. 1885, typescript, LDS archives. See Edward Stevenson Journal, 9 Feb. 1886, cited in Joseph Grant Stevenson, Stevenson Family History (Provo, UT: by the Author, 1955), 1: 177-78.
}} -->

==Response to claim: 218 (footnote) - "Joseph intended to keep his and Oliver's baptisms and receipt of authority to baptize from their enemies, not from devoted believers"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=An Insider's View of Mormon Origins
|claim=
{{AuthorQuote|In light of the David Whitmer and Lucy Smith statements, Joseph intended to keep his and Oliver's baptisms and receipt of authority to baptize from their enemies, not from devoted believers.}}
}}
{{propaganda|If you intend to keep something secret, the best way is not to tell a large group of people, even if they are your supporters.
|authorsources=<br>
#Joseph Smith-History 1:74-75.
}}

==Response to claim: 219 - An angelic ordination to the higher priesthood is not mentioned by Joseph at the time the church was organized==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=An Insider's View of Mormon Origins
|claim=
An angelic ordination to the higher priesthood is not mentioned by Joseph at the time the church was organized.
|authorsources=<br>
#Book of Commandments 24:3-4, 32-35; D&C 20:2-3, 38-45.
}}
{{propaganda|How does the author know this? All we know is that several years passed before this was put into ''print''.
}}
{{:Question: What criticisms are put forth regarding the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood?}}
{{:Question: What is the date of the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood?}}
{{:Question: Why did several years pass before Oliver talked about the priesthood restoration?}}

<!-- ====219-220, n7-10====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=The book claims that term "elder" and "apostle" meant the same thing originally. Anyone who was ordained an elder was considered an apostle.
}}
|authorsources=<br>
#Book of Commandments 24:32; D&C 20:38; 21:1,10-11.
*Joseph Smith and John Whitmer to Colesville Saints, 2 Dec. 1830, quoted in Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents'', 1:19.
*Ezra Booth to Edward Partridge, 20 Sept. 1831; Sidney Rigdon to Ohio Brethren, ca. 4 Jan. 1831, in {{CriticalWork:Howe:Mormonism Unvailed|pages=110, 208}}
*Jared Carter Journal, Sept. 1831, 35	
}} -->

==Response to claim: 221 - The book claims that Alma received authority to baptize through the "Spirit" - not by laying on of hands==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=An Insider's View of Mormon Origins
|claim=
The book claims that Alma received authority to baptize through the "Spirit" - not by laying on of hands.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
|authorsources=<br>
#Moses 5:4-9; 6:51-7:1.	
}}
{{misinformation|The Book of Mormon doesn't specify how Alma received his authority. There is nothing stated in the Book of Mormon that precludes an angel appearing to Alma and giving him authority. We simply don't have an answer to that question. It is therefore an assumption for the author to state the the laying on of hands was ''not'' employed. Joseph Fielding Smith taught: “We may conclude that Alma held the priesthood before he, with others, became disturbed with King Noah. Whether this is so or not makes no difference because in the Book of Mosiah it is stated definitely that he had authority [see Mosiah 18:13, 18]” <ref>Joseph Fielding Smith, ''Answers to Gospel Questions'' 3:203.</ref>
}}

==Response to claim: 222, n12 - Authority is claimed to be received only through the "Spirit of the Lord" rather than by laying on of hands==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=An Insider's View of Mormon Origins
|claim=
Authority is claimed to be received only through the "Spirit of the Lord" rather than by laying on of hands.
|authorsources=<br>
#Ex. 3:1-12; 40:13-16; 1 Sam. 3:1-18; 9:15-17; 10:1; 16:1-13; Isa. 6:1-10; Jer. 1:1-10; Ezek. 1:1,26-2:3; Zech. 1:1-16; 1 Ne. 1:4-8, 18-2:3; 2 Ne. 5:26; Jac. 1:18.
}}
{{disinformation|The Bible contradicts this claim.	
}}
{{:Question: Why is priesthood authority transferred by the "laying on of hands"}}
<!-- ====223====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=The Bible and Book of Commandments do not mention the laying on of hands by "otherworldly beings."
}}
*[[Priesthood/Restoration]] {{nw}}
|authorsources=<br>
#No source provided.
}} -->
<!-- ====223, n15====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=Early missionaries said that they had been called of God, but did not claim that their "authority originated with heavenly messengers."
}}
*[[Priesthood/Restoration]]	
|authorsources=<br>
#BofC 5:2; 10:2, 11; 11:2; 12:2; 15:30; d. D&C 6:4; 11:4,27; 12:3-4; 14:4; 18:28. 
}} -->

==Response to claim: 225, n22 - The Whitmer family and Oliver Cowdery accepted Hiram Page's revelations as authoritative==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=An Insider's View of Mormon Origins
|claim=
The Whitmer family and Oliver Cowdery accepted Hiram Page's revelations as authoritative. Since Oliver was said to have received authority directly from heavenly messengers, he ought to have recognized that Hiram Page didn't have the keys.
|authorsources=<br>
*Jessee, ''Papers of Joseph Smith'', 1:322-23; D&C 28
*Donald Q. Cannon and Lyndon W. Cook, eds., ''Far West Record: Minutes of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1844''	
}}
{{propaganda|How did receiving authority directly from heavenly messengers give Oliver the ability to determine that Hiram Page didn't have the keys to receiving revelation?
}}
{{:Question: Why did Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer accept Hiram Page's seer stone revelations as authoritative?}}

==Response to claim: 225-226 - D&C 84 is claimed to not refer to the physical laying on of hands by an angel==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=An Insider's View of Mormon Origins
|claim=
*D&C 84 is claimed to not refer to the physical laying on of hands by an angel.	
*{{AuthorQuote|John the Baptist was "ordained by the angel of God at the time he was eight days old ... to overthrow the kingdom of the Jews," while Moses, Jethro, Caleb, Elihu ,Jeremy, Gad, and Esaias all received priesthood authority "under the hand" of men, "and Esaias received it under the hand of God." These examples do not refer to the actual physical laying on of hands by an angel...}}
|authorsources=<br>
#D&C 84:28, 6-12; Moses 8:19
}}
{{disinformation|The author takes passages from scripture that state "ordained by the angel of God" and "under the hand of God," which ''directly contradict'' his previous assertions that  authority was ''not'' transferred by heavenly beings, and then states that these examples "do not refer to the actual physical laying on of hands by an angel!" It appears that the author will be satisfied with nothing less than an explicit description of hands being used. Furthermore, in the footnote related to Moses 8:19, which states "And the Lord ordained Noah after his own order," the author actually states that this "probably refers to an ordination by a mortal being."
}}

==Response to claim: 226, n25 - The author claims that Joseph's statement that he had the priesthood conferred upon him by an angel is not "unequivocal"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=An Insider's View of Mormon Origins
|claim=
Joseph's statement the his priesthood office had "been conferred upon me by the ministring of the Angel of God, by his own will and by the voice of this Church," is claimed by the author ''not'' to be an "unequivocal assertion of authority by angelic ordination."
|authorsources=<br>
#Kirtland Council Minutes, (12 Feb. 1834),27, LDS archives; quoted in Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents'', 1:32.
}}
{{disinformation|It is difficult to imagine how much more unequivocal Joseph needed to be in his statement in order to satisfy the author. The prophet clearly states that the office was "conferred" upon him by "the ministering of the Angel of God." The author wishes to make every source quote fit his notion that there was no need for a physical "laying on of hands" to transfer authority. From the cited source:
<blockquote>
"Bro. Joseph then rose and said: I shall now endeavor to set forth before this council, the dignity of the office which has been conferred upon me by the ministring of the Angel of God, by his own will and by the voice of this Church."
</blockquote>
}}

==Response to claim: 227, n27-28 - The restoration of priesthood from an angel was a spiritual vision rather than a physical event==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=An Insider's View of Mormon Origins
|claim=
The restoration of priesthood from an angel was a spiritual vision rather than a physical event, based upon a statement by Oliver Cowdery that this even occurred "[w]hile we were in the heavenly vision."
|authorsources=<br>
*The Book of Patriarchal Blessings 1:8-9, quoted in Vogel, ''Early Mormon Documents'', 2:453.
*Joseph Smith, sermon of 10 Mar. 1844, in Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, eds., ''The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph'', 334.
}}
{{propaganda|This is simply nonsense.
}}
{{:Source:Painesville Telegraph:7 Dec 1830:Cowdry claims...By this authority, they proclaim to the world}}
{{:Source:Painesville Telegraph:16 Nov 1830:Cowdery pretends to have a divine mission and conversed with angels}}
{{:Source:The Palmyra Reflector:14 Feb 1831:Cowdery and his friends had frequent interviews with angels}}

==Response to claim: 228 - The author claims that Joseph invented the story of the angel restoring the priesthood to counter Hurlbut's accusations==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=An Insider's View of Mormon Origins
|claim=
The author claims that Joseph invented the story of the angel restoring the priesthood to counter Hurlbut's accusations.	
}}
{{propaganda|This is the author's wishful thinking, with no evidence to sustain it.
}}
{{:Question: What criticisms are put forth regarding the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood?}}
{{:Question: In what manner was the Aaronic Priesthood restored?}}
{{:Question: In what manner was the Melchizedek Priesthood restored?}}
{{:Question: What is the date of the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood?}}
{{:Question: Where was the Melchizedek Priesthood restored?}}

==Response to claim: 232 - The events surrounding the priesthood ordination are claimed to have been reinterpreted to bolster Joseph's status==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=An Insider's View of Mormon Origins
|claim=
The events surrounding the priesthood ordination are claimed to have been reinterpreted to bolster Joseph's status.
}}
{{propaganda|This is the author's opinion, with no evidence to support it.
}}
{{:Question: Why did several years pass before Oliver talked about the priesthood restoration?}}
{{:Source:Painesville Telegraph:7 Dec 1830:Cowdry claims...By this authority, they proclaim to the world}}
{{:Source:Painesville Telegraph:16 Nov 1830:Cowdery pretends to have a divine mission and conversed with angels}}
{{:Source:The Palmyra Reflector:14 Feb 1831:Cowdery and his friends had frequent interviews with angels}}
{{:Source:Reverend Richmond Taggart:2 March 1833:Joe Smith...had seen Jesus Christ and the Apostles and conversed with them}}

{{endnotes sources}}