View source for Criticism of Mormonism/Books/The Changing World of Mormonism/Chapter 17

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|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/The Changing World of Mormonism/Chapter 17
|H=Response to claims made in "Chapter 17: Joseph Smith"
|T=[[../../]]
|A=Jerald and Sandra Tanner
|<=[[../Chapter 16|Chapter 16]]
|>=[[../Chapter 18|Chapter 18]]
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{{H2
|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/The Changing World of Mormonism/Chapter 17
|H=Response to claims made in The Changing World of Mormonism, "Chapter 17: Joseph Smith"
|S=
|L1=Response to claim: 448 - No man can enter the Celestial Kingdom without Joseph Smith's consent
|L2=Response to claim: 448 - Joseph Smith would be looked upon as a god
|L3=Response to claim: 450 - Church members elevate Joseph Smith almost to the level of Jesus Christ
|L4=Response to claim: 451-452 - Joseph Smith liked to fight
|L5=Response to claim: 452-454 - Joseph Smith liked military trappings and titles
|L6=Response to claim: 456-457 - Joseph Smith was ordained "King on earth" by the Council of Fifty
|L7=Response to claim: 458 - Joseph Smith ran for president because he thought that he could win and rule as king over the United States
|L8=Response to claim: 460 - Joseph Smith felt that he was "almost equal with God" and that God was his "right hand man"
|L9=Response to claim: 460 - Joseph boasted that he was the only one who kept a whole church together
|L10=Response to claim: 462-463 - Response to claim: The destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor was illegal
|L11=Response to claim: 465 - Joseph fought his attackers at Carthage using a six-shooter
}}
</onlyinclude>			

==Response to claim: 448 - No man can enter the Celestial Kingdom without Joseph Smith's consent==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=The Changing World of Mormonism
|claim=
No man can enter the Celestial Kingdom without Joseph Smith's consent.
|authorsources=<br>
*{{JDfairwiki|author=Brigham Young|vol=7|disc=45|start=289}}
*{{JDfairwiki|author=Brigham Young|vol=3|disc=28|start=212}}
*{{JDfairwiki|author=Brigham Young|vol=8|disc=46|start=176}}
}}
{{propaganda|No one from first century Palestine can enter the kingdom without the consent of Jesus' apostles; thus Christ too appoints modern apostles (like Joseph) to play a role in judgment. Do the Tanners reject the idea that Peter, James, John, and the rest of the Twelve will help judge Israel?  If not, then why is the idea for a modern apostle treated as so absurd?
}}
{{:Question: Do Mormons believe that Joseph Smith must approve whether or not they get into heaven?}}

==Response to claim: 448 - Joseph Smith would be looked upon as a god==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=The Changing World of Mormonism
|claim=
Joseph Smith would be looked upon as a god.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{JDfairwiki|author=Heber C. Kimball|vol=5|disc=20|start=88}}
}}
{{misinformation|The cited material nowhere says Joseph will be "looked upon as a god." He is compared to Peter, and even put subservient to Peter: the chain is Joseph -> Peter -> Jesus -> Father. This is prelude to emphasizing the blessings to all: by following a prophet, they become his spiritual posterity, "his whole posterity are prophets." All of these are subservient "unto the Most High God"&mdash;which is the Father, not Joseph.
}}
* {{QuoteMining|Journal of Discourses|5:88}}
The quote and its use by the critic(s):

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!width="48%"|Actual quote
!width="48%"|Critical use
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{{QuoteMining:JoD 5:88}}
|}
{{:Question: Did Heber C. Kimball say that future generations would view Joseph Smith as "a god"?}}

==Response to claim: 450 - Church members elevate Joseph Smith almost to the level of Jesus Christ==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=The Changing World of Mormonism
|claim=
Church members elevate Joseph Smith almost to the level of Jesus Christ.
|authorsources=<br>
#''Tiffany's Monthly in 1859'', p.170
}}
{{propaganda|A popular magazine from 1859 is the authors' best support for this claim?
}}

==Response to claim: 451-452 - Joseph Smith liked to fight==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=The Changing World of Mormonism
|claim=
Joseph Smith liked to fight.
|authorsources=<br>
*''History of the Church'' 5:316, 524, 531
*{{JDfairwiki|author=Brigham Young|vol=8|disc=80|start=317|end=318}}
}}
{{misinformation|Joseph did not like to fight.
}}
{{:Question: Do Joseph Smith's personality and temperament indicate that he was not a true prophet of God?}}
{{:Source:Webb:BYUS:2011:18:Joseph Smith's doctrine and character demand our amazement}}

==Response to claim: 452-454 - Joseph Smith liked military trappings and titles==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=The Changing World of Mormonism
|claim=
Joseph Smith liked military trappings and titles.
|authorsources=<br>
#''History of the Church'' 4:382; 5:3; 6:282, 227
}}
{{information|Joseph, like many of his era, liked the pomp and spectacle of marching and military regalia.  This is no crime or sin&mdash;Joseph did not relish war, and always tended to conciliation. Latter-day Saints do not, in any case, believe in perfect or unflawed prophets.  Joseph described himself as "a man of like passions with yourselves." <ref>William Clayton to the Saints at Manchester, 10 Dec. 1840, Clayton Papers; cited in {{TrialsOfDiscipleship1|start=69}}</ref> 
}}

==Response to claim: 456-457 - Joseph Smith was ordained "King on earth" by the Council of Fifty==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=The Changing World of Mormonism
|claim=
Joseph Smith was ordained "King on earth" by the Council of Fifty.
|authorsources=<br>
*Klaus J. Hansen, ''Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought'', Summer 1966, page 104.
*Brigham Young University Studies, Winter 1968, pp.212-13. {{link|url=http://byustudies.byu.edu/shop/pdfsrc/8.2Godfrey.pdf}}
*{{CriticalWork:Brodie:No Man Knows|pages=356}}
*Kenneth W. Godfrey, Causes of Mormon Non-Mormon Conflict in Hancock County, Illinois, 1839-1846, Ph.D. dissertation, BYU, 1967, pp.63-65"
}}
{{misinformation|The Tanners' sources do not exactly support them in this case:
**Godfrey's 1967 thesis discusses Joseph's ordination, but notes that this is "over the house of Israel," and cautions that "the general public probably misunderstood the Prophet and his role in relation to the Council of Fifty....It appears evident that his concept of the Kingdom of God was an ideal, a utopia, a goal to be worked for and achieved some time in the future.  The Prophet was not going to establish The Kingdom of God by the sword but with love and gentle persuasion" (65-66).
**Godfrey's ''BYU Studies'' (1968) article is similar: "Antagonism toward the Mormon Prophet was further incited when it was correctly rumored, that he had been ordained “King over the Immediate House of Israel” by the Council of Fifty.  This action was wrongly interpreted by non-Mormons to mean that he was going to attempt to overthrow the United States government by force. In reality the Prophet was establishing a political organization that would remain in effect in a state of limbo until commanded by Christ to function as an aid in ushering in the millennial reign of the King of Kings."
**Hansen's article says only that Joseph is made "king over that organization [the Council of Fifty]," not "on earth."
** We are left, then, only with Brodie's cynical (and equally distorted) view of the matter.  The Tanners provide the illusion of balance and documentation, and provide nothing of the sort.
}}
{{:Question: What was the Council of Fifty?}}
{{:Question: Was Joseph Smith anointed to be "King over the earth" by the Council of Fifty?}}

==Response to claim: 458 - Joseph Smith ran for president because he thought that he could win and rule as king over the United States==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=The Changing World of Mormonism
|claim=
Joseph Smith ran for president because he thought that he could win and rule as king over the United States.
|authorsources=<br>
#Hansen, ''Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought'', Autumn 1966, p.67
}}
{{misinformation|Yet again, the Tanners' citation does not support their claim.  Hansen's article reads, in part:
::The Gentiles, who could be quite as literal-minded as the Saints, therefore believed that the Mormon kingdom, like Mohammed's, was to conquer the world by fire and sword. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. Joseph Smith insisted emphatically that the Kingdom was to be ushered in through peaceful means....[Joseph] seems to have realized that a temporal kingdom of God in an area surrounded by Gentiles faced at best a precarious future. But what if, through a bold stroke, he could capture the United States for the Kingdom? The Council of Fifty thought there might be a chance and nominated the Mormon prophet for the Presidency of the United States....Still, the Mormon prophet was realistic enough not to stake the entire future of the Kingdom of God on this plan.
}}
{{:Question: Did Joseph Smith run for President because he had delusions of grandeur?}}

==Response to claim: 460 - Joseph Smith felt that he was "almost equal with God" and that God was his "right hand man"==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=The Changing World of Mormonism
|claim=
Joseph Smith felt that he was "almost equal with God" and that God was his "right hand man."
|authorsources=<br>
#''History of the Church'' 5:289, 467; 6:78, 408-409
}}
{{misinformation|Joseph certainly did not consider himself "almost equal with God."
}}
{{:Question: Did Joseph Smith believe that he was better than Jesus Christ?}}
{{:Question: Was Joseph Smith ego-maniacal, proud, and narcissistic?}}

==Response to claim: 460 - Joseph boasted that he was the only one who kept a whole church together==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=The Changing World of Mormonism
|claim=
Joseph boasted that he was the only one who kept a whole church together.
|authorsources=<br>
#''History of the Church'' 6:408-409
}}
{{misinformation|Joseph made a statement that sounded boastful, and unbecoming a prophet. However, Joseph's quote is taken out of context.
}}
{{:Question: Was Joseph Smith prone to boasting?}}

==Response to claim: 462-463 - Response to claim: The destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' was illegal==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=The Changing World of Mormonism
|claim=
The destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' was illegal.
|authorsources=<br>
#''History of the Church'', vol. 6, p.xxxviii
}}
{{misinformation|The destruction of the paper was legal, but the destruction of the printer's type was not.
}}
{{:Question: Was the destruction of the ''Nauvoo Expositor'' legal?}}

==Response to claim: 465 - Joseph fought his attackers at Carthage using a six-shooter==
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=The Changing World of Mormonism
|claim=
Joseph fought his attackers at Carthage using a six-shooter.
}}
{{propaganda|Joseph returned fire with a pistol when he and his three friends were attacked by 200 men armed with rifles.  Joseph fired no shot until his brother had been shot in the face and killed.  Three of Joseph's shots misfired; he killed no one. Yet, critics wish to portray this event as a "gunfight". Joseph's gun, by the way, has been on display at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City for years.
|authorsources=<br>
#	
}}
{{:Question: Is it possible that Joseph Smith is not a martyr because, while in jail, he had a gun and he had the temerity to defend himself?}}
{{:Question: Is it true that Joseph killed two men by firing at the mob?}}
{{:Question: Has the Church hidden the fact that Joseph fired a gun while in Carthage Jail?}}

{{endnotes sources}}



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