![FairMormon Logo](https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021_fair_logo_primary.png)
FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
m (→top: Bot replace {{FairMormon}} with {{Main Page}} and remove extra lines around {{Header}}) |
m |
||
Line 37: | Line 37: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 50: | Line 49: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 63: | Line 61: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 77: | Line 74: | ||
*Bushman, p. 151: "Joseph had to restrain the excesses without discouraging spiritual gifts altogether." | *Bushman, p. 151: "Joseph had to restrain the excesses without discouraging spiritual gifts altogether." | ||
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | *{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 90: | Line 86: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | + | ||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 103: | Line 99: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*It is Brodie's own opinion that Joseph got the idea for the United Order from Sidney Rigdon. Bushman notes that the establishment of the Order "put Joseph Smith's Zion in company with scores of utopians who were bent on moderating economic injustices in these years." | *It is Brodie's own opinion that Joseph got the idea for the United Order from Sidney Rigdon. Bushman notes that the establishment of the Order "put Joseph Smith's Zion in company with scores of utopians who were bent on moderating economic injustices in these years." | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 117: | Line 112: | ||
*Again, it is only Brodie's opinion that Rigdon suggested the Joseph revise the Bible. | *Again, it is only Brodie's opinion that Rigdon suggested the Joseph revise the Bible. | ||
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | *{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 130: | Line 124: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{Detail|Bible/Joseph Smith Translation}} | *{{Detail|Bible/Joseph Smith Translation}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 142: | Line 135: | ||
# | # | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | {{WikipediaCorrect | + | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} |
− | }} | ||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 165: | Line 157: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 188: | Line 179: | ||
</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | *{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 201: | Line 191: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 214: | Line 203: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 227: | Line 215: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 249: | Line 236: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | *{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 271: | Line 257: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | + | ||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 311: | Line 297: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 324: | Line 309: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 346: | Line 330: | ||
*{{Detail|Polygamy book/Early womanizer#Marinda Nancy Johnson|l1=Marinda Nancy Johnson}} | *{{Detail|Polygamy book/Early womanizer#Marinda Nancy Johnson|l1=Marinda Nancy Johnson}} | ||
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | *{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 368: | Line 351: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 381: | Line 363: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 389: | Line 370: | ||
until a fourth attack, which would permit vengeance to be taken. | until a fourth attack, which would permit vengeance to be taken. | ||
|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
− | #{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|pp=82–83}} (Smith's August 1833 revelation said that after the fourth attack, "the Saints were "justified" by God in violence against any attack by any enemy "until they had avenged themselves on all their enemies, to the third and fourth generation.," citing {{Harvtxt|Smith|Cowdery|Rigdon|Williams|1835|p=218}}). | + | #{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|pp=82–83}} (Smith's August 1833 revelation said that after the fourth attack, "the Saints were "justified" by God in violence against any attack by any enemy "until they had avenged themselves on all their enemies, to the third and fourth generation.," citing {{Harvtxt|Smith|Cowdery|Rigdon|Williams|1835|p=218}}).}} |
− | }} | ||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 412: | Line 392: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | + | ||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 425: | Line 405: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 438: | Line 417: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 451: | Line 429: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 526: | Line 503: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCITE}}The cited source (Bushman, p. 322) does not contain the phrase "stunned for months, scarcely knowing what to do." This sounds more like Brodie. | *{{WikipediaCITE}}The cited source (Bushman, p. 322) does not contain the phrase "stunned for months, scarcely knowing what to do." This sounds more like Brodie. | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 558: | Line 534: | ||
*It is only Brodie's opinion that Joseph saw Missouri as "a chance to erase the whole economic experiment." | *It is only Brodie's opinion that Joseph saw Missouri as "a chance to erase the whole economic experiment." | ||
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | *{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 571: | Line 546: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{Detail|Name of the Church}} | *{{Detail|Name of the Church}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 584: | Line 558: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 597: | Line 570: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 610: | Line 582: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{Detail|Doctrine and Covenants/Textual changes}} | *{{Detail|Doctrine and Covenants/Textual changes}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 624: | Line 595: | ||
*{{Detail|Book of Abraham}} | *{{Detail|Book of Abraham}} | ||
*{{Detail|Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri}} | *{{Detail|Book of Abraham/Joseph Smith Papyri}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 637: | Line 607: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 651: | Line 620: | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | *{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 664: | Line 632: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 677: | Line 644: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 688: | Line 654: | ||
|authorsources=<br> | |authorsources=<br> | ||
# | # | ||
− | |||
}} | }} | ||
Line 702: | Line 667: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Polygamy}} | *{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Polygamy}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 715: | Line 679: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 729: | Line 692: | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Polygamy}} | *{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Polygamy}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 742: | Line 704: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Plural wives/Fanny Alger}} | *{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Plural wives/Fanny Alger}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 756: | Line 717: | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Plural wives/Fanny Alger}} | *{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Plural wives/Fanny Alger}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 773: | Line 733: | ||
On his part, Joseph never denied a relationship with Alger, but insisted it was not adulterous. He wanted it on record that he had never confessed to such a sin. Presumably, he felt innocent because he had married Alger." | On his part, Joseph never denied a relationship with Alger, but insisted it was not adulterous. He wanted it on record that he had never confessed to such a sin. Presumably, he felt innocent because he had married Alger." | ||
</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 786: | Line 745: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 800: | Line 758: | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
*Bushman cites ''Far West Record'', 163 (Apr. 12, 1838) | *Bushman cites ''Far West Record'', 163 (Apr. 12, 1838) | ||
− | + | ||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 819: | Line 777: | ||
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Plural wives/Fanny Alger}} | *{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Plural wives/Fanny Alger}} | ||
*{{Detail|Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mormon America: The Power and the Promise}} for an overview of the Ostlings' book. | *{{Detail|Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mormon America: The Power and the Promise}} for an overview of the Ostlings' book. | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 831: | Line 788: | ||
# | # | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | *According to the cited source, the remaining debt on the temple was $13,000, and "Joseph opened a merchandise store, but the venture called for still more capital. The month after he returned from Salem, he borrowed $11,000 for land purchases and store inventory. John Corrill heard the store inventory eventually cost between $80,000 and $90,000. The borrowing went on through 1837 until Joseph had run up debts of over $100,000 | + | *According to the cited source, the remaining debt on the temple was $13,000, and "Joseph opened a merchandise store, but the venture called for still more capital. The month after he returned from Salem, he borrowed $11,000 for land purchases and store inventory. John Corrill heard the store inventory eventually cost between $80,000 and $90,000. The borrowing went on through 1837 until Joseph had run up debts of over $100,000" (Bushman, p. 329), |
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 845: | Line 801: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Money digging/"Treasure hunting" trip to Salem}} | *{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Money digging/"Treasure hunting" trip to Salem}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 858: | Line 813: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Money digging/"Treasure hunting" trip to Salem}} | *{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Money digging/"Treasure hunting" trip to Salem}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 872: | Line 826: | ||
*Bushman p. 328: It should be noted that Bushman states that in addition to the capital, that "[t]he rest of the issue was secured by land. In actuality, the Safety Society was a partial 'land bank,' a device New Englanders had once resorted to in their cash-poor, land-rich society." | *Bushman p. 328: It should be noted that Bushman states that in addition to the capital, that "[t]he rest of the issue was secured by land. In actuality, the Safety Society was a partial 'land bank,' a device New Englanders had once resorted to in their cash-poor, land-rich society." | ||
*{{Detail|Kirtland Safety Society}} | *{{Detail|Kirtland Safety Society}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 885: | Line 838: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{Detail|Kirtland Safety Society}} | *{{Detail|Kirtland Safety Society}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 898: | Line 850: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{Detail|Kirtland Safety Society}} | *{{Detail|Kirtland Safety Society}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 911: | Line 862: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 924: | Line 874: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 937: | Line 886: | ||
}} | }} | ||
*{{WikipediaCorrect}} | *{{WikipediaCorrect}} | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 951: | Line 899: | ||
*{{WikipediaMissingRef}}Bushman states the following on page 626, note 42: "Milton Backman notes that none of the bank's largest shareholders and only eight percent of all shareholders left the Church. (Backman, "Kirtland Temple," 221.) | *{{WikipediaMissingRef}}Bushman states the following on page 626, note 42: "Milton Backman notes that none of the bank's largest shareholders and only eight percent of all shareholders left the Church. (Backman, "Kirtland Temple," 221.) | ||
*From Bushman, "David Patten, a leading apostle, raised so many insulting questions Joseph 'slap[p]ed him in the face & kicked him out of the yard.'" | *From Bushman, "David Patten, a leading apostle, raised so many insulting questions Joseph 'slap[p]ed him in the face & kicked him out of the yard.'" | ||
− | |||
===== ===== | ===== ===== | ||
Line 965: | Line 912: | ||
*Bushman states, "Joseph and Rigdon left Kirtland in the night on January 12, 1838. The lawsuits were building up, and apostates were feared to be plotting more desperate measures. Joseph claimed that armed men—whether Mormons or irate creditors, he did not say—pursued them for two hundred miles from Kirtland." (Bushman, p. 340) | *Bushman states, "Joseph and Rigdon left Kirtland in the night on January 12, 1838. The lawsuits were building up, and apostates were feared to be plotting more desperate measures. Joseph claimed that armed men—whether Mormons or irate creditors, he did not say—pursued them for two hundred miles from Kirtland." (Bushman, p. 340) | ||
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | *{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}} | ||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | {{ | + | {{Endnotes sources}} |
1827 to 1830 | A FairMormon Analysis of Wikipedia: "Joseph Smith" A work by a collaboration of authors (Link to Wikipedia article here)
|
1838 to 1839 |
The name Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. Wikipedia content is copied and made available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
When Smith moved to Kirtland, Ohio in January 1831,Author's sources:
his first taskAuthor's sources:
was to bring the Ohio congregation within his own religious authorityAuthor's sources:
by quashing the new converts' exuberant exhibition of spiritual gifts.Author's sources:
Rigdon's congregation of converts included a prophetess that Smith declared to be of the devil.Author's sources:
Prior to conversion, the congregation had also been practicing a form of Christian communism, and Smith adopted a communal system within his own church, calling it the United Order of Enoch.Author's sources:
At Rigdon's suggestion,Author's sources:
Smith began a revision of the Bible in April 1831,Author's sources:
on which he worked sporadically until its completion in 1833.Author's sources:
Rectifying what Rigdon perceived as a defect in Smith's church,Author's sources:
- Prince (1995) , p. 116.
Smith promised the church's elders that in Kirtland they would receive an endowment of heavenly power.Author's sources:
Therefore, in the church's June 1831 general conference,Author's sources:
Booth's detailed account of the conference and the story of his own disillusionment were written in a series of letters to Edward Partridge and published in 1831-2 in the Ohio Start at Ravenna. They were reprinted in E. D. Howe: Mormonism Unvailed.
It now became clearly manifest, that "the man of sin was revealed," for the express purpose that the elders should become acquainted with the devices of Satan; and after that they would possess knowledge sufficient to manage him. This, Smith declared to be a miracle, and his success in this case, encouraged him to work other and different miracles. Taking the hand of one of the Elders in his own, a hand which by accident had been rendered defective, he said, "Brother Murdock, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to straighten your hand; in the mean while endeavoring to accomplish the work by using his own hand to open the hand of the other. The effort proved unsuccessful; but he again articulated the same commandment, in a more authoritative and louder tone of voice; and while uttering with his tongue, his hands were at work; but after all the exertion of his power, both natural and supernatural, the deficient hand returned to its former position, where it still remains. But ill success in this case, did not discourage him from undertaking another. One of the Elders who was decriped in one of his legs, was set upon the floor, and commanded, in the name of Jesus Christ to walk. He walked a step or two, his faith failed, and he was again compelled to have recourse to his former assistant, and he has had occasion to use it ever since.
A dead body. which had been retained above ground two or three days, under the expectation that the dead would be raised, was insensible to the voice of those who commanded it to awake into life, and is destined to sleep in the grave till the last trump shall sound, and the power of God easily accomplishes the work, which frustrated the attempts, and bid defiance to the puny efforts of the Mormonite.
he introduced the greater authority of a High ("Melchizedek") Priesthood to the church hierarchy.Author's sources:
The church grew as new converts poured into Kirtland.Author's sources:
By the summer of 1835, there were fifteen hundred to two thousand Mormons in the vicinity of KirtlandAuthor's sources:
expecting Smith to lead them shortly to the Millennial kingdom.Author's sources:
- Brodie (1971) , pp. 101–02, 121.
Though Oliver Cowdery's mission to the Indians was a failure,Author's sources:
he sent word he had found the site for the New Jerusalem in Jackson County, Missouri.Author's sources:
- Brodie (1971) , p. 108.
After he visited there in July 1831, Smith agreed and pronounced the county's rugged outpostAuthor's sources:
Independence to be the "center place" of Zion.Author's sources:
- Smith (Cowdery) , p. 154.
Rigdon, however, disapproved of the location, and for most of the 1830s, the church was divided between Ohio and Missouri.Author's sources:
- Brodie (1971) , p. 115.
Smith continued to live in Ohio but visited Missouri again in early 1832 in order to prevent a rebellion of prominent Saints, including Cowdery, who believed Zion was being neglected.Author's sources:
- Brodie (1971) , pp. 119–22.
Smith's trip was hastenedAuthor's sources:
by a mob of residents led by former Saints who were incensed over the United Order and Smith's political power.Author's sources:
The mob beat Smith and Rigdon unconscious and tarred and feathered them.Author's sources:
One account related that on 24 March [1832] a mob of men pulled Smith from his bed, beat him, and then covered him with a coat of tar and feathers. Eli Johnson, who allegedly participated in the attack "because he suspected Joseph of being intimate with his sister, Nancy Marinda Johnson, … was screaming for Joseph's castration." There is more to the story than this, however—much more. Van Wagoner even indicates that it is "unlikely" that "an incident between Smith and Nancy Johnson precipitated the mobbing."
The old Jackson Countians resented the Mormon newcomers for various political and religious reasons.Author's sources:
- These reasons included the settlers' understanding that the Saints' intended to appropriate their property and establish a Millennial political kingdom (Brodie (1971) , pp. 130–31; Remini (2002) , pp. 114), the Saints' friendliness with the Indians (Brodie (1971) , p. 130); Remini (2002) , pp. 114–15), the Saints' perceived religious blasphemy Remini (2002) , p. 114, and especially the belief that the Saints were abolitionists (Brodie (1971) , pp. 131–33; Remini (2002) , pp. 113–14).
Mob attacks began in July 1833,Author's sources:
but Smith advised the Mormons to patiently bear themAuthor's sources:
until a fourth attack, which would permit vengeance to be taken.Author's sources:
- Quinn (1994) , pp. 82–83 (Smith's August 1833 revelation said that after the fourth attack, "the Saints were "justified" by God in violence against any attack by any enemy "until they had avenged themselves on all their enemies, to the third and fourth generation.," citing Smith (Cowdery) , p. 218).
Nevertheless, once they began to defend themselves,Author's sources:
- Quinn (1994) , pp. 83–84 (after the fourth attack on 2 November 1833, Saints began fighting back, leading to the Battle of Blue River on 4 November 1833).
the Mormons were brutally expelled from the county.Author's sources:
Under authority of revelations directing Smith to lead the church like a modern Moses to redeem Zion by powerAuthor's sources:
and avenge God's enemies,Author's sources:
he led to Missouri a paramilitary expedition, later called Zion's Camp.Author's sources:
When the camp found itself outnumbered, Smith retreated and produced a revelation explaining that the church was unworthy to redeem Zion in part because of the failure of the recently disbandedAuthor's sources:
- Brodie (1971) , p. 141.
United Order.Author's sources:
- Roberts (1904) , p. 108 (quoting text of revelation); Hill (1989) , pp. 44–45 (noting that in addition to failure to unite under the celestial order, God was displeased the church had failed to make Zion's army sufficiently strong).
Redemption of Zion would have to wait until after the elders of the church could receive another endowment of heavenly power,Author's sources:
- Brodie (1971) , pp. 156–57; Roberts (1904) , p. 109 (text of revelation).
this time in the Kirtland TempleAuthor's sources:
- Smith (Cowdery) , p. 233 (Kirtland Temple "design[ed] to endow those whom [God] ha[s] chosen with power on high"); Prince (1995) , p. 32 & n.104 (quoting revelation dated 12 June 1834 (Kirtland Revelation Book pp. 97–100) stating that the redemption of Zion "cannot be brought to pass until mine elders are endowed with power from on high; for, behold, I have prepared a greater endowment and blessing to be poured out upon them [than the 1831 endowment]").
then under construction.Author's sources:
- Construction began in June 1833 Remini (2002) , p. 115, not long before the first attack on the Missouri Saints.
Zion's Camp was a major failureAuthor's sources:
Was Zion's Camp a catastrophe? Perhaps, but it was not the unmitigated disaster that it appears to be. Most camp members felt more loyal to Joseph than ever, bonded by their hardships. The future leadership of the Church came from this group. Nine of the Church's original Twelve Apostles, all seven presidents of the Seventy, and sixty-three other members of the seventy marched in Zion's Camp. (Bushman, p. 247)
}}
that stunned Smith for monthsAuthor's sources:
and resulted in a crisis in Kirtland.Author's sources:
- Brodie (1971) , p. 160; Quinn (1994) , p. 87 (noting that in October 1834, Smith only gathered two votes in his failed election as Kirtland's coroner).
But Zion's Camp also led to a transformation in Mormon leadership and culture.Author's sources:
- Quinn (1994) , p. 85.
Just before Zion's Camp left Kirtland, Smith disbanded the United OrderAuthor's sources:
and changed the name of the church to "Church of Latter Day Saints."Author's sources:
After the Camp returned, Smith drew heavily from its participants to establish five governing bodies in the church, all of equal authority to check one another.Author's sources:
He also produced fewer revelations, relying more heavily on the authority of his own teaching,Author's sources:
and he altered and expanded many of the previous revelations to reflect recent changes in theology and practice, publishing them as the Doctrine and Covenants.Author's sources:
Smith also claimed to translate, from Egyptian papyri he had purchased from a traveling exhibitor, a text he later published as the Book of Abraham.Author's sources:
The Saints built the Kirtland Temple at great cost,Author's sources:
and at the temple's dedication in March 1836, they participated in the prophesied endowment, a scene of visions, angelic visitations, prophesying, speaking and singing in tongues, and other spiritual experiences.Author's sources:
The period from 1834–1837 was one of relative peace for Joseph Smith.Author's sources:
Nevertheless, after the dedication of the Kirtland temple in late 1837, "Smith's life descended into a tangle of intrigue and conflict"Author's sources:
and a series of internal disputes led to the collapse of the Kirtland Mormon community.Author's sources:
Although the church had publicly repudiated polygamy,Author's sources:
behind the scenes there was a rift between Smith and Oliver Cowdery over the issue.Author's sources:
Smith had by some accounts been teaching a polygamy doctrine as early as 1831.Author's sources:
Sometime between 1833 and 1836, Smith engaged in a furtive relationship with his adolescent serving girl Fanny Alger.Author's sources:
Although Cowdery claimed the relationship was a "filthy affair,"Author's sources:
Smith insisted the relationship was not adulterous, presumably because he had taken Alger as a plural wife.Author's sources:
On his part, Joseph never denied a relationship with Alger, but insisted it was not adulterous. He wanted it on record that he had never confessed to such a sin. Presumably, he felt innocent because he had married Alger."
Cowdery, who was in the process of leaving the church,Author's sources:
was eventually charged with slander and expelled from the church.Author's sources:
Emma Smith "suspected a relationship and threw Fanny out of the house."Author's sources:
The comely sixteen-year-old Fanny Alger, a hired girl living with the Smiths in Kirtland, became the prophet's plural wife in 1833 when he was twenty-seven. In a pattern that was to be repeated several times, Emma suspected a relationship and threw Fanny out of her house.
Building the temple left the church deeply in debt, and Smith was hounded by creditors.Author's sources:
After Smith heard about treasure supposedly hidden in Salem, Massachusetts, he traveled there and received a revelation that God had "much treasure in this city."Author's sources:
After a month, he returned empty-handed.Author's sources:
Smith then turned to wildcat banking, establishing the Kirtland Safety Society in January 1837, which issued bank notes capitalized in part by real estate.Author's sources:
Smith invested heavily in the notesAuthor's sources:
and encouraged the Saints to buy them as a religious duty.Author's sources:
The bank failed within a month.Author's sources:
As a result, the Kirtland Saints suffered intense pressure from debt collectors and severe price volatility.Author's sources:
Smith was held responsible for the failure, and there were widespread defections from the church,Author's sources:
including many of Smith's closest advisers.Author's sources:
After a warrant was issued for Smith's arrest on a charge of banking fraud, Smith and Rigdon fled Kirtland for Missouri on the night of January 12, 1838.Author's sources:
Notes
FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
We are a volunteer organization. We invite you to give back.
Donate Now