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Difference between revisions of "Fabricated quotes from Brigham Young"
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Revision as of 17:55, 8 October 2010
Contents
Fabricated quotes attributed to Brigham Young
A quote being circulated on the web
The following fabricated quote has gained circulation on the web:
I am a Prophet of God in this dispensation. I carry on the work that began with Joseph Smith. I led the Saints to the barren Salt Lake Valley and it is where we built Zion, even though Joseph Smith taught the Savior would return in Jackson County Missouri. Monogamous marriage is not the order of heaven, for it is only through polygamy that a man may achieve exaltation. The government should stay out of the lives of the Saints and let us worship and practice our religion according to the dictates of our own conscience. If there ever comes a day when the Saints interfere with the rights of others to live as they see fit, you can know with assurance that the Church is no longer led by a Prophet, but a mere man. The doctrines of this Church are eternal, for they were ordained before the world was and any man who changes these doctrines such as the temple ceremony, or the man who abandons polygamy, or allows blacks the Priesthood of God, is a fallen prophet.
I am Brother Brigham. And I am the voice of God.
Response
This quote is a conflation of things that Brigham discussed, with a negative spin. We examine here the individual elements of the fabricated quote and provide responses to it.
The following quote cannot be located in any of the writings or sermons given by Brigham Young. Brigham Young is claimed to have said:
"I am a Prophet of God in this dispensation."
What Brigham actually said:
"I have never particularly desired any man to testify publicly that I am a Prophet; nevertheless, if any man feels joy, in doing this, he shall be blest in it. I have never said that I am not a Prophet; but, if I am not, one thing is certain, I have been very profitable to this people." (Journal of Discourses 10:339.)
Response
- Brigham's actual statement is at odds with the fabricated statement.
The following quote cannot be located in any of the writings or sermons given by Brigham Young. Brigham Young is claimed to have said:
"I carry on the work that began with Joseph Smith. "
What Brigham actually said:
"to carry on the work of God..." (Journal of Discourses 1:75.)
Response
- Brigham talks of carrying on the work of God, not the work of Joseph Smith.
- This is an attempt by the author of the quote to imply that Joseph Smith is more important to Latter-day Saints than God.
- For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Status in LDS belief
The following quote cannot be located in any of the writings or sermons given by Brigham Young. Brigham Young is claimed to have said:
"I led the Saints to the barren Salt Lake Valley and it is where we built Zion, even though Joseph Smith taught the Savior would return in Jackson County Missouri."
Response
- This is an attempt to imply the if Brigham were a true prophet, that the Saints would never have had to leave "Zion" in Jackson County.
- Brigham never refers to the "barren Salt Lake Valley."
- For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Prophecies/Independence temple to be built "in this generation"
The following quote cannot be located in any of the writings or sermons given by Brigham Young. Brigham Young is claimed to have said:
"Monogamous marriage is not the order of heaven, for it is only through polygamy that a man may achieve exaltation."
What Brigham actually said:
"The only men who become Gods, even the sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy" (Journal of Discourses 11:269.)
Response
- For a detailed response, see: Polygamy/The only men who become gods are those that practice polygamy
The following quote cannot be located in any of the writings or sermons given by Brigham Young. Brigham Young is claimed to have said:
"The government should stay out of the lives of the Saints and let us worship and practice our religion according to the dictates of our own conscience."
Response
- Brigham never made a statement like this, but other Church leaders have made statements to this effect:
- John Taylor: "[T]here is no law, human or divine, that can rightful[l]y rob us of those liberties or trample upon our rights. We have a right to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; and no man, legally, in this land, has a right to interfere with us for so doing." (Journal of Discourses 5:182.)
- Orson Pratt: "If we do not transgress the law, then let us be free, like any other American citizens, and let us worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience." (Journal of Discourses 7:225.)
- George Q. Cannon: "[T]o take our flight as best we could in our poverty to some remote land where we could worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience in peace and in quietness." (Journal of Discourses 26:285.)
- For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Prophecies/Government to be overthrown and wasted
The following quote cannot be located in any of the writings or sermons given by Brigham Young. Brigham Young is claimed to have said:
"If there ever comes a day when the Saints interfere with the rights of others to live as they see fit, you can know with assurance that the Church is no longer led by a Prophet, but a mere man."
Response
- This is an obvious allusion to Proposition 8.
- The phrase "mere man" does not appear in the 26 volumes of the Journal of Discourses
- The phrase "mere man" appears only once in the Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate 2:270., but it is not used by Brigham Young.
- For a detailed response, see: Mormonism and politics/California Proposition 8
The following quote cannot be located in any of the writings or sermons given by Brigham Young. Brigham Young is claimed to have said:
"The doctrines of this Church are eternal, for they were ordained before the world was and any man who changes these doctrines such as the temple ceremony, or the man who abandons polygamy, or allows blacks the Priesthood of God, is a fallen prophet."
Response
FAIR WIKI EDITORS: Check sources