Criticism of Mormonism/Websites/FutureMissionary.com/The Prophet Joseph Smith

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10 Things every Pre-missionary Should Know)

A FAIR Analysis of: FutureMissionary.com A work by author: Anonymous

FAIRMORMON'S VIEW OF THE CRITICS' CONCLUSIONS

The positions that the FutureMissionary article "The Prophet Joseph Smith" appears to take are the following:

FutureMissionary says...
The website states that Joseph Smith was a Freemason and then refers the reader to the Wikipedia article on the subject.

FAIR commentary

• Joseph Smith and a number of other Church leaders were Freemasons. In fact, the restored Masonic Lodge is one of the tour sites in Nauvoo, Illinois.

Additional information

• Mormonism and Freemasonry—This summary page contains bibliographic references for various electronic and print items that discuss -- or are related to -- the 'Mormonism and Freemasonry' issue. The materials that are listed here represent a variety of opinions that are held by Latter-day Saints on this topic. They also represent differing levels of review and publication processes and divergent degrees of documentation. (Link)

FutureMissionary says...
The website poses the question "Why was Joseph Smith imprisoned at Carthage?" The response is that it was because Joseph destroyed the press for the Nauvoo Expositor, which was going to expose Joseph's involvement in polygamy.

FAIR commentary

• The Expositor incident led directly to the murder of Joseph and Hyrum, but it was preceeded by a long period of non-Mormon distrust of Joseph Smith, and attempts to extradite him on questionable basis.
• The destruction of the Expositor issue was legal; it was not legal to have destroyed the type, but this was a civil matter, not a criminal one, and one for which Joseph was willing to pay a fine if imposed.
• Joseph seems to have believed—or, his followers believed after his death—that the decision, while 'unwise' for Joseph, may have been in the Saints' interest to have Joseph killed. For a time, this diffused much of the tension and may have prevented an outbreak of generalized violence against the Saints, as occurred in Missouri.

Additional information

• Nauvoo Expositor—What can you tell me about the Nauvoo Expositor? Did Joseph violate the law by ordering it destroyed? Critics claim that Joseph "could not allow the Expositor to publish the secret international negotiations masterminded by Mormonism’s earthly king." (Link)

FutureMissionary says...
The website states that Joseph had many wives.

FAIR commentary

FutureMissionary says...
The website asks the question "What was the peep or seer stone?"

FAIR commentary

Additional information

• Joseph as seer and his use of seer stones—What do we know about Joseph's seer stone? What is its relation to the "Urim and Thummim"? Did Joseph place his seer stone in his hat while he was translating the Book of Mormon? (Link)

FutureMissionary says...
The website poses the question "How did Joseph Translate?"

FAIR commentary

• The Spectacles, the Stone, the Hat, and the Book: A Twenty-first Century Believer’s View of the Book of Mormon Translation (Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture). This essay seeks to examine the Book of Mormon translation method from the perspective of a regular, nonscholarly, believing member in the twenty-first century, by taking into account both what is learned in Church and what can be learned from historical records that are now easily available. What do we know? What should we know? How can a believing Latter-day Saint reconcile apparently conflicting accounts of the translation process? An examination of the historical sources is used to provide us with a fuller and more complete understanding of the complexity that exists in the early events of the Restoration. These accounts come from both believing and nonbelieving sources, and some skepticism ought to be employed in choosing to accept some of the interpretations offered by some of these sources as fact. However, an examination of these sources provides a larger picture, and the answers to these questions provide an enlightening look into Church history and the evolution of the translation story. This essay focuses primarily on the methods and instruments used in the translation process and how a faithful Latter-day Saint might view these as further evidence of truthfulness of the restored Gospel.