Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Chapter 7

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Claims made in "Chapter 6: No rest for the Righteous"

A FAIR Analysis of: Criticism of Mormonism/Books A work by author: Richard Abanes

Claims made in "Chapter 8: Big Trouble In Little Missouri"

Claims made in "Chapter 7: Woe In Ohio"

Smith decided to solve his economic dilemma by establishing a bank for the purpose of land speculation.
—One Nation Under Gods, p. 135. (paperback edition)

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Claim

• Did Joseph claim, as David Whitmer said he did, that "[s]ome revelations are of God: some revelations are of man: and some revelations are of the devil?"

Author's source(s)

• David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, 31.
• DC 46꞉7

Response

• This is actually David Whitmer's recollection of something that he claimed Joseph said to him 50 years earlier.
• It contradicts the documents upon which is it supposedly based.
• Book of Mormon/Attempt to sell copyright

Claim

• Did Joseph say that "[f]ifty-six years should wind up the scene" before the second coming of Jesus Christ?

Author's source(s)

• History of the Church, 2:182. Volume 2 link
• History of the Church, 5:336. Volume 5 link

Response

• Joseph Smith/Prophecies/Second Coming to be in 1890

Claim

• Were the revelations published in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants "amended, added to, excised, and in some cases assigned different historical settings" as claimed by Michael Marquardt?

Author's source(s)

• H. Michael Marquardt, The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text & Commentary, xv.

Response

• Doctrine and Covenants/Textual changes

Claim

• Did Joseph break Ohio law by marrying Newel Knight to "undivorced Lydia G. Baily," despite having no license to perform marriages in Ohio?

Author's source(s)

• D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Signature Books, 1994), 88..

Response

•  The author's claim is false: No law was broken, and marriage certificates were issued by the state of Ohio; no license was required to perform marriages, since any religious leader had a right to perform marriages in Ohio.
• Ohio marriages illegal?

Claim

• Did Joseph perform marriages for people who had not obtained marriage licenses from the State of Ohio?
• Does History of the Church claim that instead, they were only married "according to the rules and regulations of the Church of the Latter-day Saints?"

Author's source(s)

• History of the Church, 2:377–378. Volume 2 link

Response

•  Misrepresentation of source: Joseph gave couples marriage certificates?
•  The author's claim is false: Ohio marriages illegal?

Claim

• Was Kirtland, as Fawn Brodie claimed, "full of converts who had left behind them spouses who could not be persuaded to join the church?"

Author's source(s)

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 183. ( Index of claims )

Response

• The author includes a direct, attributed quote from Brodie's book, however, this upon examining the source one finds that this is only Brodie's own opinion—She does not provide a source to back up this claim.

Claim

•  Author's quote: Disruptions of the family unit and marriage break-ups are often seen among religious groups termed "cults."
•  Author's quote: [E]x-Mormons have reported that LDS leaders/counselors commonly encourage divorce when the spouse of a faithful Mormon forsakes the faith."

Author's source(s)

• No sources provided for this claim.

Response

•  The author's claim is false: Church leaders do not advise divorce under these circumstances.
• Note that the author takes the opportunity to classify the Church as a "cult" based upon this supposition.
• Loaded and prejudicial language

Claim

• Did Levi Lewis claim that Joseph tried to seduce Eliza Winters in 1830?

Author's source(s)

• Levi Lewis, Susquehanna Register, May 1, 1834 reprinted in Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 268.

Response

• Eliza Winters claims
• The Hurlbut affidavits—Levi Lewis

Claim

• Were LDS men encouraged to take plural wives "of the Lamanites and Nephites" in order to make them "white, delightsome and just?"

Author's source(s)

• Marquardt, 375.
• Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 210.( Index of claims )

Response

• Polygamy/Lamanites to become "white and delightsome" through polygamous marriage

Claim

•  Author's quote: "Although Smith never took any Lamanites as wives, he did begin establishing what would gradually become a fairly large harem of young girls and women taken from his flock of 'white and delightsome' disciples."

Author's source(s)

• No source provided.

Response

• Age of wives
• Sarcasm
• Loaded and prejudicial language

Claim

• Joseph's first polyamous marriage was with Fanny Alger.

Author's source(s)

• Andrew Jenson, 233.
• Benjamin F. Johnson, letter to George S. Gibbs, 1903.
• Richard S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), 6-7.
• Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997), 31-34. ( Index of claims )

Response

• Fanny Alger

Claim

• Did William McLellin report that Joseph and Fanny were found "in the barn together alone...?"

Author's source(s)

• Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997), 35. ( Index of claims )
• Ann Elza Web Young, Wife No. 19, 66-67.

Response

• Fanny Alger and William McLellin

Claim

• Was the inclusion of the statement on marriage in the 1835 D&C was "an attempt to cover-up the Smith-Alger affair" as the author claims?

Author's source(s)

• D&C 1835, 251.

Response

• Polygamy/1835 Doctrine and Covenants denies polygamy
• Fanny Alger: affair or marriage?
• Loaded and prejudicial language
• Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading

Claim

• Did land specuation in Kirtland "consume" the "thoughts of nearly every Saint, including [Joseph] Smith?"

Author's source(s)

• Heber C. Kimball, "History of Heber Chase Kimball by his own Dictation," 47-48 quote in Jessee, 397-398.

Response

• The citation does not support the author's assertion that this involved "nearly every Saint, including Smith."
• The endnote quotes Kimball as saying, "we were much grieved to see the spirit of speculation prevailing in the church..." Kimball doesn't say anything about Joseph Smith's involvment. He does state that, "all seemed determined to become rich; in my feelings they were artificial or imaginary riches." A more complete quote is included in the endnote.
• Mind reading

Claim

• Joseph is claimed to have owned one hundred and forty acres of land near the Kirtland temple lot in addition to four acres of business property.

Author's source(s)

• Robert Kent Fielding, "The Growth of the Mormon Church in Kirtland, Ohio," Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 1957, typed copy, 202-204. 206-208, 211-212. Quoted in Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Mormon Kingdom, vol. 1, 9.
• Unfortunately, the primary sources used by Fielding and Tanner are not provided.

Response

• This was Church land which Joseph held in trust.
• Use of sources: Joseph owned 144 acres in Kirtland
• Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Presentism

Claim

• Was Isaac McWithy brought before the church's High Council on charges of "insolence" after refusing to sell his land to Joseph Smith for $3000?

Author's source(s)

• History of the Church, 2:446. Volume 2 link

Response

• Notable omissions: Isaac McWithy tried for insolence

Claim

•  Author's quote: "Smith decided to solve his economic dilemma by establishing a bank for the purpose of land speculation."

Author's source(s)

Response

• Loaded and prejudicial language

Claim

• Did Joseph Smith claim that "God told him" to establish the bank in Kirtland?

Author's source(s)

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 195. ( Index of claims ), citing Warren Parrish, letter dated March 6, 1838, Zion's Watchman, March 24, 1838

Response

• The author paraphrases Brodie's assertion that "The bank was said to have been established by a revelation from God..."
• Brodie can provide no evidence, save an angry apostate after the fact, who contradicted his own testimony. Why do contemporary sources say that Joseph did not tell them what the Lord said?
• Use of sources: Warren Parrish and Kirtland Safety Society "revelation"
• Kirtland Safety Society

Claim

• Was the Kirtland anti-bank backed only by boxes "filled with 'sand,lead, old iron, stone, and combustibles" as claimed by Fawn Brodie?

Response

• This quote is from Brodie, who in turn cites three hostile anti-Mormon sources: Wilhelm Wyl, Mormon Portraits Volume First: Joseph Smith the Prophet, His Family and Friends (Salt Lake City: Tribune Printing and Publishing Co., 1886), 36.; Oliver H. Olney, The Absurdities of Mormonism Portrayed (Hancock County, IL: N.p., 1843), 4.; E. G. Lee, The Mormons, or Knavery Exposed (Frankford, Philadelphia: Webber & Fenimore, 1841), 14. off-site Full title.
• Who do none of the contemporary complaints about the bank include these charges? Why do they only appear years later?
• The bank safe was too small to accommodate the boxes described by the critics.
• Money boxes filled with sand?

Claim

• Is it true that "[e]veryone's pockets bulged with bills" in Kirtland after the bank was established as asserted by Fawn Brodie?

Author's source(s)

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 196. ( Index of claims )

Response

• The author quotes Brodie's opinion. Brodie provides no citation to back up the assertion that "everyone's pockets bulged with bills."

Further reading

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{{To learn more box:responses to: 8: The Mormon Proposition}}	To learn more box:responses to: 8: The Mormon Proposition	edit
{{To learn more box:''Under the Banner of Heaven''}}	To learn more about responses to: Under the Banner of Heaven	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Robert Price}}	To learn more about responses to: Robert Price	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Ankerberg and Weldon}}	To learn more about responses to: Ankerberg and Weldon	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Ashamed of Joseph}}	To learn more about responses to: Ashamed of Joseph	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Beckwith and Moser}}	To learn more about responses to: Beckwith and Moser	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Beckwith and Parrish}}	To learn more about responses to: Beckwith and Parrish	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Benjamin Park}}	To learn more about responses to: Benjamin Park	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Bible versus Joseph Smith}}	To learn more about responses to: Bible versus Joseph Smith	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Bible versus Book of Mormon}}	To learn more about responses to: Bible versus Book of Mormon	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: ''Big Love''}}	To learn more about responses to: Big Love	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Brett Metcalfe}}	To learn more about responses to: Brett Metcalfe	edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: Bruce H. Porter}}	To learn more about responses to: Bruce H. Porter	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Carol Wang Shutter}}	To learn more about responses to: Carol Wang Shutter	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: CES Letter}}	To learn more about responses to: CES Letter	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Charles Larson}}	To learn more about responses to: Charles Larson	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Christopher Nemelka}}	To learn more about responses to: Christopher Nemelka	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Colby Townshed}}	To learn more about responses to: Colby Townshed	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Contender Ministries}}	To learn more about responses to: Contender Ministries	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Crane and Crane}}	To learn more about responses to: Crane and Crane	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: D. Michael Quinn}}	To learn more about responses to: D. Michael Quinn	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Dan Vogel}}	To learn more about responses to: Dan Vogel	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: David John Buerger}}	To learn more about responses to: David John Buerger	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: David Persuitte}}	To learn more about responses to: David Persuitte	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Denver Snuffer}}	To learn more about responses to: Denver Snuffer	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Dick Bauer}}	To learn more about responses to: Dick Bauer	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Duwayne R Anderson}}	To learn more about responses to: Duwayne R Anderson	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Earl Wunderli}}	To learn more about responses to: Earl Wunderli	edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: Ernest Taves}}	To learn more about responses to: Ernest Taves	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Fawn Brodie}}	To learn more about responses to: Fawn Brodie	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: George D Smith}}	To learn more about responses to: George D Smith	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Grant Palmer}}	To learn more about responses to: Grant Palmer	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Hank Hanegraaff}}	To learn more about responses to: Hank Hanegraaff	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Hurlbut-Howe}}	To learn more about responses to: Hurlbut-Howe	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: James Brooke}}	To learn more about responses to: James Brooke	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: James Spencer}}	To learn more about responses to: James Spencer	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: James White}}	To learn more about responses to: James White	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Jerald and Sandra Tanner}}	To learn more about responses to: Jerald and Sandra Tanner	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Jesus Christ-Joseph Smith or Search for the Truth DVD}}	To learn more about responses to: Jesus Christ-Joseph Smith or Search for the Truth DVD	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: John Dehlin}}	To learn more about responses to: John Dehlin	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Jonathan Neville}}	To learn more about responses to: Jonathan Neville	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Kurt Van Gorden}}	To learn more about responses to: Kurt Van Gorden	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Laura King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery}}	To learn more about responses to: Laura King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery	edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: Marquardt and Walters}}	To learn more about responses to: Marquardt and Walters	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Martha Beck}}	To learn more about responses to: Martha Beck	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Mcgregor Ministries}}	To learn more about responses to: Mcgregor Ministries	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: McKeever and Johnson}}	To learn more about responses to: McKeever and Johnson	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: New Approaches}}	To learn more about responses to: New Approaches to the Book of Mormon	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Richard Abanes}}	To learn more about responses to: Richard Abanes	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Richard Van Wagoner}}	To learn more about responses to: Richard Van Wagoner	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Richard and Joan Ostling}}	To learn more about responses to: Richard and Joan Ostling	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Rick Grunger}}	To learn more about responses to: Rick Grunger	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Robert Ritner}}	To learn more about responses to: Robert Ritner	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Rod Meldrum}}	To learn more about responses to: Rod Meldrum	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Roger I Anderson}}	To learn more about responses to: Roger I Anderson	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Ronald V. Huggins}}	To learn more about responses to: Ronald V. Huggins	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Sally Denton}}	To learn more about responses to: Sally Denton	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Simon Southerton}}	To learn more about responses to: Simon Southerton	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Thomas Murphy}}	To learn more about responses to: Thomas Murphy	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Todd Compton}}	To learn more about responses to: Todd Compton	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Vernal Holley}}	To learn more about responses to: Vernal Holley	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Walter Martin}}	To learn more about responses to: Walter Martin	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Wesley Walters}}	To learn more about responses to: Wesley Walters	edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Will Bagley}}	To learn more about responses to: Will Bagley	edit