Symbols and practices with an "occult" connection?
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This section of the video is a good example of a common error: in their hurry to condemn, critics use modern standards to pass judgement on historical figures. The segment opens with the portrayal of an inverted pentagram, with sinister flames behind the symbol. The DVD obviously hopes that the viewer will conclude this is an "evil" symbol.
The inverted pentagram has a long history, and only took on negative connotations in the last one hundred years, well after Joseph Smith's death. Joseph Smith and others of his day would have known the symbol from its use in many aspects of American life. Many Americans were Masons, and used this symbol to represent light from the heavens to man.
The inverted pentogram is found in many contexts, including the Congressional Medal of Honor, on
the Great Star Flag of the United States (used from 1837 to 1845), as well as in the cathedrals of Chartes and Amiens in France. Do the producers of this DVD expect us to believe that all these groups are, in fact, part of the "occult"?
Some occult groups have even used the symbol of the cross as part of their symbolism. Does this make all Christians "occult" by association? Such an idea is laughable.
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Claim: Money digging was an example of Joseph Smith being involved in the occult.
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The video's first attempt to tie Joseph Smith to the "occult" uses the Smith family's involvement in "money digging." The video takes a practice common to the nineteenth-century, and turns it into something sinister.
During the nineteenth century, belief in folk magic of this kind was common in the United States. Indeed, in parts of New England it is still a common practice with so called "water witches" still listed in the phonebook. (See, for example, the 2007 phone book published by Verizon, Inc., for Augusta, Maine.)
Dowsing or water witching was—and to some degree still is—used to locate wells, buried objects such as pipes or utility lines, and lost valuables. It was not then, and is not now (where it is still practiced), considered sinister or "occult." For these people, they simply consider it to be "how the world works." By analogy, such people might not understand the principles of magnetism behind a mariner's compass, but still use it because "that's how the world is."
The fact that Joseph Smith and his family were involved in seeking for buried valuables is not unusual. When Josehp was 16 years old, his local newspaper printed such remarks as the following:
- "digging for money hid in the earth is a very common thing and in this state it is even considered as honorable and profitable employment"
- "One gentleman...digging...ten to twelve years, found a sufficient quantity of money to build him a commodious house."
- "another...dug up...fifty thousand dollars!"
- —Palmyra Herald (24 July 1822); cited in Russell Anderson, "The 1826 Trial of Joseph Smith," (2002 FAIR Conference presentation.) FAIR link
Given how common and respectable such an activity was, it would have been strange for the poverty-stricken Smith family not to take any legitimate opportunity to improve their station in life: despite all their toil, they lost their farm because they could not make the final mortgage payment.
The historical record is clear on this point, but the DVD producers wish to hide that aspect of the truth.
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Claim: "On March 15th, 1842, Joseph joined the Masons which is an organization that believes Jesus is not divine and is on the same level as Buddha, Muhammad or any other religious teacher."
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This is a severe misrepresentation of Masonry. Masonry is not a religion and has never claimed to be a religion. Masonry only requires that its members profess belief in a supreme being: Christians, Buddhists, Jews, or Muslims are all eligible. In this respect, Masonry is like many other such fraternal organization, or even the Boy Scouts. The policy of open membership does not make Masonry "an organization that believes Jesus is not divine." The thousands of Christian Freemasons down through the centuries would find such a statement an insult to themselves and Freemasonry. It would appear the DVD producers know as little of Masonry as they do "Mormonism"!
They ignore, for example, the many prominent Baptists who were also Masons over the last two hundred years. For instance, Robert E. Baylor, founder of Baylor University, was both a Baptist and a Mason. One of the university's presidents, William R. White (served from 1948 to 1961) was a 33rd-degree Mason and served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Austin, First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, First Baptist Church of Lubbock, and Broadway Baptist Church of Fort Worth. He also served as executive secretary, and later as president, of The Baptist General Convention of Texas.
Geroge W. Truett, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, was also a Mason and remained such as he served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1927 to 1929, president of the Baptist World Alliance from 1934 to 1939, and trustee of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Are these men no longer Christians, or somehow involved in the "occult"?
These are just a few of the many prominent individuals who saw no conflict between their Baptist brand of Christianity and Freemasonry. Since their participation in Masonry would presumably not taint the roots of the Baptist faith, why would the several Baptist ministers associated with Search for the Truth find it necessary to insist that Masonry cast a sinister shadow over the roots of the Church?
To read more:
- Famous Baptists Who Were Freemasons (Adherents.com) off-site
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Claim: "Within one day Smith rose to the highest degree which is the sublime degree."
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Church critics commonly make this error. The visual accompanying this claim shows an old Masonic chart showing the supplemental degrees of Scottish and York Rite Freemasonry, thereby implyingthat Joseph was a member of these bodies.
This would have been impossible, since Masonry in Illinois at the time (1842) did not have these supplemental bodies. The video also errs in the name of the degree. Joseph was a Master Mason, which is also refered to in the Masonic rites as "the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason," but never as "the sublime degree." There is no such degree. The critics' lack of research is again apparent.
The video makes much of the fact that Joseph was raised in a single day, as if this was unusual and a sign of someone of great "occult" status, but fails to point out that Joseph's raising was done in complete accord with the Masonic practice of making a person Mason "upon sight." The Sixth Landmark of Freemasonry states:
- "The prerogative of the Grand Master to grant Dispensations for conferring degrees at irregular times, is another and a very important Landmark. The statutory law of Masonry requires a month, or other determinate period, to elapse between the presentation of a petition and the election of a candidate. But the Grand Master has the power to set aside or dispense with this probation, and allow a candidate to be initiated at once. This prerogative he possessed in common with all Masters, before the enactment of the law requiring a probation, and as no statute can impair his prerogative, he still retains the power, although the Masters of Lodges no longer possess it."
- —(The Landmarks of Freemasonry off-site)
This was the process followed in Joseph Smith's case. While rare, it is not an unheard of or unprecedented procedure, and Grand Master Johnas (the grand lodge grand master who raised Joseph) was well with in his rights in making Joseph Smith a Mason "upon sight" without any sinister undertones.
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Claim: "Joseph's Masonic membership affected the development of the Mormon church in many ways but the most significant area appears to be in the development of the Mormon temple ceremonies."
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That Masonry and the methods of teaching it employs have had an infulence in the development of the temple endowment is without question. However, the video does the subject a grave disservice, because there is much discussion and debate among scholars as to the actual amount of influence. The endowment took many years to develop, and there are many points where there are no similarities between the endowment and the rites of Freemasonry.
The video shows re-enactments of some LDS temple rituals (borrowed directly from a classic anti-Mormon film, The God Makers II) and implies that these originated in Masonry. This is simply not the case. The ordinances shown in the video (washing and annointing) actually first appeared in Kirtland, Ohio, years before Joseph's involvement with Masonry.
Latter-day Saints consider the temple ceremony to be the most sacred expression of their worship of Jesus Christ. To have it held up for public discussion and display in this matter is in extremely poor taste. It is difficult to feel "loved" by those presenting the video when they do something which they know will be offensive and hurtful to most members.
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Statement: "I suggest that enough evidence presently exists to declare the entire institution of the political kingdom of God, including the Council of Fifty, the living constitution, the proposed flag of the kingdom and the anointing and coronation of a king had its genesis in connection with Masonic thoughts and ceremonies." - Dr. Reed Durham
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It seems that the producers of the Search for Truth video believe that this statement somehow taints Mormonism. Even if it is true—a supposition open to debate among scholars—that does not mean much within the context of the times.
Many elements of our society that we take for granted today have their roots in early American practices, and most have Masonic overtones. A quick examination of United States currency, for instance, will find many Masonic elements, such as the all-seeing eye, pyramids, and mottos. These same elements (and more) are found on many governmental buildings. There is evidence that these symbols have their roots in Masonry or were heavily influenced by Masonry. Does such reality of the nineteenth century mean that, somehow, the roots of American society are based in the occult?
Joseph Smith also spoke English, because it was the language of his time and place, but this does not mean he had no revelation. Prophets—Biblical and otherwise—express themselves in the idiom of their own culture.
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Statement: "...included in the actual vocabulary of Joseph Smith’s counsel and instructions to the sisters were such words...indicating that the society’s orientation possessed Masonic overtones." - Dr. Reed Durham
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Dr. Durham's assertions regarding the formation of the Relief Society are certainly interesting, but they are far from representing a scholarly consensus.
Dr. Durham, in other places, has suggested a connection between the Relief Society and the Masonic "lodges of Adoption" found in revolutionary France. The problem is that there is no indication that Joseph Smith or anyone else in Nauvoo at the time (in the early 1840s) intended this. Lodges of Adoption never found their way to the United States and disappeared from France within a few years of their formation, well before the establishment of the LDS Church in 1830.
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Claim: The Jupiter Talisman was evidence of Joseph's belief and participation in occultic rituals.
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The final issue of purported "occult" evidence against Joseph Smith used by the video is perhaps the least significant of all. Strangely, it is the one upon which the most time is spent. Joseph Smith's Jupiter Talisman is an item which at one time was on public display in the old Church Museum on Temple Square. The carrying of tokens supposed to bring a person luck (like a rabbit's foot or a four-leaf clover) has been common practice throughout much of American history, and particularly in the nineteenth century.
Commentators in the video draw all sorts of conclusions about the Jupiter Talisman which are not supported by the available facts. (Many scholars even question whether Joseph Smith owned the Jupiter Talisman, as it was not on the Carthage Jail inventory of his possessions before he was murdered.) Even if Joseph did own and carry the Jupiter Talisman, there is no record of what Joseph might have believed or not believed about it.
One video commentator, Sandra Tanner, states that "The fact that [Joseph] died with the Jupiter Talisman on his body shows that throughout his life he continued to hang on to that hope and that trust in that magic object." Realistically, the only thing that it may show (if Joseph did, indeed, have it on his person when he died, which has not been established) is that he had it in his possession when the mob attacked. We do not know where the talisman came from, who gave it to Joseph, or what significance, if any, he applied to it. The Search for Truth engages in idle speculation where there are no facts to support that speculation.
Most damaging for this theory, is the list of items found on Joseph's body after his murder (and signed for by his widow, Emma, who claimed his personal effects). This list does not include a Jupiter talisman.
It is significant that the only person who claimed that the Jupiter Talisman (a) belonged to Joseph, and (b) was on Joseph's person when he died was Emma's second husband's son. He made this claim over ninety years after the martyrdom when he was trying to sell the item.
Such circumstances call for more balance and skepticism than the video commentators are willing to muster.
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Claim: "Within a few short years, even men who were closest to Joseph like David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, William Law and William McLellin were repulsed by Joseph Smith's multiple adulteries and publicly declared Joseph an adulterer."
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It is curious that the DVD producers seem to feel that making a public accusation against someone is sufficient to prove the case against them. Many charges were made against Jesus and the apostles, even by close friends and associates. Are these charges therefore proven?
That Joseph practiced plural marriage is not a matter of debate. But, the video cannot simply presume that the practice is, by definition, immoral. To do so is circular reasoning and begging the question.
Some members of the Church could not accept plural marriage. It is worthwhile, however, to consider what the historical record can tell us about each of these men and their witness.
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Is Sandra Tanner a reliable witness regarding Mormonism?
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Sandra Tanner and her late husband are certainly among the most prolific anti-Mormon authors. However, non-Mormon scholars of LDS issues have noted that the Tanners display a consistent bias in their work:
- [The Tanners] always assume the worst possible motives in assessing the actions of Mormon leaders, even when those leaders faced extremely complex problems with no simple solutions...Every bit of evidence, even if it could be most plausibly presented in a positive way, is represented as yet another nail in the coffin being prepared for the Mormon Church. There is no spectrum of colors, only blacks and whites, good guys and villains in the Tanners' published writings...The Tanners have repeatedly assumed a holier-than-thou stance, refusing to be fair in applying the same debate standards of absolute rectitude which they demand of Mormonism to their own actions, writings, and beliefs.
- —Lawrence Foster, "Career Apostates:Reflections on the Works of Jerald and Sandra Tanner," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 17 no. 2 (Summer 1984), 45–46.
Viewers who want to hear about how evil and wrong the Mormons are will be well served by Sandra Tanner. Those who wish to understand and Seek for the Truth will have to look elsewhere.
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