Joseph Smith

Overview

No more prophets?

Most of Christianity today claim that there are not supposed to be any more prophets after Christ's day. But this belief is firmly rooted in tradition, not the Bible. The Bible teaches the opposite of this traditional belief. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7) God has always had direct dealings with man, through the prophets and through revelation. "Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?" (Jer. 23:23) The Lord is the one who directs His Church, not man. This is accomplished through prophets. This is the process God uses, and has used since the time of Adam. "As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began." (Luke 1:70) Since "God will do nothing" except through "his servants the prophets" and He is, after all, "at hand" and not "afar off," and prophets have been "since the world began," it is only logical, and biblically correct, to expect God to have the same relationship with man today.

Christianity claims that God does not change. This is a statement that Latter-Day Saints agree with. Yet, while making this claim, most of Christianity says God has changed. They claim we do not need prophets because Christ came and finished establishing and directing the "church." Christ did not come to do away with prophets, as traditional Christians claim. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, til all be fulfilled." (Matt. 5:17-18) How important are prophets? If there were no prophets, mankind would be destroyed, in a spiritual sense. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." (Prov. 29:18)

Only the living prophets are opposed

Those who oppose Joseph Smith as a prophet, do not oppose past prophets, but the prophets who are living in their time. This is also what happened to Christ, who proclaimed that He was the Son of God. It was the religious leaders who opposed Christ the hardest. The very same religious leaders who claimed to know and understand the scriptures. These same religious leaders actually were around to witness the miracles of Christ, yet they persecuted him. Christ understood that the Pharisees believed in the past prophets (like the traditional Christians today) while denying that a prophet could exist in the present time (again, just like the traditional Christian today). In His own words, Jesus said these religious leaders have the appearance of righteousness, yet were full of iniquity.

Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city (Matt. 23:28-34):

The same thing is true of Joseph Smith, and traditional Christians follow this pattern today. They proclaim to believe in Christ, but deny living prophets (such as Joseph Smith) who proclaim they have seen Christ and know He is the Savior, and proclaim it to the world.

Just because someone claims to be a prophet does not mean that we should automatically accept him as such. Critics are correct in their unwritten premise that we need to test modern prophets against what the Lord has already revealed in scripture. Their problem however, is that in accepting the traditional belief that there can be no more prophets, they then twist the words of the modern prophet, and ignore the words of the past prophets, in order to justify their traditional belief.

For a detailed response, see: Biblical Keys for Discerning True and False Prophets

The following articles deal with specific criticisms related to Joseph Smith as a man and as a prophet.

Character

• Character
• The Hurlbut affidavits—Many critics cite a collection of affidavits from Joseph Smith’s neighbors which claim that the Smith family possessed a number of character flaws. Many of Joseph Smith’s friends and neighbors signed affidavits that accused him and his family of being lazy, indolent, undependable treasure-seekers.
• "Amusing recitals" and "Tall Tales?"—Joseph Smith's mother reported that he told "amusing recitals" about the ancient inhabitants of the American continent well before he translated the Book of Mormon. Does this indicate that Joseph was simply a teller of "tall tales?"
• Personality and temperament—Critics point to what they perceive as personal failings of Joseph Smith, such as his allegedly short temper, as evidence that he was not a true prophet of God.
• Boastful about the Church?—Why did Joseph Smith say that he had "more to boast of than ever any man had" and that he was the only man who had been "able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam?"
• Psychobiographical analysis—Is it possible to deduce Joseph Smith's thoughts and dreams years after his death? Some critics think so.

Treasure seeking and money digging

• Treasure seeking—Was Joseph Smith's engagement in "money digging" or looking for buried treasure a blot on his character?
• Practitioner of occultism and magic?—Critics claim that Joseph Smith's spiritual experiences began as products of "magic," the "occult," or "treasure seeking," and that only later did Joseph describe his experiences in Christian, religious terms: speaking of God, angels, and prophethood.

Occultism and magic

• Jupiter talisman—Critics claim that Joseph Smith had a Jupiter Talisman on his person when he was martyred and cite this as proof of his fascination with the occult.
• The magician Walters as a mentor to Joseph Smith?—Did a "vagabond fortune-teller" named Walters who became popular in the Palmyra area pass his "mantle" to Joseph Smith?

Translator

• Joseph as a translator—Critics claim that Joseph Smith claimed to translate other texts or items, which can be checked against modern academic translations. They claim that this "cross-checking" proves that Joseph could not have translated the Book of Mormon or other ancient texts.
• Joseph's 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?
• Joseph and the Greek psalter—Did Joseph Smith misidentify an ancient text of Greek psalms (a "psalter") as containing "reformed" Egyptian hieroglyphics?
• Book of Abraham
• The Joseph Smith "translation" of the Bible and its relationship to the Book of Mormon

Miracles

• Healings and miracles—Do we have any record of Joseph Smith performing healings or other miracles by the power of Christ's priesthood?

Priesthood holder

• Priesthood restore date

Prophet

• Prophecies—Critics claim that Joseph Smith was not a true prophet, and that he made "false prophecies."

Legal

• Legal trials—What can you tell me about Joseph Smith's problems with the law?
  • 1826 glasslooking trial—Joseph Smith was brought to trial in 1826 for "glasslooking." Didn't Hugh Nibley claim that if this trial record existed that it would be "the most damning evidence in existence against Joseph Smith?"

Finance

• Kirtland Safety Society

Politics and Government

• Politics—Critics charge that Joseph Smith's decision to run for President of the United States in 1844 shows him to be either a megalomaniac bent on amassing ever more power, or a fanatic with delusions of grandeur.
• Nauvoo city charter
• Nauvoo Expositor
• The Council of Fifty

Death

• Martyrdom
  • Joseph fired a gun—Was Joseph Smith actually not a martyr because, while in jail, he had a gun and he had the temerity to defend himself? Did Joseph kill two men by firing at the mob?
  • Hiding Joseph's gun?—Critics claim that the Church has tried to hide the fact that Joseph fired a pepperbox pistol at the mob which murdered Hyrum and was soon to kill him, despite the fact that the gun is on display at the Church History museum.
  • Nauvoo Legion to rescue Joseph?—Did Joseph panic at Carthage Jail, and write an order to Jonathan Dunham (head of the Nauvoo legion), telling him to have the Legion attack the jail and "save him at all costs?"
• Masonic distress cry—Just before he died, did Joseph Smith begin to give the Masonic cry of distress?

Other critical claims

• Joseph Smith and the "office of the Holy Ghost"—Did certain Church leaders say that Joseph Smith was the Holy Ghost or that he "held the office of Holy Ghost?"
• What is Joseph Smith's role in LDS belief?—Did Church leaders claim that Joseph had the right to "approve whether or not someone gets into heaven," rather than Jesus Christ? Do Latter-day Saints worship Joseph Smith, as critics claim?
• Joseph Smith and inhabitants of the moon—Did Joseph claim that the moon was inhabited?
• Joseph's "amusing recitals" of ancient American inhabitants
• Taught Porter Rockwell 'it was right to steal' —Did Joseph really teach Orrin Porter Rockwell that "it was right to steal?"