Page
|
Claim
|
Response
|
Author's sources
|
24, 332n6
|
- Joseph's family is said to have survived by "money digging."
|
|
|
24, 332n7
|
- Joseph is claimed to have been adept at "occult ritual."
|
|
- No actual reference given by the author: The note simply says "Smith was well-known as a money-digger throughout western New York and northern Pennsylvania."
|
24, 332-333n8-9
|
- Joseph's neighbors thought that he was "an imposter, hypocrite and liar."
|
|
|
26, 333n14
|
- The book claims that during the First Vision, Joseph was told that "all Christian creeds" were an abomination and that "all Christian teachers" were corrupt.
|
- Pearl of Great Price-Joseph Smith History 1:19
19 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”
|
- Pearl of Great Price-Joseph Smith History 1:19
|
26, 333n20-21
|
- The book claims that "untold numbers" of Latter-day Saints believe that "their salvation, to a limited degree, rests upon [Joseph] Smith."
|
|
- In that back of the book in a note on page 333, the author says "I do not mean to say the Mormons hold Joseph Smith on an equal par with Jesus Christ. Smith holds a place just below Christ."
- Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Case Against Mormonism, 2 vols., (Salt Lake City, 1967), vol. 1, p. 75.
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, p. 302
|
26, 334n23
|
- Bruce R. McConkie said that "we must turn to Joseph Smith to gain salvation."
|
|
- Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah (SLC: Deseret Book, 1982), p. 334.
|
26, 334n24
|
- Dallin Oaks said that "I have built my life on the testimony and mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith."
|
The book omits Elder Oaks' very next words:
- In all of my reading and original research, I have never been dissuaded from my testimony of his prophetic calling and of the gospel and priesthood restoration the Lord initiated through him. I solemnly affirm the testimony Joseph Smith expressed in the famous Wentworth letter of 1842:
- “… The standard of truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing, persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done” (Times and Seasons, 1 March 1842, 709; quoted in Daniel H. Ludlow, ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 5 vols. [1992], 4:1754).
- In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
|
- Dallin Oaks, "Joseph, the Man and the Prophet," Ensign (May 1996): 71. off-site
|
27, 334n25
|
- James E. Faust said that Joseph Smith "was the greatest prophet who ever lived upon the earth."
|
|
- James E. Faust, "The Importance of Bearing Testimony," Liahona, Mar. 1997, p.3.
|
27, 334n28
|
- Joseph Smith is claimed to have been "harsh and violent."
|
|
|
28, 335n34-35
|
- The book asserts that Joseph Smith may have been a "pious fraud," who believed that he had been called of God while perpetrating fraud.
|
|
- Dan Vogel in Waterman, p. 50
|
28, 336n36
|
- The author claims that Joseph Smith and other church leaders "often used deception to conceal their activities." The example used to support this is that polygamy was practiced in secret and denied publicly.
|
|
- Times and Seasons, March 15, 1843, vol. 4, no. 9, p. 143.
|
28, 336n39
|
- Heber C. Kimball predicted that the world would someday see Joseph Smith as "a god."
|
|
|
28, 336n40
|
- Brigham Young applied 1 John 4:3 to Joseph Smith.
|
|
|
29
- Author's quote: "[H]istorical data suggests that today's official First Vision story is fradulent."
|
|
|
29, 336n47
|
- LDS claim that Joseph Smith "told but one" First Vision.
|
- First Vision accounts
- Church publications have long described the multiple accounts of the First Vision:
- Milton V. Backman, Jr., "Joseph Smith's Recitals of the First Vision," Ensign (January 1985): 8.off-site
- Dean C. Jessee, "Early Accounts of Joseph Smith (1831–1839)," Brigham Young University Studies 9 no. 3 (1969), 275–294. PDF link
- Dean C. Jessee, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, revised edition, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2002), 9–20.
|
- Preston Nibley, Joseph Smith the Prophet (SLC: Deseret News, 1944), p. 30.
|
30
|
- The 1832 account of the First Vision states that Joseph was in his "sixteenth year," and that he "probably meant when he was 16 years old.
|
|
- Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:28
|
30, 337n52
|
- The 1832 First Vision account does not mention two personages.
|
|
- Smith, 1832 History, in Jessee, PJS, vol. 1, p. 6
- Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:28
|
30
|
- The 1832 First Vision account does not mention that "all the churches in Joseph's day were false."
|
|
- Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:28
|
31
|
- The book asserts that Joseph claimed that he learned about the errors in Christendom through personal Bible study several years before the First Vision.
|
|
- Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:27
|
31
|
- Orson Pratt said that the two personages in the First Vision "declared themselves to be angels."
|
|
- Pratt in "Biography and Journal of William I. Appleby, Elder in the Church of Latter Day Saints," 1848 reprinted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, pp. 146-147.
|
31
|
- Church historian Andrew Jenson said that "The angel again forbade Joseph to join any of these churches."
|
|
- Andrew Jenson, "Joseph Smith, The Prophet," Jan. 1888, vol. 3, nos. 1-3, p. 355.
|
31
|
- It is claimed that Joseph dictated the 1838 account of the First Vision to counter the leadership crisis in Kirtland.
|
|
|
31
|
- The author asserts that the visit of Moroni was confused with the First Vision, and "was probably the real first vision."
|
|
|
34
|
- It is claimed that "[n]ot a single piece" of literature published in the 1830's mentions a visit by the Father and the Son.
|
|
|
34
|
- Joseph's mother in her history said that the First Vision was of an angel.
|
|
- Lucy Mack Smith, letter to Solomon Mack Jr., Jan. 6, 1831, reprinted in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, p. 216.
|
34
|
- It is claimed that Joseph privately began reworking the story of seeing an angel into a vision of Christ.
|
|
- Oliver Cowdery, Messenger and Advocate, Feb. 1835, vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 77-80.
|
34
|
- Without "Mormonism's so-called" Melchizedek Priesthood, no man can see God and live.
|
|
|
34
|
- Nobody knows "when or how" the Joseph received the Melchizedek Priesthood.
|
|
- Online reference to anti-Mormon site "lds-mormon.com"
|
34
|
- It is claimed that Joseph "had to backdate" the First Vision to 1820 in response to a leadership crisis.
|
|
|
35
|
- It is claimed that the First Vision originally stated that the personages were angels.
|
|
|
35
|
- The book asserts that there was no 1820 revival in Palmyra that converted "great multitudes" of people.
|
|
- Oliver Cowdery, Messenger and Advocate, Feb. 1835, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 42.
|
35
|
- Joseph Smith is claimed to have joined other churches after having been told that these churches were wrong.
|
|
|
35, 342n79-80
|
- Newspapers reported in 1829 that Joseph Smith had a dream in 1827 about a spirit visiting him three times in one night.
|
|
- From the Palmyra Freeman: Golden Bible, Niagra Courier, Aug. 27, 1829, vol. 2, no. 18.
- "The Gold Bible," Rochester Advertiser and Telegraph, Aug. 31, 1829.
|
35-36, 343n83
|
- It is claimed that Joseph Smith's First Vision may have been a dream of a "bloody ghost dressed as a Spaniard.
|
- These supposed "early" accounts comes from hostile statements made forty to fifty years later!
- The 1870 account from Lapham says only that "a man" with "bloody clothes" appeared in a dream. (He also says this is what Joseph Jr. told his father, so this is hearsay.)
|
- Hiel Lewis, letter to James T. Cobb, Amboy Journal, Apr. 30, 1879, reprinted in Wyl, pp. 79-80
- Fayette Lapham [May 1870], in Dan Vogel (editor), Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, 1996–2003), 5 vols, 1:459.
- Citation error: the reference to the dream and bloody clothes is on p. 458.
|
36, 343n85
|
- Joseph Smith is claimed to have been an "occultist."
|
|
- Lance S. Owens, "Joseph Smith: America's Hermetic Prophet," Gnosis, Spring 1995, no. 35, p. 60
|
36
|
- Early Mormons are said to have believed in "witchcraft."
|
- Early members believed in "witchcraft"
- William J. Hamblin, "'Everything Is Everything': Was Joseph Smith Influenced by Kabbalah? Review of Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection by Lance S. Owens," FARMS Review of Books 8/2 (1996): 251–325. off-site
|
- John L. Brooke, The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844, pp. 71-72.
|
36
|
- Joseph's mother talked about "magic circles" and the "faculty of Abrac."
|
|
- Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, p. 285.
|
37, 344n93
|
- Joseph's family had a "magick dagger" that was owned by Hyrum Smith.
|
- Mars dagger
- William J. Hamblin, "That Old Black Magic (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 225–394. [{{{url}}} off-site]
|
- No source given.
- The endnote describes the dagger and its alleged importance to Joseph without acknowledging the source of the information.
|
37, 344n94
|
- Joseph's family had "three magick parchments." One of these was owned by Hyrum Smith.
|
- Magick parchments
- William J. Hamblin, "That Old Black Magic (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 225–394. [{{{url}}} off-site]
|
- No source given.
- The endnote mentions the ""Holiness to the Lord,"" the ""Saint Peter Bind Them,"" and the ""Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah"" parchments without showing how they are related to the Smith family.
- An indirect reference is made to the book Occult Sciences."
|
37, 344n95
|
- Joseph is claimed to have had a "Jupiter talisman" with him the day he died.
|
|
- No source given.
- The endnote simply states the date of Joseph's death.
|
38
|
- "Researchers of Mormonism" now believe that Joseph was influenced by "Jewish kabbalism."
|
- Joseph influenced by Kabbalah?
- William J. Hamblin, "'Everything Is Everything': Was Joseph Smith Influenced by Kabbalah? Review of Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection by Lance S. Owens," FARMS Review of Books 8/2 (1996): 251–325. off-site
- William J. Hamblin, Daniel C. Peterson, and George L. Mitton, "Mormon in the Fiery Furnace Or, Loftes Tryk Goes to Cambridge] (Review of The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844 by John L. Brooke)," FARMS Review of Books 6/2 (1994): 3–58. off-site
|
|
38, 345n100
|
- Citing Quinn, Joseph is claimed to have considered the date April 6th to have "astrological significance" as the "DAY-FATAL-ITY."
|
[needs work]
- The author provides no evidence for what Joseph believed about April 6.
- He fails to mention the one bit of evidence that we do have for what Joseph may have thought: DC 20꞉1 suggests that April 6 was seen as the date of Christ's birth.[1]
|
|
38-39, 346 n. 104-109
|
- Joseph was arrested in 1826 for being a "disorderly person and an imposter."
|
|
- Dan Vogel, "Rethinking the 1826 Judicial Decision," Mormon Scripture Studies: An E-Journal of Critical Thought.
|
39
|
- The author states that no "statements of repentance by Smith" for money digging have ever been found.
|
|
- Sam Katich, "Joseph Smith," www.fairlds.org/apol/morm201/m20117b.html
|
40, 348n123
|
- Gordon B. Hinckley is accused of having cited false documentation to support the story of an 1820 revival.
|
|
- Gordon B. Hinckley, Truth Restored, pp. 1-2.
|
42, 349n126
|
- The book asserts that there is no evidence that Joseph Smith was "persecuted" for telling the story of his vision between 1820 and 1824.
|
|
- Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, p. 29, 46-47.
|
|
- The author claims that contradictions in the Biblical stories of Paul's vision were "long ago resolved by scholars analyzing the Greek texts. The discrepancies in Paul's account involve modern ignorance of the Greek wording used."
|
- Modern scholars disagree with the author's resolution, and the rule which he appeals to is broken by the NT text more than it is observed. Even Acts violates the author's claimed 'solution' three times!
|
- W.E. Vine, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, p. 544.
|
42
|
- The book states that Fawn Brodie's idea that the First Vision may have been "the elaboration of some half-remembered dream stimulated by the early revival excitement" is a satisfactory way to "explain things."
|
|
|
44
|
- Fawn Brodie's idea that the First Vision may have been "created some time after 1830 when the need arose for a magnificent tradition to cancel out the stories of his fortune-telling and money-digging" "further weakens" Mormon claims.
|
|
|
45, 351n144
|
- It is claimed that Joseph "continued practicing magick, divination, astrology, and soothsaying long after the LDS Church was founded in 1830."
|
|
- No specific reference is provided.
- The note simply mentions that seer stones continued to be used after the Church was organized in 1830 - a fact that could be easily deduced from reading the Doctrine and Covenants.
|
46
|
- The book claims that Brigham Young used Oliver Cowdery's divining rod to point out the location where the temple would be built in Salt Lake City.
|
|
- Anthon H. Lund Journal, under July 5, 1901.
- "The Psychological Needs of Mormon Women," Sunstone, volume 6, number 2, page 67.
- D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 206 ( Index of claims )
|
46
|
- The book claims that Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball were given divining rods by Joseph Smith.
|
|
- Anthon H. Lund Journal, under July 5, 1901.
- "The Psychological Needs of Mormon Women," Sunstone, volume 6, number 2, page 67.
- D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 206 ( Index of claims )
|
46
|
- Joseph received a revelation praising Oliver's gift of using his divining talents.
|
|
|
47, 352n155
|
- Citing Quinn, the book asserts that David B. Haight "reinvoked the astrological principle that people should 'do nothing without the assistance of the moon'."
- The book further claims that the phrase "do nothing without the assistance of the moon" was deleted when Elder Haight's talk was placed online (i.e. the online Ensign article).
|
|
|
48
|
- It is claimed that Joseph continued to discover and use new seer stones.
|
|
|
48
|
- Joseph is said to have "never stopped being" an occultist.
|
|
|
49
|
- The author conclude that the activities of Joseph's family may have been "satanic."
|
|
|