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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/The Changing World of Mormonism/Chapter 17
Response to claims made in "Chapter 17: Joseph Smith"
| Chapter 16 | A FAIR Analysis of: Criticism of Mormonism/Books A work by author: Jerald and Sandra Tanner
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Chapter 18 |
448
Claim
- No man can enter the Celestial Kingdom without Joseph Smith's consent.
Author's source(s) - Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 7:289.
- Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 3:212.
- Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:176.
- Prejudicial or loaded language: No one from first century Palestine can enter the kingdom without the consent of Jesus' apostles; thus Christ too appoints modern apostles (like Joseph) to play a role in judgment.
- Double standard: Do the Tanners reject the idea that Peter, James, John, and the rest of the Twelve will help judge Israel? If not, then why is the idea for a modern apostle treated as so absurd?
- Joseph Smith/Status in LDS belief
448
Claim
- Joseph Smith would be looked upon as a god.
Author's source(s) - Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 5:88.
- Misrepresentation of source: The cited material nowhere says Joseph will be "looked upon as a god."
- See Quote mining—Journal of Discourses 5:88 to see how this quote was mined.
- Joseph Smith/Status in LDS belief
450
Claim
- Church members elevate Joseph Smith almost to the level of Jesus Christ.
Author's source(s) - Tiffany's Monthly in 1859, p.170
- Absurd claim: A popular magazine from 1859 is the authors' best support for this claim?
- Joseph Smith/Status in LDS belief
451-452
Claim
- Joseph Smith liked to fight?
Author's source(s) - History of the Church 5:316, 524, 531
- Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:317-318.
- Presentism or anachronism
- Joseph Smith/Personality and temperament
452-454
Claim
- Joseph Smith liked military trappings and titles.
Author's source(s) - History of the Church 4:382; 5:3; 6:282, 227
- Joseph, like many of his era, liked the pomp and spectacle of marching and military regalia. This is no crime or sin—Joseph did not relish war, and always tended to conciliation.
- Latter-day Saints do not, in any case, believe in perfect or unflawed prophets. Joseph described himself as "a man of like passions with yourselves." [1]
456-457 - Joseph Smith was ordained "King on earth" by the Council of Fifty
The author(s) of The Changing World of Mormonism make(s) the following claim:
Joseph Smith was ordained "King on earth" by the Council of Fifty.
Author's sources:
- Klaus J. Hansen, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1966, page 104.
- Brigham Young University Studies, Winter 1968, pp.212-13. off-site
- Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 356. ( Index of claims )
- Kenneth W. Godfrey, Causes of Mormon Non-Mormon Conflict in Hancock County, Illinois, 1839-1846, Ph.D. dissertation, BYU, 1967, pp.63-65"
FAIR's Response
- Misrepresentation of source: The Tanners' sources do not exactly support them in this case:
- Godfrey's 1967 thesis discusses Joseph's ordination, but notes that this is "over the house of Israel," and cautions that "the general public probably misunderstood the Prophet and his role in relation to the Council of Fifty....It appears evident that his concept of the Kingdom of God was an ideal, a utopia, a goal to be worked for and achieved some time in the future. The Prophet was not going to establish The Kingdom of God by the sword but with love and gentle persuasion" (65-66).
- Godfrey's BYU Studies (1968) article is similar: "Antagonism toward the Mormon Prophet was further incited when it was correctly rumored, that he had been ordained “King over the Immediate House of Israel” by the Council of Fifty. This action was wrongly interpreted by non-Mormons to mean that he was going to attempt to overthrow the United States government by force. In reality the Prophet was establishing a political organization that would remain in effect in a state of limbo until commanded by Christ to function as an aid in ushering in the millennial reign of the King of Kings."
- Hansen's article says only that Joseph is made "king over that organization [the Council of Fifty]," not "on earth."
- We are left, then, only with Brodie's cynical (and equally distorted) view of the matter. The Tanners provide the illusion of balance and documentation, and provide nothing of the sort.
Question: What was the Council of Fifty?
Joseph Smith received a revelation which called for the organization of a special council
On 7 April 1842, Joseph Smith received a revelation titled "The Kingdom of God and His Laws, With the Keys and Power Thereof, and Judgment in the Hands of His Servants, Ahman Christ," which called the for the organization of a special council separate from, but parallel to, the Church. Since its inception, this organization has been generally been referred to as "the Council of Fifty" because of its approximate number of members.
The Council of Fifty was designed to serve as something of a preparatory legislature in the Kingdom of God
Latter-day Saints believe that one reason the gospel was restored was to prepare the earth for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the Church was to bring about religious changes in the world, the Council of Fifty was intended to bring a political transformation. It was therefore designed to serve as something of a preparatory legislature in the Kingdom of God. Joseph Smith ordained the council to be the governing body of the world, with himself as chairman, Prophet, Priest, and King over the Council and the world (subject to Jesus Christ, who is "King of kings"[2]).
The Council was organized on 11 March 1844, at which time it adopted rules of procedure, including those governing legislation. One rule included instructions for passing motions:
To pass, a motion must be unanimous in the affirmative. Voting is done after the ancient order: each person voting in turn from the oldest to the youngest member of the Council, commencing with the standing chairman. If any member has any objections he is under covenant to fully and freely make them known to the Council. But if he cannot be convinced of the rightness of the course pursued by the Council he must either yield or withdraw membership in the Council. Thus a man will lose his place in the Council if he refuses to act in accordance with righteous principles in the deliberations of the Council. After action is taken and a motion accepted, no fault will be found or change sought for in regard to the motion.[3]
What is interesting about this rule is that it required each council member, by covenant, to voice his objections to proposed legislation. Those council members who dissented and could not be convinced to change their minds were to withdraw from the council, however, they would suffer no repercussions by doing so. Thus, full freedom of conscience was maintained by the council — not exactly the sort of actions a despot or tyrant would allow.
The Council never rose to the stature Joseph intended
Members (which included individuals that were not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) were sent on expeditions west to explore emigration routes for the Saints, lobbied the American government, and were involved in Joseph Smith's presidential campaign. But only three months after it was established, Joseph was killed, and his death was the beginning of the Council's end. Brigham Young used it as the Saints moved west and settled in the Great Basin, and it met annually during John Taylor's administration, but since that time the Council has not played an active role among the Latter-day Saints.
Question: Was Joseph Smith anointed to be "King over the earth" by the Council of Fifty?
Joseph was never anointed King over the earth in any political sense
Some people claim that Joseph Smith had himself anointed king over the whole world, and that this shows he was some sort of megalomaniac.
The Council of Fifty, while established in preparation for a future Millennial government under Jesus Christ (who is the King of Kings) was to be governed on earth during this preparatory period by the highest presiding ecclesiastical authority, which at the time was the Prophet Joseph Smith. Joseph had previously been anointed a King and Priest in the Kingdom of God by religious rites associated with the fullness of the temple endowment, and was placed as a presiding authority over this body in his most exalted position within the kingdom of God (as a King and a Priest).
Joseph was anointed as the presiding authority over an organization that was to prepare for the future reign of Jesus Christ during the Millennium
The fact that Joseph's prior anointing was referenced in his position as presiding authority over this body creates the confusion that he had been anointed King of the Earth. He was in fact only anointed as the presiding authority over an organization that was to prepare for the future reign of Jesus Christ during the Millennium. The fact that Joseph had submitted his name for consideration as President of the United States during this same period adds fodder for critics seeking to malign the character of the Prophet.
458
Claim
- Joseph Smith ran for president because he thought that he could win and rule as king over the United States.
Author's source(s) - Hansen, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Autumn 1966, p.67
- Misrepresentation of source: yet again, the Tanners' citation does not support their claim. Hansen's article reads, in part:
- The Gentiles, who could be quite as literal-minded as the Saints, therefore believed that the Mormon kingdom, like Mohammed's, was to conquer the world by fire and sword. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. Joseph Smith insisted emphatically that the Kingdom was to be ushered in through peaceful means....[Joseph] seems to have realized that a temporal kingdom of God in an area surrounded by Gentiles faced at best a precarious future. But what if, through a bold stroke, he could capture the United States for the Kingdom? The Council of Fifty thought there might be a chance and nominated the Mormon prophet for the Presidency of the United States....Still, the Mormon prophet was realistic enough not to stake the entire future of the Kingdom of God on this plan.
460
Claim
- Joseph Smith felt that he was "almost equal with God" and that God was his "right hand man."
Author's source(s) - History of the Church 5:289, 467; 6:78, 408-409
- Misrepresentation of source: God his "right hand man"?
460
Claim
- Joseph boasted that he was the only one who kept a whole church together.
Author's source(s) - History of the Church 6:408-409
462-463
Claim
- The destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor was illegal.
Author's source(s) - History of the Church, vol. 6, p.xxxviii
465
Claim
- Joseph fought his attackers at Carthage using a six-shooter.
Author's source(s) - [ATTENTION!]
- History unclear or in error: Joseph returned fire with a pistol when he and his three friends were attacked by 200 men armed with rifles. Joseph fired no shot until his brother had been shot in the face and killed. Three of Joseph's shots misfired; he killed no one.
- Joseph Smith/Martyrdom
Notes
- ↑ William Clayton to the Saints at Manchester, 10 Dec. 1840, Clayton Papers; cited in James B. Allen, Trials of Discipleship: The Story of William Clayton, a Mormon (Urbana and Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987), 69. ISBN 0252013697.
- ↑ See 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14; 19:16
- ↑ Andrew F. Ehat, "'It Seems Like Heaven Began on Earth': Joseph Smith and the Constitution of the Kingdom of God," Brigham Young University Studies 20 no. 3 (1980), 260-61.