Claim: "[In an LDS film] Joseph is even shown healing the sick in Nauvoo. Although this film is very emotional and inspiring it has no more reality to it than any other fictional story created by Hollywood. Let's now examine the historical documents about the true character of Joseph Smith."
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Joseph's healing accounts are well-attested to by multiple witnesses. The video would like to dismiss such things, but says absolutely nothing about the "historical documents" to prove that Joseph did perform healings on multiple occasions.
The video wants to dismiss the historical accounts in a simple sentence—they never refer to Joseph's healings again. This is dishonest.
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What do the records tell us about Joseph's ability to heal through the power of Christ?
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Critics ought to be careful when dismissing or criticizing healing by God's power: the scribes and Pharisees likewise sought to minimize or negate the miraculous healings performed by Jesus by insisting that He was, in fact, wicked. (See, for example, Matthew 9꞉34, Matthew 12꞉13-14, Matthew 12꞉24, Mark 3꞉5-6, Luke 5꞉17-26, Luke 6꞉7, Luke 14꞉3-4, John 7꞉32, John 9꞉13, John 11꞉44-50, John 12꞉17-19).
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Claim: "An amazing experience like [the First Vision] should radically change a person's life but by the age of 21, Joseph was arrested and brought before a judge in Bainbridge, N.Y., for deceiving Josiah Stowell, charged for glass looking and sit before the court as a disorderly person."
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Joseph never claimed to be perfect, and mentioned that following his vision he made foolish errors. (JS-H 1꞉28However, the video attempts to deceive its viewers on numerous points, as discussed in the sections below.
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Was Joseph found guilty?
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The video carefully avoids describing the outcome of this legal proceeding. The video apparently wants the listener to conclude that Joseph was found guilty in court —after all, there is no shame in being charged with a crime if one is found not guilty. (And, even a false conviction is no stain on a man's character—even Jesus Himself was falsely condemned.)
But, these facts would not serve the video's purposes, so they say nothing about the outcome.
In fact, the appearance before the judge was not a trial—as demonstrated by the Reverend Wesley Walters, a prolific anti-Mormon author. Therefore, he was not found guilty, and no trial was held.
This is one more "historical document" from which the video wants to protect its viewers.
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Was Josiah Stowell deceived?
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Despite their claims that they are trying to "Search for the Truth," the video does not tell its viewers that Josiah Stowell testified for Joseph as a defense witness and did not believe that Joseph had defrauded him at all. Stowell testified of Joseph's claims, "Do I believe it? No, it is not a matter of belief: I positively know it to be true."
But, the Search for the Truth video will not tell you this part of the truth from the documents.
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If Stowell had no complaint, why was Joseph brought before the judge at all?
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The charges were brought by Stowell's family members, who seem worried that Josiah would accept Joseph's religious claims.
In fact, Stowell joined the Church founded by Joseph, and remained a faithful member to the day of his death.
Would the video's authors condemn Paul because he was brought before many courts because of religious persecution? (See Acts 23꞉6.)
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Claim: "The next year he falls for Emma Hale, a girl at whose home he lodged…"
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The reader will by now not be surprised that the video distorts in both what it says and does not say. Emma Hale was not "a girl"—she was, in fact, older than Joseph Smith (she was born 10 July 1804; Joseph was born 23 December 1805).
She was an adult of twenty three at the time of their marriage (18 January 1827), but the video's goal of portraying Joseph as a rake and womanizer is made easy if they distort matters.
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Claim: "… Emma will prove to be a companion of such loyalty that the thought of breaking the heart of a woman like this would be unthinkable for most men but not for Joseph Smith."
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It is no secret that plural marriage was extremely challenging for Emma. However, the authors give us no citations to demonstrate what Emma thought about plural marriage, or Joseph's claim to be a prophet.
- Allen J. Stout, who served as a bodyguard for Joseph, recounted a conversation he overheard in the Mansion House between Joseph and his tormented wife. A summary of his account states that "from moments of passionate denunciation [Emma] would subside into tearful repentance and acknowledge that her violent opposition to that principle was instigated by the power of darkness; that Satan was doing his utmost to destroy her, etc. And solemnly came the Prophet's inspired warning: 'Yes, and he will accomplish your overthrow, if you do not heed my counsel.'"
Emma's inner conflict was also dramatized in another report:
- Maria Jane Johnston, who lived with Emma as a servant girl, recalled the Prophet's wife looking very downcast one day and telling her that the principle of plural marriage was right and came from Heavenly Father. "What I said I have got [to] repent of," lamented Emma. "The principle is right but I am jealous hearted. Now never tell anybody that you heard me find fault with that [principle;] we have got to humble ourselves and repent of it."
Emma asked Joseph for a blessing not long before he went to Carthage. Joseph told her to write the best blessing she could, and he would sign it upon his return. Wrote Emma:
- I desire with all my heart to honor and respect my husband as my head, ever to live in his confidence and by acting in unison with him retain the place which God has given me by his side...I desire the spirit of God to know and understand myself, I desire a fruitful, active mind, that I may be able to comprehend the designs of God, when revealed through his servants without doubting.
Emma was troubled by plural marriage, but this trouble arose partly from her conviction that Joseph was a prophet. When one woman asked Emma if she felt Joseph was still a prophet despite her opposition to plural marriage Emma replied, "Yes, but I wish to God I did not know it."
The critics ought to let all of Emma speak for herself—she had a great trial, but also had great knowledge. That she continued to support Joseph's calling and remain with him, despite her feelings about plural marriage, speaks much of her convictions. As she told Parley P. Pratt years later:
- I believe he [Joseph] was everything he professed to be.
If the video's producers believe Emma is an important witness, why do they not include her witness of Joseph's prophetic calling to the very end?
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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?
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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What do we know about Oliver Cowdery's witness?
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Oliver Cowdery left the Church in 1838. The DVD producers do not, however, want viewers to hear Oliver's testimony or learn of his actions. As a lawyer, Cowdery’s integrity was once challenged in court because of his Book of Mormon testimony:
- The opposing counsel thought he would say something that would overwhelm Oliver Cowdery, and in reply to him in his argument he alluded to him as the man that had testified and had written that he had beheld an angel of God, and that angel had shown unto him the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. He supposed, of course, that it would cover him with confusion, because Oliver Cowdery then made no profession of being a “Mormon,” or a Latter-day Saint; but instead of being affected by it in this manner, he arose in the court, and in his reply stated that, whatever his faults and weaknesses might be, the testimony which he had written, and which he had given to the world, was literally true.
- George Q. Cannon, Journal of Discourses 22:251. off-site wiki
Despite his harsh personal feelings toward Joseph Smith, Oliver continued to insist that the Book of Mormon was the word of God, and that he had seen an angel and the plates.
The video also does not tell viewers that Oliver later returned to the Church and was rebaptized, remaining faithful to his death in a witness of Joseph's prophetic calling and the truth of the Book of Mormon.
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