Criticism of Mormonism/Video/Search for the Truth DVD/The "Occult"

Joseph Smith's Character: The Occult

This section of the video exemplifies the common flaw of using 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 inverted pentagram has a long history, and only took on negative connotations in the last one hundred years. Joseph Smith and others of his day would have known the symbol from, among other places, its Masonic use, where it symbolized 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. To read more: Matthew B. Brown, Inverted Stars on LDS Temples Claim: Money digging was an example of Joseph Smith being involved in the occult. First and foremost in mentioning Joseph's supposed connections with the occult is mentioning the Smith family's involvement in "money digging." The attempt, in the video, is to take a common nineteenth-century practice and turn 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 phone book published by Verizon, Inc., for Augusta, Maine.) Dowsing or water witching was, and to some degree still is, used to find locations for wells, buried objects such as pipes or utility lines, and, form time to time, to find lost valuable objects. It was not then, and is not now (where it is still practiced), considered in any way sinister. The fact that Joseph Smith and his family were involved in such activities is not unusual. Quite the contrary, had he not done this kind of activity that would be unexpected, given the beliefs of the day. Question #2 Answer #2 To read more: Links Question #3 To read more: Links

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