Difference between revisions of "Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Denver Snuffer"

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{{Resource Title|A FairMormon Analysis of Denver Snuffer's Online Claims}}
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{{H1
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{{response format|name=Denver Snuffer|number=???}}
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|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Denver Snuffer
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|H=A FairMormon Analysis of Denver Snuffer's Online Claims
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|S=
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|L1=Response to Denver Snuffer's Online Claims: Doctrine
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|L2=Response to Denver Snuffer's Online Claims: Historical
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|L3=Response to Denver Snuffer's Online Claims: Denver Snuffer's Excommunication
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|L4=Response to Denver Snuffer's Online Claims: Inconsistencies
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}}
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<!-- {{response format|name=Denver Snuffer|number=[PENDING]}} -->
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==Overview==
 
==Overview==
  
 
Denver Snuffer was excommunicated for apostasy on 11 September 2013 because of the claims made in his book ''[[Criticism_of_Mormonism/Books/Passing_the_Heavenly_Gift|Passing the Heavenly Gift]]''.<ref>Denver Snuffer, “Yesterday,” blog post (11 September 2013), {{antilink|http://denversnuffer.blogspot.ca/2013/09/yesterday.html}}</ref> Following his excommunication, Snuffer has declared, among other things, that the Church's First Presidency has lost their authority, and claimed that Jesus appeared to him to instruct him. This wiki page examines his historical and other claims.
 
Denver Snuffer was excommunicated for apostasy on 11 September 2013 because of the claims made in his book ''[[Criticism_of_Mormonism/Books/Passing_the_Heavenly_Gift|Passing the Heavenly Gift]]''.<ref>Denver Snuffer, “Yesterday,” blog post (11 September 2013), {{antilink|http://denversnuffer.blogspot.ca/2013/09/yesterday.html}}</ref> Following his excommunication, Snuffer has declared, among other things, that the Church's First Presidency has lost their authority, and claimed that Jesus appeared to him to instruct him. This wiki page examines his historical and other claims.
  
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=FairMormon's response=
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Snuffer has announced that:
  
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In developing our response, our primary intended audience is not necessarily Snuffer nor his associates, but rather those individuals, perhaps faithful Latter-day Saints, perhaps questioning, perhaps once-faithful but now sincerely doubting, who may have come across his teachings and been troubled by its contents.
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<blockquote>
 +
The Lord has said to me in His own voice, "I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you." Therefore, I want to caution those who disagree with me, to feel free, to feel absolutely free to make the case against what I say. Feel free to disagree, and make your contrary arguments. If you believe I err, then expose the error and denounce it. But take care; take care about what you say concerning me for your sake, not for mine. I live with constant criticism. I can take it. But I do not want you provoking Divine ire by unfortunately chosen words if I can persuade you against it.<ref>{{CriticalWork:Snuffer:Mesa|pages=4}}</ref>
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</blockquote>
  
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==Priesthood and ordinances==
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At his invitation, then, FairMormon undertakes to evaluate his public claims, statements, and teachings. We do not curse him, but simply offer the "contrary arguments" that he says that he welcomes:
  
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==== ====
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<blockquote>
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{{SnufferItemShort
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I like criticism more than praise. Criticism, particularly well thought through criticism, is appreciated. Never shout down critics.<ref>Denver Snuffer, “Schedule,” blog post (22 September 2013), {{antilink|http://denversnuffer.blogspot.ca/2013/09/schedule.html}}</ref>
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|claim="Even if you give the most optimistic assessment of the restoration and current condition of the church it can do nothing for the individual Latter-day Saint. We must all find salvation for ourselves.<ref>{{CriticalWork:Snuffer:Passing the Heavenly Gift|pages=305}}</ref>
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</blockquote>
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|note=
 
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}}
 
  
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The Doctrine and Covenants teaches that some things are required from the Church for full salvation to its members. The Lord says of those who have acted wickedly:
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===FairMormon's response===
  
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:But those who cry transgression do it because they are the servants of sin, and are the children of disobedience themselves....Wo unto them; because they have offended my little ones they shall be severed from the ordinances of mine house....They shall not have right to the priesthood, nor their posterity after them from generation to generation. It had been better for them that a millstone had been hanged about their necks, and they drowned in the depth of the sea ({{s||DC|121:17,19,21-22}}).
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In developing our response, our primary intended audience is not necessarily Snuffer nor his associates, but rather those individuals, perhaps faithful Latter-day Saints, perhaps questioning, perhaps once-faithful but now sincerely doubting, who may have come across his teachings and been troubled by their superficial plausibility.
  
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These scriptures teach that it is a great tragedy and punishment if:
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{{:Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Denver Snuffer/Doctrinal claims}}
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* one does not receive the priesthood
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{{:Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Denver Snuffer/Historical claims}}
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* one is severed from the ordinances
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{{:Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Denver Snuffer/Excommunication}}
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{{SummaryItem
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Joseph Smith always administered these things through the Church's organizational structure: they require legitimate authority, and are important for exaltation, contrary to Snuffer's claims.
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|link=Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Denver Snuffer/Inconsistent claims
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|subject=Inconsistent claims
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Just before his death, Joseph emphasized:
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|summary=Anxious to make his case appear plausible, Snuffer sometimes makes claims that either (a) contradict other claims which he has made; or (b) distort documents or citations in an effort to strengthen his case.
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|L1=Misleading citation of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and George A. Smith
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:I advise all to go on to perfection and search deeper and deeper into the mysteries of Godliness—'''a man can do nothing for himself''' unless God direct him in the right way, and the '''Priesthood is reserved for that purpose'''.<ref>Thomas Bullock report, discourse of 14 May 1844; cited in {{WJS|pages=365, emphasis added}}</ref>
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|L2="You will be tempted to have others tell you how to please God"
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Snuffer's efforts to dismiss the importance of the Church and its ordinances via priesthood authority lead him to preach false doctrine.
 
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==== ====
 
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{{SnufferItemShort
 
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|claim="
 
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If the Holy Ghost will visit you even without an authoritative ordinance then the responsibility to live so as to invite the Spirit is all you need to have that same companionship the ordinance could confer...."<ref>{{CriticalWork:Snuffer:Passing the Heavenly Gift|pages=460, compare also page 33}}</ref>
 
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|note=
 
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}}
 
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Snuffer claims that receiving the ordinance of confirmation and the gift of the Holy Ghost makes no difference. But, Joseph Smith taught the opposite:
 
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:There is a difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Cornelius received the Holy Ghost before he was baptized, which was the convincing [Page 194]power of God unto him of the truth of the Gospel, but he could not receive the gift of the Holy Ghost until after he was baptized. Had he not taken this sign or ordinance upon him, the Holy Ghost which convinced him of the truth of God, would have left him.<ref>{{TS|author=Joseph Smith|article=For the Times and Seasons. SABBATH SCENE IN NAUVOO; March 20th 1842|vol=3|num=12|date=15 April 1842|pages=752}} See also Joseph Smith, Jr, ''Manuscript History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'' (Documentary History). 7 vols. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 1978, 4:555.</ref>
 
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Snuffer is teaching false doctrine about the Restoration.
 
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==== ====
 
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{{SnufferItemShort
 
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|claim=Ordinances do not need to be performed by one with legitimate Church authority, since "the required priestly authority is still available through the veil."<ref>{{CriticalWork:Snuffer:Passing the Heavenly Gift|pages=468}}</ref>
 
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|note=
 
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}}
 
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Snuffer again contradicts Joseph Smith, who made it very clear that no ordinances would be performed by divine messengers once the authority had been conferred on mortals:
 
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:The angel told… Cornelius that he must send for Peter to learn how to be saved: Peter could baptize, and angels could not, so long as there were legal officers in the flesh holding the keys of the kingdom, or the authority of the priesthood. There is one evidence still further on this point, and that is that Jesus himself when he appeared to Paul on his way to Damascus, did not inform him how he could be saved. He had set in the church firstly Apostles, and secondly prophets for the work of the ministry… and as the grand rule of heaven was that nothing should ever be done on earth without revealing the secret to his servants the prophets…. [S]o Paul could not learn so much from the [Page 196]Lord relative to his duty in the common salvation of man, as he could from one of Christ’s ambassadors called with the same heavenly calling of the Lord, and endowed with the same power from on high—so that what they loosed on earth, should be loosed in heaven; and what they bound on earth should be bound in heaven.<ref>{{TS|author=Joseph Smith|article=Baptism|vol=3|num=21|date=1 September 1842|pages=905}}</ref>
 
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==== ====
 
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{{SnufferItemShort
 
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|claim=Snuffer claims the Church has lost the fullness, but "[t]he required priestly authority is still available through the veil."<ref>{{CriticalWork:Snuffer:Passing the Heavenly Gift|pages=468}}</ref>
 
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|note=
 
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}}
 
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Snuffer claims that the Church has lost vital priesthood authority, and so ordinances do not need it, or Snuffer's followers can get it "through the veil."
 
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:An angel, said Joseph, may administer the word of the Lord unto men, and bring intelligence to them from heaven upon various subjects; but no true angel from God will ever come to ordain any man, because they have once been sent to establish the priesthood by ordaining me thereunto; and the priesthood being once established on earth, with power to ordain others, '''no heavenly messenger will ever come to interfere with that power by ordaining any more'''…You may therefore know, from this time forward, that if any man comes to you professing to be ordained by an angel, he is either a liar or has been imposed upon in consequence of transgression by an angel of the devil, for '''this priesthood shall never be taken away from this church.'''<ref>{{MS|author=Orson Hyde|article=Although Dead, Yet He Speaketh: Joseph Smith’s testimony concerning men being ordained by angels, delivered in the school of the prophets, in Kirtland, Ohio, in the Winter of 1832–3|vol=8|num=9|date=20 November 1846|pages=138–139, emphasis added}}</ref>
 
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{{more|Criticism_of_Mormonism/Books/Passing_the_Heavenly_Gift/Claims_about_priesthood_ordination#cite_ref-9|l1=Read more about the false claims that led Joseph to teach this doctrine}}
 
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Joseph Smith said that the Church would never lack priesthood authority, and that if someone claimed a heavenly messenger had brought them authority, they were either:
 
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#deceived by Satan; or
 
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#a liar.
 
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==Contrary to scripture==
 
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==== ====
 
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{{SnufferItemShort
 
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|claim="You do not need buildings to meet. Tithing is for the poor."<ref>Cited by Tim Malone, "A Few Notes from the Mesa Lecture," ''latterdaycommentary.blog'' (9 September 2014), {{antilink|http://latterdaycommentary.com/2014/09/09/a-few-notes-from-the-mesa-lecture/}}</ref>
 
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|note=
 
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}}
 
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The Doctrine and Covenants teaches a different doctrine. For example, tithing is commanded for the building of temples:
 
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:10 Verily I say unto you, that it is my will that a house should be built unto me in the land of Zion, like unto the pattern which I have given you.
 
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:11 Yea, let it be built speedily, ''by the tithing of my people.'' ({{s||D&C|97|10-11}}, italics added)
 
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Likewise {{s||D&C|117|2-3}} commands tithing for a variety of purposes:
 
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:2 For the building of mine house, and for the laying of the foundation of Zion and for the priesthood, and for the debts of the Presidency of my Church.
 
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:3 And this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my people.
 
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Thus, tithing is properly used for temples ''and other activities consistent with building the kingdom of God'' ("laying the foundation of Zion and for the priesthood"). Joseph Smith used tithing for such purposes throughout his administration.
 
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"The poor" are nowhere mentioned in these commands, since the scriptures have a different mechanism for providing for them&mdash;the fast ({{b||Isaiah|58|6-7}}).
 
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==Bad history==
 
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==== ====
 
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{{SnufferItemShort
 
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|claim="[My book ''Passing the Heavenly Gift'' is] the most correct account of our dispensation written so far...."<ref>Denver Snuffer, “Current Events,” from the desk of Denver Snuffer (blog), 26 August 2013, {{antilink|http://denversnuffer.blogspot.ca/2013/08/current-events.html}}</ref>
 
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|note=
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
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Despite this grandiose claim, Snuffer's book is filled with historical errors, omissions, and misrepresentations.
 
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{{main|Criticism_of_Mormonism/Books/Passing_the_Heavenly_Gift|l1=Details of Snuffer's many historical errors and misrepresentations}}
 
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==== ====
 
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{{SnufferItemShort
 
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|claim="Joseph Smith only built one building&mdash;a temple."<ref>Cited by Tim Malone, "A Few Notes from the Mesa Lecture," ''latterdaycommentary.blog'' (9 September 2014), {{antilink|http://latterdaycommentary.com/2014/09/09/a-few-notes-from-the-mesa-lecture/}}</ref>
 
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|note=
 
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}}
 
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This claim is false. The Doctrine and Covenants commands that consecrated Church funds be used for a variety of purposes:
 
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:Therefore, the residue [of the funds] shall be kept in my storehouse, to administer to the poor and the needy, as shall be appointed by the high council of the church, and the bishop and his council;
 
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:And for the purpose of purchasing lands for the public benefit of the church, and ''building houses of worship'', and building up of the New Jerusalem which is hereafter to be revealed...({{s||DC|42|34-35}}, italics added)
 
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Through Joseph, the Lord directed the construction of many buildings besides temples:
 
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* A house in Kirtland for himself<ref>"it is meet that my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., should have a house built, in which to live and translate.({{s||DC|41|7}}).</ref>
 
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* A house in Kirtland for Sidney Rigdon<ref>"it is meet that my servant Sidney Rigdon should live as seemeth him good, inasmuch as he keepeth my commandments" ({{s||DC|41|8}}).</ref>
 
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* "a house...for the work of the printing of the translation of my scriptures, and all things whatsoever I shall command you."<ref>the second lot on the south shall be dedicated unto me for the building of a house unto me, for the work of the printing of the translation of my scriptures, and all things whatsoever I shall command you. And it shall be fifty–five by sixty–five feet in the width thereof and the length thereof, in the inner court; and there shall be a lower and a higher court. And this house shall be wholly dedicated unto the Lord from the foundation thereof, for the work of the printing, in all things whatsoever I shall command you, to be holy, undefiled, according to the pattern in all things as it shall be given unto you ({{s||DC|94|10-12}}).</ref>
 
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* The Nauvoo House ({{s||D&C|128|55&ndash;75}}).
 
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Snuffer's history is simply wrong, and he makes false claims based upon his false history.
 
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|claim="…the Latter-day Saint church was predicted to fail, and in all likelihood has failed to secure the fullness of the priesthood,"<ref>{{CriticalWork:Snuffer:Passing the Heavenly Gift|pages=447}}</ref>
 
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[[Category:Denver Snuffer]]
 
[[Category:Denver Snuffer]]

Latest revision as of 14:18, 13 April 2024


A FairMormon Analysis of Denver Snuffer's Online Claims


Jump to Subtopic:

Overview

Denver Snuffer was excommunicated for apostasy on 11 September 2013 because of the claims made in his book Passing the Heavenly Gift.[1] Following his excommunication, Snuffer has declared, among other things, that the Church's First Presidency has lost their authority, and claimed that Jesus appeared to him to instruct him. This wiki page examines his historical and other claims.

Snuffer has announced that:

The Lord has said to me in His own voice, "I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you." Therefore, I want to caution those who disagree with me, to feel free, to feel absolutely free to make the case against what I say. Feel free to disagree, and make your contrary arguments. If you believe I err, then expose the error and denounce it. But take care; take care about what you say concerning me for your sake, not for mine. I live with constant criticism. I can take it. But I do not want you provoking Divine ire by unfortunately chosen words if I can persuade you against it.[2]

At his invitation, then, FairMormon undertakes to evaluate his public claims, statements, and teachings. We do not curse him, but simply offer the "contrary arguments" that he says that he welcomes:

I like criticism more than praise. Criticism, particularly well thought through criticism, is appreciated. Never shout down critics.[3]

FairMormon's response

In developing our response, our primary intended audience is not necessarily Snuffer nor his associates, but rather those individuals, perhaps faithful Latter-day Saints, perhaps questioning, perhaps once-faithful but now sincerely doubting, who may have come across his teachings and been troubled by their superficial plausibility.


Response to Denver Snuffer's Online Claims: Doctrine


Jump to details:


Response to Denver Snuffer's Online Claims: Historical


Jump to details:


Response to Denver Snuffer's Online Claims: Denver Snuffer's Excommunication


Jump to details:

Inconsistent claims

Summary: Anxious to make his case appear plausible, Snuffer sometimes makes claims that either (a) contradict other claims which he has made; or (b) distort documents or citations in an effort to strengthen his case.

Jump to Subtopic:


Notes


  1. ↑ Denver Snuffer, “Yesterday,” blog post (11 September 2013), http://denversnuffer.blogspot.ca/2013/09/yesterday.html
  2. ↑ Denver Snuffer, "Preserving The Restoration," Lecture 10, Mesa, Arizona (9 September 2014), 4. https://www.scribd.com/doc/239760895/10-Phoenix-Transcript-Preserving-the-Restoration
  3. ↑ Denver Snuffer, “Schedule,” blog post (22 September 2013), http://denversnuffer.blogspot.ca/2013/09/schedule.html
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