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Mormonism and Wikipedia/Joseph Smith, Jr./Distinctive views and teachings: Difference between revisions

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=An analysis of Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith, Jr."=


==Distinctive views and teachings==
==Distinctive views and teachings==
{{Main|Teachings of Joseph Smith, Jr.}}
===Cosmology and theology {{WikipediaUpdate|9/3/2011}}===
===Religious authority and ethics {{WikipediaUpdate|1/9/2010}}===
{{See also|Priesthood (Latter Day Saints)}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
As a [[restorationism|restorationist]], Smith taught that there had been a [[Great Apostasy]] during which the true Christian faith had been lost. He viewed his 1830 [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Church of Christ]] as a [[Restoration (Latter Day Saints)|restoration]] of that original faith and [[Jesus]]' only authorized church. In 1829, he organized [[Priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|a clergy]] of [[Elder (Latter Day Saints)|elders]], [[Priest (Latter Day Saints)|priests]], and [[Teacher (Latter Day Saints)|teachers]] with power to [[baptism|baptize]] (later called the ''[[Aaronic priesthood]]''). In 1831, influential convert [[Sidney Rigdon]] suggested that the elders of the church required the same [[Pentecost]]al power endowed on the [[Twelve Apostles]], and Smith had a revelation that created a [[High priest (Latter Day Saints)|High Priesthood]] (later called the ''[[Melchizedek priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|Melchizedek priesthood]]''). In Smith's view, further endowment of priestly power attended the dedication of the [[Kirtland Temple]] and the Nauvoo [[Endowment (Mormonism)|Endowment]] ceremony of 1843, which was bestowed on women as well as men and prepared them to be "priests and priestesses" in the afterlife.
Smith taught that all existence was [[materialism|material]],
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
|response=
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=419–20}} (arguing that Smith may have been unaware of the other religious [[materialism]] arguments circulating in his day, such as those of [[Joseph Priestly]]).
*{{WikipediaCITE}}The text is structured in such a way that it suggests that Sidney Rigdon suggested something and that Joseph had a revelation as a result. While this may or may not be the case, it would be good to see a citation to support this assertion.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
}}
*{{Detail_old|Creation/Creatio ex nihilo}}
===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
Smith also introduced as revelations from God a number of behavioral guidelines for church members, among which was what he called the "[[Word of Wisdom]]." Smith recommended that Saints avoid liquor, wine (except [[Sacrament (Latter Day Saints)|sacramental]] wine), tobacco, meat (except in times of famine or cold weather), and "hot drinks."
including a world of "spirit matter" so fine that it was invisible to all but the purest mortal eyes.
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*{{Harvtxt|Smith|1835|loc=sec. LXXX, 207-08}}
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=419}}; {{Harvtxt|Brooke|1994|pp=3–5}};  {{Harvtxt|Smith|1830|p=544}} (story from the [[Book of Ether]] of [[Jesus]] revealing "the body of my spirit" to an especially faithful man, saying  humanity was created in the image of his spirit body).
|response=
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{Detail|Word of Wisdom}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Matter, in Smith's view, could neither be created nor destroyed;
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=420}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{Detail_old|Creation/Creatio ex nihilo}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
the [[creationism|creation]] involved only the reorganization  of existing matter.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=421}} (noting that Smith once taught  the Earth was formed from broken-up pieces of prior planets).
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{Detail_old|Creation/Creatio ex nihilo}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Like matter, "intelligence" was co-eternal with God, and human [[spirit]]s had been drawn from a [[pre-existence|pre-existent]] pool of eternal intelligences.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=420–21}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Embodiment, therefore, was the purpose of earth life.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=421}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
The work and glory of God, the supreme intelligence,
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=455–56}} (arguing that in Smith's theology, God's authority arose not from being an ''[[ex nihilo]]'' creator, but from having the greatest intelligence).
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
was to create worlds across the cosmos where inferior intelligences could be embodied.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=421}} (quoting Smith as saying, "God is Good & all his acts is for the benefit of infereir inteligences [sic]."); {{Harvtxt|Bloom|1992|p=101}} ("Smith's God is hedged in by limitations and badly needs intelligences besides his own.").
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Though Smith at first taught that [[God the Father]] was a spirit,
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=420}} (arguing that Smith's original view of a pure spirit God was traditionally Christian); {{Citation|last=Vogel|first=Dan|title=The Earliest Mormon Conception of God}} in {{Harvtxt|Bergera|1989|pp=17–33}} (arguing that Smith's original view was [[Sabellianism|modalism]], [[Jesus]] being the embodied manifestation the spirit Father, and that by 1834 Smith shifted to a [[binitarianism|binitarian]] formulation favored by [[Sidney Rigdon]], which also viewed the Father as a spirit); {{Citation|last=Alexander|first=Thomas|title=The  Reconstruction of Mormon Doctrine: From Joseph Smith to Progressive Theology}} in {{Harvtxt|Bergera|1989|p=53}} (prior to 1835, Smith viewed [[God the Father]] as "an absolute personage of spirit").
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Mormonism and the nature of God/God is a Spirit}}
*{{Detail_old|Mormonism and the nature of God/God is a Spirit/Lecture of Faith 5 teaches the Father is "a personage of spirit"}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
he eventually viewed God as an advanced and glorified man,
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Widmer|2000|p=119}}; {{Citation|last=Alexander|first=Thomas|title=The  Reconstruction of Mormon Doctrine: From Joseph Smith to Progressive  Theology}} in {{Harvtxt|Bergera|1989|p=539}} (describing Smith's doctrine as "material anthropomorphism"); {{Harvtxt|Bloom|1992|p=101}} ("Smith's God, after all, began as a man, and struggled heroically in and with time and space, rather after the pattern of colonial and revolutionary Americans.").
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Mormonism and the nature of God/"God is a man"}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
embodied within space
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=421}} ("Piece by piece, Joseph redefined the nature of God, giving Him a form and a body and locating Him in time and space."); {{Harvtxt|Bloom|1992|p=101}} ("Joseph Smith's God...is finite.... Exalted now into the heavens, God necessarily is still subject to the contingencies of time and space.").
}}
}}
===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
But Smith did not always follow this counsel himself. Smith's revelations treated sexual sins, including [[adultery]], almost as seriously as murder;
with a throne situated near a star or planet named ''[[Kolob]]'', and measuring time at the rate of a thousand years per Kolob day.
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*{{Harvtxt|Smith|1830|p=332}} Engaging a prostitute was "most abominable above all sins, save it be the shedding of innocent blood, or denying the Holy Ghost".
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=455}}; {{Harvtxt|Widmer|2000|pp=70–90}}.
|response=
|authorsources=<br>
*{{WikipediaCITE}}There is no citation supporting the statement that Joseph Smith "did not always follow this counsel [the Word of Wisdom] himself."
#
*{{WikipediaNPOV}}There is actually no good reason to throw the sentence "But Smith did not always follow this counsel himself" into the main text here. This is an allusion to critics' assertions that Joseph did not observe the Word of Wisdom. Common assertions made by critics are discussed in the articles linked below:
*{{Detail|Word of Wisdom/Joseph Smith used tea|Word of Wisdom/Almon Babbitt followed Joseph|Word of Wisdom/Joseph Smith sold liquor in Nauvoo|l1=Joseph Smith used tea|l2=Almon Babbitt followed Joseph in violating the Word of Wisdom|l3=Joseph Smith sold liquor in Nauvoo}}
}}
}}
*{{Detail_old|Book of Abraham/Kolob}}
*{{Detail_old|Book of Abraham/Astronomy/Revolution Time}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
however, he did not consider polygamy adultery even if the polygamous wife were married to another man.  
Both [[God the Father]] and [[Jesus]] were distinct beings with physical bodies, but the [[Holy Spirit]] was a "personage of Spirit."
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
|response=
#{{Harvtxt|Roberts|1909|p=325}}.
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Polyandry}}
}}
}}
===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
Smith tried unsuccessfully to implement a form of [[religious communism]], called the [[United Order]] by requiring Saints to [[law of consecration|consecrate]] all their property to the church. After this system proved a conspicuous failure, he instituted a [[tithe|tithing]] system to support the work of the church.
Through the gradual acquisition of knowledge,
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*Brodie, 106, 112, 121-22. In 1834, "Joseph began to efface the communistic rubric in his young theology.  Since most copies of the ''Book of Commandments'' had been burned, it was easy for him to revise drastically the revelation of the United Order when it was republished in the enlarged ''Doctrine and Covenants'' in 1835.  The Lord no longer demanded consecration of a man's total property, but only a donation of his 'surplus' over and above living expenses." (141)
#{{Harvtxt|Larson|1978|p=7 (online ver.)}}.
|response=
*Brodie's implication, of course, is that if the Book of Commandments had ''not'' been burned, that it would have been difficult to edit the revelations without it being noticed. In truth, however, many revelations were edited after the Book of Commandments was destroyed, and copies of the book ''did'' exist and were in limited circulation. The modifications in these revelations were performed by a variety of individuals, as shown in the Church sponsored ''Joseph Smith Papers'' project.
*{{Detail|Doctrine and Covenants/Textual changes}}
*{{Detail|Communism and the United Order}}
*{{SeeCriticalWork|author=Fawn Brodie|work=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith}}  
}}
}}


===Politics and law===
{{See also|Theodemocracy||Mormonism and violence|Law of Consecration}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
Smith advocated the establishment of a [[theocracy|theocratic]] [[Millennialism|millennial]] kingdom that included elements of [[democracy]], or as he called it, "[[theodemocracy]]."  This world-wide kingdom was ultimately to be ruled by [[Jesus]], but Smith believed that he needed to establish earthly mechanisms for its governance. Thus, shortly before his death, Smith established a [[Council of Fifty]] to be its legislature, and he had the Council secretly anoint him as "King and President." Although his envisioned theocratic kingdom did not have the same structure as the [[United States Constitution]], he considered that document divinely inspired and in general endorsed constitutional rights and privileges.   
those who were [[second anointing|sealed to their exaltation]] could eventually become coequal with God.
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
|response=
#{{Harvtxt|Widmer|2000|p=119}}.
*{{Detail|The Council of Fifty}}
}}
}}
===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
On matters of public policy, Smith disfavored [[slavery]], but he was not a strict [[abolitionism|abolitionist]], believing that the government ought to redeem slaves with money generated from sale of public lands. He favored [[capital punishment]] but opposed [[hanging]] and preferring methods that involved the spilling of blood such as the [[firing squad]] or [[beheading]].
The ability of humans to progress to godhood implied a vast hierarchy of gods.
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*{{Harvtxt|Roberts|1909|p=296}}; {{Harvtxt|Roberts|1902|p=435}}.
#{{Harvtxt|Widmer|2000|p=119}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=535}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{Detail_old|Mormonism and the nature of God/Deification of man}}
===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
Smith disfavored imprisonment of convicts except for murder, preferring efforts to reform criminals through labor.
Each of these gods, in turn, would rule a kingdom of inferior intelligences, and so forth in an eternal hierarchy.
|response=
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=455–56, 535–37}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{Detail_old|Mormonism and the nature of God/Deification of man}}
*{{Detail_old|Mormonism and the nature of God/Deification of man/Gods of their own planets}}


===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
The opportunity to achieve godhood extended to all humanity; those who died with no opportunity to accept [[Latter Day Saint movement|Latter Day Saint]] theology could achieve godhood by accepting its benefit in the afterlife through [[baptism for the dead]].
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=422}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{Detail_old|Mormonism and temples/Baptism for the dead}}


===Eschatology and cosmology===
{{See also|Mormon cosmology|King Follett Discourse}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
Smith's [[eschatology]] was tied to his political views: the [[Millennium]] would be a world-wide [[Theodemocracy|democratic political kingdom]] ruled by [[Jesus]].  But this kingdom had to be prepared beforehand to unite with Him, like a bride preparing for marriage to her groom. Smith expected to establish a [[Zion (Latter Day Saints)|City of Zion]] where Saints would gather prior to a great battle between Zion and the nations of the world. Jesus would then return to earth to establish political control over the earth for a thousand years. After this millennium would come [[Judgment Day]] and the [[resurrection]], where all mankind would be assigned to one of three [[Degrees of Glory|heavenly kingdoms]].
Children who died in their innocence were guaranteed to rise at the [[resurrection]] and rule as gods without maturing to adulthood.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Larson|1978|p=15 (online ver.)}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
}}
*{{WikipediaCITE|editor=COgden|wikipedialink=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_Smith&diff=349522595&oldid=349520263}}The cited source says nothing about children rising to "rule as gods without maturing to adulthood." Joseph Smith said that "children would be raised in the resurrection just as they were laid down, and that they would obtain all the intelligence necessary to occupy thrones, principalities and powers.” (''History of the Church,'' volume 4, page 556.) Children will rise from the resurrection as children, but they will be raised to maturity. There is no Mormon doctrine of "immature gods."
===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
In sermons and revelations presented late in his life, Smith declared that [[God the Father]] and [[Jesus]] have physical bodies, that God the Father was once a man just like human mortals,
Apart from those who committed the [[eternal sin]], Smith taught that even the wicked and disbelieving would achieve a [[degrees of glory|degree of glory]] in the afterlife,
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*{{Harvtxt|Larson|1978|p=8 (online ver.)}}.
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=199}}.
|response=
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*From the cited source (the King Follett Discourse),
 
<blockquote>
===== =====
and that He once was a man like one of us and that God Himself, the Father of us all, once dwelled on an earth the same as Jesus Christ himself did in the flesh and like us.
{{IndexClaimItemShort
</blockquote>
|title={{check}}
*{{Detail|Nature of God/Deification of man}}
|claim=
where they would serve those who had achieved godhood.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=443}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{WikipediaCITE}}The Bushman reference refers to those who are not married by priesthood authority, not the "wicked and disbelieving." Bushman states that "the worldly wed became single again, and a permanent cap limited their progress." Ne notes that they are appointed "angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory."
*{{WikipediaSYN}}This passage coupled with the previous one constitutes Wikipedia synthesis. The second Bushman passage referring to eternal marriage is used in the Wikipedia article to make a point about those who are "wicked and disbelieving."
 
===Religious authority and ritual===
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Smith's teachings were rooted in [[dispensationalism|dispensational]] [[Restorationism (Christian primitivism)|restorationism]].
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Brooke|1994|p=33}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
He saw his teachings and the [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Church of Christ]] as a [[Restoration (Latter Day Saints)|restoration]] of [[early Christianity|early Christian]] ideals that had been lost in a [[Great Apostasy|great apostasy]].
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Remini|2000|p=84}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
At first, Smith's church had little sense of hierarchy, Smith's religious authority being derived from visions and revelations.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|p=7}} (describing Smith's earliest earliest authority as [[charismatic authority]]).
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Though Smith did not claim exclusive prophethood,
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|pp=7–8}}.
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
an early revelation designated him as the only prophet allowed to issue commandments "as [[Moses]]."
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=121, 175}}; {{Harvtxt|Phelps|1833|p=67}} ("[N]o one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church, excepting my servant Joseph, for he receiveth them even as Moses.").
}}
 
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
This religious authority encompassed economic and political as well as spiritual matters. For instance, in the early 1830s, he temporarily instituted a form of [[religious communism]], called the [[United Order]], requiring Saints to [[law of consecration|consecrate]] all their property to the church.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1972|pp=106, 112, 121–22}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
He also envisioned that [[theocracy|theocratic]] institutions he established would have a role in the world-wide political organization of the [[Millennialism|Millennium]].
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|pp=111–12, 115}} (describing the expected role of the [[Council of Fifty]]).
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
By the mid-1830s, Smith began teaching a hierarchy of three [[priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|priesthoods]] ([[Melchizedek priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|Melchizedek]], [[Aaronic priesthood (LDS Church)|Aaronic]], and [[Patriarchal priesthood|Patriarchal]]),
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|pp=27–34}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=264–65}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
each of them a continuation of biblical priesthoods through [[lineal succession (Latter Day Saints)|patrilineal succession]] or ordination by biblical figures appearing in visions.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|p=7}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Upon introducing the Melchizedek or "High" Priesthood in 1831,
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=111}};{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=156–60}}; {{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|pp=31–32}};{{Harvtxt|Roberts|1902|pp=175–76}} (On 3 June 1831, "the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood was manifested and conferred for the first time upon several of the Elders.").
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Smith taught that its recipients would be "endowed with power from on high," thus fulfilling a need for a greater holiness and an authority commensurate with the New Testament [[Apostle (Christian)|apostles]].
|authorsources=<br>
#{{harvtxt|Prince|1995|pp=19, 115–116, 119}} (noting influence of[[Sidney Rigdon]] in developing this idea); [[Gospel of Luke]] 24:49 ([[Authorized King James Version]]) ("And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endowed with power from on high.").
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
This doctrine of [[Endowment (Latter Day Saints)|endowment]] evolved through the 1830s,
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Prince|1995|pp=31–32, 121–31}} (outlining evolution of the endowment idea in 1833 and 1836).
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Temples/Endowment}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
until in 1842, the [[Endowment (Mormonism)|Nauvoo endowment]] included an elaborate ceremony containing symbolism similar to that of [[Freemasonry]].
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Ostling|Ostling|1999|pp=194–95}}; {{Harvtxt|Prince|1995|p=146}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Temples/Endowment/Freemasonry}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
The endowment was extended to women in 1843,
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Prince|1995|p=140}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
though Smith never clarified whether women could be ordained to priesthood offices.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Prince|1995|p=201}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Smith taught that the High Priesthood's endowment of heavenly power included the [[sealing (Mormonism)|sealing]] powers of [[Elijah]], allowing High Priests to effect binding consequences in the afterlife.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Brooke|1994|pp=30, 194–95, 203, 208}} (Smith introduced the sealing power in 1831 as part of the High Priesthood, and then attributed this power to [[Elijah]] after he appeared in an 1836 vision in the [[Kirtland Temple]]).
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
For example, this power would enable [[baptism for the dead|proxy baptisms for the dead]]
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Brooke|1994|pp=221, 242–43}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Baptism for the dead}}
 
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
and [[Celestial marriage|priesthood marriages]] that would be effective into the afterlife.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Brooke|1994|pp=236}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Marriage/As a requirement for exaltation}}
 
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Elijah's sealing powers also enabled the [[second anointing]], or "fulness{{sic}} of the priesthood"
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Brooke|1994|p=256}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Temples/Second anointing}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
which, according to Smith, sealed married couples to their [[exaltation (Mormonism)|exaltation]], thus virtually guaranteeing their eternal godhood.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Brooke|1994|p=294}} ("The ritual of the second anointing...granted a virtually unconditional promise of divinity in the celestial kingdom."); {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=497–98}} (The second anointing ceremony "was Joseph's attempt to deal with the theological problem of assurance" of one's eternal life).
}}
 
===Theology of family===
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
During the early 1840s, Smith unfolded a theology of family relations called the "New and Everlasting Covenant"
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Roberts|1909|pp=502–07}} (1842 revelation describing the New and Everlasting Covenant).
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
that superseded all earthly bonds.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Foster|1981|pp=161–62}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
He taught that outside the Covenant, marriages were simply matters of contract,
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Foster|1981|pp=161–62}} (quoting a source stating that in Smith's view, sex within earthly marriages was not sinful if the marriage was cemented by bonds of love and affection, but sex could be sinful even within marriage if the partners were alienated from each other).
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
and Mormons outside the Covenant would be mere ministering angels to those within, who would be gods.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Foster|1981|p=145}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
To fully enter the Covenant, a man and woman must participate in a "[[endowment (Mormonism)|first anointing]]", a "[[sealing (Mormonism)|sealing]]" ceremony, and a "[[second anointing]]".
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=497–98}} (those who were married eternally were then "sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise" through the second anointing); {{Harvtxt|Brooke|1994|pp=256–57}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
When fully sealed into the Covenant, Smith said that no sin nor [[blasphemy]] (other than the [[eternal sin]]) could keep them from their [[exaltation (Mormonism)|"exaltation,"]] that is, their godhood in the afterlife.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Roberts|1909|pp=502–03}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=497–98}} (the [[second anointing]] provided a guarantee that participants would be exalted even if they sinned); {{Harvtxt|Brooke|1994|p=257}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
According to Smith, only one person on earth at a time—in this case, Smith—could possess this power of sealing.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Roberts|1909|pp=501}} ("I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this Priesthood are conferred.")
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Smith taught that the highest [[exaltation (Mormonism)|exaltation]] would be achieved through "[[Mormonism and polygamy|plural marriage]]" ([[polygamy]]),
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Foster|1981|pp=206–11}}; {{Harvtxt|Compton|1997|pp=11, 22–23}}; {{Harvtxt|Smith|2008|pp=356}}; {{Harvtxt|Brooke|1994|p=255}}; {{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=300}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=443}} (noting that a modern Mormon interpretation of Smith's 1843 polygamy revelation ties both polygamy an monogamy to degrees of exaltation).
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Mormonism and polygamy/Brigham Young said that the only men who become gods are those that practice polygamy}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
which was the ultimate manifestation of this New and Everlasting Covenant.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bloom|1992|p=108}} (polygamy and consequent progression towards godhood were "the true essence of becoming a Latter-day Saint, the heart of Mormon religion making.").
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Plural marriage allowed an individual to transcend the angelic state and become a god
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bloom|1992|p=105}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
by accelerating the expansion of one's heavenly kingdom.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Foster|1981|p=145}} ("[I]f marriage with one wife...could bring eternal progression and ultimate godhood for men, then multiple wives in this life and the next would accelerate the process, in line with God's promise to Abraham that his seed eventually would be as numerous as the sand on the sea shore."); {{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=300}} ("[I]f a man went to heaven with ten wives, he would have more than ten-fold the blessings of a mere monogamist, for all the children begotten through these wives would enhance his kingdom.").
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Smith taught and practiced this doctrine secretly but publicly denied it.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|pp=185–86, 246, 307, 321, 344, 374, 377}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=491}} (Smith denied he was advocating polygamy).
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Hiding the truth}}
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Nevertheless, Smith taught that once he revealed the doctrine to any man or woman, failure to practice it would be to risk God's wrath.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Roberts|1909|pp=501, 507}} ("[A]ll those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same;...and if ye abide not that covenant, then ye are damned." If a polygamist husband "teaches unto [his wife] the law of my Priesthood as pertaining to these things, then shall she believe and administer unto him, or she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord your God, for I will destroy her."); {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=438}} (noting the 1843 revelation about being "damned," and Smith's statements that unless he started to marry plural wives, an angel would slay him); {{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=342}} (The 1843 revelation "threatened destruction to any wife who refused to accept the new law".)
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Did women turn Joseph down}}
}}
 
===History and eschatology===
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Smith taught that during a [[Great Apostasy]], the [[Bible]] had degenerated from its original inerrant form, and the "abominable church," led by [[Satan]], had perverted true Christianity.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Hullinger|1992|p=154}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
He viewed himself as the latter-day prophet who [[Restoration (Latter Day Saints)|restored]] those lost truths via the [[Book of Mormon]]
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Hullinger|1992|p=154-54}} (describing how the Book of Mormon solved various 19th century biblical controversies).
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
and later revelations. He described the Book of Mormon as a literal "history of the origins of the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indians]]."
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=94}}; {{Harvtxt|Roberts|1902|p=315}} ("The Book of Mormon is a record of the forefathers of our western tribes of Indians.").
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Book of Mormon/Historicity}}
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
The book called the Indians "[[Lamanite]]s," a people  descended from [[Israelite]]s who had left Jerusalem in 600 BCE
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Smith|1830|p=51}} ([[Jesus]] "cometh according to the words of the angel, in six hundred years from the time my father left Jerusalem."); {{Harvtxt|Phelps|1833|p=41}} ("Lamanites are a remnant" of the Jews).
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
and whose skin pigmentation was a curse for their sinfulness.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=43}}; {{Harvtxt|Smith|1830|p=73}} (God "caused the cursing to come upon them... because of their iniquity.... [W]herefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people, therefore the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.").
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Book of Mormon/Lamanites/Curse}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Though Smith first identified Mormons as [[gentile]]s, he began teaching in the 1830s that the Mormons, too, were literal [[Israelite]]s.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Brooke|1994|pp=213–14}} (arguing that the shift occurred after 1832 and may have related to [[Oliver Cowdery]]'s failed mission to the Missouri "[[Lamanite]]s"); {{Harvtxt|Shipps|1985|pp=82–83}} (arguing that the identification of the Saints as literal Israelites was in place prior to 1838).
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Smith also claimed to have regained lost truths of sacred history through his revelations and [[Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible|revision of the Bible]]. For example, he taught that the [[Garden of Eden]] had been located in [[Jackson County, Missouri]], that Eve's partaking of the fruit was part of God's plan,
|authorsources=<br>
#2 Nephi 2:22-25
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Joseph Smith/Garden of Eden in Missouri}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
that [[Adam]] had practiced [[baptism]], that the descendants of [[Cain]] were "black,"
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Hill|1977|p=385}} (citing [[Book of Moses]] 7:22).
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Mormonism and racial issues/Blacks and the priesthood/The "curse of Cain" and "curse of Ham"}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
that [[Enoch (ancestor of Noah)|Enoch]] had built a [[Zion (Latter Day Saints)|city of Zion]] so perfect that it was [[Translation (Mormonism)|taken to heaven]],
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=138–41}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
that [[Egypt]] was discovered by the [[Egyptus|daughter of Ham]],
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=288}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
that the descendants of [[Ham (son of Noah)|Ham]] were denied the [[Patriarchal Priesthood|patriarchal right of priesthood]],
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=288}}; {{Harvtxt|Hill|1977|p=385}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*The idea that the “mark of Cain” and the "curse of Ham" was a black skin is something that was used by many Protestants as a way to morally and biblically justify slavery. This idea did not originate with Latter-day Saints, although the existence of the priesthood ban prior to 1978 tends to cause some people to assume that it was a Latter-day Saint concept.
*{{Detail_old|Mormonism and racial issues/Blacks and the priesthood/The "curse of Cain" and "curse of Ham"}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
that [[Abraham]] had discovered [[astronomy|astronomical]] truths by peering into a [[Urim and Thummim (Latter Day Saints)|Urim and Thummim]],
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=453–55}}.
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Book of Abraham/Astronomy}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
that [[King David]] had been denied his [[exaltation (Mormonism)|godhood]] because of his sin, and that [[John the Apostle]] would walk the earth until the [[Second Coming]] of [[Jesus]].
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=74}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Smith declared that he would be one of the instruments in fulfilling [[Nebuchadnezzar]]'s [[Daniel 2|statue vision]] in the [[Book of Daniel]]: that he was the stone that would destroy secular government without "sword or gun",
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=521}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
which would then be replaced with a theocratic [[Council of Fifty|Kingdom of God]].
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|pp=356–57}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=521}}; {{Harvtxt|Bloom|1992|p=90}} (Smith identified himself as the stone).
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Mormonism and government/The Council of Fifty}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Smith taught that this political kingdom would be multidenominational and [[theodemocracy|"democratic"]] so long as the people chose wisely; but there would be no elections.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=522–23}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
[[Jesus]] would appear during the [[Millennium]] as the ultimate ruler. Following a thousand years of peace, [[Judgment Day]] would be followed by a final [[resurrection]], when all humanity would be assigned to one of three [[Degrees of Glory|heavenly kingdoms]].
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=521, 536–37}}.
}}
 
===Political views===
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Smith ran for [[President of the United States]] in 1844, campaigning as "General Joseph Smith" because he had earlier been appointed [[Lieutenant General]] of the [[Nauvoo Legion]]. Smith considered the [[United States Constitution]], and especially the [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]], to be inspired by God and "the Saints' best and perhaps only defense."
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=377}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
He believed a strong central government crucial to the nation's well-being but thought [[democracy]] better than [[tyranny]]—although he also taught that a [[theocracy|theocratic]] [[monarchy]] was the ideal form of government.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=522}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
In foreign affairs, Smith was an [[expansionism|expansionist]], though he viewed "expansionism as brotherhood."
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=516}}: "If Texas petitions Congress to be adopted among the sons of liberty, give her the right hand of fellowship; and refuse not the same friendly grip to Canada and Mexico."
}}
}}
===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
and that mortal men and women may one day become gods and goddesses in the [[afterlife]]. Smith taught that human [[spirit]]s are immutable, and had neither a beginning nor an end.
Smith favored a strong [[central bank]] and high [[tariff]]s to protect American business and agriculture. He disfavored imprisonment of convicts except for murder, preferring efforts to reform criminals through labor; he also opposed [[court-martial|courts-martial]] for [[desertion|military deserters]]. He supported [[capital punishment]] but opposed [[hanging]],
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*{{Harvtxt|Larson|1978|pp=11-12 (online ver.)}}.
#{{Harvtxt|Roberts|1902|p=435}}.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCITE}}The word "goddesses" does not exist in the primary source quoted.
*From the cited source,
<blockquote>
I want to reason more on the spirit of man for I am dwelling on the immutability of the spirit and on the body of man
</blockquote>
}}
}}
===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
He taught that spirits existed in a [[pre-existence|pre-mortal life]] and that the spirits of human beings are composed of a very refined matter. In the afterlife, spirits of properly initiated Latter Day Saints go to a spirit world where they gradually gain the knowledge they need to achieve godhood.
preferring [[execution by firing squad]] or [[decapitation|beheading]] in order to "spill [the criminal's] blood on the ground, and let the smoke thereof ascend up to God."
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*{{Harvtxt|Larson|1978|p=7 (online ver.)}}.
#{{Harvtxt|Roberts|1909|p=296}}.
}}
}}
===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
Those who died as children, he taught, would automatically rule as gods in the afterlife without ever growing to adulthood.
Despite having published a pro-[[slavery]] essay in 1836,
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*{{Harvtxt|Larson|1978|p=15 (online ver.)}}.
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=289, 327–28}} (the essay "exhibited the conventional prejudiced of his day in asserting that blacks were cursed with servitude by a 'decree of Jehovah.'"); {{Harvtxt|Hill|1977|p=381}} (noting that Smith did not want to be identified as an abolitionist, even when he disfavored [[slavery]]).
}}
}}
===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
Smith taught that those who achieve godhood or goddess-hood will constitute the highest of three "degrees" within the [[Celestial kingdom|highest of three heavens]].
Smith later strongly opposed slavery.
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
|response=
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=289}}; {{Harvtxt|Hill|1977|pp=380, 383}} (citing 1833 revelation stating that "it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another").
*{{Detail|Nature of God/Deification of man|Plan of salvation}}
}}
}}
===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
Smith did not believe in the creation of the universe ''[[ex nihilo]]'' but rather believed that the earth had been organized from existing matter billions of years before. He believed the earth itself was just one of many inhabited worlds and that God resided near a planet or star called ''[[Kolob]]''.
During his presidential campaign, he proposed abolishing slavery by 1850 and compensating slaveholders
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*Abraham 3: 9; {{Harvnb|Widmer|2000}}, 70-90.
#{{Harvtxt|Hill|1977|p=384}}.
|response=
*{{Detail|Creation/Creatio ex nihilo}}
}}
}}


===Family===
===== =====
{{See also|Origin of Latter Day Saint polygamy}}
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
through sale of public lands.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|pp=516, 327–28}}. Smith also proposed cutting congressional pay from eight to two dollars per day and requiring only two representatives per million people, thus reducing the number of representatives in the [[United States House of Representatives|House]] to forty.
}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
Confidentially to a few of his closest followers and potential wives, Smith originated [[Mormonism and polygamy|Mormon polygamy]] (also called "plural marriage"). While he publicly denied the doctrine and called it adultery, he secretly taught that [[polygamy]] (specifically, [[polygyny]]) was a divine commandment.  Smith himself married approximately thirty to forty women, and his plural marriages included [[polyandry]]: several of his plural wives were already married to other men.
Smith did not believe blacks to be genetically inferior to whites;
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*{{Harvnb|Foster|1981}}; {{Harvnb|Quinn|1994}}; {{Harvnb|Compton|1997}}; {{Harvnb|Launius|1988}}; {{Harvnb|Van Wagoner|1989}}; {{Harvnb|Newell|1994}}.
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=289}}; {{Harvtxt|Hill|1977|pp=384–85}}.
|response=
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Polygamy}}
}}
}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
Smith taught that plural marriage was part of the "New and Everlasting Covenant," a special [[Celestial marriage|Mormon marriage]] ceremony binding partners, including polygamous partners, for eternity. Anyone taught this principle had a duty to practice it or be damned.
he welcomed both freemen and slaves into the church and even ordained free black members into the [[Priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|priesthood]]
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*LDS D&C 132:3-6.
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=289}}; {{Harvtxt|Hill|1977|pp=381–82, 85}}.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCITE|editor=John Foxe|wikipedialink=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_Smith,_Jr.&diff=336615624&oldid=336614634}}The verses referenced do not specifically mention plural marriage. Although Section 132 definitely discusses plural marriage, the new and everlasting covenant applies to eternal marriage, whether that marriage is monogamous or plural.
*See {{s||DC|132|3-6}}  
<blockquote>
3 Therefore, prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you; for all those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same.<br>
4 For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.<br>
5 For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world.<br>
6 And as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the fulness of my glory; and he that receiveth a fulness thereof must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord God
</blockquote>
}}
}}


===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
Once entered into this covenant, however, they could be [[second anointing|sealed to their exaltation]] so that as long as they did not commit the [[murder]] of an innocent or the [[eternal sin]], they were guaranteed salvation.
But he opposed baptizing slaves without permission of their masters, and he opposed [[miscegenation]].
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*LDS D&C 132:19.
#{{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=289}}; {{Harvtxt|Hill|1977|p=379}}.
|response=
*{{WikipediaOR|editor=COgden|wikipedialink=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_Smith,_Jr.&diff=336502268&oldid=336500536}}The phrases "eternal sin," "sealed to their exaltation" (which links to [[Second Anointing]]) and "guaranteed salvation" are an interpretation of this primary source by the wiki editor.
*See {{s||DC|132|19}}
<blockquote>
19 And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them—Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection; and if it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection; and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths—then shall it be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, that he shall commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, and if ye abide in my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.
</blockquote>
}}
}}
===Ethics and behavior===
===== =====
===== =====
{{WikipediaPassage
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
|claim=
Those within the New and Everlasting Covenant would be given continued posterity both in mortality and in the afterlife.
Smith said his ethical rule was, "When the Lord commands, do it";
|authorsources=
|authorsources=<br>
*LDS D&C 132:19, 30-31.
#{{Harvtxt|Roberts|1904|p=170}}.
|response=
*See {{s||DC|132|30-31}}
<blockquote>
30 Abraham received promises concerning his seed, and of the fruit of his loins—from whose loins ye are, namely, my servant Joseph—which were to continue so long as they were in the world; and as touching Abraham and his seed, out of the world they should continue; both in the world and out of the world should they continue as innumerable as the stars; or, if ye were to count the sand upon the seashore ye could not number them.
31 This promise is yours also, because ye are of Abraham, and the promise was made unto Abraham; and by this law is the continuation of the works of my Father, wherein he glorifieth himself.
</blockquote>
}}
}}


==References==
===== =====
{{WikipediaRefList:Joseph Smith, Jr.}}
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
and by issuing revelations, Smith supplemented biblical imperatives with new directives. One of these revelations, called the "[[Word of Wisdom]]," was framed not as a commandment, but as a recommendation. Coming at a time of [[temperance]] agitation,
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=166}}; {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=212}} (revelation "came at a time when temperance and food reforms were flourishing in the United States").
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
the guideline recommended that Saints avoid "strong" alcoholic drinks, wine (except [[Sacrament (Latter Day Saints)|sacramental]] wine), tobacco, meat (except in times of famine or cold weather), and "hot drinks."
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Smith|1835|loc=sec. LXXX, 207-08}}
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Smith and other contemporary church leaders did not always follow this counsel.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Brodie|1971|p=289}} (Smith drank wine "with relish" and noted his drinking in his journal "without apology."); {{Harvtxt|Bushman|2005|p=213}} ("Joseph drank tea and a glass of wine from time to time."); {{Harvtxt|Ostling|1999|pp=177–78}} (Smith "himself liked a nip every now and then, especially at weddings." His own [[Joseph Smith Mansion House|Mansion House]], which operated a hotel, maintained a fully stocked barroom, and Nauvoo also had a brewery that advertised in the church newspaper."  According to Smith's fellow prisoner John Taylor, "the prophet requested and drank wine at Carthage Jail the night before his was murdered in 1844.").
|authorsources=<br>
#
}}
*{{Detail_old|Word of Wisdom/Joseph Smith used tea}}
*{{Detail_old|Word of Wisdom/Joseph Smith sold liquor in Nauvoo}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
In 1831, Smith taught that those who kept the laws of God had "no need to break the laws of the land."
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Phelps|1833|p=135}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Nevertheless, beginning in the mid-1830s and into the 1840s, as the Mormon people became involved in conflicts with the Missouri and Illinois state governments, Smith taught that "congress has no power to make a law that would abridge the rights of my religion," and that they were not under the obligation to follow laws they deemed as being contrary to their "religious privilege."
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|p=88}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
He also taught that:
 
<blockquote>that which is wrong under one circumstance, may be and often is, right under another. God said thou shalt not kill—at another time he said thou shalt utterly destroy. This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted—by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the elders of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right...even things which may be considered abominable to all those who do not understand the order of heaven.</blockquote>
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|p=112}} (quoting a letter Smith wrote to the 19 year old daughter of [[Sidney Rigdon]] to justify Smith's polygamous proposal to her).
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
Smith may thus have felt justified in promoting polygamy despite its violation of both traditional ethical standards and the criminal law.
|authorsources=<br>
#{{Harvtxt|Quinn|1994|pp=88–89}}.
}}
 
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title={{check}}
|claim=
In 1842 Smith published the "Articles of Faith," a short document later canonized, which declared that members of the church believed in "honoring, obeying, and sustaining the law."
|authorsources=<br>
#12th Article of Faith. Pearl of Great Price.
}}


=={{Further reading label}}==
{{To_learn_more_box:anti-Mormon_literature_and_Wikipedia}}
{{MormonismAndWikipedia}}


{{suggestions}}


[[fr:Mormonism and Wikipedia/Joseph Smith, Jr./Distinctive views and teachings]]
{{Endnotes sources}}

Latest revision as of 07:05, 31 May 2024

An analysis of Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith"



Death
A FairMormon Analysis of Wikipedia: "Joseph Smith"
 A work by a collaboration of authors (Link to Wikipedia article here) 		Legacy
The name Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. Wikipedia content is copied and made available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Distinctive views and teachings

Cosmology and theology  Updated 9/3/2011

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith taught that all existence was material,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

including a world of "spirit matter" so fine that it was invisible to all but the purest mortal eyes.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Matter, in Smith's view, could neither be created nor destroyed;

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

the creation involved only the reorganization of existing matter.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Like matter, "intelligence" was co-eternal with God, and human spirits had been drawn from a pre-existent pool of eternal intelligences.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Embodiment, therefore, was the purpose of earth life.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

The work and glory of God, the supreme intelligence,

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , pp. 455–56 (arguing that in Smith's theology, God's authority arose not from being an ex nihilo creator, but from having the greatest intelligence).

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

was to create worlds across the cosmos where inferior intelligences could be embodied.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Though Smith at first taught that God the Father was a spirit,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

he eventually viewed God as an advanced and glorified man,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

embodied within space

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , p. 421 ("Piece by piece, Joseph redefined the nature of God, giving Him a form and a body and locating Him in time and space."); Bloom (1992) , p. 101 ("Joseph Smith's God...is finite.... Exalted now into the heavens, God necessarily is still subject to the contingencies of time and space.").

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

with a throne situated near a star or planet named Kolob, and measuring time at the rate of a thousand years per Kolob day.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Both God the Father and Jesus were distinct beings with physical bodies, but the Holy Spirit was a "personage of Spirit."

Author's sources:
  1. Roberts (1909) , p. 325.

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Through the gradual acquisition of knowledge,

Author's sources:
  1. Larson (1978) , p. 7 (online ver.).

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

those who were sealed to their exaltation could eventually become coequal with God.

Author's sources:
  1. Widmer (2000) , p. 119.

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

The ability of humans to progress to godhood implied a vast hierarchy of gods.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Each of these gods, in turn, would rule a kingdom of inferior intelligences, and so forth in an eternal hierarchy.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

The opportunity to achieve godhood extended to all humanity; those who died with no opportunity to accept Latter Day Saint theology could achieve godhood by accepting its benefit in the afterlife through baptism for the dead.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Children who died in their innocence were guaranteed to rise at the resurrection and rule as gods without maturing to adulthood.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Violates Wikipedia: Citing sources off-site— There is either no citation to support the statement or the citation given is incorrect.
    Violated by COgden —Diff: off-site
    The cited source says nothing about children rising to "rule as gods without maturing to adulthood." Joseph Smith said that "children would be raised in the resurrection just as they were laid down, and that they would obtain all the intelligence necessary to occupy thrones, principalities and powers.” (History of the Church, volume 4, page 556.) Children will rise from the resurrection as children, but they will be raised to maturity. There is no Mormon doctrine of "immature gods."

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Apart from those who committed the eternal sin, Smith taught that even the wicked and disbelieving would achieve a degree of glory in the afterlife,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

where they would serve those who had achieved godhood.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Violates Wikipedia: Citing sources off-site— There is either no citation to support the statement or the citation given is incorrect.

    The Bushman reference refers to those who are not married by priesthood authority, not the "wicked and disbelieving." Bushman states that "the worldly wed became single again, and a permanent cap limited their progress." Ne notes that they are appointed "angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory."
  •  Violates Wikipedia: Synthesis off-site: Do not put together information from multiple sources to reach a conclusion that is not stated explicitly by any of the sources.

    This passage coupled with the previous one constitutes Wikipedia synthesis. The second Bushman passage referring to eternal marriage is used in the Wikipedia article to make a point about those who are "wicked and disbelieving."

Religious authority and ritual

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith's teachings were rooted in dispensational restorationism.

Author's sources:
  1. Brooke (1994) , p. 33.

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

He saw his teachings and the Church of Christ as a restoration of early Christian ideals that had been lost in a great apostasy.

Author's sources:
  1. Remini (2000) , p. 84.

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

At first, Smith's church had little sense of hierarchy, Smith's religious authority being derived from visions and revelations.

Author's sources:
  1. Quinn (1994) , p. 7 (describing Smith's earliest earliest authority as charismatic authority).

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Though Smith did not claim exclusive prophethood,

Author's sources:
  1. Quinn (1994) , pp. 7–8.

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

an early revelation designated him as the only prophet allowed to issue commandments "as Moses."

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , pp. 121, 175; Phelps (1833) , p. 67 ("[N]o one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church, excepting my servant Joseph, for he receiveth them even as Moses.").

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

This religious authority encompassed economic and political as well as spiritual matters. For instance, in the early 1830s, he temporarily instituted a form of religious communism, called the United Order, requiring Saints to consecrate all their property to the church.

Author's sources:
  1. Brodie (1972) , pp. 106, 112, 121–22.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

He also envisioned that theocratic institutions he established would have a role in the world-wide political organization of the Millennium.

Author's sources:
  1. Quinn (1994) , pp. 111–12, 115 (describing the expected role of the Council of Fifty).

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

By the mid-1830s, Smith began teaching a hierarchy of three priesthoods (Melchizedek, Aaronic, and Patriarchal),

Author's sources:
  1. Quinn (1994) , pp. 27–34; Bushman (2005) , pp. 264–65.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

each of them a continuation of biblical priesthoods through patrilineal succession or ordination by biblical figures appearing in visions.

Author's sources:
  1. Quinn (1994) , p. 7.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Upon introducing the Melchizedek or "High" Priesthood in 1831,

Author's sources:
  1. Brodie (1971) , p. 111;Bushman (2005) , pp. 156–60; Quinn (1994) , pp. 31–32;Roberts (1902) , pp. 175–76 (On 3 June 1831, "the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood was manifested and conferred for the first time upon several of the Elders.").

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith taught that its recipients would be "endowed with power from on high," thus fulfilling a need for a greater holiness and an authority commensurate with the New Testament apostles.

Author's sources:
  1. Prince (1995) , pp. 19, 115–116, 119 (noting influence ofSidney Rigdon in developing this idea); Gospel of Luke 24:49 (Authorized King James Version) ("And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endowed with power from on high.").

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

This doctrine of endowment evolved through the 1830s,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

until in 1842, the Nauvoo endowment included an elaborate ceremony containing symbolism similar to that of Freemasonry.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

The endowment was extended to women in 1843,

Author's sources:
  1. Prince (1995) , p. 140.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

though Smith never clarified whether women could be ordained to priesthood offices.

Author's sources:
  1. Prince (1995) , p. 201.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith taught that the High Priesthood's endowment of heavenly power included the sealing powers of Elijah, allowing High Priests to effect binding consequences in the afterlife.

Author's sources:
  1. Brooke (1994) , pp. 30, 194–95, 203, 208 (Smith introduced the sealing power in 1831 as part of the High Priesthood, and then attributed this power to Elijah after he appeared in an 1836 vision in the Kirtland Temple).

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

For example, this power would enable proxy baptisms for the dead

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

and priesthood marriages that would be effective into the afterlife.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Elijah's sealing powers also enabled the second anointing, or "fulness(sic) of the priesthood"

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

which, according to Smith, sealed married couples to their exaltation, thus virtually guaranteeing their eternal godhood.

Author's sources:
  1. Brooke (1994) , p. 294 ("The ritual of the second anointing...granted a virtually unconditional promise of divinity in the celestial kingdom."); Bushman (2005) , pp. 497–98 (The second anointing ceremony "was Joseph's attempt to deal with the theological problem of assurance" of one's eternal life).

FAIR's Response

Theology of family

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

During the early 1840s, Smith unfolded a theology of family relations called the "New and Everlasting Covenant"

Author's sources:
  1. Roberts (1909) , pp. 502–07 (1842 revelation describing the New and Everlasting Covenant).

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

that superseded all earthly bonds.

Author's sources:
  1. Foster (1981) , pp. 161–62.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

He taught that outside the Covenant, marriages were simply matters of contract,

Author's sources:
  1. Foster (1981) , pp. 161–62 (quoting a source stating that in Smith's view, sex within earthly marriages was not sinful if the marriage was cemented by bonds of love and affection, but sex could be sinful even within marriage if the partners were alienated from each other).

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

and Mormons outside the Covenant would be mere ministering angels to those within, who would be gods.

Author's sources:
  1. Foster (1981) , p. 145.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

To fully enter the Covenant, a man and woman must participate in a "first anointing", a "sealing" ceremony, and a "second anointing".

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , pp. 497–98 (those who were married eternally were then "sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise" through the second anointing); Brooke (1994) , pp. 256–57.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

When fully sealed into the Covenant, Smith said that no sin nor blasphemy (other than the eternal sin) could keep them from their "exaltation," that is, their godhood in the afterlife.

Author's sources:
  1. Roberts (1909) , pp. 502–03; Bushman (2005) , pp. 497–98 (the second anointing provided a guarantee that participants would be exalted even if they sinned); Brooke (1994) , p. 257.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

According to Smith, only one person on earth at a time—in this case, Smith—could possess this power of sealing.

Author's sources:
  1. Roberts (1909) , pp. 501 ("I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this Priesthood are conferred.")

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith taught that the highest exaltation would be achieved through "plural marriage" (polygamy),

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

which was the ultimate manifestation of this New and Everlasting Covenant.

Author's sources:
  1. Bloom (1992) , p. 108 (polygamy and consequent progression towards godhood were "the true essence of becoming a Latter-day Saint, the heart of Mormon religion making.").

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Plural marriage allowed an individual to transcend the angelic state and become a god

Author's sources:
  1. Bloom (1992) , p. 105.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

by accelerating the expansion of one's heavenly kingdom.

Author's sources:
  1. Foster (1981) , p. 145 ("[I]f marriage with one wife...could bring eternal progression and ultimate godhood for men, then multiple wives in this life and the next would accelerate the process, in line with God's promise to Abraham that his seed eventually would be as numerous as the sand on the sea shore."); Brodie (1971) , p. 300 ("[I]f a man went to heaven with ten wives, he would have more than ten-fold the blessings of a mere monogamist, for all the children begotten through these wives would enhance his kingdom.").

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith taught and practiced this doctrine secretly but publicly denied it.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

}}

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Nevertheless, Smith taught that once he revealed the doctrine to any man or woman, failure to practice it would be to risk God's wrath.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

}}

History and eschatology

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith taught that during a Great Apostasy, the Bible had degenerated from its original inerrant form, and the "abominable church," led by Satan, had perverted true Christianity.

Author's sources:
  1. Hullinger (1992) , p. 154.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

He viewed himself as the latter-day prophet who restored those lost truths via the Book of Mormon

Author's sources:
  1. Hullinger (1992) , p. 154-54 (describing how the Book of Mormon solved various 19th century biblical controversies).

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

and later revelations. He described the Book of Mormon as a literal "history of the origins of the Indians."

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

}}

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

The book called the Indians "Lamanites," a people descended from Israelites who had left Jerusalem in 600 BCE

Author's sources:
  1. Smith (1830) , p. 51 (Jesus "cometh according to the words of the angel, in six hundred years from the time my father left Jerusalem."); Phelps (1833) , p. 41 ("Lamanites are a remnant" of the Jews).

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

and whose skin pigmentation was a curse for their sinfulness.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Though Smith first identified Mormons as gentiles, he began teaching in the 1830s that the Mormons, too, were literal Israelites.

Author's sources:
  1. Brooke (1994) , pp. 213–14 (arguing that the shift occurred after 1832 and may have related to Oliver Cowdery's failed mission to the Missouri "Lamanites"); Shipps (1985) , pp. 82–83 (arguing that the identification of the Saints as literal Israelites was in place prior to 1838).

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith also claimed to have regained lost truths of sacred history through his revelations and revision of the Bible. For example, he taught that the Garden of Eden had been located in Jackson County, Missouri, that Eve's partaking of the fruit was part of God's plan,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

that Adam had practiced baptism, that the descendants of Cain were "black,"

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

that Enoch had built a city of Zion so perfect that it was taken to heaven,

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , pp. 138–41.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

that Egypt was discovered by the daughter of Ham,

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , p. 288.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

that the descendants of Ham were denied the patriarchal right of priesthood,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  • The idea that the “mark of Cain” and the "curse of Ham" was a black skin is something that was used by many Protestants as a way to morally and biblically justify slavery. This idea did not originate with Latter-day Saints, although the existence of the priesthood ban prior to 1978 tends to cause some people to assume that it was a Latter-day Saint concept.
  • For a detailed response, see: Mormonism and racial issues/Blacks and the priesthood/The "curse of Cain" and "curse of Ham"

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

that Abraham had discovered astronomical truths by peering into a Urim and Thummim,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

that King David had been denied his godhood because of his sin, and that John the Apostle would walk the earth until the Second Coming of Jesus.

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , p. 74.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith declared that he would be one of the instruments in fulfilling Nebuchadnezzar's statue vision in the Book of Daniel: that he was the stone that would destroy secular government without "sword or gun",

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , pp. 521.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

which would then be replaced with a theocratic Kingdom of God.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith taught that this political kingdom would be multidenominational and "democratic" so long as the people chose wisely; but there would be no elections.

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , pp. 522–23.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Jesus would appear during the Millennium as the ultimate ruler. Following a thousand years of peace, Judgment Day would be followed by a final resurrection, when all humanity would be assigned to one of three heavenly kingdoms.

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , pp. 521, 536–37.

FAIR's Response

Political views

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith ran for President of the United States in 1844, campaigning as "General Joseph Smith" because he had earlier been appointed Lieutenant General of the Nauvoo Legion. Smith considered the United States Constitution, and especially the Bill of Rights, to be inspired by God and "the Saints' best and perhaps only defense."

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , p. 377.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

He believed a strong central government crucial to the nation's well-being but thought democracy better than tyranny—although he also taught that a theocratic monarchy was the ideal form of government.

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , p. 522.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

In foreign affairs, Smith was an expansionist, though he viewed "expansionism as brotherhood."

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , p. 516: "If Texas petitions Congress to be adopted among the sons of liberty, give her the right hand of fellowship; and refuse not the same friendly grip to Canada and Mexico."

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith favored a strong central bank and high tariffs to protect American business and agriculture. He disfavored imprisonment of convicts except for murder, preferring efforts to reform criminals through labor; he also opposed courts-martial for military deserters. He supported capital punishment but opposed hanging,

Author's sources:
  1. Roberts (1902) , p. 435.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

preferring execution by firing squad or beheading in order to "spill [the criminal's] blood on the ground, and let the smoke thereof ascend up to God."

Author's sources:
  1. Roberts (1909) , p. 296.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Despite having published a pro-slavery essay in 1836,

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , pp. 289, 327–28 (the essay "exhibited the conventional prejudiced of his day in asserting that blacks were cursed with servitude by a 'decree of Jehovah.'"); Hill (1977) , p. 381 (noting that Smith did not want to be identified as an abolitionist, even when he disfavored slavery).

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith later strongly opposed slavery.

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , p. 289; Hill (1977) , pp. 380, 383 (citing 1833 revelation stating that "it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another").

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

During his presidential campaign, he proposed abolishing slavery by 1850 and compensating slaveholders

Author's sources:
  1. Hill (1977) , p. 384.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

through sale of public lands.

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , pp. 516, 327–28. Smith also proposed cutting congressional pay from eight to two dollars per day and requiring only two representatives per million people, thus reducing the number of representatives in the House to forty.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith did not believe blacks to be genetically inferior to whites;

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , p. 289; Hill (1977) , pp. 384–85.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

he welcomed both freemen and slaves into the church and even ordained free black members into the priesthood

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , p. 289; Hill (1977) , pp. 381–82, 85.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

But he opposed baptizing slaves without permission of their masters, and he opposed miscegenation.

Author's sources:
  1. Bushman (2005) , p. 289; Hill (1977) , p. 379.

FAIR's Response

Ethics and behavior

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith said his ethical rule was, "When the Lord commands, do it";

Author's sources:
  1. Roberts (1904) , p. 170.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

and by issuing revelations, Smith supplemented biblical imperatives with new directives. One of these revelations, called the "Word of Wisdom," was framed not as a commandment, but as a recommendation. Coming at a time of temperance agitation,

Author's sources:
  1. Brodie (1971) , p. 166; Bushman (2005) , p. 212 (revelation "came at a time when temperance and food reforms were flourishing in the United States").

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

the guideline recommended that Saints avoid "strong" alcoholic drinks, wine (except sacramental wine), tobacco, meat (except in times of famine or cold weather), and "hot drinks."

Author's sources:
  1. Smith (1835)

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith and other contemporary church leaders did not always follow this counsel.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

In 1831, Smith taught that those who kept the laws of God had "no need to break the laws of the land."

Author's sources:
  1. Phelps (1833) , p. 135.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Nevertheless, beginning in the mid-1830s and into the 1840s, as the Mormon people became involved in conflicts with the Missouri and Illinois state governments, Smith taught that "congress has no power to make a law that would abridge the rights of my religion," and that they were not under the obligation to follow laws they deemed as being contrary to their "religious privilege."

Author's sources:
  1. Quinn (1994) , p. 88.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

He also taught that:

that which is wrong under one circumstance, may be and often is, right under another. God said thou shalt not kill—at another time he said thou shalt utterly destroy. This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted—by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the elders of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right...even things which may be considered abominable to all those who do not understand the order of heaven.

Author's sources:
  1. Quinn (1994) , p. 112 (quoting a letter Smith wrote to the 19 year old daughter of Sidney Rigdon to justify Smith's polygamous proposal to her).

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

Smith may thus have felt justified in promoting polygamy despite its violation of both traditional ethical standards and the criminal law.

Author's sources:
  1. Quinn (1994) , pp. 88–89.

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of Check link or content make(s) the following claim:

In 1842 Smith published the "Articles of Faith," a short document later canonized, which declared that members of the church believed in "honoring, obeying, and sustaining the law."

Author's sources:
  1. 12th Article of Faith. Pearl of Great Price.

FAIR's Response

Wikipedia and anti-Mormon literature
Key sources
  • Roger Nicholson, "Mormonism and Wikipedia: The Church History That 'Anyone Can Edit'," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 1/8 (14 September 2012). [151–190] link
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