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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith/Chapter 22
Response to claims made in "Chapter 22: The Bennett Explosion"
| Claims made in "Chapter 21: If a Man Entice a Maid" | A FAIR Analysis of: No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith A work by author: Fawn Brodie
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Claims made in "Chapter 23: Into Hiding" |
310
Claim
- Joseph wrote a letter to Nancy Rigdon in an attempt to persuade her to become his plural wife.
Author's source(s) - John C. Bennett, History of the Saints, pp. 243-5.
312 - John C. Bennett claimed that Joseph threatened to deliver him to the Danites
The author(s) of No Man Knows My History make(s) the following claim:
John C. Bennett claimed that Joseph threatened to deliver him to the Danites if he did not sign an affidavit stating that Joseph had not permitted him to participate in "illicit intercourse."
Author's sources:
- Letter from Bennett to the Sangamo Journal, July 2, 1842, published July 15, 1842
- History of the Church 5:13.
FAIR's Response
- Absurd claim: Bennett's claim rings hollow, since after the supposed encounter in which Joseph threatened him, Bennett remained in Nauvoo for another 5-6 weeks before finally leaving. A week after "escaping" from Nauvoo, Bennett returned to the city. Even after publishing his attacks on Joseph, Bennett felt safe returning to Nauvoo and meeting with the prophet—hardly the acts of someone afraid for his life from religious fanatics.
- John C. Bennett
314 - Bennett claimed that the Danites were present in Nauvoo
The author(s) of No Man Knows My History make(s) the following claim:
Bennett claimed that the Danites were present in Nauvoo.
FAIR's Response
- Bennett, like many anti-Mormon imitators after him, would repeatedly claim that his truth telling put his life at grave risk from the "Danite" assassins, who "pledge themselves to poison the wells and the food and drink of dissenters, apostates, and all enemies of Zion, and to murder…[and] to destroy by fire and sword all the enemies of Mormonism."[1]
- Absurd claim: Bennett's subsequent actions belie his worry—he was to remain openly in Nauvoo for another five weeks, and during his two years of extensive anti-Mormon lecturing and publishing, he was never threatened by Danites. He even returned to Nauvoo a week after "escaping"—hardly a sign of fear.
316 - Joseph proposed plural marriage to Sarah Pratt while her husband Orson was away on a mission
The author(s) of No Man Knows My History make(s) the following claim:
Joseph proposed plural marriage to Sarah Pratt while her husband Orson was away on a mission.
FAIR's Response
Source(s) of the criticism
- Richard Abanes, Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism (Harvest House Publishers: 2005). 233, 422 n.47. ( Index of claims )
- Richard Abanes, One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003), 301 (PB) ( Index of claims )
- George D. Smith, Nauvoo Polygamy: "...but we called it celestial marriage" (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2008), xiv, 6, 55, , 356. ( Index of claims , (Detailed book review))
- Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 29.( Index of claims )
- Watchman Fellowship, The Watchman Expositor (Page 3)
- Various on-line anti-Mormon ministries
Notes
- ↑ John C. Bennett, The History of the Saints, or an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism (Boston: Leland & Whiting, 1842), 271. (Bennett examined)