Criticism of Mormonism/Books/The Changing World of Mormonism/Chapter 17


Chapter 16
A FAIR Analysis of:
Criticism of Mormonism/Books
A work by author: Jerald and Sandra Tanner
 Chapter 18

Claims made in Chapter 17: Joseph Smith

Page Claim Response Author's sources

=448

No man can enter the Celestial Kingdom without Joseph Smith's consent.||

  •  Prejudicial or loaded language: No one from first century Palestine can enter the kingdom without the consent of Jesus' apostles; thus Christ too appoints modern apostles (like Joseph) to play a role in judgment.
  •  Double standard: Do the Tanners reject the idea that Peter, James, John, and the rest of the Twelve will help judge Israel? If not, then why is the idea for a modern apostle treated as so absurd?
  • Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief
  • Journal of Discourses 7:289
  • Journal of Discourses 3:212
  • Journal of Discourses 8:176"

=448

Joseph Smith would be looked upon as a god.||

  • Journal of Discourses 5:88

450

Church members elevate Joseph Smith almost to the level of Jesus Christ.||

  • Tiffany's Monthly in 1859, p.170
451-452 Joseph Smith liked to fight? Personal failings of Joseph Smith
  • History of the Church 5:316, 524, 531
  • Journal of Discourses 8:317-18
456-457 Joseph Smith was ordained "King on earth" by the Council of Fifty. The Council of Fifty
  • Klaus J. Hansen, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1966, page 104
  • Brigham Young University Studies, Winter 1968, pp.212-13
  • Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 356. ( Index of claims )
  • Kenneth W. Godfrey, Causes of Mormon Non-Mormon Conflict in Hancock County, Illinois, 1839-1846, Ph.D. dissertation, BYU, 1967, pp.63-65"
458 Joseph Smith ran for president because he thought that he could win and rule as king over the United States. [[Joseph Smith and

politics]]||

  • Hansen, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Autumn 1966, p.67
460 Joseph Smith felt that he was "almost equal with God" and that God was his "right hand man."
  • History of the Church 5:289, 467; 6:78, 408-409
460 Joseph boasted that he was the only one who kept a whole church together. Did Joseph Smith 'boast' of keeping the Church intact
  • History of the Church 6:408-409
462-463 The destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor was illegal. Nauvoo Expositor
  • History of the Church, vol. 6, p.xxxviii
465 Joseph fought his attackers at Carthage using a six-shooter. Joseph Smith as a martyr
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