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.	Misrepresentation of source: The cited material nowhere says Joseph will be "looked upon as a god." See Quote mining—Journal of Discourses 5:88 to see how this quote was mined. Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief	Journal of Discourses 5:88
450	Church members elevate Joseph Smith almost to the level of Jesus Christ.	Absurd claim: A popular magazine from 1859 is the authors' best support for this claim? Joseph Smith's status in LDS belief	Tiffany's Monthly in 1859, p.170
451-452	Joseph Smith liked to fight?	Presentism or anachronism Personal failings of Joseph Smith	History of the Church 5:316, 524, 531 Journal of Discourses 8:317-18
452-454	Joseph Smith liked military trappings and titles.	[needs work]	History of the Church 4:382; 5:3; 6:282, 227
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."	Misrepresentation of source: God 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.	History unclear or in error: Joseph returned fire with a pistol when he and his three friends were attacked by 200 men armed with rifles. Joseph fired no shot until his brother had been shot in the face and killed. Three of Joseph's shots misfired; he killed no one. Joseph Smith as a martyr	[ATTENTION!]