Question:
Did you look at Joseph Smith's life style to see if he fit the criteria of a godly man before you became LDS?
George W
2009-12-24 11:43:28 UTC
If you didn't or you are considering becoming a member of the LDS (Mormon) church you may want to consider this: http://ezek27.truepath.com/wives.html
Eighteen answers:
?
2009-12-24 11:51:28 UTC
Yes, that is a very good point. There are also the following problems....



(1) God said don't add to His word or take away from it. Yet, if Joseph Smith is to be believed, God must have changed His mind.



(2) God told His disciples to go to "all nations", yet Joseph Smith would have us to believe that God only meant over in the East, and He was to bring it to America.



(3) God says if anyone, even an Angel from Heaven came and preached any other Gospel other then that which the Jesus gave the disciples, let them be "accursed". However, Joseph Smith would have us believe that God gave Him "another" Gospel just for us.



(4) God said He gave his spoken words to the "Jews". Joseph Smith was not a Jew. I wonder who's Words it is that he speaks.



(5) God says that salvation comes through the "Jews". I wonder what it is that Joseph Smith brings.



Oh, I could go on, but I think you get the idea.



Very good question.
Julymoon
2009-12-27 10:41:25 UTC
Joseph Smith's father was known as a money digger and sought after buried treasure, particularly that of Captain Kidd. His mother was highly superstitious. Joseph Smith took on this family business conning wealthy farmers claiming that he could find buried treasure on their land.



One might want to question whether it's a good idea to put your eternity, and or life in the hands and beliefs of this man. Smith was a controversial figure in American history because of his bizarre and unbiblical interpretations such as polygamy, Godhood, and making up the book of mormon with a rock in a hat.

There were nine different account of Smith's so called "first vision."

The book of Mormon is published in 1830, 10 years after the so-called First Vision, yet the 1820 vision upon which the LDS Church if founded is not officially given until 1842? Much of this information is not told to potential converts, it is all sugarcoated and twisted.



Joseph Smith repeatedly committed the same sins over an extended period of time. History has shown that he was a liar, a fornicator, an adulterer, and a con man.



Ginger:You state that most of the women were sealed to Joseph AFTER his death, that just is not true.

He had 34 wives all while he and the women were ALL ALIVE, yes, even more were sealed to him after his death. (the belief is all together forever)

11 of the wives were married to living men! a third of them were 14 to 20 years old.

See..http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/
Grela LaTuc
2009-12-25 16:01:46 UTC
I don't question God. Man is not perfect, he has weaknesses, but God sees into the heart and He chooses good men. He teaches them what they need to know and forgives them of their sins when they repent and ask for forgiveness.



There are people who, for a price, will swear untrue things about a person, or some who have a perceived grievance for that person. The critics like to take these documents to show what a scoundrel and low life Joseph Smith was, but they conveniently omit the hundreds of sworn statements, by upstanding people of the community, who attested that Joseph Smith was a fine man with good character, who worked hard, helped anyone who needed help and was a pillar in the community.



It is said that Joseph Smith took many wives. Members accept that he was sealed (not the same as marriage) to other women, and some already had temporal husbands. These women remained in their marriage to their husbands. These sealings are believed to have been made so that the righteous women could enter the Celestial Kingdom as their husbands were deemed unrighteous. And many women had themselves sealed to Joseph's after his death, this was a common practice among the women back then, many did the same with Brigham Young. The commandment for polygamy came from God, and when God tells us to do something, it is not bad. Again, I do not question the will of God.



I had a crisis of faith when I was in my late teens early twenties. And I read the critics which were out at the time. I found what I read sad, but laughable, at the misconceptions these people had on the Church and its beliefs. And it was easy to discover how they had twisted what they listed as 'true' beliefs of the Mormons. Seeing the inaccuracies in these books actually helped me choose to remain a member and strengthened my belief in the LDS Church.



The Tanners are one of those couples who were excommunicated from the Church because of their behavior. They have made it their life's work to tear down the Church. But they, like other critics, take their research from the same early critical works against the Church. Works which have been proved inaccurate decades ago. If you take the works of people like the Tanners, Martin, Decker and others and do a side by side comparison of them, you will find that they all use the same sources and sometimes even write word for word.
anonymous
2016-05-26 12:41:31 UTC
No, the journal of discoures is not church doctrine and you have misunderstood the idea anyway. The idea is that we are subject to the laws of the time we live in- Those that live under Joseph Smith will be organized under him and subject to the rules that were in force in his time period. Those under Thomas Monson are organized under him. We all are judged by Jesus, but he also has called Bishops which serve as common judges in Israel. I think that we will be organized into our time periods, and then further organized into smaller and smaller groups to make the work go faster. Since on the other side we will all have a perfect knowledge of our guilt or innocence, the judgement will be a self judgement more than anything. Thats some pretty deep doctrine either way. Hope I helped.
Ender
2009-12-25 07:29:33 UTC
Did Moses? After all he was Egyptian Royalty.

Did Judas Iscariot? He betrayed Jesus Christ?

Did Jesus Christ? He was just a lowely carpenter from Nazareth?

Did Jonah? He ran away when the Lord commanded him to go to Ninevah?

Did David? He was just a young boy.



What is this "criteria" that you're referring to? Is there somewhere in the Bible that indicates the prerequisites for God to call someone???



Abraham too had several wives. Does this mean that he wasn't a man of God?





Why don't you find out from God through sincere prayer if he was or was not.
?
2009-12-24 19:19:25 UTC
truthfully no

i looked at his testimony of angelic visitation and of his First vision

then i found the whole "compiled" church history version.

then i found out his confessions

and then i found where he said he was guilty of many things as a youth and asked for forgiveness, he said: forgive me and i will forgive. you also. he also used the word Foilble.

when i was 14 i was putting Nude posters up in my closet walls.

when i was 14 i was running around the city vandalizing trash cans and throwing water balloons. stealing cigarettes from the counter top and smoking pot by the quarter ounce. all because it was fun,

when i began reading the bible i changed all that



im sure there are sins in your youth that you regret. if you were to become one of the righteous teachers , everything in your youth would be turned against you.



the works of joseph smith are above exemplarary. are yours. ?



p.s. Now that i have confessed what a "scum" i was ! one thing everyone should remember is that Jesus said: "my grace is sufficient for all".

the way i joined the church, is not by the will of men, but by the spirit of revelation. First the revelation proved the church, and then the history taught itself. i joined because the gift of prophecy was given to me through my covenant to be a witness. NO one can despise me what i became. but surely people who live by "grace" would be able to understand how a sinner can be saved and be born again.
Penny Lane
2009-12-24 12:23:43 UTC
Honestly, we dont get into too much depth with answers on stuff like this because we dont know the answers. There are things taken on faith that we know we will understand one day but are not essential now. If I had a weak faith in the gospel something like this might make a difference to me, but Ive seen how true it is more times than I can count. God does things in strange ways. Trying to understand everything his prophets do is slightly arrogant, since you are assuming you have a perfect understanding of GOD himself. They are not the same, but a prophet has Gods priesthood authority on earth and does what he commands.

God never intended for Abraham to offer up his son Jacob, it was a test. There are several things God did in the Bible, that seem odd....and esp to the people at the time. Hey, God, why have Moses set us all free only to wander around lost in the desert for 40 years?? But there WAS a purpose.



So to answer your question, I may question your motives, but I wont question God's.
Something peculiar...
2009-12-24 17:59:34 UTC
Your point? Moses was married to two wives, and was pointed out that the children of Israel came out of four women, and Abraham had two women he was married to as well. Point is this argument is full of holes. It's apparent that it was a different morality and ethics than we have now in this age.



And what also is forgotten is that a lot of the women that are supposedly wives of Joseph were sealed to him after his death.
Old Timer Too
2009-12-24 11:51:48 UTC
You might wonder why God chose Moses, a murdered, or Jonah, who had no courage (and both argued with God) to be prophets.



You might wonder why Jacob fathered the tribes of Israel from four different women and yet they were still the favored ("chosen") people.



I don't question God. And what could apply in ancient times certainly can apply to today's world if you believe that God is unchanging.



Life style has nothing to do with how God views the individual. Look at Saul, who became Paul, and was guilty of standing by and holding the coats of those who stoned Stephen (as recorded in Acts).
Brother G
2009-12-24 17:14:39 UTC
An anti mormon website by the Tanners....boring



Do I have to read what Judas Iscariot thought of Jesus?
mormon_4_jesus
2009-12-26 08:30:55 UTC
I don't consider any web site that is committed to hatred and tearing down the good faith of others. Especially ezek's.
Hally
2009-12-24 11:50:43 UTC
You would never know that Joseph was married to more than thirty women by looking at the official LDS website devoted to Joseph Smith. It only mentions his FIRST wife, Emma. Not the other women and girls he married, like Helen Mar Kimball, aged 14.



http://www.josephsmith.net/josephsmith/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=031f001cfb340010VgnVCM1000001f5e340aRCRD&locale=0



I have to assume they are embarrassed by the truth, otherwise, why not proclaim it? Why suppress and skew the truth?



EDIT: Old Timer Too, if lifestyle does not change how God views the individual, then tell me: can a person who drinks coffee and the occasional beer get a temple recommend? No, I didn't think so. So lifestyle DOES matter, very much, doesn't it?
Just a guy
2009-12-24 11:55:01 UTC
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/1826Trial/1826Trial_Hill.html



this is from a Mormon Apologist at BYU. You can see that they have about a million holes in the dam to plug and each one is met with exhaustive plausibility that puts the reader to sleep before saying anything that even retains moisture let alone holds any resemblance of water. Oh boy.



Mormon apologetic material is so interesting to read. This kind of thing should be studied by debate teams. Mormon apologists are the most delusional and relentless debaters of all time. For ALL time. it is so fascinating.
colebolegooglygooglyhammerhead
2009-12-24 18:23:14 UTC
yeah yeah yeah. . .I read your little website page. . .



Now, was I supposed to believe it?



Everything posted on the internet is not to believed, or didn't you know that already?
Pancakes
2009-12-24 11:48:57 UTC
If it gives people inner peace then I say let them be
Mulligan
2009-12-24 11:50:23 UTC
just start with jesus when you can see how fake that is there is no need to look into Mormonism?
anonymous
2009-12-24 11:49:57 UTC
A holy man came out of Missouri, smoking fine cigars.
recycling angel
2009-12-24 11:48:17 UTC
Yes he was a GOOD CHRISTIAN


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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