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{{FutureMissionaryIndexClaim | {{FutureMissionaryIndexClaim | ||
|claim=The website states that Joseph Smith was a Freemason and then refers the reader to the Wikipedia article on the subject. | |claim=The website states that Joseph Smith was a Freemason and then refers the reader to the Wikipedia article on the subject. | ||
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*Joseph Smith and a number of other Church leaders were Freemasons. In fact, the restored Masonic Lodge is one of the tour sites in Nauvoo, Illinois. | *Joseph Smith and a number of other Church leaders were Freemasons. In fact, the restored Masonic Lodge is one of the tour sites in Nauvoo, Illinois. | ||
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|claim=The website poses the question "Why was Joseph Smith imprisoned at Carthage?" The response is that it was because Joseph destroyed the press for the Nauvoo Expositor, which was going to expose Joseph's involvement in polygamy. | |claim=The website poses the question "Why was Joseph Smith imprisoned at Carthage?" The response is that it was because Joseph destroyed the press for the Nauvoo Expositor, which was going to expose Joseph's involvement in polygamy. | ||
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*The Expositor incident led directly to the murder of Joseph and Hyrum, but it was preceeded by a long period of non-Mormon distrust of Joseph Smith, and attempts to extradite him on questionable basis. | *The Expositor incident led directly to the murder of Joseph and Hyrum, but it was preceeded by a long period of non-Mormon distrust of Joseph Smith, and attempts to extradite him on questionable basis. | ||
*The destruction of the Expositor issue was legal; it was not legal to have destroyed the type, but this was a civil matter, not a criminal one, and one for which Joseph was willing to pay a fine if imposed. | *The destruction of the Expositor issue was legal; it was not legal to have destroyed the type, but this was a civil matter, not a criminal one, and one for which Joseph was willing to pay a fine if imposed. | ||
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|claim=The website states that Joseph had many wives. | |claim=The website states that Joseph had many wives. | ||
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*It is correct that Joseph initiated the practice of polygamy within the Church. | *It is correct that Joseph initiated the practice of polygamy within the Church. | ||
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|claim=The website asks the question "What was the peep or seer stone?" | |claim=The website asks the question "What was the peep or seer stone?" | ||
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*Joseph was given a set of Nephite interpreters along with the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was produced. In addition, Joseph already possessed and utilized several seer stones. Although Joseph began translating the Book of Mormon using the Nephite interpreters, he later switched to using one of his seer stones to complete the translation. Critics (typically those who reject Mormonism but still believe in God) reject the idea that God would approve the use of an instrument for translation that had previously been used for "money digging." | *Joseph was given a set of Nephite interpreters along with the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was produced. In addition, Joseph already possessed and utilized several seer stones. Although Joseph began translating the Book of Mormon using the Nephite interpreters, he later switched to using one of his seer stones to complete the translation. Critics (typically those who reject Mormonism but still believe in God) reject the idea that God would approve the use of an instrument for translation that had previously been used for "money digging." | ||
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|claim=The website poses the question "How did Joseph Translate?" The website notes that Joseph used a stone and a hat, and states that Church art "has led many members to believe that Joseph was reading directly from the Golden Plates." | |claim=The website poses the question "How did Joseph Translate?" The website notes that Joseph used a stone and a hat, and states that Church art "has led many members to believe that Joseph was reading directly from the Golden Plates." | ||
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*Members are taught that Joseph translated using the Urim and Thummim. Some Church art portrays Joseph looking directly at the plates, even though members know that this is not the way it was done. | *Members are taught that Joseph translated using the Urim and Thummim. Some Church art portrays Joseph looking directly at the plates, even though members know that this is not the way it was done. | ||
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|claim=The website poses the question "Did Joseph kill anyone?" The website notes that Joseph " pulled the trigger 6 times in self defense, though only 3 bullets fired, injuring 3." | |claim=The website poses the question "Did Joseph kill anyone?" The website notes that Joseph " pulled the trigger 6 times in self defense, though only 3 bullets fired, injuring 3." | ||
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*Cyrus Wheelock smuggled in a six-shooter pepperbox pistol into Carthage Jail, which Joseph attempted to fire six times as his attackers attempted to break through the door. The pistol misfired three times, and three people were wounded. John Taylor initially assumed that these three had died of their wounds, however, evidence indicates that all three survived. Joseph's pistol is currently on display at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City. | *Cyrus Wheelock smuggled in a six-shooter pepperbox pistol into Carthage Jail, which Joseph attempted to fire six times as his attackers attempted to break through the door. The pistol misfired three times, and three people were wounded. John Taylor initially assumed that these three had died of their wounds, however, evidence indicates that all three survived. Joseph's pistol is currently on display at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City. | ||
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|claim=The website poses the question "Was Joseph a racist?" The website answers "no." | |claim=The website poses the question "Was Joseph a racist?" The website answers "no." | ||
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*As the website notes, Joseph conferred the priesthood on at least one black man, and ran for President on an abolitionist platform. | *As the website notes, Joseph conferred the priesthood on at least one black man, and ran for President on an abolitionist platform. | ||
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Black Mormons | A FAIR Analysis of: FutureMissionary.com A work by author: Anonymous
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The Book of Abraham |
The positions that the FutureMissionary article "The Prophet Joseph Smith" appears to take are the following:
Those who believed that Joseph Smith’s revelations contained the voice of the Lord speaking to them also accepted the miraculous ways in which the revelations were received. Some of the Prophet Joseph’s earliest revelations came through the same means by which he translated the Book of Mormon from the gold plates. In the stone box containing the gold plates, Joseph found what Book of Mormon prophets referred to as “interpreters,” or a “stone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light” (Alma 37:23–24). He described the instrument as “spectacles” and referred to it using an Old Testament term, Urim and Thummim (see Exodus 28:30).
He also sometimes applied the term to other stones he possessed, called “seer stones” because they aided him in receiving revelations as a seer. The Prophet received some early revelations through the use of these seer stones.
Gerrit Dirkmaat, “Great and Marvelous Are the Revelations of God,” Ensign, January 2013, 45–46. off-site.
Additional information
Petition, also, ye goodly inhabitants of the slave States, your legislators to abolish slavery by the year 1850, or now, and save the abolitionist from reproach and ruin, infamy and shame.
Pray Congress to pay every man a reasonable price for his slaves out of the surplus revenue arising from the sale of public lands, and from the deduction of pay from the members of Congress.
Break off the shackles from the poor black man, and hire him to labor like other human beings; for "an hour of virtuous liberty on earth is worth a whole eternity of bondage."
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