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Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Use of sources/America's Fighting Prophet
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America's Fighting Prophet?
| The Wrestling Prophet | A FAIR Analysis of: One Nation Under Gods A work by author: Richard Abanes
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Joseph hit a Baptist preacher |
Author's Claims
One Nation under Gods, page 179 (hardback)
On June 30, 1843, Smith fought and boasted again of his strength, saying: "I feel as strong as a giant....I pulled up with one hand the strongest man that could be found. Then two men tried, but they could not pull me up."36 (emphasis added)
One Nation under Gods, page 178 (paperback)
On June 30, 1843, he wrestled and bragged again of his prowess, saying: "I feel as strong as a giant....I pulled up with one hand the strongest man that could be found. Then two men tried, but they could not pull me up."34 (emphasis added)
Author's Sources
Endnote 36, page 544 (hardback); Endnote 34, page 542 (paperback)
HC, vol. 5, 466
Answer
In the quote above, the author seeks to illustrate a violent personality in Joseph Smith. In the hardback edition, the author of ONUG uses the word "fought." In the paperback, he changes it to "wrestled." Neither is correct. In fact, if one reads this quote carefully, it might strike the reader odd that the struggle between Joseph and his 'opponents' did not involve something like tackling, hitting, or throwing down--which are typical action words used when describing a fight. On the contrary, the struggle involved a "pulling up" motion--a description that would, in fact, fit one of Joseph Smith's favorite recreational games: Stick-pulling.
Perhaps if we were to look up the passage, we might be able to see the proper context. Take a look at the whole quote, omission and all (the bold portion was not included in the author's quote):
I feel as strong as a giant. I pulled sticks with the men coming along, and I pulled up with one hand the strongest man that could be found. Then two men tried, but they could not pull me up.
This is not a violent description at all! "Pulling sticks" is a game of sitting on the ground, facing one another, placing feet together, grabbing forward to a stick, and attempting to pull the other person up from the ground.