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To: TexasGator

I'm not certain how valid your information is. Your Wikipedia reference is not linked and I really don't have the time or inclination to chase through that source. It widely known to be highly suspect at times, rife with disinformation, particularly with respect to claims made by religious zealots and business competitors.

Even accepting things at face value, the data does almost nothing to bolster your case. For example.


Now, go back and reread my earlier post HERE. Pay particular attention to the four key questions raised therein:

  1. How bad was Mormon persecution ... really?

    Place it in perspective. Compare the numbers of martyrs ... a few thousand Mormons (at most) to millions of Christians. Also consider how they died ... brandishing weapons in war vs. burned alive, flayed alive, and tortured to death.

  2. How much of the persecution did the Saints bring upon themselves?

    Consider the reasons given for Saints' persecution ... little things like bank fraud, theft, arson, murder, and sedition. Compare this to the reasons given for Christian persecution ... big things like their failing to worship pagan gods and their refusal to abandon their faith in their Lord.

  3. How much persecution did the Saints do unto others?

    Begin with the thousands robbed of their life savings and reduced to poverty in Ohio. Continue with the numbers of gentiles (including Indians) robbed and killed in Missouri, Illinois, and Utah. Be sure to include the various massacres (e.g. Mountain Meadows, Atkins, Bear River), and the soldiers killed defending their country.

  4. How much of the deemed persecution did the Saints do unto themselves?

    Scroll up the page to here and look at the number of Saints that were beaten, castrated, and used up by the Danites (a.k.a. Nauvoo Legion and Mormon Militia) under the doctrine of blood atonement. Don't forget to include the six Mormon civil wars, and the Succession Crisis of 1844-47.

As noted earlier, if you do this, honestly and fairly, you will be amazed.
92 posted on 11/11/2013 2:34:55 PM PST by Zakeet (If socialists understood economics, they wouldn't be socialists - Friedrich Hayek)
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To: Zakeet; TexasGator; All
“With the refusal of the Governor or Legislature to intervene, and having surrendered the bulk of their firearms, Mormons were left nearly defenseless to face the mob.

Yes, the militia/State of MO confiscated Mormon firearms in two counties...Zakeet's response addresses the "why."

Before delving into a little more depth on that, you need to investigate the timing of the confiscation...

Because when I read Parley Pratt's account, he noted Mormons were still armed as of Nov. 1 -- and doesn't mention when arms were confiscated. The mobs were active Oct. 30-31; Nov. 1-2, 4-6.

Having surrendered the bulk of their firearms, Mormons were left nearly defenseless to face the mob (Texas Gator)

... or in other words, the Saints were disarmed by the authorities after having committed numerous felonies; a practice that occurs almost universally in this country to this day. [Zakeet]

Exactly.

TexasGator, this stuff's all there in the Mormon history books for you to peruse -- and pinpoint -- if you so chose to do.

All you have to do is first take a peak at the 7-volume History of the Church. Volume 3 zeroes in on Fall 1838 Missouri.

In fact, that volume gives us a generic assessment presented to the Missouri State Legislature received/heard a petition from a 9-member Mormon committee representing the rest of the Caldwell County Mormons on Dec. 10, 1838. (You can find it on pp. 217-224 of Volume 3)

It's signed by two later-to-be Mormon "prophets" -- Brigham Young and John Taylor -- and Young's later-to-be 2nd counselor, Heber C. Kimball.

Most of pp. 217-218 dealt with 1833 offenses. But those had largely been smoothed over for a period of 4.5 years. In the bottom of p. 218, your Mormon "pre-prophets" began describing the probs with the 1838 Missouri mobs. But you know what? They conveniently leave out the dates of when these mobs acted -- and they conveniently left out the murders, vandalism, thefts, etc. committed by the Mormons Oct. 18 and Oct. 25 [see post #83].

Did the Mormons have significant issues with mobs that Fall?

Indeed. But these occurred on Oct. 30-31; Nov. 1-2; 4-6. What's interesting is that Brigham Young, John Taylor, Heber C. Kimball & the other 6 in their December petition to the MO State Legislature failed to provide the Mormon-based provocation dates & the mob RESPONSE dates.

Per Parley P. Pratt's Account the vandalism of Mormon A.S. Gordon's storehouse occurred late Nov. 1 --> past midnight Nov. 2. It's interesting that in the above-named petition, this was the ONLY specific incident Young & Co. named as a grievance tied to that rough time frame.

But even with this, the mob was engaged in a tit-for-tat re: what the Mormons had done two weeks before in Gallatin, when "Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Lyman Wight, D. W. Patten at the head of 40 men made a descent on Gallatin, the county seat of Daviess, and they burned the only store and stole their goods. Previous to the 25th of October a great part of the Mormons residing in Caldwell County had returned home with their dividend of plunder." [Source Link in post #83]

Back to the petition to the MO state legislature:

So, as Zakeet said, because of the Mormons' theft & vandalism on Oct. 18; and because the Mormons killed an attorney and another state militia on Oct. 25, Young & Co. reported in their petition that...

"...a skirmish took place, in which some two or three of the mob and one of our people, were killed. This raised, as it were, the whole county in arms, and nothing would satisfy the mob but an immediate surrender of the arms of our people...Fifty-one guns were given up..." (History of the Church, Vol. 3, pp. 218-219)

Wow! Just wow! Brigham Young & John Taylor & Heber C. Kimall & Co. were calling The Battle of Crooked River -- a gun-battle the Mormons had with state militia -- a "skirmish" with a "mob"! [So much for "truth" in testimony before the MO State Legislature!]

The 51-gun reference I believe was to what Mormons gave up in Jackson County...'Twas a lot more in Caldwell County:

p. 223, petition continues to read: "The arms which were taken from us here, which we understand to be about six hundred and thirty, besides swords and pistols, we care not so much about, as we do the pay for them;...And as they were, both here and in Jackson county, taken by the militia, and consequently by the authority of the state, we therefore ask your honorable body to cause an appropriation to be made by law, whereby we may be paid for them,.."

Now...to close this off...how reliable is Pratt's account -- linked above?

Pratt was an Lds "apostle" -- and director ancestor to Mitt Romney

Tell us, TexasGator, do you agree -- or disagree -- with "apostle" Pratt's "prophetic" rant in his account vs. the state of Missouri?

"...the state of Missouri...will be looked upon by her sister states as a star fallen from heaven, and a ruined and degraded outcast from the federal union, while the whole civilized world will detest and abhor her, as the most infamous of tyrants. Nay, tyranny itself will blush to hear her deeds mentioned in the annals of history; and the most cruel persecutors of the christians or reformers in pagan or papal Rome, will startle with astonishment from their long slumbers, and with a shudder of the deepest horror, and a frown of the most indignant contempt, they will look upon her unheard of deeds of blind infatuation, and unconscionable absurdity. The spirits of the ancient martyrs will hail their brethren of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as greater sufferers than themselves, and the blood of ancient and modern saints will mingle together in cries for vengeance, upon those who are drunken with their blood, till justice will delay no longer to execute his long suspended mission of vengeance upon the earth."

Tell us, TexasGator...is Missouri, as Pratt prophesied,
* "a star" [like Lucifer] "fallen from heaven?" Yes?
* "a ruined and degraded outcast from the federal union"? Yes?
* subject to having the "whole civilized world" "detest[ing] and abhor[ring] her as the most infamous of tyrants"? Yes?

Pray tell, TexasGator...is what the Mormons went thru in the span of simply a few months over several years in 2-3 Missouri counties worse than what the early Christians went thru persecution-wise?

But, hey...now we know who one of the prime "instigators" was re: establishing temple oaths for cries of vengeance...which were to be taught to Mitt Romney's generation per the oaths taken by his grandfathers up thru about 1927.

And, being able to read Pratt's raving exaggerations & false prophecies...we know better why Mormons' reading of Missouri history tends to be so skewed.

93 posted on 11/11/2013 5:07:59 PM PST by Colofornian
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