So you're saying there's "no link between me and a bunch of wicked old Mormons of the past" -- like Joseph Smith? What? Didn't you see in the post you responded to I mentioned Smith? You now concede Joseph Smith is a "wicked old Mormon"? Yes?
I quoted Joseph Smith, and you toss him in with the "wicked old Mormons of the past": "What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the DEVIL, by which he deceives the whole world" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270).
Did you also notice I included John Taylor? Wasn't Taylor shot in 1844 alongside Joseph Smith in jail? Wasn't John Taylor Smith's "sidekick" as a Smith-appointed "apostle?" And so you concede that the apostles Joseph Smith chose were "wicked old Mormons"? Yes? (Go past to my post where I said: John Taylor stated: "Christianity...is a perfect pack of nonsense..the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century." (Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, p.167).
You also note that Mormonism's "jumpstart" is the Book of MORMON. I cited the Book of Mormon, which you have elevated in your life. You now concede that the content of the Book of Mormon was put together by "wicked old Mormons?"
John, here I carefully avoided quoting any UTAH Mormon leaders who BEGAN their Mormon leadership after Smith's death...and here you distance yourself from Joseph Smith, his apostle, and the Book of Mormon?
Well keep up the confessions! They are good for the soul!
bttt
(1) The pretended "revelation" by Joseph Smith Jr was not published until several years after polygamy had already been practised in Utah.
(2) Mormon polygamy became prevalent after the Mormon church followed Brigham Young out of the United States and her domain of laws in which polygamy must not exist.
(3) Mormon missionaries in Britain and Europe did not tell converts about polygamy. When converts migrated to Utah they were shocked to find it practised. Many of the migrants sought to escape, and many of those who did escape joined the RLDS, which was nobly trying to expose polygamy as a gross apostacy from church teachings.
See http://www.angelfire.com/ks/landzastanza/scarlet.html
(4) Mormon leaders did not allow the 1835 statement by church leaders, including Joseph Smith Jr, supporting monogamous marriage to remain in their Doctrine and Covenants, when they added the pretended "revelation" on polygamy.
(5) Joseph Smith III's interview with his mother, the former Emma Smith, was not a case of Emma trying to protect her family, because her RLDS church president son was adamant in insisting that she not do that, that the church, to avoid future embarrassment, must have the truth, even if it is ugly. Fully understanding the concern of her son, she insisted that Joseph Smith Jr had no wife other than herself.
(6) The reference to Emma Smith in the forged "revelation" was consistent with Brigham Young's hatred for her. He was livid that she did not release to him the manuscripts of Joseph Smith Jr.'s revision of the Bible. He was livid that she would not support his attempts at church leadership. So while forging the "revelation", slipping in some wording that has God condemning her for not supporting polygamy, was probably his way of lashing back at her.
The motives of those who wanted to brand Joseph Smith as a polygamist must be critically examined before their statements can be accepted as reliable.
"Wicked old Mormons" was intended to describe Mormons who told lies to justify their sins. Joseph Smith Jr was not a polygamist, nor did he encourage anyone to practise it. Brigham Young forged a document to the contrary, and the undiscerning gleefully latch on to that for reasons that should be also be critically examined.
I made no such concession, and I think that you know that. The content of the Book of Mormon could not have been put together by "wicked old Mormons", which refers to polygamists, because polygamists would never have put together a book that has the strongest polygamy in religious literature.
"... they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms because of the things which were written concerning David and Solomon his son. Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before Me, saith the Lord."
The King James Version of the Bible, in I Kings 11:4 seems to approve of the David's polygamy:
"For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father."
Joseph Smith Jr, in his revision of the Bible, made I Kings 11:4 read:
For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, and it became as the heart of David his father."
Thus, Joseph Smith's revision of the Bible took into consideration the condemnation of polygamy in the Book of Mormon. This may explain why Brigham Young was anxious to obtain from Emma Smith the manuscripts of Joseph Smith's Bible revision. Young would no doubt have suppressed Joseph Smith Jr's revision of I Kings 11:4, and other similar revisions. Emma Smith gave the manuscripts of Joseph Smigh Jr's Bible translation to the RLDS, who published it to the joy of those contending against Mormon polygamy and to the chagrin of Brigham Young.