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Which is why it becomes hypocrisy to excommunicate a person who says blacks deserve the priesthood, a year later allow it, then 35 years later say it was never a doctrine. Thank God for his unfailing church. 
Joseph allowed questioning…he didn’t run a theocracy with God as the absolute ruler…that came later
I am firmly in the camp of …the fruits in no way are better than most other orgs….in fact the church does a much poorer job of compassionate service than many other orgs. Kindness to each other? Not so much….watch conference from just a month back..not lots of compassion…did hear a lot of judgement and self righteousness….not many words I can imagine coming from the saviors mouth though. My two cents are that Joseph got caught up in a bit of “Rock Star Syndrome”. I think he was a reformer who brought together a lot of great ideas that touched the spirits of people of his day. He fell in with other men who he looked up to, most of them good folks, a few scalawags. Over time Joseph continued his work but was prodded and guided along an “organized religion” path by those mentors around him. Some of those likely helped Joseph explore his human side and then helped him justify it. To me this seems fairly obvious (circumstantially) as you look how things changed in 1838. After that point the organized religion thing really fired up and I think the church was mostly self perpetuating after that…with folks who deemed themselves more qualified guiding and directing this young fellow who seemed to speak so well to the spirit of the common person.
I think with the likes of Brigham Young, bennett, Snow around him Joseph found himself in a situation he was not sure what to do with…making mistakes and kind of blundering along in a church he likely never wanted….I can’t help but think of the fake religious leader in Iron Man 3 (that was an extreme charicature)….I think Joseph would not be a mormon today…not based on his wanting to drink beer or have sex with more than one woman…but because it is nothing like what he was looking for when he began his journey.
Shields up as I probably stepped on a million toes
JohnH
I personally like the idea of “Joseph Smith the reformer” over “Joseph Smith, Gods only voice on earth” Not sure why this is so uncomfortable for so many. This allows him to be way more human and explains some of his…um..stranger behaviors.
I believe God can and will save the ones who want it. Pretty unfair to condemn them forever for their first bad choice..a choice made in ignorance Sent from my XT890 using Tapatalk 4
Elder uchtdorfs fireside “what is truth” talks to this and Elder Kristofferson talk in conference april 2012 does a great job talking to this Sent from my XT890 using Tapatalk 2
Remember that it was Satan that told them they were naked and needed to hide…he is the father of lies. Maybe that is the origin of our sexual repression and guilt…its a big lie invented by satan that gives guilt its biggest power
Sorry…forgot to post the link. It is a 4 part podcast and I believe he mention this in part 3.
http://exploringsainthood.org/devery-anderson-development-of-lds-temple-worship-part-1/ Brian Hales has a new series out on Polygamy….was wondering if anyone has read it. The reviews imply that he claims there was no sex involved. Thanks for sharing…I really liked this. It does seem to imply we are not the “literal offspring” of God…which I am ok with. This actually aligns well with my beliefs Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2
I use Facebook to ease people in to new viewpoints. I think it is an excellent tool to enlighten people. I do not do Facebook rants though…I try to remember that anything on my main wall could be available forever to everyone on the planet…so I make sure overtly emotionally charged subjects are kept low key. I do post articles I like that I WANT my nephew s nieces to read. I want younger kids to know that their uncle is not biased against gays, believes it is ok to marry outside the temple at first, to read real history, to read other philosophy, etc. They don’t hear it in church or in homes and iv think many need to know there are adults out there to talk to.
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I think the problem is the institutionalization of caring. If they encouraged you to take note of when your families are not in church and to contact them to make sure they are ok would it bother you? I would guess not because that feels like love. But the too often used “track return and report” method usually never feels like live. ..even it is being done in love.
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Thanks Shawn. That gives me some real substance to think about Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2
