The LDS Mormon church was founded by a man called Joseph Smith.
Of course, the church will claim that it was founded by GOD Himself, and that Joseph Smith was only a tool used to establish the church on the earth.
But of course, that’s what every good con man claims.
“God told me so.”
https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-a-cult-leader-definition-characteristics.html
Think about any and all cult leaders.
How many of them claimed to have obtained direct guidance and “revelation” from God?
And by this guidance, they created their groups? Religious sects? In the name of obedience to God?
Well;
Joseph Smith definitely used some similar claims.
Just like many others;
Joseph Smith wasn’t the only one to claim to be acting through personal guidance from God Hismelf.
And he definitely won’t be the last.
You can do your own research on these ones.
Now, we aren’t ones to immediately ride off fantastical stories and fairytales.
We LOVE a good story about fairies, angels, fallen kingdoms, and restoring magic.
However, the difference between these stories and the beliefs of the Mormon church,
Is that we don’t believe or know 100% of any facts regarding these fantastical tales.
But the Mormon church?
They took Joseph’s tale
And believed it to be 100% factual, proof, and evidence enough to create an entire billion-dollar organization around it.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/first-vision-accounts?lang=eng
I mean, you can’t tell me a 14-year old boy claimed to see God and you immediately believed the tale?
Or maybe you have had to convince yourself of the tale through prayer and scripture because it was hard to believe in?
Just as the church tells members to do if they “struggle” believing?
Sure, Joseph’s story is definitely an entertaining one; full of magical guidance and visions by angels, lost records of a long-forgotten people, the re-welcoming of priesthood “magic” back into the world…
But do we really have to go so far as to believe the story is 100% factual?
Tell me people truly don’t believe this tale?
I mean, any good story teller will most definitely change some details to add more flare and emphasis; may change the story line a bit every time it’s told.
It’s what makes stories so entertaining and incredible to listen to.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/first-vision-accounts?lang=eng
Good story tellers generally have the ability to capture an audience.
And really, really good story tellers??
They may even have the psychological power over people to captivate them so deeply,
That they form a following.
A religion behind the stories.
A cult.
They follow the storyteller.
And choose to believe fully in the fantastical tales.
And we can see that Joseph was indeed a very good story teller; as the billion-dollar modern-day church proves.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/introduction?lang=eng
Joseph saw a people struggling; he saw people needing someone to follow, trying to find guidance and truth in their lives.
He saw people needing a leader.
And as any 14-year old boy;
He decided to tell stories.
And those stories became an entire religious following.
Joseph saw the need people had for something to believe in; saw his moment, and began his story telling.
And as he grew, he became an adult who continued the facade.
A grown man who preyed on people’s desires for hope.
For fantastical stories of faith and survival.
In fact, Joseph’s stories were so good,
And people believed them so well,
He even got them printed into a book and called them “scripture.”
People genuinely believed him when he said he spoke to God.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/title-page?lang=eng
Now if I were to tell my family that I had been approached by angels and informed that i had been told that the LDS church was a scam, a con;
And that the angel told me that it was actually I who had been chosen by God to restore the truth on earth once more;
Do you think they would believe me?
Probably not.
But due to the high belief in folk magic, in the height of religious frenzy;
People believed Joseph.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/treasure-seeking?lang=eng
And people still believe him today.
Despite his known history of being a con-man and a scam artist.
Despite him being CHARGED for his cons, legally.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/joseph-smiths-1826-trial?lang=eng
Joseph was not known to be trustworthy man.
Everyone had their suspicions of him, of the scams and cons he had pulled on people previously.
So it’s no wonder that the church he established was widely “persecuted.”
And unfortunately, hopeful members of the church even died as a result of their decisions to follow the con artist Joseph Smith.
But it wasn’t their fault.
After all,
Joseph was INCREDIBLE at getting people to believe everything he said.
People still believe him and his words today;
even so far as to defend his actions about marrying young girls.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/treasure-seeking?lang=eng
While we are not opposed to tales of magic and folklore, and actually do believe in the functionality of spirituality and tools to manage that spirituality;
The difference between us and Joseph Smith,
Is that we see our spirituality as an individual, personal, and beautiful practice;
Whereas Joseph Smith?
He saw the desperation and need for spirituality,
And turned it into a way where he could marry young girls, lead a cult following, and establish a very wealthy cult-like organization.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/divining-rods?lang=eng
People took their belief in stories a little too far.
Took Joseph’s word as truth.
But desperate people will cling to anything they can if they’re scared of death.
They’ll cling to any shred of hope they can find.
They’ll stay in any community that they feel loves and accepts them.
Even if it comes with a few strings attached.
The church claims that Joseph Smith was not a well-educated man.
They teach that it was by the miraculous power of God that Joseph was able to translate these golden plates that he had found. That God had provided tools for the translation.
At least, that’s what we had always been taught growing up in the church.
However, Joseph smith WAS educated in one particular area…
And that was,
the Bible.
A man who has an incredible gift for story telling, a man who had a history of con artistry, a man who claimed that he possessed magical abilities to find treasure and Gold, a man who was very well-versed in the Bible…
Is it really a surprise to consider that Joseph wrote the Book of Mormon himself?
That he was able to imagine all of these fantastical ideas of enchantment, the devil, the raising of the dead, of lost and slaughtered civilizations?
That he was able to create and write stories that fit like a puzzle piece with the Bible he was so well-versed in?
That people loved his stories and claims so much that they eagerly grabbed the Book of Mormon that had so many other unheard stories to tell?
https://mrm.org/eleven-witnesses
I mean come on;
We are supposed to believe that Joseph had the golden plates and translated them into the Book of Mormon…
But nobody else saw them?!
Except for a few fellow leaders of this newly established church and organization?
Does that not raise at least a few red flags?
Should we really base our entire belief system and lifestyle off of a couple of guys who tell their followers to “trust me bro, I saw them! They’re legit!”
And to live our lives blinding following a religion that was started by a story-telling con artist?
We are just supposed to believe the words of these twelve people who claimed that the gold plates existed?
To pray and look for a “good feeling” about believing in the golden plates and the “truth” of the Book of Mormon?
To use the claims of others and emotions as a valid basis for an entire belief system and lifestyle until the day we die?
“But it’s based on faith!”
Well that’s extremely convenient for Joseph Smith and the church…don’t you think?
https://askgramps.org/where-are-the-gold-plates-now/
“Where are the plates now?”
“Oh an angel took them to heaven! You’ll never find them upon the face of the earth!”
Huh. Well, isn’t that convenient as well?
And yet people believe this??
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/joseph-smith-and-plural-marriage?lang=eng
https://people.com/warren-jeffs-wives-now-what-to-know-11945746
People really truly believe that Joseph was told by God to marry multiple young women and take multiple wives, some of which were taken without Emma, his first wife’s, knowledge?
I mean, Warren Jeffs did just that as well!
We’re supposed to believe those were spiritual Sealings?
We’re supposed to believe that Joseph didn’t see that his power over people could benefit him and that he was “just doing what God commanded him?”
Some days we greatly fear that people have lost their critical thinking skills.
Sure, it’s easy to believe in fantasy tales that promise us hope and a surety of eternal families and life.
But can also be dangerous, and keep us in an echo chamber that restricts us from exploring the world; from exploring other sources of spirituality.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/masonry?lang=eng
And while Joseph was a fantastic story teller,
It doesn’t mean he didn’t run out of materials sometimes. A writers block, per say.
I mean, the entire temple ceremony that was allegedly given to Joseph and inspired “By God Himself”
Was all just based on centuries old masonry that existed long before Joseph Smith had ever been born.
“Well yeah, God was preparing it for Joseph’s time to establish the temple rituals and such!”
Okay. Whatever you want to believe, I guess. Sure.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/masonry?lang=eng
https://www.mormonstories.org/home/truth-claims/temple-ceremony-masonry/
https://www.mormonstories.org/home/truth-claims/temple-ceremony-masonry/
https://www.ghlilley.com.au/blogs/news/freemason-symbols
Joseph Smith claimed to have these incredible gifts of visions, revelations, and even translation given to him by God.
And yet, the kinderhook plates debunked his claims almost immediately.
If you are unfamiliar with the story of the kinderhook plates;
These plates were brought to Joseph Smith and the people who brought them claimed they were similar to the scrolls found amongst the mummies Joseph had translated, etc.
Joseph Smith took the kinderhook plates and then “translated” them by the “power of God.”
And once Joseph translated the plates,
The people who brought the kinderhook plates to Joseph admitted…
That they had made the whole thing up.
That the kinderhook plates contained nothing but gibberish.
Joseph Smith had not translated a single thing.
But had acted as though he had.
His claims of his godly translation gifts were debunked.
https://rsc.byu.edu/no-weapon-shall-prosper/did-joseph-smith-translate-kinderhook-plates
And yet somehow;
People STILL believe that Joseph Smith genuinely found and translated golden plates into what is known today as the Book of Mormon by the power of God.
They don’t want to believe that Joseph’s gift of translation is a fraud, because, going by the church’s own rhetoric;
If the translation wasn’t true,
Then that means that the Book of Mormon isn’t true,
Which means Joseph’s revelations aren’t true,
Which means…
The church itself isn’t true.
We understand how difficult it is to let go of a belief system that one grew up and spent their entire lives in;
However sometimes,
We think it’s crucial that people step outside of the box in which they were raised and QUESTION EVERYTHING they grew up learning.
And that goes for everything; not just Mormonism.
If we limit our knowledge,
We limit ourselves.
https://rsc.byu.edu/no-weapon-shall-prosper/did-joseph-smith-translate-kinderhook-plates
Don’t fall for the hoaxes of con men who want to be adored and followed.
Follow yourself.
Follow the guidance you were inherently and naturally born with.
Don’t let society convince you to limit yourself,
To box yourself in,
To rob yourself of true life!
Use your head.
Think critically.
Don’t take everything as 100% truth based on your own personal hopes.
And that’s not advice that’s limited just to religion.
–
Imagine shaming someone for leaving the church –
Because Joseph Smith was an obvious con man who they refuse to blindly follow based on the claims of other people, emotional feelings, and “blind faith.”
