Do Mormons worship Joseph Smith?

[SeattleTruthSeeker]

One of the criticisms launched against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that concerning the hymn "Praise to the Man" and the argument that this hymn is sung in extolling Joseph Smith. Meaning, because we sing this hymn, it is a form of "worshiping" the Prophet of the Restoration.

How many of you had this question asked of you? I remember that when I had started receiving criticism from evangelical Christians, I could not find a viable response. Even after coming back to the LDS Faith from my apostasy, this stuck with me and it bothered me because it appeared that we truly were signing the hymn in a fashion that is praising Joseph Smith.

Now that I have taken an English class where we are analysis short fictions of classic author's, poets, and even some plays, what I have done was taken the analysis from Literature to dig into the deeper construct of this beloved hymn.

Because of this search, I have published the article at my blog where I examine the context of each stanza that is part of the hymn.

Of course, the article begins with the writer of the Hymn - William W. Phelps. An apostate who had left the Church and falsely accused the Prophet Joseph Smith and even wrote an affidavit as a witness against the Prophet. It was not until after Phelps made a return back to the Faith, and the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, did Phelps pen this beloved hymn to a scottish folk song.

Here is a link to the full article that discusses the importance and story that Phelps told through this hymn and how we do not sing this hymn praising Joseph Smith, but sing it to tell the story of the Prophet of the Restoration in these last days.

Do Mormons worship Joseph Smith?

Share your thoughts here and over at the blog.

[NeuroTypical]

Yeah, this criticism is as old as Joseph Smith. It's not a very good criticism, continuing to live by feeding on critics' ignorance and unprepared LDS responses.

Good blog post, Seattle. One other thing I can think of:

If the word "praise" must be equated with worship, then by logical extension:

"I just had my 6-month review. The Boss worshipped me up one side and down the other."

"Little Billy just scored his first home run. Let's go worship him to help him feel good."

[ConvinceTheWorld]

Praise to the man is my all time favorite SONG - not just hymn. I listen to it all the time haha.

The thing is, the prophet Joseph was such a loving caring man, one cannot read his "journal" without feeling the utmost gladness. I challenge anybody that has something bad to say about him to read his JOURNAL. His true character surely will pierce through the darkness.

While in Liberty Jail, MO Parley P. Pratt's version of events "In one of those tedious nights we had lain as if in sleep, till the hour of midnight has passed, and our ears and hearts had been pained, while we had listened for hours to the obscene jests, the horrid oaths, the dreadful blasphemies, and filthy language of our guards, Col. Price at their head, as they recounted to each other their deeds of rapine, murder, robbery, etc., which they had committed among the “Mormons,” while at Far West, and vicinity. They even boasted of defiling by force, wives, daughters, and virgins, and of shooting or dashing out the brains of men, women, and children.

I had listened till I became so disgusted, shocked, horrified, and so filled with the spirit of indignant justice, that I could scarcely refrain from rising upon my feet and rebuking the guards, but had said nothing to Joseph, or any one else, although I lay next to him and knew he was awake. On a sudden he arose to his feet, and spoke in a voice of thunder, or as the roaring lion, uttering, as near as I can recollect, the following words:

“SILENCE—Ye fiends of the infernal pit. In the name of Jesus Christ I rebuke you, and command you to be still; I will not live another minute, and hear such language. Cease such talk, or you or I die THIS MINUTE." -

He ceased to speak. He stood erect in terrible majesty. Chained, and without a weapon,–calm, unruffled and dignified as an angel, he looked down upon the quailing guards, whose weapons were lowed or dropped to the ground; whose knees smote together, and who, shrinking into a corner, or crouching at his feet, begged his pardon, and remained quiet till a change of guards.

I have seen the ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial robes, and criminals arraigned before them, while life was suspended upon a breath, in the courts of England; I have witnessed a Congress in solemn session to give laws to nations; I have tried to conceive of kings, of royal courts, of thrones, and crowns; and of emperors assembled to decide the fate of kingdoms, but dignity and majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains at midnight, in a dungeon, in an obscure village of Missouri.

Edited August 9, 2011 by ConvinceTheWorld

[prisonchaplain]

LDS revere leadership in a very Old Testament sense--as the Hebrews did Moses and David. For us Evangelicals, this does seem strange. We sort of do the same with our most well known pastors, and even with our contemporary Christian musicians. I have never thought that LDS "worship" Joseph Smith. At the same time, I cannot help but feel something of a spiritual "culture shock" at this. Then again, does not the transition from the simplicity of the ward to the symbolism and ritualism of the temple give many first-time goers the same?

[NeuroTypical]

If you get why Catholics revere the Pope, you're more than halfway to an understanding about why Mormons revere their prophets.

The criticism "yew dang marminz wership Joe Smith" is based on ignorance. Remove the ignorance, you remove the criticism, and are left with plain old "well, we sure don't do it that way at our church".

I remember my local mega-church and it's pastor (you might remember the name) Ted Haggard. Those folks loved him. Their bookstore was full of his books. In all my dealings with such folk, I've never seen an individual so revered. But when his scandal broke and he was fired, they replaced him (and cleaned all his stuff out of their bookstore) about as quickly as a close family gets over a nasty divorce leading to the evil in-law going away forever.

Evangelicals are big on not trusting the arm of the flesh, and God doesn't chose the qualified he qualifies the chosen, and whatnot. Mormons and Catholics are big on claims of God-given authority.

*shrug* It's all fine /w me.

[Traveler]

I will take this whole thought another direction. If we can recognize the attitudes and teachings of Christ in others should we not worship out of respect and recognition of our G-d?

The Traveler

[prisonchaplain]

I will take this whole thought another direction. If we can recognize the attitudes and teachings of Christ in others should we not worship out of respect and recognition of our G-d?

The Traveler

If I understand you correctly, the answer is no. Angels are messengers of God, yet they repeatedly rejected the worship of God's people. An angel resists John the Revelator more than once, when he starts to bow in worship. The messengers are always mere servants of our Sovereign.

[apexviper13]

A good turn-around question is "Do sectarian Christians worship Paul?" The reason is because you see them quote Paul way more than Jesus. In fact I can't remember the last time a critic quoted Jesus about salvation.