Church History: Joseph Smith’s Boyhood Operation Was Orchestrated by God


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Most of us know that when Joseph Smith was a young boy, he had a surgical operation on his leg. We learn about everything from his mother's devastated cries to Joseph's desire to abstain from alcohol prior to the surgery — but the one thing we don't typically hear much about is perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the whole story: the operating surgeon. Several years ago, BYU Studies published an article about this surgery entitled "Joseph Smith's Boyhood Operation: An 1813 Surgical Success" by surgeon Leroy S. Wirthlin. (Bonus: You can download the article for free!) The article's focus is to "examine Joseph Smith’s illness and operation in its historical setting and to examine the surgical contributions of Nathan Smith as they relate to this episode." The article certainly accomplishes that — it discusses in detail Dr. Smith's significant contribution to Joseph's life and to medicine as a whole — but, perhaps even more importantly, it accomplishes something deeply spiritual: the ability to see how God's hand was in...

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