Descriptions:
Every once in a while, Latter-day Saints run across the criticism that the prophet Joseph Smith was an arrogant and boastful man who thought he was better than Jesus Himself. Is it true? Did Joseph really believe that? Let’s talk about it.
Video transcript: https://saintsunscripted.com/faith-and-beliefs/the-restoration-of-christs-church/did-joseph-smith-think-he-was-better-than-jesus/
Recommended reading:
— “Rough Stone Rolling,” by Richard Bushman.
— “Know Brother Joseph: New Perspectives on Joseph Smith’s Life & Character,” by various authors, including Matthew Godfrey, Matthew Grow, & R. Eric Smith.
— “The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith,” edited & compiled by Dean Jessee
— “Joseph: Exploring the Life and Ministry of the Prophet,” by Susan E. Black & Andrew Skinner
— “Joseph Smith: The Prophet and Seer,” by Richard Holzapfel & Kent Jackson
— “History, 1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844]” via the Joseph Smith Papers Project: https://bit.ly/3oVhAL8
— “Discourse, 26 May 1844, as Compiled by Leo Hawkins,” via the Joseph Smith Papers Project: https://bit.ly/3NkTym6
— The quote as it appears in “History of the Church,” 6:408: https://bit.ly/3Ck6UZu
— “Joseph Smith wasn’t arrogant or boastful,” by Dan Peterson in the Deseret News: https://bit.ly/3MZTyqa
Notes:
— Here are a couple of Joseph’s more humble quotes (included in the video):
— “…there was one good man, and his name was Jesus. Many persons think a prophet must be a great deal better than anybody else. … I do not want you to think that I am very righteous, for I am not.” https://byustudies.byu.edu/online-chapters/volume-5-chapter-21/
— “I will try to be contented with my lot, knowing that God is my friend. In him I shall find comfort. I have given my life into his hands. I am prepared to go at his call. I desire to be with Christ. I count not my life dear to me (except) to do his will.” Letter to Emma Smith on June 6, 1832, from Greenville, Indiana: https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-emma-smith-6-june-1832/2
— In 1823 an angel named Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith. He told Joseph, among many other things, that Joseph’s “… name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people.” That has certainly turned out to be the case.
— As Paul continues his talk about boasting in the next chapter (2 Corinthians 12), we read, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” This sounds similar to what Joseph says in his sermon: “I, like Paul, have been in perils, and oftener than anyone in this generation. As Paul boasted, I have suffered more than Paul did. I should be like a fish out of water, if I were out of persecutions … The Lord has constituted me so curiously that I glory in persecution.”
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