Mormons?

[silversolitaire]

Be advised, if you are a Mormon, don't read this. I'll probably offend you. However, if you can discuss your belief without getting all heated up, I'd love to talk to you. In all honesty. I may be cynical, but I'd absolutely love to talk to a Mormon who can answer even bluntest questions.

I was discussing Mormon religion with my aunt two days ago and today she gave me a copy of the Book of Mormon which she had been given some time ago. I looked at it a bit and I was very sceptical about it all. There's some guy, Joseph Smith, who claims to have had a vision of Jesus AND God (!!) who advised him not to join any existing church for now and later he had a vision of the angel Moroni (why aren't they called Morons? Old joke, I know...) who presented him with a bunch of golden plates with some form of inspired Egyptian on it and two stones that should help him translate the words. The existence of these plates is testified by 8 witnesses (who just so happen to be relatives of Joseph...). Anyway, Smith did as told, then returned the plates to the Angel who conveniently disappeared with them (-.-;). Now they've got an extra part of the Bible which completely reforms most of what the church has taught before.

So, naturally I got interested and did some research. First I read some biographies of Joseph Smith. I learnt he was killed at a very early age. They called him martyr, him and his brother. I figured he had died for his faith and was impressed. I was wondering, if he really believed in it so much, maybe it could be true? So, I read some more, trying to find some more detailed information. Strangely enough, the official website of the Latter Day Saints provided no information whatsoever about why he was killed. Odd. Google helped. I found some detailed biographies and read them.

Here some quotes:

"When Isaac asked to see the golden plates, Joseph refused permission. Joseph said that, if anyone besides himself looked at the golden plates, it would mean instant death for the person."

Uhm... how were the witnesses able to testify then?

"Although Emma continued to live with Joseph and bear him children, a problem arose between them in the 1830's which was never resolved.

That problem was Joseph's pursuit of other women. Ever since Joseph had founded the Mormon church, his status as a prophet had brought him the adoration of his followers, including many attractive women. Seducing Mormon women was easy for him, and was apparently irresistible to him."

Emma is his wife, btw. So, basically, he was a goodlooking, powerful bastard and used his position to get other women into bed, hm? And his wife didn't agree. Bummer.

"There is evidence that Joseph started to think about making plural marriage a moral practice within his church as early as 1831, one year after the church was founded."

Ooooh, so HE thought about it? Nifty! Make up your own religion, then add whatever is comfortable, eh?

"Meanwhile, although Joseph had not announced God's sanction of plural marriage to the entire church, Joseph himself was practising it. He proposed what he called "celestial" marriage to a number of women, some of whom were already legally married to other men. Joseph considered celestial marriages to be on a higher plane than earthly marriages, lasting forever, and taking precedence over mundane marriages.

Only polygamy - the custom of one man taking multiple wives was sanctioned. Women were not allowed to have more than one husband. Joseph taught that a woman's possibility of entering heaven depended largely on the worthiness of her husband, rather than on her own worthiness."

>_< ! He just made it up! It's so obvious! He wanted to get more women, so he just frigging made it up! When did God ever say anything about that? If he did, why didn't he mention it before? Hm???

And this is why he was killed, btw. Some men whose wives he married bought a press and published a pamphlet about him. Enraged, Smith ordered the press to be destroyed, which resulted in him being arrested for violation of the First Amendment. He was thrown into jail where he was lynched by a masked mob. Quote:

"Calling out, "Oh, my God!" Joseph fell to the ground. He was still alive when he hit the earth. Vigilantes standing over him put several more shots into him, ending his life at age thirty-eight."

How truly religious... -.-;;; When his wife saw his dead body, she called out "Oh Joseph, Joseph, they have killed you at last." What an odd thing to say...

This is sad. I mean, maybe he DID have a vision and all, but he later abused them by making up his own shit! His poor wife!

"He might have God's permission to sleep with other women, but he would never get her permission. She begged him to renounce the new doctrine."

There she was, supporting him for years, writing down what he dictated when he was "translating" the plates, standing by his side through all the abuse and hatred, and then she asks him to renounce something that could have come directly from God's mouth? I doubt that. How very sad...

Then I read on, another essay:

"The majority of Smith's wives were younger than he, and one-third were between fourteen and twenty years of age. Another third were already married, and some of the husbands served as witnesses at their own wife's polyandrous wedding. In addition, some of the wives hinted that they bore Smith children--most notably Sylvia Sessions's daughter Josephine--although the children carried their stepfather's surname. "

Lovely, isn't it? So, in the end he's just a selfish jerk who couldn't keep his dick in his pants. Oh well...

Comments

[andro-chan.livejournal.com]

That's....increadibly funny. At least to me, I don't really have much faith in religions.(The who handles them part and what they do mostly , I don't have a problem with people believing in things) But I'm not really surprised. "Absolute power corrupts all." I just feel sort of pity for his wife. Divorce was huge no-no back then, so she must have felt increadibly trapped..

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know what you mean. This must be bad, when you marry someone and in the middle of it he changes his religion and begins doing polygamy and all o.o; Very odd. That's the main problem I have with them, really. Aside from having an extra bit of the Bible, just produced out of their sleeves.