Greetings Post-mormons

[free thinker]

I am posting here an intereview with William Law a close personal associate of Joseph Smith. I hope that each will take the time to read this if you have not.

I think it is important as we look at the life of Joseph Smith, in this 200th birthday memorial year, that we not lose sight of the fact that this man may very well have been much less than what he is given credit for.

For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth- to know the worst and provide for it" Patrick Henry.


free thinker



http://www.xmission.com/~country/reason/lawint2.htm

[hamar]

I've never read anything about Emma before this and found it a bit surprising regarding Dr. law's opinion of Emma as a conspirator. While I always felt that she had to know more than history lets on about her, I always viewed her as more of a victim; probably because of the polygamy issues.

Now I see her as being much more involved in the fraud of mormonism than I had before this interview with Law.

Law's opinions regarding Joeseph only validate the characterizations that I've read in "Who really wrote the Book of Mormon" and other documents.

I believe JS used Manuscript Found, which Sidney Rigdon stole and the View of the Hebrews, by Ethan Smith as a platform for the BofM and that it was originally written to be sold as a way to make money. The idea of using it as a cornerstone of a new church grew as the book took shape among the original co-conspiritors.

Thanks for posting this interview, it is another piece of the puzzle, for me, that fits nicely into my view that the whole idea of moism was all about a lazy day laborer and his relatives and cohorts looking for a way to live the good life without having to work for a living.

How in the hell did something so wrong end up being such a powerful influence in the world today?

[free thinker]

Now I see her as being much more involved in the fraud of mormonism than I had before this interview with Law.

When you think about how dissapointed her father was when she eloped with JS you wonder how she could have been so fooled. But when you see it from Law's perspective you have to consider that she was just like him. Very, very, interesting and revealing.

Like you, each time I read more of the history the puzzle pieces start to fit together. And like you I am amazed that mormonism stuck.

In reading the last lines from Wyl you realize he felt the same way.

free thinker

[hamar]

Now I see her as being much more involved in the fraud of mormonism than I had before this interview with Law.

When you think about how dissapointed her father was when she eloped with JS you wonder how she could have been so fooled. But when you see it from Law's perspective you have to consider that she was just like him. Very, very, interesting and revealing.

Like you, each time I read more of the history the puzzle pieces start to fit together. And like you I am amazed that mormonism stuck.

In reading the last lines from Wyl you realize he felt the same way.

free thinker

While I believe Joey was a dirtbag from the gitgo, I wonder if Emma morphed into the role because of her association with big Joe. Joe is said to have been a pretty smooth talker and she might have been beguiled by the serpent named Joe, then assmilated into the conspiracy.

I really suspect tscc will continue to stick too, because they are doing a pretty good job of distancing themselves very slowly away from the unsavory history of their church and marketing themselves as a much more mainstream christian organizationl.

[peter_mary]

While I very much appreciated the book, "Emma Hale Smith: Mormon Enigma," I'm afraid I lost my real respect for Emma when I saw her complicity in the whole Mormon thing. There were two instances that clinched it for me. One was her testimony that she handled the Book of Mormon plates under a cloth (describing in detail how they felt, what they sounded like, why she didn't dare take a peek, blah, blah, blah) and either she was telling an outright fib, or she was an incredible dupe. Neither is very flattering.

The second thing that actually made me mad was her adamant refusal to admit to her children that their father was a polygamist, and she allowed her boys to serve missions to Utah almost for the express purpose of convincing the Utah Mormons of the wickedness of the "Brighamite" practice of polygamy! This set them up to hear first hand accounts of their father's dirty little secret from people who knew, and they were forced to choose between believing the enemy or their mother. One son went completely insane, apparently in part due to this revelation that was too much for him to handle. But we KNOW that Emma knew, because there is record of her being upset about some of the marriages, including observing Joe boinking Fanny in the barn, as well as record of her choosing some of his wives! The fact that she would maintain this pretense for the rest of her life, setting her children up to look ridiculous and pathetic in the eyes of those who knew better, was enough for me to cast Emma as "just another wild-eyed dreamer/practitioner of magic who helped Joe create the mythical world he created."

Peter_Mary