Be Not Deceived - Prophets are just men
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 3:12 pm
There are many in the Mormon church who still try and defend the many intellectual and historical issues in the church with the “men are not perfect” defense. Gordon Hinkleys GC talk in 1983 is a good example of this:
"We have those critics who appear to wish to cull out of a vast panorama of information those items which demean and belittle some of the men and women of the past who worked so hard in laying the foundation of this great cause. They find readers of their works who seem to delight in picking up these tidbits, and in chewing them over and relishing them. In so doing they are savoring a pickle, rather than eating a delicious and satisfying dinner of several courses. We recognize that our forebears were human. They doubtless made mistakes... But the mistakes were minor, when compared with the marvelous work which they accomplished. To highlight the mistakes and gloss over the greater good is to draw a caricature. Caricatures are amusing, but they are often ugly and dishonest. A man may have a blemish on his cheek and still have a face of beauty and strength, but if the blemish is emphasized unduly in relation to his other features, the portrait is lacking in integrity. There was only one perfect man who ever walked the earth. The Lord has used imperfect people in the process of building his perfect society." (CR October 1983 Priesthood Session, Be Not Deceived, Gordon B. Hinkley, November Ensign, Pg. 46)
It is very clear to me the issues that many thinking people have cannot simply be sluffed off as the “faults of man”. The following are a few examples that are clearly more than weaknesses of the flesh:
1. Joseph’s use of the “stone-in-hat” method to translate the Book of Mormon
2. The Smith family’s involvement in the Occult, which included “stone-in-hat” magical practices to find hidden objects and answers to mystical questions
3. Joseph’s Polyandry and teenage marriages
4. Joseph’s denial of polygamy
5. Anachronisms in the “most correct book on earth” the Book of Mormon
6. Book of Abraham “translation”
7. Kinderhook plates and Greek Psalter
8. History on the Blacks in the church – “revelation” from God or, policy?
9. Talks given like this one, CR April 1939, by Elder George F. Richards called Punishment of Those Not Valiant: “The negro is an unfortunate man. He has been given a black skin. . . I cannot conceive our Father consigning his children to a condition such as that of the negro race, if they had been valiant in the spirit world in that war in heaven”
10. Who are the Lamanites?
11. God actually changed the pigmentation of the American Indians as a curse
12. God made the change in pigmentation so these people would be unattractive to the white people (2 Nephi 5:20-25)
13. No longer sure where the geography of the Book of Mormon took place, was it hemispheric or geographic?
14. Multiple contradicting “first visions”
15. Many key elements of the temple endowment copied from 1700 English Freemasonry
16. Isaiah in the Book of Mormon from the wrong time period
17. President John Taylor and others preaching statements like this one “the one-wife system degenerates the human family, both physically and intellectually”
18. The suppression and white-washing of Mormon history
19. Is the Book of Mormon just a compilation Ethan Smith’s View of the Hebrews, Joseph Sr’s dreams, Bible passages, and general belief of the day that the Indians had Jewish origins
20. DNA and the Native American’s
21. The church changing the title page from stating that the Native Americans are the “primary” ancestors of the Lamanites to “one of” the ancestors
Yet there are still many who suspend logic and reason for religious belief and agree with Pres. Joseph F. Smith that this is the work of God:
The hand of the Lord may not be visible to all. There may be many who can not discern the workings of God's will in the progress and development of this great latter-day work, but there are those who see in every hour and in every moment of the existence of the Church, from its beginning until now, the overruling, almighty hand of Him who sent His Only Begotten Son to the world to become a sacrifice for the sin of the world. . . (CR April 1904, First Day-Morning Session, President Joseph F. Smith)
Really? Is this how God works?
"We have those critics who appear to wish to cull out of a vast panorama of information those items which demean and belittle some of the men and women of the past who worked so hard in laying the foundation of this great cause. They find readers of their works who seem to delight in picking up these tidbits, and in chewing them over and relishing them. In so doing they are savoring a pickle, rather than eating a delicious and satisfying dinner of several courses. We recognize that our forebears were human. They doubtless made mistakes... But the mistakes were minor, when compared with the marvelous work which they accomplished. To highlight the mistakes and gloss over the greater good is to draw a caricature. Caricatures are amusing, but they are often ugly and dishonest. A man may have a blemish on his cheek and still have a face of beauty and strength, but if the blemish is emphasized unduly in relation to his other features, the portrait is lacking in integrity. There was only one perfect man who ever walked the earth. The Lord has used imperfect people in the process of building his perfect society." (CR October 1983 Priesthood Session, Be Not Deceived, Gordon B. Hinkley, November Ensign, Pg. 46)
It is very clear to me the issues that many thinking people have cannot simply be sluffed off as the “faults of man”. The following are a few examples that are clearly more than weaknesses of the flesh:
1. Joseph’s use of the “stone-in-hat” method to translate the Book of Mormon
2. The Smith family’s involvement in the Occult, which included “stone-in-hat” magical practices to find hidden objects and answers to mystical questions
3. Joseph’s Polyandry and teenage marriages
4. Joseph’s denial of polygamy
5. Anachronisms in the “most correct book on earth” the Book of Mormon
6. Book of Abraham “translation”
7. Kinderhook plates and Greek Psalter
8. History on the Blacks in the church – “revelation” from God or, policy?
9. Talks given like this one, CR April 1939, by Elder George F. Richards called Punishment of Those Not Valiant: “The negro is an unfortunate man. He has been given a black skin. . . I cannot conceive our Father consigning his children to a condition such as that of the negro race, if they had been valiant in the spirit world in that war in heaven”
10. Who are the Lamanites?
11. God actually changed the pigmentation of the American Indians as a curse
12. God made the change in pigmentation so these people would be unattractive to the white people (2 Nephi 5:20-25)
13. No longer sure where the geography of the Book of Mormon took place, was it hemispheric or geographic?
14. Multiple contradicting “first visions”
15. Many key elements of the temple endowment copied from 1700 English Freemasonry
16. Isaiah in the Book of Mormon from the wrong time period
17. President John Taylor and others preaching statements like this one “the one-wife system degenerates the human family, both physically and intellectually”
18. The suppression and white-washing of Mormon history
19. Is the Book of Mormon just a compilation Ethan Smith’s View of the Hebrews, Joseph Sr’s dreams, Bible passages, and general belief of the day that the Indians had Jewish origins
20. DNA and the Native American’s
21. The church changing the title page from stating that the Native Americans are the “primary” ancestors of the Lamanites to “one of” the ancestors
Yet there are still many who suspend logic and reason for religious belief and agree with Pres. Joseph F. Smith that this is the work of God:
The hand of the Lord may not be visible to all. There may be many who can not discern the workings of God's will in the progress and development of this great latter-day work, but there are those who see in every hour and in every moment of the existence of the Church, from its beginning until now, the overruling, almighty hand of Him who sent His Only Begotten Son to the world to become a sacrifice for the sin of the world. . . (CR April 1904, First Day-Morning Session, President Joseph F. Smith)
Really? Is this how God works?
