My favorite Joseph Smith story ever. What's yours?

[justkeepswimming]

Do you ask other people here these same questions?

Do you still believe in the church? Sustain those who lead it? Are you occasionally attending or interested in another group or teaching?

[Robin Hood]

Do you ask other people here these same questions?

Do you still believe in the church? Sustain those who lead it? Are you occasionally attending or interested in another group or teaching?

Can't blame him for asking the question.
Your behaviour here has more than hinted at a hidden agenda. We have people come here from time to time with a motivation other than the one they declare. At some point they let their mask slip and reveal their true intentions.
Some of them are very good at it initially.
Some aren't.

[drtanner]

Do you ask other people here these same questions?

Do you still believe in the church? Sustain those who lead it? Are you occasionally attending or interested in another group or teaching?

Yes I have asked others on the forum, and I have no problem answering these types of questions if someone where to ask
me. I don’t want anyone to second guess what my motives or intentions may be. That being said I will do my best to show you respect and love regardless of what you say and if you do have any doubts or concerns and have a genuine desire to find some answers I hope you will stay and participate in some dialogue as It may be a great blessing to listen to the thoughts and feelings of those here.

[justkeepswimming]

I understand completely why you'd say that. I've been warned...twice now. So if I'm a troublemaker it won't be worth the effort to stay and provoke. If I'm sincere then I have to change my tone which is my plan. I do want to dialogue with you guys about JS but I'll never understand the sensitivity with which we treat JS's life. I now know from Brian that I can't call JS a tyrant while simultaneously calling him divine, I just have to focus on what makes us all feel good and comfortable which is the narrative this forum wants. When I came here originally I was hoping I'd be able to talk about him in a way that I can't in church but nobody wants to address the negative, only focus on the positive.

I think there is so much we haven't allowed ourselves to learn about JS's life (and by extension God and ourselves) because we are too threatened to use words that scare us, words that we have been taught to associate with the so-called anti mormon mentality.

I'd love to talk about JSs positive and negative traits as we do Peter, like when he sold Jesus out, but for some reason we must only focus on the good with JS or it's some how an assault on his integrity and divinity.

I can and will do that so I'm not banned.

Do you ask other people here these same questions?

Do you still believe in the church? Sustain those who lead it? Are you occasionally attending or interested in another group or teaching?

Can't blame him for asking the question.
Your behaviour here has more than hinted at a hidden agenda. We have people come here from time to time with a motivation other than the one they declare. At some point they let their mask slip and reveal their true intentions.
Some of them are very good at it initially.
Some aren't.

[Arenera]

Your child is now old enough to mow the lawn. You really like a well manicured lawn, sometimes even trying to stripe it like they do with Major League Baseball parks.

Do you:

- Watch every move your child makes, quickly correctly them and showing your doubting face when mistakes are made?

- Watch from a distance, when the lawn is mowed, let the child know what a miserable job they did and you have to mow it now to do it right?

- Watch from a distance, with smiles of encouragement, and when done, tell your child how pleased you are and a fine job they did?

I suggest the third option.

[marc]

My favorite story is probably the one about the night of September 22, 1827. Joseph Smith was originally supposed to take Alvin with him to retrieve the plates from Moroni, but because Alvin died, Joseph didn't know what to do. Moroni had told him that he would receive the plates if he took the right person with him. When he met Emma and married her, there was no doubt in his mind that Emma was the right person. It was around midnight when they took a wagon and parked it at the bottom of the hill Cumorah. Emma waited while Joseph jumped off the wagon and climbed the hill to get the plates. I'm not sure how long she waited out there or if she was frightened, but she didn't ditch Joseph. She trusted that he would make it back and so he did with the plates. Pretty scary stuff considering some bad guys were hunting Joseph down to take his "treasure" from him. This is as much a story of Joseph's integrity as Emma's as it is about their bonds of love.

[drtanner]

Your child is now old enough to mow the lawn. You really like a well manicured lawn, sometimes even trying to stripe it like they do with Major League Baseball parks.

Do you:

- Watch every move your child makes, quickly correctly them and showing your doubting face when mistakes are made?

- Watch from a distance, when the lawn is mowed, let the child know what a miserable job they did and you have to mow it now to do it right?

- Watch from a distance, with smiles of encouragement, and when done, tell your child how pleased you are and a fine job they did?

I suggest the third option.

I would ask them what they think of their work listening intently, and then ask them if they had to pick something to improve or do different what would that be. If they don't do a good job, I think it does them a dis-service to tell them they did, but I also think you can help them learn themselves without having to give a lecture.

[drtanner]

I understand completely why you'd say that. I've been warned...twice now. So if I'm a troublemaker it won't be worth the effort to stay and provoke. If I'm sincere then I have to change my tone which is my plan. I do want to dialogue with you guys about JS but I'll never understand the sensitivity with which we treat JS's life. I now know from Brian that I can't call JS a tyrant while simultaneously calling him divine, I just have to focus on what makes us all feel good and comfortable which is the narrative this forum wants. When I came here originally I was hoping I'd be able to talk about him in a way that I can't in church but nobody wants to address the negative, only focus on the positive.

I think there is so much we haven't allowed ourselves to learn about JS's life (and by extension God and ourselves) because we are too threatened to use words that scare us, words that we have been taught to associate with the so-called anti mormon mentality.

I'd love to talk about JSs positive and negative traits as we do Peter, like when he sold Jesus out, but for some reason we must only focus on the good with JS or it's some how an assault on his integrity and divinity.

I can and will do that so I'm not banned.

Do you ask other people here these same questions?

Do you still believe in the church? Sustain those who lead it? Are you occasionally attending or interested in another group or teaching?

Can't blame him for asking the question.
Your behaviour here has more than hinted at a hidden agenda. We have people come here from time to time with a motivation other than the one they declare. At some point they let their mask slip and reveal their true intentions.
Some of them are very good at it initially.
Some aren't.

Still don't quite understand where your coming from and if you still believe in the church? Sustain those who lead it? Are you occasionally attending or interested in another group or teaching?

[brlenox]

I understand completely why you'd say that. I've been warned...twice now. So if I'm a troublemaker it won't be worth the effort to stay and provoke. If I'm sincere then I have to change my tone which is my plan. I do want to dialogue with you guys about JS but I'll never understand the sensitivity with which we treat JS's life.

...I think there is so much we haven't allowed ourselves to learn about JS's life (and by extension God and ourselves) because we are too threatened to use words that scare us, words that we have been taught to associate with the so-called anti mormon mentality.

I gave you the "why" in oh so clear terms. Go back and reread the Brigham Young story about his thoughts on Joseph's financial prowess that I sent you. I don't think you read it the first time and you completely ignored what may well be the most important message you could ever receive at this point in your life. And why? Why would you ignore one of the most brilliant understandings on the subject of speaking poorly of the Lords servants? Is it because something else speaks louder in your mind?

And I assure you that I know every single thing about Joseph that you think you know. But knowledge and wisdom are two different venues and knowing what to do with certain types of knowledge is a venue of wisdom that seems to escape you.

[chase]

I really loved the story of when Emma realized Joseph was cheating on her in their own house. Those kind of stories make it much easier to exit the church without feeling the need to apologize for it. The world is bigger than this puny religious lie.

[NinjaForJesus]

while Joseph was delivering a sermon in someone’s home, a little girl became tired and sleepy and began to cry. Joseph stopped speaking for a moment, sat down, and motioned for her to come to him. He held her on his lap, patted her, and she went peacefully to sleep while he completed his sermon.

and many others
https://www.lds.org/friend/1991/12/the- ... n?lang=eng

[NinjaForJesus]

I really loved the story of when Emma realized Joseph was cheating on her in their own house. Those kind of stories make it much easier to exit the church without feeling the need to apologize for it. The world is bigger than this puny religious lie.

Joseph Smith did leave one example that we can rely on, to be as a child, ask God and have faith he answer you, giving you line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, until we know the truth, outside the narratives of tainted history from long ago.

[Robin Hood]

I really loved the story of when Emma realized Joseph was cheating on her in their own house.

Not true.

[eddie]

I really loved the story of when Emma realized Joseph was cheating on her in their own house. Those kind of stories make it much easier to exit the church without feeling the need to apologize for it. The world is bigger than this puny religious lie.

[BeNotDeceived]

https://ldsmag.com/1833-meteor-storm-a- ... nd-wonder/

http://www.moroni10.com/mormon_history/ ... lling.html

[chase]

I really loved the story of when Emma realized Joseph was cheating on her in their own house.

Not true.

You're right, it's ok if god gave the woman to you. Sorry Emma, god is dogmatic and technical, so just fall in line and accept your husband's philandering.

[Ezra]

I really loved the story of when Emma realized Joseph was cheating on her in their own house. Those kind of stories make it much easier to exit the church without feeling the need to apologize for it. The world is bigger than this puny religious lie.

Since your even smaller then the religion and since god created the world which is much larger then the lds religon as you say. What does that make you in your mind? I’m asking seriously. I enjoy analyzing things like that.

[Robin Hood]

I really loved the story of when Emma realized Joseph was cheating on her in their own house.

Not true.

You're right, it's ok if god gave the woman to you. Sorry Emma, god is dogmatic and technical, so just fall in line and accept your husband's philandering.

Anyone who studies this subject properly knows your claim is utter nonsense.
But you want to believe it, so I'm not going to bother trying to change your mind because as we all know, "a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still".