By Sandra Tanner
Over the last two years the LDS Church has issued a number of essays in an attempt to answer some of the troubling aspects of Joseph Smith’s life and teachings, such as Smith’s stone in the hat, lack of evidence for the Book of Mormon, marrying married women and girls as young as 14, failed translation of the Book of Abraham, etc. However, many Mormons have found these essays troubling, not just because of new information but also due to the minimizing of the depth of the problems.
At the October 2015 semi-annual conference of the LDS Church there were several talks admonishing the faithful to follow the brethren, set aside their doubts and seek faith. Speaking at the Saturday evening Priesthood session, Apostle Neil L. Andersen admonished:
The questions concerning the prophet Joseph Smith are not new. They have been hurled by his critics since this work began. To those of faith who, looking through the colored glasses of the 21st century, honestly question events or statements of the prophet Joseph from nearly 200 years ago, may I share some friendly advice? For now, give Brother Joseph a break! In a future day you will have 100 times more information than from all of today’s [Internet] search engines combined. And it will come from our all-knowing Father in Heaven.1
But must we wait until we stand before God for such answers? Andersen pleads “Give Brother Joseph a break,” but there are already enough facts for the average rational person to conclude that Joseph doesn’t measure up as a prophet of God. At our bookstore we are regularly receiving visits and phone calls from troubled LDS members who are struggling with their faith in Mormonism. Many of them say it all started after just reading the various Gospel Topics essays. The problem isn’t that we lack sufficient information, the problem is that the information counters a lifetime of indoctrination.
How much of a break are Mormons willing to extend to some of the prophets of the breakoff polygamist groups? Couldn’t the FLDS just as rightly call for giving Warren Jeffs a break, even though he is serving a lifetime sentence in Texas for relations with twelve to fourteen-year-old girls? How is this any different than Joseph Smith taking fourteen-year-olds as secret polygamist wives?2 Both Jeffs and Smith claimed revelation for their acts.
When Paul preached to the Jews in Berea that Jesus was the Messiah, they were not told to just have faith in what Paul told them, they were commended because they “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). In today’s world of competing truth claims we would do well to examine the evidence, not just rely on our feelings.
Footnotes:
- Comment starts at the 7-minute mark: “Faith is not by Chance,” churchofjesuschrist.org. ↩︎
- “Problems in the LDS Essays on Plural Marriage,” Salt Lake City Messenger, no. 124, (May 2015). ↩︎
Originally appeared in:
Sandra Tanner, “Give Brother Joseph a Break?” Salt Lake City Messenger, no. 125, November 2015, 10.