JOSEPH SMITH'S INFALLABILITY
Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum
Many blogs about Joseph Smith appear on the internet. Some flattering, most derogatory. These two represent a new type blog coming from many geographical areas from many diverse people:
Speaking of her husband’s activities during the translation of the Book of Mormon, Emma Smith remembered:
One time while he was translating he stopped suddenly, pale as a sheet, and said, “Emma, did Jerusalem have walls around it?” When I answered, “Yes,” he replied “Oh! I was afraid I had been deceived.” He had such a limited knowledge of history at that time that he did not even know that Jerusalem was surrounded by walls.
The passage is interesting for what it suggests about the difference between a text, even a text revealed through the gift and power of God, and its meaning. Joseph is reading the text of the Book of Mormon from the seer stone to his scribe. He sees the words on the stone, and then wonders if there was some mistake when it speaks of the “walls” of Jerusalem. He only knows about the walls of the city because the text says so. He has not seen a vision of the walls of Jerusalem. He is a first-hand witness of the revealed text but has no knowledge of its geographical accuracy beyond the report of Emma, who has heard of or read about the walls of Jerusalem but never been there herself. The text is divinely revealed, but for geographical understanding Joseph is dependent on a potentially fallible human source. “It is asserted by one of his principle followers,” wrote one critic with amazement, “that Jo, even at this day is profoundly ignorant of the meaning of many of the words contained in the Book of Mormon.” For the critic this seemed scandalous, but for Emma and the Saints, these intellectual limitations were evidence that the Book of Mormon translation was the work of God, not a fictional product of Joseph Smith’s imagination.
When left to his own, Joseph Smith was just as prone as any of us to make mistakes and sometimes express faulty opinions. Sometimes the Lord would correct him. Sometimes he did not.
From The Treason of the Geographers: Mythical “Mesoamerican” Conspiracy and the Book of Mormon by Matthew Roper in Interpreter: a Journal of Mormon Scripture, 16
My Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith
A prominent LDS scholars of the last century was asked in an interview whether his deep study of the church and its messy history had disillusioned him. He replied that he couldn’t be disillusioned because he had never been illusioned in the first place. I relate to that: I’m a convert to the church who very soon after joining was exposed to the glorious, crazy messiness of the history of our church, and so I’ve never had a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith as Disney-fied or airbrushed or anything like that; my testimony has always been of a weak and flawed man who nonetheless did great things. I believe in the Joseph Smith who had a vision of God, but also the Joseph Smith who threw down a bugle in a fit of anger. I believe in the Joseph Smith who translated the Book of Mormon, but also the Joseph Smith who signed a letter“with utter contempt, JS Jr.” I believe in the Joseph Smith who organized the church, but also the Joseph Smith who broke a girl’s doll and offered her only a non-apology.
I’m grateful for my admittedly weird testimony because along with it has come some really significant blessings.
First, the recognition that God can use very flawed humans to do very amazing things. I also take comfort in knowing that God has a use for imperfect people, including me. There is hope for all of us. And we need to exercise the same charity and benefit of the doubt that we want applied to us. We also need to recognize our own limitations in understanding, per Elder Oaks, who said that he didn’t know what to make of certain elements of polygamy. If a weak and flawed person can do amazing, inspired things, then God’s power is very real. We might not be able to see that so well if the prophet were nearly-perfect.
Second, when you go digging in church history, you don’t just find the skeletons in the closet–although there are skeletons in the closet–but you also find treasures in the attic as well. I love President Uchtdorf’s teaching that the Restoration is still ongoing. Joseph Smith also restored to us knowledge of our Mother in Heaven.
Finally, my weird view of Joseph Smith has protected me–protected me from the danger that in thinking that he was perfect, I might lose sight of the only perfect person, Jesus Christ.
The following articles have been recently posted to the BMAF website: www.bmaf.org Joe Andersen's article
- Response to Jonathan Neville’s The Lost City of Zarahemla is one of the first responses to Mr.Jonathan Neville's irresponsible Heartlander article.
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