In the last five years it has become extremely popular for people to say that part of Joseph Smith’s Translation of the Bible is copied form Adam Clarke’s biblical commentaries. This argument is ultimately based on the work of a single paper that emerged in 2020. In this article we examine the evidence for this argument and, using the excellent work of Dr. Kent P. Jackson, one of the foremost experts on the JST, prove that this theory is completely bogus.
Category: Joseph Smith
Jesus Christ Is The Leader of His Church Today
The leader of the Church of Jesus Christ is the Lord Jesus Christ. He leads this church actively and directly. And this isn’t meant in some theoretical or technical sense. It is meant very literally. This is shown in this LDS Classic as President Heber J. Grant recalls a revelatory vision he had of the Lord Jesus Christ deciding to call him to the Apostleship.
The Constitution: No Friend of the Latter-day Saints
Recently, I was asked to give a talk in church about the ways that the Constitution aided in the Restoration. Though greatly expanded with additional quotes and pictures, this article is fundamentally the talk that I gave. By examining the breadth of early LDS history (form 1830 to roughly 1890), I provided evidence and argument that the Constitution of the United States did nothing to help the Restoration and that it was always on the side of those who brutalized, oppressed, and killed us. The reason the Restoration occurred, and has continued, was the power of Jesus Christ to protect the Saints from annihilation. No law of man gave us any aid. It was God alone who preserved and prospered us against all odds and it is He alone that continues to do so now.
The Great Blessings of A Modern Prophet
This article is a talk I was asked to give in church as our ward prepares for the coming General Conference. In it I talk about how the importance of the modern prophets, how they actively receive revelation from God for us right now, the blessings and truth to be gained by following the Prophets and Apostles, and exactly what so many in the world are so threatened by the existence of modern prophets. (Hint: It has to do with their money and power.) I end by sharing a tool that we can use to get the most out of General Conference and the talks of Prophets and Apostles. Come, brothers and sisters, let us listen to the Prophet’s voice and hear the Word of God!
What Can Men Do Against Such Reckless Hate?
I recently finished a rewatch of the Lord of the Rings. As always, I was struck by the drama and courage of Théoden and the Riders of Rohan as they made what seemed like a last stand against the overwhelming might of the armies of Saruman. Instead of surrender or retreat they trusted in the words of Gandalf the White and stood against evil no matter what the cost to them, even if it cost their lives. There is a great lesson for us to learn here about how we should live. Using examples from throughout the scriptures I discuss how we can stand against the reckless hate of the world we live in today.
The Human Side of the Book of Mormon
Why are there so many biblical quotations and allusions in the Book of Mormon? Why are there errors in the Book of Mormon’s grammar, spelling, and language? How did Joseph Smith translate the Book of Mormon? How did the Urim and Thummim work? How did the Seer Stone work? Why would Joseph need either in the first place? What impact did the knowledge and mind of Joseph Smith have on the Book of Mormon and its translation? Why would God choose an ignorant ploughboy from upstate New York to be His prophet when much more educated, enlightened, and respectable men existed? What does the answer to these questions say about the authenticity of the Book of Mormon?
Professor N.L. Nelson answers all these questions and more in this excellent essay and explains why the answers to those questions should only increase our faith in the Book of Mormon as Christian scripture.
Save Jesus Only: The Greatness of the Prophet Joseph Smith
With December being the Christmas season I feel like we often get so caught up in celebrating the birth of Christ that we overlook the birth of the second greatest man in history – the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., born December 23, 1805. This year I wanted to take a day and celebrate his birth as well. Second only to the Savior, the Prophet Joseph is worthy of all the admiration, respect, and honor the Saints give him. This article was written to highlight some of the many ways that the Prophet Joseph was a paragon of Christianity, worthy of learning about, learning from, and following the example of in our lives.
Did Early Mormons Practice Socialism?
Here I use the writings of one of the most intelligent men to be a General Authority – President J. Reuben Clark – and his insightful examination of the Law of Consecration as explained in the scriptures, his evaluation of the historical practices of the early church, and the importance of private property, and the modern Church Welfare Program all to answer a singular important question:
Did early Latter-day Saints practice Socialism in Missouri and Utah?
Did Joseph Smith and Brigham Young Teach That People Live on The Moon and The Sun?
In their never ending efforts to discredit the Latter-day Restoration of the Gospel anti-Mormons search for any information they can find to make the prophets sound crazy, because if you can discredit them then you can discredit the work they did. Among the accusations that are hurled at early Church leaders is that Joseph Smith taught that the Moon is inhabited by people and that Brigham Young believed that beings lived on the Sun. In this article I will present the sources for these accusations in full (as opposed to the incomplete and partial quoting that anti-Mormons usually use) and place these quotations in their historical context, showing what people from the most respected scientific minds to the most common laborer believed about possible life on the Moon and Sun. Once I have done so I will demonstrate that nothing that Joseph Smith or Brigham Young said or believed was incongruent with the scientific knowledge of their day and that their statements do not disprove or discredit the Restoration of the Gospel or the veracity of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
What About The Ages Differences Between Joseph Smith And His Wives?
It is common and unsurprising for anti-Mormons to attack the character of the Prophet Joseph Smith. By doing so they can elicit fury from among their co-believers and engender confusion and hatred among the ignorant. A common tactic I have encountered recently is the argument that even if Joseph Smith wasn’t a pedophile (an accusation I have disproven elsewhere and a link to which will be in this article) they nevertheless argue that because some of his plural marriages were to people significantly younger than him those marriages were necessarily abusive by default because of the differing levels of maturity and therefore power and equality present in the relationship. In this article I dismantle this argument and evaluate its accusations and assumptions in the light of what we know of the culture and history of the era that the Prophet Joseph Smith lived in. Ultimately, I demonstrate that for multiple reasons this argument is incorrect and nothing but a fallacious act of presentism that has little to do with Joseph Smith or the times he lived in.