why me wrote:I just can't get my head around that one.
No kidding? Why am I surprised?
Joseph's prophethood depends on the support of the people who believed that he was a prophet of God, just like Pres Monson's depends on being sustained today. Joseph's secret activities undermines every apologetic for his prophethood. The secrecy, and the immorality at the base of his secrecy, destroyed his prophethood.
He had it when he wrote the Book of Mormon; he lost it when he secretly abandoned his prophetic mantle in favor of getting Fanny pregnant. That was not an immaculate conception; that was a dirty nasty affair involving a married man hiding his extramarital activities. Joseph further descended into his own private hell by trying to cover it all up. By the laws of the church, he stands condemned, his priesthood forfeit, his sins unconfessed and around his neck like an albatross.
You may not believe that any of that is important; I do. If he's not held accountable for his adultery, then neither is anyone else who ever walked over that line. There is no reason for any endowed member to uphold their covenants if the church allows Joseph to skate.
He was endowed, Why me. Maybe that doesn't mean anything to you, but it does to me. I am a convert, and I gave up a great deal in order to take out my own endowment, and to find out that Joseph counted his so lightly that he regularly stepped outside of those covenants literally tipped my world sideways when that fact was laid at my feet years ago. Maybe you can't imagine the sense of betrayal because you don't know what I had to give up, but I do... and every time I see someone mock my current TR, I am reminded of Joseph's betrayal.
I endure, why me, because of the blessings God gives me, blessings that would be at least as devastated as I was when I found out about Joseph's betrayal. I would suffer anything so that they do not have bear this pain. I have lived the last 12 years of my life covering up that pain; I will continue to do so until I can no longer bear that burden. I see no end in sight.
Either the Book of Mormon is our cornerstone, the law the church lives by, or Joseph's secrecy is. No one can change that, finesse that, smooth that over. The Book of Mormon calls polygamy an abomination and condemns secret combinations. Polygamy, Joseph style, was both.
God will not be mocked, although his will can certainly be circumvented for a time, or at least until he can muster up a mob to eliminate an stubborn man who would have allowed the church to be destroyed, and/or the US government.
(Nevo, Jan 23) And the Melchizedek Priesthood may not have been restored until the summer of 1830, several months after the organization of the Church.