bcspace wrote:So when have the Church's critics fully quoted the account in their rants and made note of why Dear Wife thought Joseph Smith put his head in the hat? Could it be that they are just as guilty of what they accuse the Church of?
I'm not sure what point you are trying to make. Are you saying that critics do not acknowledge that Emma claims she believed in Joseph Smith's ability to translate by the gift and power of God? If so, you are barking up the wrong tree. This critic will readily acknowledge it. I'll even copy one of her accounts here:
Emma Hale Smith Bidamon was born on July 10, 1804, to Isaac and Elizabeth Hale. She grew up in Harmony, Pennsylvania, along the banks of the Susquehanna River on a 13 acre farm. She attended school, and was well educated for a girl of that day. She met Joseph while he and his father were boarding at her father's house in 1827. It must have been love at first sight because they eloped and were married on January 18th of that same year.
Joseph shared his stories about the First Vision, the Angel Moroni and the gold plates with her. She trusted and believed him. She was with him the night he was finally allowed to take the plates. She saw him walking down the hill with a large bundle in his arms wrapped in cloth, making her the first person, other than Joseph, to see evidence of the reality of the plates, without actually seeing them.
Emma's father had not approved of their marriage, refusing give his blessing to their union. Tensions must have eased between Mr. Hale and Joseph because when Joseph and Emma's tormenting in New York got to be too much, they were allowed to move back into Emma's childhood home in Pennsylvania. There, Emma and Oliver Cowdery helped Joseph with the translation of the Book of Mormon. They remained there until it became necessary to relocate again. By invitation of the Whitmer Family, they moved themselves and the plates to Fayette, New York. It was also there, along the banks of the Susquehanna River, that the Priesthood was restored.
Emma stood by Joseph through the organization of the church; through his bogus arrests; through the loss of multiple children; through moving from state to state; through mobs, violence, and forced expulsions; right up until the end when Joseph was murdered in Carthage. Like I said, it must have been love at first sight because the two of them went through hell and back and still adored each other. The poor woman was pregnant at the time of Joseph was martyred in Carthage, Illinois in June 1844.
Emma remained in Nauvoo, Ill. with her children and Joseph's Mother after Joseph's death, instead of moving with the rest of the church to the Salt Lake Valley. She had major disagreements with Brigham Young over church policy, finances, and certain practices, namely polygamy. On December 23, 1847, almost 3 and a half years after the death of Joseph, she remarried to a nonMormon named Major Lewis C. Bidamon. Major Bidamon had been Abraham Lincoln's commanding officer in the Black Hawk Indian War.
In her later years the only contact she had with the church were old friends who would stop by when they traveled through Illinois, or when her sons were campaigning against polygamy. On April 30, 1879, a few months before her death, her son Joseph Smith III, (then the head of a new Reorganized church, now called Community of Christ), interviewed her about the events of the restoration one last time. He thought it important to have her testimony on record. The following are excerpts from the transcript of that interview. Keep in mind, she was 76 years old and it had been 50 years since she had helped pen the translation of the Book of Mormon. Her final account gives some details about how the plates were translated, and why it wasn't possible for Joseph to have made up the book. I also find her account amazing because she describes the plates the same way the Eight Witnesses did so many years after the fact. This would be highly unlikely if they had all been making the story up, nearly impossible since she hadn't had contact with any of the witnesses in some time.
Question. What of the truth of Mormonism?
Answer. I know Mormonism to be the truth; and believe the Church to have been established by divine direction. I have complete faith in it. In writing for your father I frequently wrote day after day, often sitting at the table close by him, and dictating hour after hour with nothing between us.
Question. Had he not a book or manuscript from which he read, or dictated to you?
Answer. He had neither manuscript nor book to read from.
Question. Could he not have had, and you not know it?
Answer. If he had had anything of the kind he could not have concealed it from me.
Question. Are you sure that he had the plates at the time you were writing for him?
Answer. The plates often lay on the table without any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small linen tablecloth, which I had given him to fold them in. I once felt of the plates, as they thus lay on the table, tracing their outline and shape. They seemed to be pliable like thick paper, and would rustle with a metallic sound when the edges were moved by the thumb, as one does sometimes thumb the edges of a book.
Question. Where did father and Oliver Cowdery write?
Answer. Oliver Cowdery and your father wrote in the room where I was at work.
Question. Could not father have dictated the Book of Mormon to you, Oliver Cowdery and the others who wrote for him, after having first written it, or having first read it out of some book?
Answer. Joseph Smith [and for the first time she used his name direct, having usually used the words, "your father" or "my husband"] could neither write nor dictate a coherent and well-worded letter, let alone dictate a book like the Book of Mormon. And, though I was an active participant in the scenes that transpired, and was present during the translation of the plates, and had cognizance of things as they transpired, it is marvelous to me, "a marvel and a wonder," as much so as to anyone else.
Question. I should suppose that you would have uncovered the plates and examined them?
Answer. I did not attempt to handle the plates, other than I have told you, nor uncover them to look at them. I was satisfied that it was the work of God, and therefore did not feel it to be necessary to do so;
Major Bidamon here suggested: Did Mr. Smith forbid your examining the plates?
Answer. I do not think he did. I knew that he had them, and was not specially curious about them. I moved them from place to place on the table, as it was necessary in doing my work.
Question. Mother, what is your belief about the authenticity, or origin, of the Book of Mormon?
Answer. My belief is that the Book of Mormon is of divine authenticity - I have not the slightest doubt of it. I am satisfied that no man could have dictated the writing of the manuscripts unless he was inspired; for, when acting as his scribe, your father would dictate to me hour after hour; and when returning after meals, or after interruptions, he could at once begin where he had left off, without either seeing the manuscript or having any portion of it read to him. This was a usual thing for him to do. It would have been improbable that a learned man could do this; and, for one so ignorant and unlearned as he was, it was simply impossible.
Reference:
http://www.moroni10.com/witnesses/Emma_Smith.html (Not exactly an anti'Mormon site).
Again, your point? The fact is that critics are willing to let the facts--all the facts--out, and let people form judgments and reach conclusions after rigorous analysis of the same. It's the church and church apologists who rarely want all the facts out there. Critics are not afraid of facts and free discussion of the same.
"The Church is authoritarian, tribal, provincial, and founded on a loosely biblical racist frontier sex cult."--Juggler Vain
"The LDS church is the Amway of religions. Even with all the soap they sell, they still manage to come away smelling dirty."--Some Schmo