DiscussMormonism.com

This week's Church News has an article about the history of the church in Ohio. The minor episode of the evacuation of Kirtland is explained thusly:

"Joseph Smith, prompted by the spirit, departed for Missouri. Other members followed."

Is the church actually surprised that members are disturbed and disappointed to find out the truth about Joseph Smith's life? How long will they continue to set people up for the fall?

Oh. And in other news, we now understand why Osama Bin Laden headed for the hills of Pakistan.

Would you like to advance on that?

"Joseph Smith, prompted by the spirit, departed for Missouri. Other members followed."

You're right; that does insult my intelligence.

But, as a wise poster said in another thread, that quote is as accurate as its target audience needs it to be.

Yeah, the church manuals build Joseph up to the point where everything he does was prompted by the spirit. Did Joseph say he was prompted by the spirit or did the manual writers just assume that? Compare this to the apologists who admit he had some serious flaws and did a lot of stuff of his own free will. Could it be that Joseph was racing between Missouri and Kirtland because he was trying to manage an organization that was unraveling? No, he only acted when the spirit prompted him. The correlation committee should just insert "prompted by the spirit" into the manuals every time Joseph Smith does something. One morning, Joseph Smith, prompted by the spirit, woke up and ate breakfast. Joseph Smith, prompted by the spirit, retired to the outhouse. Joseph Smith, prompted by the spirit, mowed his lawn.

Hi SWSU,

eah, the church manuals build Joseph up to the point where everything he does was prompted by the spirit. Did Joseph say he was prompted by the spirit or did the manual writers just assume that? Compare this to the apologists who admit he had some serious flaws and did a lot of stuff of his own free will. Could it be that Joseph was racing between Missouri and Kirtland because he was trying to manage an organization that was unraveling? No, he only acted when the spirit prompted him. The correlation committee should just insert "prompted by the spirit" into the manuals every time Joseph Smith does something. One morning, Joseph Smith, prompted by the spirit, woke up and ate breakfast. Joseph Smith, prompted by the spirit, retired to the outhouse. Joseph Smith, prompted by the spirit, mowed his lawn.

Not to derail here but I do think there is a tendency for many members to think that virtually every idea, spark of intuition, and/or thought comes from "the spirit."

~dancer~

truth dancer wrote:Hi SWSU,

Not to derail here but I do think there is a tendency for many members to think that virtually every idea, spark of intuition, and/or thought comes from "the spirit."

~dancer~

That's scary. Based on how regularly people screw up in the Church they must think the Spirit is a pretty screwy guy.

I think some of my thoughts come from the Spirit, some from angels, some from devils, and most from me.

The Nehor wrote: That's scary. Based on how regularly people screw up in the Church they must think the Spirit is a pretty screwy guy.

I know I do.

Of course, since the spirit is a figment of the imaginations of a lot of screwy people, that makes sense.

Some Schmo wrote:

The Nehor wrote: That's scary. Based on how regularly people screw up in the Church they must think the Spirit is a pretty screwy guy.

I know I do.

Of course, since the spirit is a figment of the imaginations of a lot of screwy people, that makes sense.

I don't, I just think most people have a very warped idea of what the Spirit is.

Based on how regularly people screw up in the Church they must think the Spirit is a pretty screwy guy.

I do not think so... seems to me a believer can pretty much make sense of anything and everything they believe they are being told by the spirit.



~dancer~


Edit... I do hear a lot of LDS believers also saying Satan told them something, or Satan was trying to get them to do this or that, or Satan was trying to influence them in a certain way.

SatanWasSetUp wrote:Joseph Smith, prompted by the spirit, retired to the outhouse.

LOL! Now that is the spirit of prophecy!