Not at all. Joseph Smith played his part in the orchestrated relocation of the church to Utah. There were other variables/conditions/situations/people which also played their part. The important thing in my theoretical construct is that the church exist as it does today with a base of operations which provides optimum opportunity for the church to fulfill its three fold mission. Salt Lake City has proved to be the "right place" as Brother Brigham said.
Happen chance?
All we can really say is that the move to Utah and the conditions which acted as the catalysts in moving the church to the Great Basin have been serendipitously fortunate for the church as it carries out its mandate/mission.
God driven and directed?
Only time will tell. But things seem to be moving forward quite well and the church is doing a marvelous work throughout the world... to the dismay of its critics.
The important thing in this theoretical construct is that the church*
exist as it does today with a base of operations which provides optimum opportunity for the church to fulfill its mission.*fill in the name of whatever church you wish – Scientology, Jehovah’s Witness, Catholic, Moonie, etc…
Any believer in
any religion could use your exact reasoning to attempt to create the same sort of theological construct you are utilizing here. That means that it is absolutely
meaningless.
I do hope you’ll answer my question and let me know which books you’ve read about ancient America. Dale may well be correct, and that suspicion would be correct for the vast majority of believers, but you speak so authoritatively about the validity of the historicity of the Book of Mormon I wondered if you perhaps had actually read something on the subject.
by the way, whether or not the church is doing a “marvelous work” is a matter of opinion. Is it a marvelous work to persuade people to believe in a falsehood, particularly when that belief usually entails a significant donation of time and money? Is it a marvelous work to repeatedly present obstacles in the face of social progress – civil rights, women’s rights, and now gay’s rights to marry? Is it a marvelous work to teach young people that they’re sinners when they masturbate? Is it a marvelous work to teach people that sexual indiscretion is the near equivalent of murder? Personally, I wouldn’t call any of those things “marvelous”, but, as I said, it’s a matter of opinion.
