Joseph Smith's rap sheet

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drumdude
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Joseph Smith's rap sheet

Post by drumdude »

I think it would be surprising to most Mormons to read through Joseph's entire rap sheet:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Sm ... ice_system
Chronology of charges
3.1 In New York (1817–30)
3.1.1 Disorderly person, March 1826
3.1.2 Disorderly person, June 1830
3.2 In Ohio (1831–38)
3.2.1 Illegal banking, February 1837
3.2.2 Conspiracy to murder Newell, June 1837
3.2.3 Banking fraud, 1838
3.3 In Missouri (1838–39)
3.3.1 Threats to Judge Adam Black, August 1838
3.3.2 Missouri treason case, November 1838–39
3.4 In Illinois (1839–44)
3.4.1 Arrest for fleeing Missouri, 1841
3.4.2 Conspiracy to murder Governor Boggs, 1842–43
3.4.3 Missouri treason case, June 1843
3.4.4 Perjury, fornication and polygamy, May 1844
3.4.5 Inciting a riot destroying the Nauvoo Expositor, June 1844
Imagine an inner city Chicago youth with this exact same kind of criminal history, and what your average middle-aged white Utahn would think of them. At least three times Joseph was subject to a grand jury of his peers, who were tasked with listening to the evidence against him and bringing charges. The first time Joseph fled. The second time he was convicted and fled. The third time he was convicted and then murdered. When put like that, you begin to understand the people's frustration at Joseph's flagrant disregard for the law.

The faithful LDS narrative is of course that all of this is just religious persecution, the same as befell upon many a righteous prophet. The anti-Mormon narrative is (sometimes) that he was a serial criminal, who would lie, cheat, and steal at the drop of a hat if it served him.

What is your sense of Joseph's criminality, most of you having believed in Joseph at some point in your life and then studied his rap sheet? Does he land somewhere in between harmless persecuted martyr and heartless criminal thug?
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dantana
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Re: Joseph Smith's rap sheet

Post by dantana »

Those of us who look at it in the light of - knowing for a scientific certainty that god was not talking to J. Smith - have a pretty easy time coloring him as a scoundrel and serial son-of-a-bitch, as there is zero percent probability that God told Joseph Smith to seal 14 year old's to himself for later use as brood-stock in the hereafter.
Nobody gets to be a cowboy forever. - Lee Marvin/Monte Walsh
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