Time to drop in to Mormon Discussions after having ignored it for months. There is a big, wonderful world out there! This place is truly a wee little speck on the canvas of humanity and more particularly within the cyberspace world. When you're hanging out here all the time, day after day and week after week, it's easy to start thinking that this place is the summum bonum of all that is good in the world of online discussion groups. Not so. But it is kind of cool place. Same people hanging discussing the same stuff. Joseph was a loser,etc.
I came looking to see if there was anything new under the sun and if the church had fallen into ruin yet because of the work going on here at this discussion board. I would assume this would be the place to come and find out if LDS Corp. fallen on hard times. From the looks of it here, the church is lucky to be alive and still performing its mission throughout the world.
With all the profoundly astute arguments and pointing fingers that are still wagging around at this place you'd think that the church would have thrown up its hands in defeat. Keep it up guys, sooner or later the church will crumble because of the work that you and others like yourselves have dedicated a good part of your days and/or months and years in doing.Anyway, there always seems to be a common thread that a lot of the conversations on this board seem to come back to. Joseph Smith was human. He had faults. Why would God restore the true church through him of all people? Well, here's a place to start. Maybe Joseph had what it took to do what needed to be done to get the ball rolling. Could Joseph have been the type of leader that God knew would have the ability to set up the kingdom of God on earth?
Here's a good place to start looking at some of the leadership qualities of Joseph Smith.
http://www.LDS.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?v ... &hideNav=1
Would a person who did not have these qualities have stood a chance in accomplishing the work that Joseph Smith did? He had a hard enough time as it was. In fact, as you all know, it was nip and tuck there for a while as to whether or not the church would survive. Joseph brought it through to the point that Brigham could pick it up and carry it out to the Great Basin and make a go of it.
I think Joseph was somewhat unusual in comparison to other men of his time in regards to his unique mix of leadership qualities that helped him succeed in his mission/calling.
Regards,
MG