Radio Free Mormon: Daniel C. Peterson: The Artful Dodger

[_honorentheos]

The multiple first vision accounts were the final straw for my testimony, actually. It undermined the entire concept of a priesthood restoration, and by association with the changing nature of the Godhead that are paralleled in LDS scripture and writings pulled the rug completely out from under the claim the LDS Church had revealed knowledge re: God that was lost or unavailable to other religious traditions.

Without the first vision having any substance, Joseph Smith stopped being a prophet. When Joseph stops being a prophet, his behavior in relation to polygamy becomes lechery. The simplest explanation for the Book of Abraham and the Book of Mormon is that he made it up. Brigham Young, lacking priesthood transfer, becomes an uncouth overbearing brute drunk on power and exhibiting all of the signs of a despot. The modern church becomes largely an overpriced social club with an unpleasant competitiveness combined with Fox News type conservative leanings.

Without the first vision having substance, it became unignorably not a place for me.

[_Shulem]

The plot thickens!

These eight leaves have not been located.

Either they were maliciously destroyed or they are secretly hidden up and are being suppressed to this day.

I'll bet not even Daniel Peterson knows what titillating juicy tidbits are on those leaves!

What do you say, Dan?



PS. It's the member's fault they don't know what's on the leaves. The church doesn't hide things.

[Guest]

Well, I've thought about those eight pages and the sequence of events goes something like this, in the fall of 1832 (November) Smith (with help from Williams as a scribe) begin a History of Joseph Smith which was to include all his "marvelous" acts. Basically, those were simply the claimed appearance of a few angels and a vision of Jesus. (The "High Priesthood" restoration was not by an angel according to Smith's introduction:

History of the life of Joseph Smith Jr. an account of his marvilous experience and of all the mighty acts which he doeth in the name of Jesus Ch[r]ist the son of the living God of whom he beareth record and also an account of the rise of the church of Christ in the eve of time according as the Lord brought forth and established by his hand <​firstly​> he receiving the testamony from on high seccondly the ministering of Angels thirdly the reception of the holy Priesthood by the ministring of—Aangels to adminster the letter of the Law <​Gospel—​> <​—the Law and commandments as they were given unto him—​> and in <​the​> ordinencs, forthly a confirmation and reception of the high Priesthood after the holy order of the son of the living God power and ordinence from on high to preach the Gospel in the administration and demonstration of the spirit the Kees of the Kingdom of God confered upon him and the continuation of the blessings of God to him &c——

Smith & Cowdery claimed that they received the "holy priesthood" by way of John the Baptist and since Smith was teaching at that time that he was ELIJAH and had appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration with MOSES to confer keys on Jesus, there was to be no "restoration" of any kind of Priesthood by the Old Testament ELIJAH. Hence, you see Smith here claiming that the reception "High Priestood" (the Melchizedek) was conferred upon him, and it supposedly was by Lyman Wight in June, 1831.

So the sequence here is Testimony from on high (vision of Jesus), ministering of angels (gold plates story), reception of the "holy priesthood" by the ministering of angels (Aaronic, John the Baptist/Elijah), and being ordained to the "High Priesthood" by way of the June 1831 Conference:

Beginning with the June 1831 general conference, numerous elders in the church were ordained to the high priesthood.3 Joseph Smith taught that “the order of the High priesthood is that they have power given them to seal up the Saints unto eternal life.”4 Joseph Smith declared that the high priesthood had power “from on high to preach the Gospel.”5 A September 1832 revelation referred to the high priesthood as the greater priesthood and specified that the offices of bishop and elder were appendages to it.6 The circa April 1835 “Instruction on Priesthood” explained that before Melchizedek’s day, “it was called the holy priesthood, after the order of the Son of God,” but to avoid “too frequent repetition of his name,” it was afterwards referred to as the Melchizedek priesthood.7 Following this instruction, the high priesthood was often referred to as the Melchizedek priesthood by Joseph Smith and others.8 See also “Aaronic priesthood,” “High priest,” and “Presidency of the high priesthood.” (Joseph Smith Papers)

Notice how the definition of the Aaronic Priesthood by the JSP includes the angel story:

The lower, or lesser, of two divisions of the priesthood.1 Sometimes called the Levitical priesthood.2 It was named for Aaron, the brother of Moses, “because it was conferred upon Aaron and his seed” in antiquity.3 Joseph Smith and other church leaders taught that the Aaronic priesthood was passed down hereditarily to John the Baptist.4 Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery reported that on 15 May 1829, John the Baptist conferred upon them the priesthood of Aaron and authorized them to baptize one another.5 Instructions given in 1835 indicated that the Aaronic priesthood holds the keys of baptism, the ministering of angels, and the gospel of repentance.6 Those who held the Aaronic priesthood were directed to administer in outward and temporal affairs of the church.7 A bishop was to preside over the Aaronic priesthood.8 In September 1832, the offices of deacon and teacher were identified as appendages to the lesser priesthood, responsible for ministering to local congregations, while the priests were to travel.9 By 1836, men were appointed as presidents of Aaronic priesthood quorums in Kirtland.10

There is nothing on any angels ordaining them to the "high priesthood" and the JSP rightly doesn't even infer that in their summary. So where was I? Ah yes, timeline.

Jo and Fred write this up... and Jo dictates portions of it to Fred and writes some of it himself. His dictation is interesting to Fred, he uses the phrase "it came to pass" three times. Like he did when he was dictating the Book of Mormon. ("It came to pass" does not appear in the portions that Smith wrote himself, only in the dictated parts) But Smith didn't have a good timeline of events down and abandoned this History. He didn't have as much as seven years to prepare like he did with the Book of Mormon.

When they wrote it up, they had a TITLE PAGE, which was also ripped out of the book, and it is gone, gone gone. What did it say, I wonder?

They then flipped the book over and wrote eight pages of material in what was the back of the book and now became the front of the book. These were ripped out and we see that they were copying letters into the book by what's left. So were those eight pages a letter? Was it a more refined copy of the history at the back of the book? We just don't know, but do know that it was there and that Fielding Smith, Jr. ripped them out and did something with them.

[_Shulem]

Fielding Smith, Jr. ripped them out and did something with them.

Like a crook he stole documents from the church and hid them up. Joseph Fielding Smith was a butcher of documents and a Goddamn thief!

Show us the 8 pages! We know the church is hiding something. We know the church suppresses information.

What is the information on the missing pages? It must be bad. The church hides it to this day.



Isn't that right, Mr. Peterson?

[_Holy Ghost]

The eight missing pages must contain something damaging no doubt. I wonder if Oaks and Ballard knew of this issue when they told the youth that the church doesn't hide unfavorable history?

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/broadcasts/face-to-face/oaks-ballard?lang=eng

It sure seems like a case of hiding unfavorable history to me.

Of course they did. They have super powers of discernment. They are PSRs! Ballard and Oaks trotting out that claim reminds me of when Keith Richards was being interviewed about an attempt at sobriety, and claimed he'd given up drinking alcohol. The incredulous reporter asked, "even beer?" Richards replied, "beer ain't booze."

[_oliblish]

Fielding Smith, Jr. ripped them out and did something with them.

Like a crook he stole documents from the church and hid them up. Joseph Fielding Smith was a butcher of documents and a Goddamn thief!

Show us the 8 pages! We know the church is hiding something. We know the church suppresses information.

What is the information on the missing pages? It must be bad. The church hides it to this day.



Isn't that right, Mr. Peterson?

I'm afraid that the 8 pages met the same fate as the 116 pages.

[_jfro18]

I'm afraid that the 8 pages met the same fate as the 116 pages.

Why didn't Lucy keep them and bust out the 116 pages at some later date? I guess she really did torch them... which is a shame because that could've given everyone a whole lot of insight into how Joseph altered the beginning of the Book of Mormon to be as vague as humanly possible to avoid being dismantled by Lucy (smart smart smart)

[_Stocks]

I'm afraid that the 8 pages met the same fate as the 116 pages.

Why didn't Lucy keep them and bust out the 116 pages at some later date? I guess she really did torch them... which is a shame because that could've given everyone a whole lot of insight into how Joseph altered the beginning of the Book of Mormon to be as vague as humanly possible to avoid being dismantled by Lucy (smart smart smart)

dum dum dum dum dum

[_cwald]

Great stuff grindael. Thanks

[_cwald]

I'm having one of those boring days just sitting around doing yard work. Did something I haven't done in years...downloaded and started listening to Mormon Expression, Episode 65 First Vision for Dummies. Ahhh. Larsen at his best. I wonder if Peterson and Smoot ever listened to this episode?