Joseph Smith's Picture emerges

[Doctor Steuss]

Here's a Reddit thread with a death mask overlay of sorts.

I dunno... to me, it looks more like Hyrum's.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comme ... king_into/

[Reflexzero]

Did Joseph land on his head when he fell out the window to his doom?

But anyways, a new photo of the death mask using the same orientation and comparative lens would be helpful.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Here's a Reddit thread with a death mask overlay of sorts.

I dunno... to me, it looks more like Hyrum's.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comme ... king_into/

Yeah, my wife and I are skeptical. It doesn’t really match up well against any iteration of Joseph Smith. However, if it bears out then it’s a great historical find.

- Doc

[Doctor Scratch]

This is certainly an interesting discovery, and I think may very well reignite an old Mopologetic debate: i.e., do Mormons actually "worship" Joseph Smith in a manner that's on a par with Jesus? This is a very old debate--going clear back to pre-SHIELDS era Mopologetics, and to the old skirmishes with the EV critics. But the Mopologists' reactions to this--and the Church's more generally--are bound to serve as a kind of bellwether on the basic question.

[Doctor Steuss]

Looks like the Church issued a statement on it:

“Every few years, potential donors bring artifacts to the Church History Library for review, including alleged photographs of the prophet Joseph Smith. Such artifacts are, of course, of great interest to the church. Though it was not mentioned specifically in the article, church historians, archivists and artifact experts were provided — by the item’s owner and the article’s authors — the opportunity to analyze the locket and photo and to review their findings prior to publication. We concur that the daguerreotype and locket were created of the materials and methods appropriate to the 1840s. However, as nothing is definitively known about the locket’s history before 1992, we cannot draw a conclusion about who is pictured in the daguerreotype. We welcome the recent publication of the image and hope it will prompt the discovery of additional information helpful to determining its authenticity.”

Des News



(I wonder if the Hoffman affair influences this type of response at all?)

[Moksha]

From r/exmo:

This picture of Helen Mar Kimball on her wedding day is quite historic.

[drumdude]

(I wonder if the Hoffman affair influences this type of response at all?)

You can bet the farm on that.

[Rivendale]

From r/exmo:

This picture of Helen Mar Kimball on her wedding day is quite historic.

This is probably more accurate. (credit MasterMahanJr)

[drumdude]

Smith gave Helen 24 hours to respond to this request. The girl consented only after Smith explained to her that it would ensure her eternal salvation, along with that of her family. Helen was sealed to Smith in May 1843 when she was 14 and he was 37.

God's ways are so strange.

[Rivendale]

Smith gave Helen 24 hours to respond to this request. The girl consented only after Smith explained to her that it would ensure her eternal salvation, along with that of her family. Helen was sealed to Smith in May 1843 when she was 14 and he was 37.

God's ways are so strange.

And Smith broke her doll.

Her father Heber had sent her two china dolls from his missions and when Joseph visited he picked one up to look at it and broke its head off. Helen wrote, “He merely remarked: ‘As that has fallen, so shall the heathen gods fall.’ I stood there a silent observer, unable to understand or appreciate the prophetic words, but thought them a rather weak apology for breaking my doll’s head off.”