Phelps: An Untrustworthy Scalawag

[_Darth J]

Sometimes, the issue of the priesthood ban comes up on this board. Typically, such discussions involve the idea that LDS leaders taught that men of black African descent---the seed of Cain----could not have the priesthood in this life because being a Negro was a sign of God's disfavor. For an example of such a discussion, see: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21531

Church leaders formerly teaching that black men could not have the priesthood because being born black was a punishment from God is something that continues to be a problem. Modern LDS leaders, like Gordon B. Hinckley and Jeffrey R. Holland, have had to deal with it in the media by lying about the indisputable fact that the Church taught that, or saying that it was only "folklore."

Excuse me, by clarifying that "we don't know." E.g., http://www.lds-mormon.com/60min.shtml, http://mormoninquiry.typepad.com/Mormon ... y_r_h.html

There are those who would like to lay the origin of this folklore about Negro lineage being indicative of a curse from God at the feet of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

According to the Prophet Joseph Smith, pagan Egyptian funerary papyri that he bought from a traveling showman said this:

Abraham 1

21 Now this king of Egypt was a descendant from the loins of Ham, and was a partaker of the blood of the Canaanites by birth.

22 From this descent sprang all the Egyptians, and thus the blood of the Canaanites was preserved in the land.

23 The land of Egypt being first discovered by a woman, who was the daughter of Ham, and the daughter of Egyptus, which in the Chaldean signifies Egypt, which signifies that which is forbidden;

24 When this woman discovered the land it was under water, who afterward settled her sons in it; and thus, from Ham, sprang that race which preserved the curse in the land.

25 Now the first government of Egypt was established by Pharaoh, the eldest son of Egyptus, the daughter of Ham, and it was after the manner of the government of Ham, which was patriarchal.

26 Pharaoh, being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations, in the days of the first patriarchal reign, even in the reign of Adam, and also of Noah, his father, who blessed him with the blessings of the earth, and with the blessings of wisdom, but cursed him as pertaining to the Priesthood.

27 Now, Pharaoh being of that lineage by which he could not have the right of Priesthood, notwithstanding the Pharaohs would fain claim it from Noah, through Ham, therefore my father was led away by their idolatry;

However, completely independent of, and in no way at all related to, anything that the Prophet possibly said or wrote, an edition of an LDS newspaper said the following:

Is or is it not apparent from reason and analogy as drawn from a careful reading of the Scriptures, that God causes the saints, or people that fall away from his church to be cursed in time, with a black skin? Was or was not Cain, being marked, obliged to inherit the curse, he and his children, forever? And if so, as Ham, like other sons of God, might break the rule of God, by marrying out of the church, did or did he not, have a Canaanite wife, whereby some of the black seed was preserved through the flood, and his son, Canaan, after he laughed at his grandfather's nakedness, heired three curses: one from Cain for killing Abel; one from Ham for marrying a black wife, and one from Noah for ridiculing what God had respect for? Are or are not the Indians a sample of marking with blackness for rebellion against God's holy word and holy order? And can or can we not observe in the countenances of almost all nations, except the Gentile, a dark, sallow hue, which tells the sons of God, without a line of history, that they have fallen or changed from the original beauty and grace of father Adam?

LDS Messenger and Advocate (Mar 1835) William Phelps "Letter No. 5," Pg.82

That's right. All on his own, with no demonstrable connection to what Joseph Smith might possibly have been telling people, a rogue Mormon newspaper editor named William Wines Phelps wrote the statement quoted above.

And to this day, the Church is still struggling with explaining the folklore about race being a sign of a curse from God.

Phelps.

God.damn.Phelps.

[_Fence Sitter]

So if there really was an apostasy wouldn't we expect everyone to have dark skin at the time of Joseph Smith?

[_Kishkumen]

He's the Newman to Mormonism's Jerry Seinfeld.

Maybe there's more to Phelps than meets the eye.

No, there's less.

Well done!

[_Kishkumen]

And to this day, the Church is still struggling with explaining the folklore about race being a sign of a curse from God.

Phelps.

God.damn.Phelps.

Is there no limit to the damage that man visited upon Mormonism?

LOL!

[_Darth J]

And to this day, the Church is still struggling with explaining the folklore about race being a sign of a curse from God.

Phelps.

God.damn.Phelps.

Is there no limit to the damage that man visited upon Mormonism?

LOL!

Well, we shall see..........

[_sock puppet]

Is this whole Phelps diversion just another SAVE JOSEPH tactic?

[Guest]

Among the difficult issues surrounding the Book of Mormon is how it was translated. Not just whether it was a "tight" translation (based mainly on abundant witness statements) or a "loose" translation (based mainly on apologetic desperation), but the device Joseph Smith used to be able to translate.

The faith-promoting story that Latter-day Saints hear in church is, with very rare exceptions, that Joseph Smith used the Urim and Thummim. In fact, the overwhelming weight of evidence from witnesses is that Joseph purported to translate by putting a seer stone in a hat, then putting his head in the hat.

The faith-promoting Sunday school story being in conflict with the historical record is often a problem for Latter-day Saints who discover the truth of the matter. When apologist Daniel C. Peterson talked about the rock in the hat on the PBS special, The Mormons, some chapel Mormons, oblivious both to the history and to the tenets of Mopologetics, assumed he was an anti-Mormon telling lies. The family-oriented children;s cartoon, South Park, made fun of the rock-in-the-hate method on an episode titled, "All About Mormons." This was very offensive to many believing Latter-day Saints, who did not realize that what they were seeing on this cartoon was more accurate than what they were told by the Church.

All of this has also led many to see it as another example of the Church not being honest about its history. This has not only led to crises of faith, but a skepticism about the Church's integrity in general.

So why talk about the Urim and Thummim, when it was the seer stone in a hat that was the method of translation? Who started this false and misleading story that Joseph Smith used the Urim and Thummim to translate the Book of Mormon?

On another thread, Mormon Discussions member Thews has supplied the answer:

Here you go:
http://www.boap.org/LDS/History/HTMLHis ... html#N_13_

Note the dates in the title...

History of the Church Vol.1

Chapter 3. [Jan. 1827 - Mar. 1829]

The Nephite Record Delivered To Joseph-- The Angel's Warning--The Work of Translation.

Followed by this (note footnote 13)...

1. Now, behold, I say unto you, that because you delivered up those writings which you had power given unto you to translate by the means of the Urim and Thummim,(13) into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them.

2. And you also lost your gift at the same time, and your mind became darkened.

3. Nevertheless, it is now restored unto you again; therefore see that you are faithful and continue on unto the finishing of the remainder of the work of translation as you have begun.

Footnote 13...

13. The term Urim and Thummim, while used in this revelation and in the ms text does not appear in early publications of the revelation, nor does it seem to have been used in any contemporary document of the principals. No early ms of this revelation survives apparently. In the 1833 Book of Commandments, verse one read "Now, behold I say unto you, that because you delivered up so many writings, which you had power to translate, into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them. . . ." Thus, the words "by the means of the Urim and Thummim" in verse one were not part of this verse in the Book of Commandments; nor was section 17, which also makes use of the term Urim and Thummim, printed in the Book of Commandments. Both section 17 and verse one of section 10, as we now have them, first appeared in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. Lyndon Cook writes:

While the retroactive placement of the term in section 10 has led to some speculation relative to the Prophet's having the instrument in his possession, a preponderance of evidence confirms the Prophet's own testimony: "With the records was found a curious instrument, which the ancients called 'Urim and Thummim,' which consisted of two transparent stones set in the rim of a bow fastened to a breastplate" (History of the Church, 4:537 [Wentworth letter]). The problem here seems to be one of terminology, not whether or not the Prophet had possession of an ancient artifact. Until some time after the translation of the Book of Mormon, the sacred instruments may have been referred to as "Interpreters," or "spectacles." It is possible that Joseph Smith's inspired translation of the Bible played some part in designating the translating instrument "Urim and Thummim." The earliest use of the term Urim and Thummim in Mormon literature is in the Evening and Morning Star (January 1833). An article on the Book of Mormon, undoubtedly authored by W. W. Phelps, stated, "It was translated by the gift and power of God, by an unlearned man, through the aid of a pair of Interpreters, or spectacles--(known, perhaps in ancient days as Teraphim, or Urim and Thummim)." [RJS, 17]

[Phelps' speculation that the Old Testament word "Teraphim" refers to an object or objects similar to the Urim and Thummim is wrong. Teraphim were small household idols. Recent studies in regard to Biblical "Urim and Thummim," historically the object of wide speculation, suggest they were similar in character to the "Interpreters" had by Joseph Smith. See notes in JSCOM.]

In case you missed it, let us review the salient portions of these notes from History of the Church, with added emphasis:

An article on the Book of Mormon, undoubtedly authored by W. W. Phelps, stated, "It was translated by the gift and power of God, by an unlearned man, through the aid of a pair of Interpreters, or spectacles--(known, perhaps in ancient days as Teraphim, or Urim and Thummim)." [RJS, 17]

[Phelps' speculation that the Old Testament word "Teraphim" refers to an object or objects similar to the Urim and Thummim is wrong.

One need wonder no longer whence came this pernicious, misleading, false rumor that has been a thorn in the side of those who have studied----or inadvertently become aware of---Mormon history.

It was......William Wines Phelps.

Phelps!!!!! PHELPS!!!!!

[_Darth J]

Is this whole Phelps diversion just another SAVE JOSEPH tactic?

I will not dignify that with a response.

[_sock puppet]

Is this whole Phelps diversion just another SAVE JOSEPH tactic?

I will not dignify that with a response.

pffft.

[_Kishkumen]

This is all very interesting, Darth. Phelps seems to have fancied himself to be quite the scholar, and he used his talents, such that they were, to add a veneer of historical and scholarly learning to Joseph Smith's more folksy methods.