possible reason the Council of 50 minutes are withheld

[_Sethbag]

While reading a thread about Council of 50 minutes being locked up tight in the infamous vault, it occurred to me there may well be a very mundane reason for this.

We've all (except BCSpace) noticed that the church has been repudiating its past teachings with alarming regularity in recent years, calling the words of past Prophets, Seers, and Revelators the speculative teachings unsupported by scriptural doctrine.

In the Council of 50 minutes are purported to be dozens if not hundreds of pages of the teachings of Joseph Smith. I'd really love to know what Smith had to say to these men, but it's possible that this is exactly what the church wants to prevent, because what Smith had to say back then doesn't mesh well with the new and improved version of Mormonism that the PR department has been churning out for the last 30 years or so, and they simply don't want the headache of having to repudiate it.

My dad and I used to talk about gospel and church things a fair bit when I was younger, and I remember him so often prefacing a remark with "the Prophet Joseph Smith taught that...." and he would proceed to mention something contained in the JoD, or some other writing, or transcribed sermon, or article from the Times and Seasons or whatever. Imagine the absolute gold mine of new quotable teachings of Joseph Smith contained in the Council of 50 minutes. Imagine the bonanza of sacrament meeting talks generated by faithful readers of these minutes, based on all the stuff Joseph Smith taught that we've never heard or seen before.

And the church leadership simply doesn't want to deal with that. They've got their message, they've got their correlated version of the Gospel, the church history, and all that, and they simply don't want to deal with more Joseph Smith.

"A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible."

Who knows. Maybe someday we'll find out what these minutes contain. I wonder then whether the feeling will be more disappointment at how mundane it all is, or excited by how scandalous it all is, or just plain amused at how quaint it all is viewing it from our more scientifically-informed position, or some other feeling altogether.

[_Buffalo]

It may be just regular old Joseph Smithian wacky ideas. However, I'm sure some of it has to do with plans to overthrow the government. What's a secret society dedicated to world domination without one of those?

[Bedlamite]

While reading a thread about Council of 50 minutes being locked up tight in the infamous vault...

Back in a previous lifetime, when I spent many hours researching in
the Church Archives, I once asked about this matter, and was told:

1. The minutes were the personal property of Joseph F. Smith, and
before he died he never gave any legal permission for their contents
to be shared with anybody, outside of the First Presidency and the
Secretary to the First Presidency. Therefore, even the Church Historian
has no access to this "private property."

2. The minutes include the discussion and disciplinary measures relating
to a number of transgressing members. It has always been the policy
of the Church leadership to keep these sorts of private personal disclosures
away from profane inspectors.

3. The Council of Fifty was a body independent of the Church -- and
therefore any request for access to their minutes should be directed
to the President of the Council (or his successor) and not to the
Church Historian's Office, nor to the First Presidency.

"Catch-22," page 1000, sub-section 666, paragraph 0.0-a

UD

[_MCB]

It may be just regular old Joseph Smithian wacky ideas. However, I'm sure some of it has to do with plans to overthrow the government. What's a secret society dedicated to world domination without one of those?

Anyone who says that there is a conspiracy within Mormonism to dominate the world is just wacky. Or maybe not.....

[_MCB]

JD 1:230, John Taylor, April 8, 1853
Let us now notice our political position in the world. What are we going to do? We are going to possess the earth. Why? Because it belongs to Jesus Christ, and he belongs to us, and we to him; we are all one, and will take the kingdom and possess it under the whole heavens, and reign over it for ever and ever. Now, ye kings and emperors, help yourselves, if you can. This is the truth, and it may as well be told at this time as at any other.

If John Taylor was wacky, who else was?

[_Uncle Dale]

If John Taylor was wacky, who else was?

The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. And in the
latter days He shall give unto his Saints their inheritance.

Yea, the day soon comes when the Lord shall reign in
Zion for 1000 years, and his Saints shall redeem The
Kingdom and that Kingdom shall roll through all the earth,
crushing beneath it all other kingdoms and churches.

Brethren, we must build up that Kingdom to-day. We must
make ready for the coming of the Lord, in all ways, temporal,
political, and spiritual. That is our sacred duty and privilege.

Minutes of the Anointed Quorum p. 666
Cedar City, U. T., Sept. 11, 1857

/sarcasm

UD

[_Sethbag]

JD 1:230, John Taylor, April 8, 1853
Let us now notice our political position in the world. What are we going to do? We are going to possess the earth. Why? Because it belongs to Jesus Christ, and he belongs to us, and we to him; we are all one, and will take the kingdom and possess it under the whole heavens, and reign over it for ever and ever. Now, ye kings and emperors, help yourselves, if you can. This is the truth, and it may as well be told at this time as at any other.

If John Taylor was wacky, who else was?

Is this a trick question?

[_Fence Sitter]

UD,

Would you mind sharing any of those random interesting observations you so frequently write regarding changes in the Church (RLDS or LDS) due to the realization the Zion was not going to be redeemed any time soon?

Thanks

[_LDS truthseeker]

Well I don't think most people would take kindly to seeing that Joseph had himself annointed as king of the world. Sounds just a tad arrogant.

[_MCB]

Minutes of the Anointed Quorum p. 666
Cedar City, U. T., Sept. 11, 1857

I will believe it when I see it. Show me a scanned copy.