?????Occult Context of Joseph Smith?????s 1823 Discovery of Gold Plates"

[_Black Moclips]

I watched the whole thing as well. I thought it was well done and very informative. Of course it was full of stuff I had never heard before, but I'm not surprised anymore when it comes to Mormon history. Joseph wrote it was Nephi that visited him in his room, yet the church changes that years later to reconile the official account? Of course maybe it WAS Nephi, acting as his role as originator of the book, and speaking as if he were Moroni. Or maybe the other way around. Where have I heard this before?

And this is the problem with much of what the church teaches in the chapel regarding church history. We are seeing it after it has been "reconiled" and "correlated". It presents this nice, fluid account of the church being established line upon line in an orderly fashion, when it actuality, there were errors, mistakes, inconsistencies, anachronisms, and manipulation of the facts to fit a prescribed agenda.

[_Maksutov]

It's kind of like the West Coast in the 60s...in the time and place, the social ferment, the gurus and seekers rise up.

In the end, Joseph Smith's life and the religion he produced are pretty much what you would expect to emerge from that time period. If anything, he was more of a borrower than an innovator when it came to religious thought and practice.

Exactly. A synthesizer. Blavatsky did it. Crowley did it. Hubbard did it. I happen to think that it was Paul that created Christianity, and it was with the syncretistic, polytheistic culture of Rome as the growing medium.

[_Arrakis]

Boring....

Every kid on the planet in small towns have always gone treasure hunting.
Joseph was a little different because he saw things and was successful a few times.

CFR that Joseph was successful "a few times" at finding treasure (prior to his claim of finding golden plates).

Or one times...

....bump for ldsfaq. I'd like to know more about these successes or even the one times success. I've read where Smith said he only made about $14/month being PAID to use his seer stone, but never read a single account of him actually finding treasure.

[_Maksutov]

....bump for ldsfaq. I'd like to know more about these successes or even the one times success. I've read where Smith said he only made about $14/month being PAID to use his seer stone, but never read a single account of him actually finding treasure.

I would like someone to ask President Monson if he has ever used the peepstones that the church still has. If not, why not?

[_Fiannan]

Exactly. A synthesizer. Blavatsky did it. Crowley did it. Hubbard did it. I happen to think that it was Paul that created Christianity, and it was with the syncretistic, polytheistic culture of Rome as the growing medium.

If the average Christian only knew how occultish the Bible was in reality. For one thing, angels having sex with hot human women? Satan told his sperm would not work on Eve...

Was taught before the Catholics put an end to it around the 6th Century.

[_Quasimodo]

....bump for ldsfaq. I'd like to know more about these successes or even the one times success. I've read where Smith said he only made about $14/month being PAID to use his seer stone, but never read a single account of him actually finding treasure.

Well, there was that one time he found some gold sheets. It made him a rich man with many wives.

[_Rollo Tomasi]

New Video by Dan Vogel: “Occult Context of Joseph Smith’s 1823 Discovery of Gold Plates”

Description: The purpose of this video will be to reconstruct the original story and restore it to its folk magic and treasure seeking context—a part of the story the average Mormon is woefully unaware.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z0iHyvz5xY

Dan:

I enjoyed the video very much. Thanks for sharing.

[_Fence Sitter]

I would like someone to ask President Monson if he has ever used the peepstones that the church still has. If not, why not?

I'll have to find the verse but the penalty in the Book of Mormon for using them without God's direction (?) is death. So you can see why he might be just a tad reluctant to test them.

[_Maksutov]

I would like someone to ask President Monson if he has ever used the peepstones that the church still has. If not, why not?

I'll have to find the verse but the penalty in the Book of Mormon for using them without God's direction (?) is death. So you can see why he might be just a tad reluctant to test them.

Harumph. President Pussy, I say.

[_Bazooka]

Harumph. President Pussy, I say.

You could say, he hasn't got the stones to use the stones.