Who was Joseph Smith to you? (Jesus Christ, Latter-Day Saints, reject, Moses)

[Bishka]

I noticed there were quite varied answers on the "Religious Survey" Thread to who Joseph Smith was to the responder to the survey.

Some of them included:

• "A man whose spirit interacted with the spirit of God."
• " The founder of the LDS church."
• " No one"
• "The Prophet of the Restoration"
• "The first prophet of this last and final dispensation and the translator of the Book of Mormon and the founder of my Church."
• "The founder of the Latter Day Saints, personally ithink he was a kook."
• "Nothing much. Founder of LDS"
• " I dunno him."
• "There's really no way I can answer that question honestly without offending someone, sorry."
• "No one special. He may have been a seer, but was definitely not a prophet or a Divine Messenger."
• "you don't want to know. "
• "A Mormon"
• "The founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints."
• "An inspired man"
• An important figure to followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who believe he was a prophet of God"
• "A criminal"
• "The founder of Mormonism."
• " Someone who was tuned into something at the time, though I personally would think of him more as a "seer" than a prophet."
• " A person who tells fairy tales."
• "The founder of Mormonism. Possibly a prophet."
• " I know of a religious character Joseph, I think, but not a Joseph Smith, so, I guess Joseph Smith is no one to me."
• " An enfluencial religious leader."
• " Who???"
• Just another wannabe prophet of Christian mythology.
• A rather bright young man with a remarkable vision of reality. A bona fide prophet, in my books and I am not interested in defending my position. Take it or leave it.

This is mean to be a discussion, not a debate!

Why do you think some of the people posted the way they did (i.e. "I personally think he was a kook.")? Do you think they have misunderstood his message or just think it is pure farce? What are you views on Joseph Smith (The founder of the LDS Church)? Why do you respond the way you do? Is it because of a past experience, research you have done, or other? Have you done any research on Joseph Smith?

[feed_my_lambs]

you say the joseph smith was a prophet, do you mean he is equal to the prophets of the old testement? a prophet to me is someone who brings Gods message to mankind
(which is always repent of your sins, stop being wicked and return to your creater) apart from moses i can think of anyone that has been given aproval by God to bring commandments and revelations. i have read alot of the book mormon and was surprised to see huge chunks taken strait from isaiah. i beleive that if a prophet claims he is from Almighty God you should be able to see it in what the prophet says. Hosea 11:9 "i am God not man the holy one among you" the whole idea of the lds churchs revelations that we could become a God is so far removed from the Godly teachings of the bible. this is just the start of who joseph smith is to me

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by feed_my_lambs

you say the joseph smith was a prophet, do you mean he is equal to the prophets of the old testement? a prophet to me is someone who brings Gods message to mankind
(which is always repent of your sins, stop being wicked and return to your creater) apart from moses i can think of anyone that has been given aproval by God to bring commandments and revelations. i have read alot of the book mormon and was surprised to see huge chunks taken strait from isaiah. i beleive that if a prophet claims he is from Almighty God you should be able to see it in what the prophet says. Hosea 11:9 "i am God not man the holy one among you" the whole idea of the lds churchs revelations that we could become a God is so far removed from the Godly teachings of the bible. this is just the start of who joseph smith is to me

Welcome, feed_my_lambs! I'm glad to see you here! You came just in time. The forum was starting to get kind of boring.

[Bishka]

Originally Posted by feed_my_lambs

you say the joseph smith was a prophet, do you mean he is equal to the prophets of the old testement?

In my personal belief, yes.

Originally Posted by feed_my_lambs

a prophet to me is someone who brings Gods message to mankind
(which is always repent of your sins, stop being wicked and return to your creater)

That was the message that Joseph Smith preached as well. Why does nobody see that when they think he is not a prophet? He preached repetenance, salavation, and returning to our Father in Heaven (to name a few things that he talked about).

Originally Posted by feed_my_lambs

apart from moses i can think of anyone that has been given aproval by God to bring commandments and revelations.

So Noah was the only one? Not even Jesus Christ brought forth any commandments or revelations? What about Paul, John the Revelator?

Originally Posted by feed_my_lambs

i have read alot of the book mormon and was surprised to see huge chunks taken strait from isaiah.

That was because the people who came to the Americas had Isaiah as part of their scriptures and their Holy Words; and if you have read the Book of Mormon, you would see that Nephi (Book of Mormon prophet) mentions that "...great are the words of Isaiah." It's not that they were just 'copied', it's that they felt that they were of great worth to people.

Originally Posted by feed_my_lambs

i beleive that if a prophet claims he is from Almighty God you should be able to see it in what the prophet says. Hosea 11:9 "i am God not man the holy one among you"

What is wrong about Joseph Smith? What makes any of his 'sayings' unprophetical like?

Originally Posted by feed_my_lambs

the whole idea of the lds churchs revelations that we could become a God is so far removed from the Godly teachings of the bible.

Would you like to point out where that is actually one of our teachings? Thanks.

Originally Posted by feed_my_lambs

this is just the start of who joseph smith is to me

The start? How about you show us the ending. I'm quite curious on where you've gotten much of your information and why you think it is dead-right?!?

[Zephyr]

Personally, I consider him to be a human who had some pretty neat ideas. After all, if LDS is based off his teachings, then that's gotta say something. Haven't found many other forms of Christianity so forgiving.

I don't think of him as anything divine, or even divinely inspired, but he had some good ideas and they aren't any crazier than other religions really.

[Scuba Pete]

I have nothing but respect for Mormons, aka Latter Day Saints, but I cannot believe Smith's Golden Plate story. It appears to be delusional in nature. That he was complicit in the Mountain Meadow Massacre leads me to believe he was not founded in Jesus' teachings about love.

[Wandered Off]

Do you think they have misunderstood his message or just think it is pure farce?

The church in which I was raised had the stated belief that God stopped using prophets after a certain point. Apparently, this is a widely held belief, and that may be behind some of the responses.

To echo Pete, I have respect for all the Mormons I have met. Without exception, they have been hard working, values-driven people, the kind I would count as reliable friends.

My current beliefs reject the idea of prophets. Anytime someone says, "God told me to tell you...", I immediately wonder why God didn't just tell me. Going through an agent adds no value - especially when God doesn't need to - and it adds all sorts of downside risk.

In that context, to me Joseph Smith is someone who most likely truly believed he was a prophet, and, as Zephyr pointed out, had a lot of positive influence as a result.

[Ðanisty]

I think he was an inspired man.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by Scuba Pete

I have nothing but respect for Mormons, aka Latter Day Saints, but I cannot believe Smith's Golden Plate story. It appears to be delusional in nature. That he was complicit in the Mountain Meadow Massacre leads me to believe he was not founded in Jesus' teachings about love.

That's one of the funniest things I've ever read on RF. Joseph Smith was dead for years before the Mountain Meadows Massacre ever took place!

[Quiddity]

A man who struggled with how to answer the question of why so many paths. I do believe God's grace was trying to get his attention, but I do not believe he responded properly.