That Man Who Rises Up To Condemn Others...

Willard Richards with his first wife, Jennetta

 

Had to break the news to a loved one today that my oldest won't be going on a mission. They know we don't attend church so it couldn't have come as a shock but it was hard for me to tell them. Because I know if I was them, I'd be heartbroken over me. That info (of our kid not going on a mission) will need to be shared with many in the next few weeks as they will be graduating soon and the question on everyone's lips will be, "What is (that kid) going to do next?"

On a side note - they are volunteering in Africa for a year in an orphanage.

But yeah, I may have had tears and, "shaky voices" (as one of my children said last week when denying they cried over the game of Risk we were playing...."No!...there weren't tears!...only shaky voices.")

So there was some seriously shaky voice going on today (blast YOU perimenopause) and I got a headache now. But of course I have to blog because this loved one let me know that they were worried of how I was so critical of the Church and I spend so much time researching how the Church is wrong and couldn't I just spend more time seeing how it's right??

Yeah...news flash. I did exactly that - for decades. I was so passionate about the Church I fought people on polygamy and being a God after this life! But it falls on deaf ears in more ways than one.

So I'll just copy and past the email I sent them after I left because, why not. The font and text is coming out weird when I post it but I'm too tired to fix it. You get the gist. 

Hi (Edit),

Thank you for listening to me today. I googled the quote you gave me about criticizing the church. Here it is below:


“I will give you one of the Keys of the mysteries of the Kingdom. It is an eternal principle, that has existed with God from all eternity: That man who rises up to condemn others, finding fault with the Church, saying that they are out of the way, while he himself is righteous, then know assuredly, that that man is in the high road to apostasy; and if he does not repent, will apostatize, as God lives.”


You can skim read this email OR you can click on the Church website links I send you to understand what I am talking about with the Church attributing things to Joseph that he never said or did.

The quote you gave me was not said by Joseph.

Here is the church website to that quote (link) scroll down to page 318

If you read that quote on the Church's website it offers you a footnote (5) in blue. If you click on that footnote it says:

History of the Church, 3:385; from a discourse given by Joseph Smith on July 2, 1839, in Montrose, Iowa; reported by Wilford Woodruff and Willard Richards.

I found two conflicts with that reference:

1. Willard Richards was not in Iowa on July 2, 1839. He was on a mission in England (link) and (link) or see the photos below:

So then I copied and pasted the footnote reference the Church gives and it took me to the Joseph Smith papers where the actual record of Willard Richards was given and you can read it here (link). There is no mention of Joseph saying that quote in the entire entry.

Hopefully this illustrates what I'm talking about with Church history. I work really hard to understand what Joseph said and what I have found is that many things we believe or are taught that are attributed to Joseph - he neither said or did.

Love,
Ruth