I was amused to read one of your latest installments in The V concerning Joseph Smith. The author did a moderately okay job in questioning the tenements of LDS faith based on their hero worship.
The author refers to the sensationalist tactics used to portray the LDS prophet Joseph Smith. However, the author uses effectively the same tactics. By portraying half-truths and generalizations about LDS members, he misconstrues the conception of faith.
He comments near the end of his piece, “It’d be a tragedy if Mormonism spiritually collapsed simply because history wants to be honest about its founder.”
First off, as the author points out, the project about Joseph Smith’s history is being done by church historians: Members who are delving into questions concerning their prophet, not just history.
The author brings up a valuable point that members could lose faith because of the actions of men, which has often been trouble for the LDS religion and, I’d propose, all religions. If he would look farther into the faith he’d notice that it is not the Church of Mormon, or the Church of Joseph Smith, but is in fact the Church of Jesus Christ.
He ignored that faith rests in the divinity of Jesus Christ and God, rather than in the divinity of a man who was called to a position in the church. Many great men, even prophets, had their down sides historically.
This life is for those who are working on becoming good people. The expectation of some sort of miraculous godhood for Smith is inane and naïve. People will continue maintaining their faith, understanding that the man was just that, a man, who was inspired and still made mistakes. Maybe we can come to understand that there is a chance for all of us if even a prophet can make mistakes.
-Kristine McLain
