The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has been around for almost two centuries. It has ebbed and fluctuated in such a predictably adaptive manner throughout it's relatively short life in the religious realm. This Church has a very sordid past, which it does a very good job of teaching for itself, whether the history is slanted or not, is yours to decide. Join me on a journey through the history of the LDS Church through the eyes of the people that were actually there. We will learn about the founding members, where the practices came from, where the Book of Mormon (Mormon Bible) came from, and most importantly, we will examine Joseph Smith in every aspect possibly available to us today.

On this episode, we cover the evolution of the first vision accounts spurred by an 1841 interview with Joseph’s brother, Reverend William Smith. From the 1829 revelation included as D&C 20 today, to the mid-1830s, to the John Whitmer history in 1838, to the History of the Church printed in the Times & Season in 1842, Joseph story looks less like an actual occurrence and more like a the coming-of-age story to a mythological figure. Was it God and Jesus who appeared, was it the angel Nephi, did the Sacred Grove even happen? These questions and more pose serious challenges to the claims of divine provenance of the young prophet. After that we have on Justin Clark from the Reason Revolution podcast to talk about the rise of the freethought movement in 19th and 20th-century America.

 

Links:

1832 First Vision Account
http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-circa-summer-1832/1#full-transcript

1835/6 First Vision Account
http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-1835-1836/24

1841/2 First Vision Account
http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-circa-june-1839-circa-1841-draft-2/2

Several Remarkable Visions Orson Pratt
http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/appendix-orson-pratt-an-interesting-account-of-several-remarkable-visions-1840/3#full-transcript

MormonThink First Vision Essay
http://www.mormonthink.com/firstvisionweb.htm

MormonThink Nephi or Moroni Essay
http://www.mormonthink.com/nephiweb.htm

LDS First Vision Essay
https://www.lds.org/topics/first-vision-accounts?lang=eng

John Whitmer History Introduction
http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/john-whitmer-history-1831-circa-1847/1#historical-intro

1841 William Smith Interview p.410
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015004820760;view=1up;seq=425

 

Interviews:

Reason Revolution with Justin Clark
http://reasonrevolution.org/episode-36-the-interview-bryce-blankenagel/

We Talk About Dead People Sidney Rigdon
https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/aaron-carter/we-talk-about-dead-people

 

Show Links:

Website http://nakedmormonismpodcast.com
Twitter @NakedMormonism
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Naked-Mormonism/370003839816311
Patreon http://patreon.com/nakedmormonism
Music by Jason Comeau http://aloststateofmind.com/
Show Artwork http://weirdmormonshit.com/
Legal Counsel http://patorrez.com/

Direct download: Episode_92.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:41pm EDT
Comments[0]

Adding comments is not available at this time.