Why can't Mormons see that the founder of their church was a huckster?

Question

The Mormon Church founder had 34 "wives." See http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/ Of those, 11 already had husbands, who were living, from whom they were not divorced. And two were only 14 years old! These are indisputable facts, not anti-Mormon attacks.

Answer 1

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

Answer 2

I think most Mormons see Joseph Smith as the man he was. He was the founder of the Church. He restored the Church of Christ which was originally founded by Christ when He was on Earth. They do not believe Joseph was perfect, but that he was a man, subject to temptation and human error. There is nothing that says he took anyone by force or against their will (at least not first hand recordings), so I don't see the issue. It wasn't illegal. And if they say it had something to do with a directive from God, then that is their right to believe that. It is religion, which is personal and faith based. We must respect people for what they believe.

Answer 3

While he was not a highly educated man, he was a charismatic fellow and people followed him. These people followed him just like people followed Koresh, Jim Jones, Moon etc.
Once the first group came around, then there were spin doctors that made the unpleasant stuff minimized and maximized the positive stuff with this group.

Answer 4

I honestly don't know. Nobody is trying to under mind the Mormon church. I think the LDS does a good job of turning people off to the church by themselves. They can't give a straight answer to anything. All you get is half-baked,water down, answers. Even if your an active LDS asking questions nobody wants to tell you anything. The church is bogus, Joseph was a false prophet,the Book of Mormon is a fraud and the church is not Christian.I have found that if you want real answers to you questions go to the Bible.God won't lie to you.

Answer 5

And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.

Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

Answer 6

Do you mean similar to how prophets of the old testament had multiple wives, and had sex with servants. Many of which were probably as young or younger than 14.

Answer 7

Mormonism Summary:
http://www.carm.org/lds/nutshell.htm

Is Mormonism Christian?: http://www.carm.org/lds/lds_christian.htm

Doctrinal Writings of Mormon Leaders:
http://www.carm.org/lds/lds_doctrines.htm

More details for those wanting to go deeper:
http://www.carm.org/mormon.htm
http://www.lhvm.org/index2.htm
http://www.mormonchallenge.com/ref_compare.htm

There are many members of religious groups that have staked their eternal souls on their beliefs without searching the scriptures, reviewing the doctrinal writings of church leaders, studying hermeneutics, philosophy, logic, and theology to satisfy themselves that what they have been told is sufficiently rational and worth believing.

Answer 8

why is it that people seek so intently to destroy the "mormon" church??

how can you say for certain that they are "indisputable facts" and not "anti-mormon attacts"

*shakes head*

Answer 9

Thats part of why I went into the process of "recovering" from the Mormon church. Its just all a buncha baloney. But I gotta hand it to the Mormons, most of them are really good people.

Answer 10

you must also have a lot of problems with biblical prophets with multiple wives:

Abraham
David
Jacob
Moses
Solomon, etc.

Were they all hucksters?