Why would Joseph Smith, a prophet of god, create a bank and print his own money?

Question

It was clearly illegal, even at that time. There was a law passed in Ohio in 1816 forbidding private companies to issue money. The bank (Kirtland Safety Society) opened for business in 1837.

Source: Joseph Smith, Rough Stone Rolling

I guess I should clarify a little:
Joseph Smith, according to mormons, was a prophet of god.

Joseph Smith in no way helped his people by doing this. He took their money, and then when they tried to cash in, the bank had no money to give. So his people were left even more broke than they started. After the whole bank failure, there were not even 20 men in Kirtland who believed Joseph Smith was a prophet of god.

Answer 1

He was a false prophet just like all those who have come after Jesus.

Answer 2

Because like most 'Prophets' of God, he believed he was hearing from the Lord and needed a way to fund holy projects.

Many Christians like to paint Smith as a dastardly character, who was purposefully trying to deceive others.

I don't think so. I think he really believed in what he was doing, just like Paul, or Muhammad or Jesus etc.

In realtiy all religious prophets do things that are underhanded and against the law of the day. Just ask the Pharisees about Jesus and his ability to keep the Law. He didn't keep the law of the day at all. Neither did Paul, as he included Gentiles into the Christian doctrine, which ticked Peter off.

All prophets shake up the norm, and create a new splinter group. Joseph Smith is no worse than Paul the Apostle.

Answer 3

Hi Al Shaitan

I don't know anything about this, but I know that private companies can issue tokens (which people may call money), to be used in stores that accept the tokens at their own discretion.

In all cases I think these tokens are secured by a cash value/asset. I know somewhere in the US a man/company creates gold coins - which are secured in themselves and people use them in a local community {I seen this on some TV programme}.

Maybe Joseph Smith created tokens that weren't accepted outside of the Mormon community. This would be, and still is, perfectly legal.

P.S. I'm not Mormon, but just seen something about these tokens on TV.

Cheers
NiceFella ;)

Answer 4

Because he was a con man. Joseph Smith was planning very seriously to run for US president at the time of his final arrest. The arrest that came as a result of him trying to destroy a printing press that was going to expose his numerous affairs not only with under aged girls, but also with the wives of his followers.
By several accounts Smith's behavior shows a lust for power and an ambition to take over the United States through the convictions of his followers...By forming an Anti-Banking Bank he could easily disguise his actions under the premise of trying to help out his struggling church.

Smith was also described as a "confidence man" who was charged with moneydigging early on in his life. He often used "peep" or "treasure" stones to help local farmers find buried treasure.

I suspect very much that the Kirtland Bank was just a front to bleed money from his followers. That his motivations were purely secular and not coming from god. My suspicions backed by the fact that after all the members deposited their money..The bank still folded heavily in debt, not to mention the stacks of evidence that Smith was a very worldly and ambitious man.

Answer 5

The economy of the US was floundering in that era. Shortly thereafter the market fell and the country was hit with a depression. Joseph Smith was attempting to counteract the national trend and provide support for his society. It was an effort to build the economy of his follows.

His was not a "private company" as you noted, but a municipality. The law did not apply to Incorporated cities.

Answer 6

I think this question has nothing to do with whether or not Joseph Smith was a Prophet or not. Read the Church History, and you will know why... You probably already know the answer, but are just creating hatred towards the Lord's Prophet. Shame on you!

Answer 7

In it's earliest beginnings, the Mormons were clearly ostrisized from American society. One state even issued an extermination order for all Mormons. As such, the church members had to depend upon each other for survival. They formed what is basically a very communistic society and old did business with each other. What Joseph did here was merely a tactic to keep his followers alive. Illegal or not...they had to do it.

Answer 8

Well, you have to look at his background and the environment he grew up in.

Who was Joseph Smith?

Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 1805 in Sharon, Vermont to Joseph Smith, Sr., a struggling farmer and sometime treasure hunter who descended from an early American family of more than average means and influence. Lucy Mark Smith, Joseph's mother, was a highly mystical woman who was given to unimaginable tales of exaggeration. Lucy's father claimed experiences of divine visions from God.

At the age of 14, Joseph Smith, Jr. claimed he was visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ. In 1823, according to his account, he was visited by an angel who told him of thin golden plates containing an ancient record of God's dealings with the early American inhabitants. During this same time, Smith was enamored of the "seer stones" used in occult practices and gained some small reputation as a clairvoyant able to locate lost objects.

In 1827, Joseph Smith began translating the golden plates using what he claimed as the "gift of God." Three years later, the Book of Mormon was published. In that same year (1830), Smith organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and became its first president. He continued to claim receipt of various prophecies and revelations, earning him the title "The Prophet" until his death in 1844 when he was arrested for treason and murdered by a mob.

Joseph Smith's writings are the foundation of Mormonism (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). The influences from the occult, Shakers, Quakers, Seekers, teachings of William Miller which formed the basis of the Seventh Day Adventist church, as well as Jewish cabalistic traditions and the Masonic order can all be found throughout Smith's writings. Most of these came out of the nineteenth century religious environment of western New York during his lifetime.

In 1833, ten years before Joseph Smith's death and three years after the publication of the Book of Mormon, the Smith family men were described in an affidavit signed by several prominent citizens of Manchester, New York, as "lazy, indolent, intemperate, destitute of moral character and addicted to vicious habits."

Answer 9

Well, if I were a religious person I would say it was because he lived in a corporeal world and needed to, and if his god told him it was ok, then it was.

However, since I am an atheist, I would point out that all religions are about power, and money is power.

Answer 10

He reminds me of L. Ron Hubbard and the scam with Scientology and financial exploitation of the faithful.

Many people who claim to have divine or spiritual insight have an incentive to branch off into new religious orders. They can make a lot of money by swindling the faith of their congregations. They learned it from the big boys, centuries before. Remember the sale of indulgences in the Catholic church?

Answer 11

Religion has become big business a empire of riches with in itself.