Do Mormons consider the idea that the first witnesses were excommunicated and returned because of greed?

Question

banking issues, land holdings etc. They weren't disfellowed (can someone say newspeak from 1984)
for nothing.

out because of greed and returned for the same reasons.

OK, must have been a good smat. REALITY CHECK.

and who wants major fraude as a legacy.

keep reaching I guess.

Odd duck, you seem so innocent. It makes me not want to post things like this. ..but the truth has to come out.

Answer 1

Many latter-day saints considered that idea and rejected it.
As you may or may not know, latter-day saints of that period believed in two financial tenets:

-an unpaid ministry, meaning that everyone from the president down to the janitors don't receive financial compensation (still practiced today)
-The law of consecration, believing all that they owned basically belonged to the church. It functioned as a sort of theological commune.

Financially, the BoM witnesses had nothing to gain, but a lot to lose. From Wikipedia:
"Following his relocation to Tiffin, Ohio in 1840, (Oliver)Cowdery reaffirmed his role in the establishment of Mormonism even though the confession cost him the editorship of a newspaper."

By coming back, the witnesses in a sense tied themselves to the financial and physical hardships of the church brought on by the failures of the Kirtland Safety Society and the forced moves from Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. Additionally, all of the liquid financial assets of the church were later seized because of their refusal to give up polygamy, basically bankrupting the church.

The facts strongly suggest that the witnesses who returned did so out of faith, because none financially prospered from their decision.

Answer 2

Some of the first witnesses left the church on their own. There were a few cases of excommunication in the early church, but not very many.

All the men who witnessed the Book of Mormon being written, witnessed seeing and holding the gold plates, and witnessed the angels all held to those testimonies, even when they weren't in the church.

I'm sure it was hard for all those people to just give up what they had been taught, and to really put faith in something that was so new. The times were pretty unsettled back then too, and I'm sure the devil was working on them pretty hard. That isn't an excuse, I'm just stating that I might have had a rough time of it too.

I don't think they came back to the church because of greed. I do know that some of them thought that Joseph should sell the plates to get money, and split it with them. So that part of it is true. I'm not denying any of that.

There was a lot of that in the early days of the church, and some bad things happened, but that doesn't in any way mean the church isn't true. People can mess up, even prophets. That doesn't mean the message is faulty or wrong. It just means that man's own nature got in the way of what God wanted. The church always managed to stay on track though. Despite everything that was thrown at it. To me, that says something.

Answer 3

The three witnesses yes were excommunicated not out of greed but out of other things. Two were rebaptised but 10 years and 30 years later. Oliver Cowdery was rebapistized in 1848 4 years after Joseph smith was dead and the church was in Utah. But he never went to Utah, and died 5 years later in Wisconsin. He was a lawyer and had to defend his witnessing the book of Mormon in court before he died.
Martin Harris came back to the church later in his life and moved to Utah. No he didn't do for greed. None of the LDS leaders were rich. Joseph Smith never owned a home until he was Nauvoo. David Whitmer never came back to the church but never ever denied he saw an angel showing him the plates that he wrote down on paper Joseph Smith's translation. As for greed none of the LDS founders were rich, they were farmers, printers and others. None of them were greedy. Yes you may talk about the Kirtland Banking Society but the Panic of 1837 wiped it out and no they had a banking charter. The banking laws back then were different there was no fdic and the federal gov't didn't have a federal reserve either.

Answer 4

I find the testimony of the Three Witness' was made more powerful because they left the Church. They stood by their statements inspite of personal disputes with Joseph Smith. Had they been greedy they could have gained the world if they had renounced the Book of Mormon. Instead it had a tangible cost to them.

Answer 5

There are two differnat stoires, the mormons version is that the witnesses left because they fell away, the nonmormon or anti-mormon story is that they really didn't see the gold plates, they saw something under a cover that looked to be a huge book and this is what they testified to, which lead them to believe they had been decieved and thus they fell away (their testimony failed them).

Answer 6

GREED? For what, pray? The church was in serious debt for several decades, members lived the law of consecration so they didn't have any money or property individually, and they all lost pretty much everything being driven out of their homes again and again.

Don't know where you got this idea, but it's way off the mark.

Answer 7

Not sure what you are asking. yes many did leave the church in whatever manner due to personal disputes. Do you consider that although those who left were no longer members of the church, none of them ever denied their testimony of the Book of Mormon. Many came back after a time, although some didn't. But it i simply remarkable to me that they would continue to hold to their testimony even after they left the church.

Answer 8

Martin Harris voluntarily left the church and never returned to in his lifetime, but swore on his death bed that it was true.

Oliver Cowdery, who transcribed the BoM, left b/c of a spat with Joseph Smith but returned--not for greed (what?!!!) but he too, swore it was true.

Some others voluntarily left, too. That's cool, b/c no one compels you to stay if you want to go. That's the beauty of our church.

Other than that, you have gotten info from folks who hate "mormoms" of which there are many.

Answer 9

I don't remember the first witnessess leaving because of greed, nor returning for that same purpose. What I do know is that they all swore (members or not) that the BoM was true.

Answer 10

They were disfellowshiped because of greed, or were returned because of greed?

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Uhh....wtf are you talking about? If they were disfellowshiped, it was for a good reason, and if they were let back in it was because they changed their ways.

You seem so ignorant on the subject.