May 17 – False prophecy hall of fame. Matt. 7:15; “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
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This is a perfect depiction of the Mormon Church’s teachings; I couldn’t have said it better. They look so good on the outside, but inside their books and hearts, lies nothing but death and destruction. It’s been 125 years since this false prophecy was listed in the young woman’s journal, and we still haven’t heard a retraction…
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“Inhabitants of the Moon are more of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the Earth, being about 6 feet in height. They dress very much like the Quaker Style and quite general in style, or the one fashion of dress. They live to be very old; coming generally near a thousand years. This is the description of them as given by Joseph Smith the Seer.” The Oliver Huntington Journal Book 14, also found in The Young Woman’s Journal, published by the Young Ladies MIA, 1892, 3:263-264.
Isn’t wonderful how sarcastic Joseph Smith is? I mean he could really tell a good one when people were just being ridiculous.
The sad thing is that so many people took him seriously too often and so these wonderful sarcasm have worked their way into the hands of those who will grasp at anything that helps them disbelieve and prove the LDS church false.
This has never been, nor will it ever be the doctrine of the church. We have no contemporary record of Joseph Smith ever saying this, and so what he actually meant by it (or that he actually said it) is really unknown.
Those who seek to use such obscure ideas in a desperate attempt to prove the LDS church false have only succeeded in showing their own desperation.
That’s very convenient, shem. After all who won’t want to be part of a religion where you could excuse away anything your leaders said by simply saying “that was just his opinion”, or do as you did and just ignore the whole thing altogether?
On the down side it’s like sanding on shifting sand, when anything can be dismissed by the members as being not doctrine, or even changed by current leadership what do you really have to stand on?
Melissa Grimes
Melissa
First, we have no accurate record that this is what Joseph Smith said. We also have no verifying records. What we have is one person saying that this is what he said. By the laws given by Jesus Christ we need at least a second witness, for it is in the mouths of two or three that a man is condemned, not in the mouth of one.
This, together with his very famous sarcastic nature, it becomes clear that this is, if it ever was said, was not meant to be taken literally, but was a sarcastic remark.
Much like his remark that if you were to reach the north star you would find the lost tribes of Israel. After being hounded about these tribes, and after saying several times that he didn’t know, he finally gave this answer just to shut people up.
Joseph Smith was very sarcastic to those who just didn’t listen. Thus, if people were pestering him about the idea of life on the moon he may very well have made a remark similar to this, but that does not mean it should be taken literally.
As to shifting, there has never been any shifting. Doctrine is doctrine, plain and simple. But, as I said, this was never doctrine. For something to be doctrine, and thus binding on the members of the church, it must be accepted by the members in a general vote. This concept has never been submitted for such a vote, and thus is not doctrine, regardless of who may have said it and who didn’t.
We have a very firm foundation in Christ, and we are never asked to accept more than we are able to handle. That is the beauty of the gospel. To try pass off things as doctrine that never were and never will be is a poor attempt to try and deceive those outside the LDS church as to our actual workings and faith.