And this in a country where atheists are afraid to "come out".
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2222791216
The trickster Joseph Smith
This group is founded for purpose of listing all of the hoaxes of Joseph Smith, the supposed founding prophet of the Mormon Church, or the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints".
I bear testimony to the fact that Joseph Smith was not a true prophet, on the contrary, he was a con-artist, a trickster, a free masonist with his own agenda and the Mormon church is his most successful workings of con-artistry standing today.
Here are some facts that only touch the tip of the iceberg. I extracted them from the book, with ISBN number, 1-56858-283-8, pages 59-60:
"c. 1819/20 Joseph Smith, Sr. and his sons---all of whom practice folk magic and embrace beliefs associated with occultism---became involved in money-digging.
1822 Joseph, Jr. discovers a chocolate-colored stone in a well he helps dig for the Chase family. Smith begins using it as a "seer stone" to locate buried treasure, stolen goods, and silver/gold deposits. he and his family continue to practice divination and rural folk magic.
1822-24 Joseph's reputation as a money-digger, fortune-teller, and seer spreads throughout New York and Pennsylvania.
1825 Joseph is now being regularly hired by persons who want him to find buried treasure through his occult skills. Josiah Stowell contracts Joseph and his money-digging company to locate a silver mine near Harmony, Pennsylvania.
1826 Joseph continues money-digging in New York until he is arrested, tried, and convicted as a glass-looker.
1826-27 Joseph begins spreading a story about an 1823/24 dream wherein he learned from a bloddy ghost about the secret location of some golden plates hidden in a hill. The plates supposedly contain information relating to the location of buried treasure.
1828-30 The bloody ghost dream gradually develops into a vision of a spirit, then into a vision of an angel, then into a vision of an angel named Nephi and/or Moroni. Finally, in September 1827, Joseph allegedly retrieves the plates. he subsequently changes his story, eventually claiming that the plates are actually a theoretical treatise (i.e., a speculation) about America's ancient inhabitants. Joseph soon attributes religious significance to them, which in turn motivates him to use the volume to attract a religious following.
There are so many more reasons why Joseph Smith was a hoax. He copied much of what he wrote from other popular books of the time. Like, "The Wonders of Nature and Providence Displayed" by Josiah Priest in 1825 and "Views of the Hebrews", by Ethan Smith in 1823. The Book of Mormon is much more a product of plagiarism than of interpretation via the Urum and Thumum.
In fact the Mormon's obsession with the Israel's Lost Tribes stems from the concept known as "British-Israelism" that was popular in 1837-1900. A debate between Edward Hine and John Wilson on the subject led to a movement in America that suggested that the American Indians were the descendants of Israel's lost tribes. Joseph Smith was the first person to blend both those theories into one grand scenario that neatly addressed the concerns of his day.
Joseph Smith had horrible grammar. The first version of the Book of Mormon ever published was a shining example of his dialect and poor education. Obviously the Urum and Thumum wasn't good at spelling and grammar checking. Later Church Administrations took care of that mishap!
How about the Book of Mormon character, "Lemuel", who was a wicked character in the "holy" text. Could that be a reference to his neighbor, "Lemuel Durfee", who in 1825 bought the Smith's farm when they could no longer afford it, thus forcing them to live as tenants? Durfee also signed the 1833 joint statement by Palmyra area residents that accused Joseph and his father of being "entirely destitute of moral character, and addicted to vicious habits". This seems a little bit too coincidental for it not to be proof of part of a written vestige of Joseph Smith's creation of the Book of Mormon himself!
How about "Moroni (the angel)" and "Cumorah (the hill)"? They may have come from any 1800s map of Africa. on such a map Joseph would have found the "Comoros Islands" off the eastern coast of Mozambique, which prior to its French occupation of the late 1860s, was known by its Arabic name, "Camora".
I bear testimony to the fact that Joseph Smith was not a true prophet, on the contrary, he was a con-artist, a trickster, a free masonist with his own agenda and the Mormon church is his most successful workings of con-artistry standing today.
Here are some facts that only touch the tip of the iceberg. I extracted them from the book, with ISBN number, 1-56858-283-8, pages 59-60:
"c. 1819/20 Joseph Smith, Sr. and his sons---all of whom practice folk magic and embrace beliefs associated with occultism---became involved in money-digging.
1822 Joseph, Jr. discovers a chocolate-colored stone in a well he helps dig for the Chase family. Smith begins using it as a "seer stone" to locate buried treasure, stolen goods, and silver/gold deposits. he and his family continue to practice divination and rural folk magic.
1822-24 Joseph's reputation as a money-digger, fortune-teller, and seer spreads throughout New York and Pennsylvania.
1825 Joseph is now being regularly hired by persons who want him to find buried treasure through his occult skills. Josiah Stowell contracts Joseph and his money-digging company to locate a silver mine near Harmony, Pennsylvania.
1826 Joseph continues money-digging in New York until he is arrested, tried, and convicted as a glass-looker.
1826-27 Joseph begins spreading a story about an 1823/24 dream wherein he learned from a bloddy ghost about the secret location of some golden plates hidden in a hill. The plates supposedly contain information relating to the location of buried treasure.
1828-30 The bloody ghost dream gradually develops into a vision of a spirit, then into a vision of an angel, then into a vision of an angel named Nephi and/or Moroni. Finally, in September 1827, Joseph allegedly retrieves the plates. he subsequently changes his story, eventually claiming that the plates are actually a theoretical treatise (i.e., a speculation) about America's ancient inhabitants. Joseph soon attributes religious significance to them, which in turn motivates him to use the volume to attract a religious following.
There are so many more reasons why Joseph Smith was a hoax. He copied much of what he wrote from other popular books of the time. Like, "The Wonders of Nature and Providence Displayed" by Josiah Priest in 1825 and "Views of the Hebrews", by Ethan Smith in 1823. The Book of Mormon is much more a product of plagiarism than of interpretation via the Urum and Thumum.
In fact the Mormon's obsession with the Israel's Lost Tribes stems from the concept known as "British-Israelism" that was popular in 1837-1900. A debate between Edward Hine and John Wilson on the subject led to a movement in America that suggested that the American Indians were the descendants of Israel's lost tribes. Joseph Smith was the first person to blend both those theories into one grand scenario that neatly addressed the concerns of his day.
Joseph Smith had horrible grammar. The first version of the Book of Mormon ever published was a shining example of his dialect and poor education. Obviously the Urum and Thumum wasn't good at spelling and grammar checking. Later Church Administrations took care of that mishap!
How about the Book of Mormon character, "Lemuel", who was a wicked character in the "holy" text. Could that be a reference to his neighbor, "Lemuel Durfee", who in 1825 bought the Smith's farm when they could no longer afford it, thus forcing them to live as tenants? Durfee also signed the 1833 joint statement by Palmyra area residents that accused Joseph and his father of being "entirely destitute of moral character, and addicted to vicious habits". This seems a little bit too coincidental for it not to be proof of part of a written vestige of Joseph Smith's creation of the Book of Mormon himself!
How about "Moroni (the angel)" and "Cumorah (the hill)"? They may have come from any 1800s map of Africa. on such a map Joseph would have found the "Comoros Islands" off the eastern coast of Mozambique, which prior to its French occupation of the late 1860s, was known by its Arabic name, "Camora".
It is noteworthy that in the 1830 edition of the BOM, Cumorah was consistently spelled "Camorah." Geographical sources in the 1800s listed the capital of the Camora Islands as "Moroni".
The word Moroni, however, might also have been borrowed from the name of an Italian painter (i.e. Moroni), whose portrait of Galileo just happened to be part of the "Sarti Collection" exhibited in Boston in 1829, the same year Joseph was working on his BOM "transition."There is so much more that can be said. Look up that book, it's absolutely revealing. For those of you who "believe believe believe" absolutely in the Mormon church. I know where you are coming from and why you believe the things you do. But the sad fact is, that it's just not true!
Please be nice to Mormons as they come out of their closet of belief into the real world. It's not easy leaving a religion such as Mormonism. I love my Mormon family and it hurts me to know that they believe in something that is founded on the workings of a con-artist.
Please be nice to Mormons as they come out of their closet of belief into the real world. It's not easy leaving a religion such as Mormonism. I love my Mormon family and it hurts me to know that they believe in something that is founded on the workings of a con-artist.
