/his/'s very own Jackson County, Missouri for our own temple-recommended cream of the crop.
>>581087
The guy was sued for fraud.
His mother's letters goes on about how he entertained the family with wild stories.
He is pretty much a confirmed con artist.
Like most of the 1800s farmers suffering from low food prices due to fast past urbanization through the American Market Revolution.
There were dozens and dozens of guys claiming to be prophets during this time, creating communes. Robert Matthias for example.
Hugh Nibley seemed like a bretty cool guy...
Despite my skepticism, the portion (I watched the first 5 I think) of this 29-part lecture that I watched was actually pretty interesting... camera work's a bit shabby though. I suggest it for anyone who for whatever reason wants to understand what is inside the Book of Mormon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XraGjlIcjrs
>>581087
>excavate the Hill Cumorah
selfbump
>>581087
I once sucked the tits of a mormon girl (not even baiting).
If they found out what would happen?
>>582038
She would have to cry in front of the Bishop and would probably have to wait a couple months before she would be allowed in a temple.
Tho if she went to BYU her whole life would get JUSTed.
>0 (ZERO) Jewish genetic ancestry in Native Americans when they were said to be the principal ancestors (later stealth edited to 'among the principal ancestors') of Native Americans in "the most correct book on the earth today"
One of the only falsifiable religions
>>581087
Wasn't Joseph Smith a failed Mason and that's why all of the Mormon rituals are basically just Masonic ceremonies and rights of passage?
Also, he was just the most successful of the false prophets/cult leaders running around in the 1830s. There were dozens like him throughout the country who also tried their hand at being the leader of a religious movement or utopian commune.
That period of American history is really bizarre 2bh.
>>581127
The thing I find interesting is just how crazy fast he wrote the bok
>>581127
>Robert Matthias for example.
Kingdom of Matthias is a good book, I like how the authors start it with a meeting between Matthias and Smith. Not very subtle but extremely effective.
>>582114
Not at all, he could have very easily been drafting it in his spare time. He could have also very easily memorized a ruff structure of the book in his head, which is why it didn't sound the same the second time. There is no mystery to JS jr. The guy was a fraud. I feel for mormons... following an 1800s con artist bullshit. I mean fuck... have you ever read Doctrine and Covenants? That is some crazy shit.
>>582133
It was nice little read. I liked the gem at the end when you find out about Sojourner Truth
I fucking loathe mormonism.
I don't believe in Mormonism, but I gotta admit that Mormons are some of the happiest people I've ever met.
>tfw no qt mormon wife
So basically Mormons are a proof that you can have a nice, moral and prosperous community even if you believe in absolute crackpot horseshit.
>>582530
They aren't actually. You dont know because you've never lived in it. Theyre the most passive aggressive and fake people on this planet.
>>582530
That is the persona they give off in public. Privately, many of them are a fucking mess.
>>582540
I guess we've just had different experiences. I've met quite a few Mormons in Alabama.
>>582546
I suspect their happiness has more to do with them being homogenous, and less to do with their beliefs. It's fuckin Alabama, what do you expect?
>>582586
Mormons are definitely the minority in Alabama. I've still met a good few though.
>>582546
I lived in Alabama, and there was a Mormon meeting house in my town. One of the elders with nametags pulled over while I was riding my bike to tell me it would be safer to bike on the other side of the road. They seemed to keep to themselves.
>>581087
I was raised Mormon. There's definitely a lot of crazy stuff, but not much more than most other religions I'd say, and nowhere near the level of insanity that is Scientology.
I'd argue that Mormons constitute their own ethnic group in the United States. They see themselves as a different people, and have a separate religion, history, and region. They dress differently, have their own names, their own cultural values and mythology, and even their own past 'nation.' At least in the West, many Mormons have a shared ancestry in the early pioneers – and I suppose that counts as an origin myth, too. In American English, there's even a dialect continuum centered in the great basin called the 'Mormon Corridor.'
It's pretty rare, but there's even some Mormon irredentism for the state of Deseret.
>>582540
This is true with young Mormons, less so with adults. There's a big emphasis on kindness and fellowship, and if you force kids to be friends with everyone they develop into passive-aggressive little shits. In general Mormons are functionally normal people, though, so if you just assume that they're all supposed to act perfect or have perfect lives, you'll probably end up seeing them as "fake" when you realize they're just as screwed up as the rest of us.
>>582514
>Evangelical Christian detected
>>582109
>That period of American history is really bizarre 2bh.
It was also the most interesting IMO
I love Mormons in that they despised by evangelical Christians despite the two groups sharing pretty much the same politics.
>tfw actually born and raised in Jackson County, MO
>>581087
Mormons are honestly one of my favorite religious groups. I wish Joseph Smith could've known more about modern archaeology and genetics when he was writing it so I could suspend my disbelief a bit better and join their wonderful community.
Arianist, so not Christian. Also capitalist as fug.
>>582038
Excommunication and permanent social exclusion
>>584735
Mormons excommunicate you for foreplay outside of wedlock???
I did watch Big Love for a few seasons... the fundamentalist branch is almost like the evolution of early Christianity (not early Christianity itself doctrine-wise), where random "successors" to Smith just haul ass across the West, northern Mexico, and Canada claiming legitimacy and bearing followers, while the dominant branch tries to stamp out their heresy among its followers. Some even have their own particular canon with other books or interpretations. The LDS church and the community of Christ both claim the Jackson county church in some way.
>>584453
>Also capitalist as fug.
Which is ironic, as early Mormonism (like other 19th century Utopian movements) had a pronounced socialist streak... but I think that they ditched that after socialism became "un-American". They don't even talk about it anymore.
>>584233
If Joseph Smith knew about modern archaeology, Mormonism probably wouldn't exist. Part of what makes the religion interesting is its beliefs are a perfect representation of the time it came out of. That includes the vast amount of religious revivals that Joseph Smith grew up around in the burned over district, and it also includes popular view of archaeology of the time. For a long time, people weren't willing to accept that Native Americans built the mounds present in the eastern US, and lots of people came up with weird explanation to explain who built them. One of those ideas was that lost Israelites made them, and Joseph Smith found a way to merge that with popular religious attitudes of the time to make a genuinely American religion, with an American focus.
Joseph Smith was a known con man
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