Recovery to Mormonism

Mormon History

Anti-Mormons and ex-Mormons love to use Mormon history. After all, if Joseph Smith never had the First Vision, the entire Church is false. If Joseph Smith was really a bad person, this means that the Church is false. If some of the Church leaders were racist, the Church is false.

 

What we end up with is a lot of quotes taken out of context (sometimes wildly), a whole lot of misinformation, and a whole lot of badly supported claims. We also find out that Church leaders were men of their times and held opinions held commonly in their day, that we would rightly find offensive now. Is the Church false because of this? We'd be wary of being too hard on the past for not being the present.

 

Is it true that the First Vision must have been made up?

Joseph Smith wrote four different versions of it, right? He wrote it years after it happened, and some Church leaders were way off in how they described it.

Those four versions pretty much coincide with each other. The core is always the same, if some details differ between the accounts. But there are differences between Paul's two accounts of his conversion and the Gospels themselves do not repeat every detail between them. (They were also written decades after Christ.) The Church leader quotes that "prove" their ignorance are usually taken far and deceptively out of context. They were also all given years after Joseph's account of the First Vision was published four times. (Read more)

 

Why did Mormons practice polygamy?

One of the most controversial practices in the Mormon Church was that of polygamy. Even though this practice ceased over a century ago, there are still some that believe this practice exists today in the Church. The subject of polygamy in the Mormon Church has never been a skirted issue, although those who wish to distort the facts often claim it has been. (Read more)

 

Did Mormons believe in something called blood atonement and execute apostates?

Let’s get one thing out of the way first.  Mormons don’t kill apostates.  The Mormon Church does not and did not kill apostates. Nor is blood atonement anything more than a theory (not a doctrine) held by some in the early Church - and it had nothing to do with Church members going out and killing people. (Read more)

 

What was the Mountain Meadows Massacre?

The Mountain Meadows Massacre happened on September 11, 1857—and is one of the greatest tragedies in Mormon history.  A group of emigrants was driving their cattle to California—passing through Utah was part of their route.  And in the process of passing through Utah, they were ambushed and killed.  No one sees this as anything but a terrible thing, as terrible a sin and murder as one can commit. (Read more)