Wednesday, May 23, 2012

JOSEPH SMITH, THE MORMON PROPHET - LDS Hymn Parody #65


Here's another LDS Hymn Parody.  This one speaks of Joseph Smith and the fact that a study of actual history shows he was a treasure hunter, money digger, charlatan, shyster and a total fraud - and that he was clearly not a Prophet and Seer as the Mormon Church claims.  In my opinion, Joseph Smith initially made up Mormonism as a way to gain power and money - and that led to his introduction of polygamy when he was caught "in a compromising position" with Fanny Alger who he claimed was his first polygamous wife.  I find it interesting that Oliver Cowdery felt Joseph's "marriage" to Fanny Alger was actually a "dirty, nasty, filthy affair," and not a polygamous marriage.  The timeline that a study of history shows is that after Oliver confronted Joseph about this "affair," Joseph announced that he had been commanded by God to practice polygamy.  Very convenient (as the SNL Church Lady would say).  In fact, Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer were both later excommunicated from the Mormon Church for speaking out against Joseph's practice of polygamy (and later polyandry, the practice of marrying women who were already married to living husbands). 


It is an actual fact that Joseph Smith married 33 women - 10 of whom were teenage girls, and 11 of whom were already married to living husbands.  Just look at this website - http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/ - which contains well-documented historical references concerning each polygamous wife (and polyandrous wives as well).  None of this is "Anti-Mormon Propaganda," and in fact was created and is maintained by an active member of the Mormon Church.  And yet I am sure that this website, along with any information along these lines, is considered "Anti-Mormon Propaganda" by members of the Mormon Church.  Even on the Mormon Church's own genealogy website (http://www.familysearch.org/) are shown 24 wives of Joseph Smith, and if actual research is done on that website alone, many of his polyandrous marriages are shown.  Th fact that none of this is discussed in any church meetings is very suspect to me as is the fact that I was a member for 52 years and never even knew this information.  In fact, I never knew about the polyandrous marriages until I was already out of the church for 3 years (and only learned of them when researching on http://www.familysearch.org/) - and I am certain that the majority of active Mormons today don't know about this historical fact - or many of the other sordid details of Mormon Church history either.

What I find even sadder than the fact that members of the Mormon Church treat any type of negative information about the Mormon Church and its history as "Anti-Mormon Propaganda" is the fact that they mindlessly voice the theme that we just don't understand why the Lord commanded Joseph Smith and others to practice polygamy.  They say that God works in mysterious ways - and that God's ways are not our ways so we need to just accept these things and not question.  But to me, the repetition of that line of thought is nothing more than pure denial.  Personally, I don't want to live in a state of denial.  I much prefer an informed existence - one in which I don't close my eyes to the actual truth and just go along.  For me, the main reward of my apostasy is living an informed existence - knowing that I finally found the actual truth and am now living an authentic life.

So here is my 65th LDS Hymn Parody... just 10 more to go to hit my current goal of 75...

JOSEPH SMITH, THE MORMON PROPHET
Sung to the tune of Come, Rejoice – #9

Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet,
Died a martyr's death.
Claimed to be the Lord's true mouthpiece
To his dying breath.
Mormons still revere his name,
Though he played a shyster’s game.
Joseph was a total fraud,
Clearly not a man of God.

Joseph Smith was just a con man,
Charlatan supreme.
Treasure hunting, money digging,
Always one more scheme.
Mormonism came from that,
Head and seer stone in a hat.
A religion he devised,
Book of Mormon, plagiarized.

Joseph Smith, a Seer and Prophet
In his own warped mind,
Who created Mormonism,
Cleverly designed.
Many women, 33,
Married him, polygamy.

Started off with Emma Hale,
Many more can tell the tale.

Second wife was Fanny Alger,
Some said an affair.
Claimed that he had been commanded,
Had a liar’s flair.
Emma wasn’t buying it,
Kicked out Fanny in a snit.
But then Joseph married more,
Emma’s fury he’d ignore.

Yet today they whitewash history,
Anti-Mormon crap.
Try to say it didn’t happen,
Simply a bad rap.
Pure denial, disavow
All the evidence somehow.
Choosing simply to believe,
To the lies they blindly cleave.

© Diane Tingen, 5/23/2012

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Revelation, the idea that god shows up to one person and shares a secret with him, but not with the rest of the world, is nothing but charlatanry. Its the record of evil man taking advantage over gullible people.

Anonymous said...

Read the Bible and you will see that God reveals himself to prophehts. Not everyone is a prophet... that fact that this is your only claim why the LDS church isnt true, then i would do some more research. Joseph Smith was sealed to my great great great grandmother at a very young age, who was already married to another man. That other man was not apart of the church and refused to be baptized. You need to understand prophets all throughout the Bible had multiple wives. Times were very very different 200 years ago. So someone that doesnt have any knowledge on the culture during that time, has no right to speak and judge. You are not informed. I rarly see people leave the church beacause of "doctrine". Its usually people who cant live the standards, or who feel guilty not living the standards, so they blame it on the "doctrine" and the holes that they see that would be credible. I can probably assume that you dont hold yourself to the same morals and standards that you lived while you were in the church.

Diane Tingen said...

Yet another anonymous comment, posted by someone who apparently can dish it out but doesn't want any opposing comment offering any other opinion. If that anonymous person had actually read anything else in my blog, they would know that he/she has misspoken, saying that "your only claim why the LDS Church isn't true" is that Joseph Smith was not a prophet of God. Of course, that fact is definitely part it, especially considering that he is the one who formed the foundation of the Mormon Church, including "translating" the Book of Mormon, "translating" the Book of Abraham, established the temple ceremonies and related clothing, etc., etc., etc. Of course, this person's claim that "prophets" throughout the Bible had multiple wives, so that justifies how this was done in the early church. But Joseph Smith did not only have multiple wives, he married teenagers and women who were already married to living husbands - and not only did Joseph Smith participate in polygamy and polyandry, others did as well, including Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, and many others who were not "prophets" (over 75 men). Of course, I could go on and on, but all anyone really needs to do is read the entries in my blog to ascertain the reasons why I actually left the Mormon Church. In my case, it was the doctrine that drove me away. So however judgmental this person has decided to be, he/she is wrong about my motives. After spending 52 years in the Mormon Church, and discovering so much information about the sordid history of the Church, as well as its propagation of harmful doctrines and practices, I decided enough was enough. I hope this person returns to my blog and sees my response - and leaves me another message that isn't anonymous this time so we can have an actual discussion about all this.