What We Teach When We Teach About Joseph Smith

I spoke in church today, so I thought I would share my remarks on my blog. It's longer than a normal post, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

I’d like to start my talk by recounting a story that President Thomas S. Monson told in General Conference over a decade ago. It involves two missionaries that he presided over when he was the president of the Canadian Mission. “In Ontario, Canada,” he recounted,

two of our missionaries were proselyting door-to-door on a cold, snowy afternoon. They had not had any measure of success. One elder was experienced; one was new. 

The two called at the home of Mr. Elmer Pollard, and he, feeling sympathy for the almost frozen missionaries, invited them in. They presented their message and asked if he would join in prayer. He agreed, on the provision that he could offer the prayer. 

The prayer he offered astonished the missionaries. He said, “Heavenly Father, bless these two unfortunate, misguided missionaries, that they may return to their homes and not waste their time telling the people of Canada about a message which is so fantastic and about which they know so little.” 

As they arose from their knees, Mr. Pollard asked the missionaries never to return to his home. As they left, he said mockingly to them, “You can’t tell me you really believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, anyway!” and he slammed the door. 

The missionaries had walked but a short distance when the junior companion said timidly, “Elder, we didn’t answer Mr. Pollard.” 

The senior companion responded: “We’ve been rejected. Let’s move on.” 

The young missionary persisted, however, and the two returned to Mr. Pollard’s door. Mr. Pollard answered the knock and angrily said, “I thought I told you young men never to return!” 

The junior companion then said, with all the courage he could muster, “Mr. Pollard, when we left your door, you said that we didn’t really believe Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I want to testify to you, Mr. Pollard, that I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that by inspiration he translated the sacred record known as the Book of Mormon, that he did see God the Father and Jesus the Son.” The missionaries then departed the doorstep. 

I heard this same Mr. Pollard in a testimony meeting state the experience of that memorable day. He said: “That evening, sleep would not come. I tossed and turned. Over and over in my mind I heard the words, ‘Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know it. ... I know it. ... I know it.’ I could scarcely wait for morning to come. I telephoned the missionaries, using their number that was printed on the small card containing the Articles of Faith. They returned, and this time my wife, my family, and I joined in the discussion as earnest seekers of truth. As a result, we have all embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ. We shall ever be grateful to the testimony of truth brought to us by those two courageous, humble missionaries.”

There is much to learn from that story. It illustrates the power of pure testimony, the blessings of courage, and the influence that the Spirit can have to change hearts. But what I want to focus on today is how remarkable it is that the first thing that our missionaries teach when they enter a home for the first time is the story of Joseph Smith and the restoration of the church in these latter days. There are other doctrines that they could teach, doctrines that are unique to our faith and that many people seem to intuitively believe. We could teach about the eternal nature of families, our pre-mortal existence, or our relationship to God as his literal spirit children. But instead, we lead with a story so outlandish that Joseph Smith himself said that if it hadn’t happened to him, he wouldn’t be able to believe it either. Can we really be surprised that it sounds so strange to other people, or that believing it exposes us to ridicule?

Recently, in the context of Mitt Romney’s candidacy for President, a political commentator proclaimed that he would never vote for anyone who believe the founding “whoppers” of Mormonism. And what are these “whoppers”? Essentially everything about Joseph Smith’s story: his visions, his angelic visitations, and his divinely inspired translation of the Book of Mormon. The commentator concluded that Joseph Smith was “an obvious con man.” And believing in such things disqualified someone from being President of the United States.

But what about the “whoppers” that all Christians believe in? What about the visions, angelic visitations, and miracles that we read about in the Bible? What about the virgin birth, the resurrection, and, most importantly, the atonement of Jesus Christ? In this commentator’s mind, those beliefs are fine because the world’s older religions have had time to “turn their myths into metaphor.” Or in other words, you can believe in them, as long as you don’t actually believe them.

Well, we, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints declare that the visions, angelic visitations, and miracles of the Bible are not metaphor, but are history. We also declare that visions, angelic visitations, and miracles have not ceased, but continue today. As Terryl Givens has written:

What Mormonism . . . challenge[s]—implicitly—[is] the fantasy that religious belief can circumvent its own historical conceiving: that God spoke to man but not in a moment that was ever the present, or to a man who was anyone’s contemporary; that the canon records God’s word, but God never spoke a pre-canonical utterance. (Terryl Givens, The Viper on the Hearth, 97 (2013).

Or as Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has put it:

In a sense Joseph Smith and his prophetic successors in this Church answer the challenge Ralph Waldo Emerson put to the students of the Harvard Divinity School [over] 170 years ago . . . . To that group of the Protestant best and brightest, the great sage of Concord pled that they teach “that God is, not was; that He speaketh, not spake.” (“An Address,” The Complete Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1929), 45.)

We as a church declare that God has spoken, that he speaks, and he will yet speak many great and important things pertaining to his kingdom. (See Articles of Faith 1:9) That is one of the key messages that our missionaries impart in their first visit.

But there is something else that they hope to teach by telling Joseph Smith’s story. It is not only that God speaks today, but that he speaks to us personally. This is, in my opinion, the most important message we have to offer the world. As Terryl Givens has explained, “While countless Christians believe that God is mighty to answer prayers, instill comfort, and guide the seeker, theology has to some extent abandoned the idea that God issues specific, content-laden (propositional) responses to individual, prayerful queries.” (Terryl Givens, Wrestling the Angel, 75 (2015)) Joseph Smith’s story is a case study in how God issues specific, content-laden (propositional) responses to individual, prayerful queries.

Young Joseph was only 14 years old in the spring of 1820, But as young as he was, his “mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness” (Joseph Smith—History 1:8) because of the great conflicts between the various religious figures in his community. “In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions,” he later wrote, “I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?” (Id. at 1:10) While he was struggling with these questions, he read James chapter 1 verse 5, which reads: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” As he later described the impact that this scripture had on him: “Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine.” (Id. at 1:12)

So young Joseph retired to a grove of trees near his home, knelt down and prayed for divine guidance. I’ll relate what happened in Joseph’s own words:

I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. . . . When the light rested upon me I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him! (Id. at 1:16–17 (emphasis in original))

Joseph Smith set the pattern for us to follow. The people that the missionaries teach lack wisdom. We have all lacked wisdom at some point in our lives. We are not born with a knowledge of God and his doctrine. And what the Apostle James taught, and what Joseph Smith demonstrated, is that if we ask God, he will give us the wisdom that we lack, and he will give it liberally. The missionaries invite people to pray about their message, not only so they will know that God speaks to a modern-day prophet, but so that they will know that he speaks to them. That is the great truth that Joseph Smith taught. As one Mormon scholar has remarked, “Joseph Smith was the Henry Ford of revelation: he wanted everyone to have one.” (Kathleen Flake, “The Mormons,” PBS documentary, aired 2007, qtd. in Terryl L. Givens, Wrestling the Angel, 80 (2015))

I can testify that I have had one. It didn’t come as a vision, or an angelic visitation, but it came as a message to my mind and a feeling in my heart. (See D&C 8:2) It came as a feeling of edification. (See D&C 50:21–22) It came through the Spirit. (See John 16:13) And because of that revelation, I can testify that Joseph Smith’s story is true, that the visions, the angelic visitations, and the inspired translation of the Book of Mormon actually happened. But more importantly, I can testify that God hears and answers my prayers, that he is cognizant of me, and that he will guide me along the path that will bring me home to him. And that has forever strengthened by relationship with him.

So the reason that our missionaries teach about Joseph Smith is so that the people they teach can come to know that God speaks today, that he speaks to them, and, most importantly, so that they can strengthen their relationship to him. If that exposes us to ridicule, it that’s a “whopper,” then so be it.