If Joseph Smith were alive today would he be...?

[Tarquin]

Thanks for the mormonthinklink, Campeador.
Although there is variation among the representations,
some of which are contemptible,
the reports illustrate a consistent pattern
and an absence of genuine repentance.
“I am sorry to say” is no apology for the deeds committed,
but a regret at having to refer to them.

 

[Cheiron]

If Joseph Smith were alive today, he would probably be in jail serving a life sentence or waiting for the inevitable on death row. Charges would include, but are not limited to:

illegal banking,
banking fraud,
resisting arrest (fleeing from a warrant),
threatening a judge (Adam Black),
polygamy,
sex with minors,
treason (Missouri),
jail break (Missouri),
treason (Illinois)
inciting a riot
embezzlement
counterfeiting
treason against the United States (Council of Fifty).

 

[adamhovey1988]

If Joseph Smith were alive today, he would probably be in jail serving a life sentence or waiting for the inevitable on death row. Charges would include, but are not limited to:

illegal banking,
banking fraud,
resisting arrest (fleeing from a warrant),
threatening a judge (Adam Black),
polygamy,
sex with minors,
treason (Missouri),
jail break (Missouri),
treason (Illinois)
inciting a riot
embezzlement
counterfeiting
treason against the United States (Council of Fifty).

Well, yeah, I think it wouldn’t be nearly as easy for him to get away with. Then again, there are people that go for years doing much of this without getting caught. I think you’re right though, were he alive, he probably would be on death row or life imprisonment.

 

[badnewsbarrett]

Joseph Smith Jr’s son (Joseph Smith III) was the founder and Prophet-President of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, aka Community of Christ. As the oldest son of Mormonism’s founder, I think he had an inside track on exactly what JS Jr had in mind. The CoC stayed in the area of Independence Missouri, an area to which JS Jr ascribed a great deal of importance- he did claim, after all, that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County Missouri. The CoC also stayed on good terms with plural marriage to a greater extent than the mainstream LDS, and I’d say it’s stayed more consistent to the original teachings and practices of Mormonism’s founder.

If Joseph Smith were alive today and knew absolutely nothing about what all occurred after his death, I think he would want to go back to Jackson County Missouri anyway, a spiritual pilgrimage of sorts. There are a couple of altars that he built there, places where he introduced some funny teachings that equate the identities of God, Michael the archangel, and Moroni. As far as I’m able to understand his mind, I believe that when he talks about Peter, James, and John descending to the terrestrial Earth and teaching about this and that, it is, more often than not, to certain particular places in Missouri that he is talking about. Along with that, some of the crucial initial Mormon temples are right near there, where endowment ceremonies went through their development process.

So if JS Jr knew nothing about what came after his death, he would want to go right there. And if he did know quite a bit of what happened after his death, I think he’d still want to go there on account of this breakaway organization being founded by his oldest son.