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LAMBOFGODGIRLY
Guest
I have always wondered where Joseph Smith’s descendants are today (the life his kids led, grandchildren, ect…) Does anyone know anything about them?
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Roman_Catholic_1
Guest
The wikipedia article on Smith states that he married upward of 27 women. So it may be hard to know who all of his children were.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith
Then again, wikipedia is a well know scholarly and accurate source
God bless
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith
Then again, wikipedia is a well know scholarly and accurate source
God bless
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RebeccaJ
Guest
The only recognized descendants are those from his first wife Emma. One of his wives claimed that her daughter, who she named Josephine, was Joseph’s. His 2nd wife, Fanny, was sent to a different town when she became obviously pregnant. That kid just sort of disappeared.
About a 1/3 of Joseph’s wives were married, to other men, so any offspring that were his from these wives, were raised as the children of another man.
I have heard of no others, but then, it would have been a huge scandal in his day and would have been very well hidden.
The descendants of Emma…some went on to lead the LDS church, others to lead the Reorganized LDS, which is now the Church of Christ. Until the last few decades, the CoC leadership passed on to a male heir, a patriarchal line of Josepsh Smiths, copied after the OT. They ran out of male heirs. I don’t know who leads them now.
About a 1/3 of Joseph’s wives were married, to other men, so any offspring that were his from these wives, were raised as the children of another man.
I have heard of no others, but then, it would have been a huge scandal in his day and would have been very well hidden.
The descendants of Emma…some went on to lead the LDS church, others to lead the Reorganized LDS, which is now the Church of Christ. Until the last few decades, the CoC leadership passed on to a male heir, a patriarchal line of Josepsh Smiths, copied after the OT. They ran out of male heirs. I don’t know who leads them now.
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Roman_Catholic_1
Guest
RebeccaJ,
Is the CoC more in line with the church that Smith originally started than the LDS Church of today is?
God bless
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RebeccaJ
Guest
I don’t think there is any that are like Smith’s. The CoC has become more and more mainstream Christian. Today they don’t look much different than any other Protestant denomination, except of course, their use of the BoM.
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LDSGuy
Guest
The CoC attempts to be more in line with mainstream Protestant churches.
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Roman_Catholic_1
Guest
So when I read about the LDS church of today, I am not reading about the church which Smith founded?
Do you have any links about the church which Smith founded? Its beliefs and practices?
God bless
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LAMBOFGODGIRLY
Guest
It is very confusing. There are so many different stories; you don’t know what to believe! It sounds like the LDS, at that time, didn’t know if they were coming or going…so unorganized. I guess over time they worked the kinks out, but I feel very sorry for the polygamist who were thrown to the streets by the church. That’s all those people knew. That’s the only lifestyle their children know, and so on. I feel so bad for them, and in their minds, they are thinking we are the evil people trying to corrupt them into our lifestyle. I feel like the church should have some sort of counseling or intervention program to help them. They should never have just excommunicated them.
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Publisher
Guest
I have some close friends who are Community of Christ(formerly Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)…and one cousin who is Community of Christ.
Joseph Smith left Emma with a son of 12 years old when he was killed. Joseph Jr appointed Joseph III as his heir to lead the church. After Joseph Jr.'s death several leaders vied for control of the church. Brigham Young, the senior apostle and Sidney Rigdon, Joseph’s first counselor, were the two main men…Sidney wanted to be “regent” until young Joseph could take leadership…Emma and Brigham didn’t see eye to eye on many things and refused to go west.
When Joseph III was of age the LDS who remained in the Midwest asked him to take leadership of the church…in 1860 the church was “reorganized” under Joseph III…Sidney’s group went east and now forms the Church of Jesus Christ in Pennsylvania.
Joseph’s direct decendents all became president of the church…Wallace B Smith was the last Smith…Grant McMurray and Steve Veasey were the next two.
I believe Jospeh Fielding Smith of the LDS church is a direct decendent of Hyrum Smith…who also was killed in Carthage jail.
Joseph’s “other wives” from what I understand never had any children by Joseph.
Joseph Smith left Emma with a son of 12 years old when he was killed. Joseph Jr appointed Joseph III as his heir to lead the church. After Joseph Jr.'s death several leaders vied for control of the church. Brigham Young, the senior apostle and Sidney Rigdon, Joseph’s first counselor, were the two main men…Sidney wanted to be “regent” until young Joseph could take leadership…Emma and Brigham didn’t see eye to eye on many things and refused to go west.
When Joseph III was of age the LDS who remained in the Midwest asked him to take leadership of the church…in 1860 the church was “reorganized” under Joseph III…Sidney’s group went east and now forms the Church of Jesus Christ in Pennsylvania.
Joseph’s direct decendents all became president of the church…Wallace B Smith was the last Smith…Grant McMurray and Steve Veasey were the next two.
I believe Jospeh Fielding Smith of the LDS church is a direct decendent of Hyrum Smith…who also was killed in Carthage jail.
Joseph’s “other wives” from what I understand never had any children by Joseph.
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chromatica
Guest
There really isn’t a religion any longer that matches to Smith’s. For one, polygamy would have to be intact, and only the splinters off of the Brigham Young group (LDS) retain polygamy. But, their form of Mormonism is very much influenced by the rigidity of Brigham Young and John Taylor.
Also, Smith’s religion was infused with elements that are now gone altogether. They were very charismatic. Speaking in tongues. Overtaken in “raptures”. Women ordained to their priesthood. JS believed in gathering anything and everything from everywhere.
There is no such thing today, in any of the Mormon split offs.
Also, Smith’s religion was infused with elements that are now gone altogether. They were very charismatic. Speaking in tongues. Overtaken in “raptures”. Women ordained to their priesthood. JS believed in gathering anything and everything from everywhere.
There is no such thing today, in any of the Mormon split offs.
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chromatica
Guest
Until recently the RLDS/CoC denied very resolutely that Joseph Smith NEVER practiced polygamy. To her death, Emma Smith denied it.
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LAMBOFGODGIRLY
Guest
So, does all this mean that there was an apostacy of the Mormon religion? Since they think the Catholic church fell into an apostacy because of all the split offs that people did from the catholic church, do they think their religion fell into an apostacy? I don’t think Jesus would have came and restored the Church just to have it fail again?! I don’t think Jesus is a failure at all! I think Jesus pretty much does something once, and it does not, or will not fail. I don’t know, just my opinion! I think Jesus knew what he was doing the first time around!There are many Mormon sects. The LDS followed Brigham Young, and that church took on a “Brighamite” aspect. Emma Smith followed the Strangites for a while, returning to Nauvoo with her son Joseph Smith III, where the RLDS convinced JS III to become their leader. Sydney Rigdon formed his own church (again, the LDS movement with Smith being one of many churches he formed). The Rigdonites still exist today, in small number. Rigdon denounced polygamy at the get-go and the Rigdonites came to believe that Smith was a fallen prophet, based on his teachings of polygamy.
They all have in common a believe that Smith’s visions were real, from God, and restored their religion. They all use the BoM. Where they differ is where they split, after Smith’s murder. Smith’s religion took on something new and different for each group.
There really isn’t a religion any longer that matches to Smith’s. For one, polygamy would have to be intact, and only the splinters off of the Brigham Young group (LDS) retain polygamy. But, their form of Mormonism is very much influenced by the rigidity of Brigham Young and John Taylor.
Also, Smith’s religion was infused with elements that are now gone altogether. They were very charismatic. Speaking in tongues. Overtaken in “raptures”. Women ordained to their priesthood. JS believed in gathering anything and everything from everywhere. His was like an open source religion and the people who followed him were very much they same way.
There is no such thing today, in any of the Mormon split offs. Once in a while, you’ll see mormons that come around here that are very “smith-like”. Tsuzuki is one of those. So is BOMC. Bukowski sometimes is, but he wobbles back to Brigham Young conformity pretty quick.(hi bukowski)
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zerinus
Guest
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Church that Joseph Smith founded. It has the same priesthood, the same authority, and the same ordinances. There has been several splits from the Church since it was established, none of whom have come to anything. There was one split after Joseph Smith’s death, which resulted in several splinter groups, the largest of which was the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now renamed the Community of Christ). There was also split when the Church discontinued the practice of polygamy. There were a small group of people who disagreed with that decision, so they broke away to continue that practice, and do so to this day. Some of the breakaway groups have splintered to form other groups, rather like the Protestant Reformation which splintered into many churches. Among the breakaway groups the only one that for a period of time presented some kind of challenge to the LDS Church was the Reorganized (RLDS/CoC) Church. But that too for many years now has been in terminal decline. There was a major division among them several decades ago when they decided to give the priesthood to women. They have a liberal wing and a conservative wing. The liberal wing (who basically don’t believe in anything at all!) have for the most part been in the driving seat, and been marginalizing the conservatives. Their decision to give the priesthood to women was the last straw that broke the camel’s back, and the conservatives rebelled, and formed their own independent churches and pay no allegiance or money to the central church, from what I have heard. With their finances drying up and membership declining, they have been in dire straits for many years. From what I heard someone left them a large estate, which is the only thing that keeps them going. This is hearsay, but I have heard that the LDS Church also gives them some financial support to help them stay afloat. But basically they are in terminal decline. This is the fate of the largest of the breakaway groups from the LDS Church that had any chance of presenting a serious challenge to it. The rest don’t even count. The bottom line is that the LDS Church is the church that Joseph Smith founded. There isn’t another.
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ibkc
Guest
No; well, yes, that’s how we’d view it, but they don’t have the same concept of ‘truth’ that we do. According to them, truth can change from day to day, week to week, month to month, year to year, decade to decade and century to century - all depending on what God “tells” their current prophet.
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PaulDupre
Guest
I doubt that Joseph would recognize the LDS church as the one he founded. He would declare it apostate from the church he founded, as it certainly is.
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orange_man
Guest
they all fell into his magical hat (sorry … couldn’t resist). I shouldn’t pick on Mormons, it’s just too easy
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Jash
Guest
That is the most interesting take on continual revelation I have ever heard.
According to us, truth is eternal and unchanging. If a truth is no longer practiced it is because the circumstances requiring that truth be practiced have changed. Think about the law of Moses and Christ’s coming:
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”
Was the “truth” known as the law of Moses changed or fulfilled? Just as Christ revealed the law of Moses was fulfilled in his time we believe a current prophet may reveal when the purpose of certain practices are fulfilled in our time.
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LDSGuy
Guest
Agreed. And it’s also interesting that we can look at similar arguments by Orthodox Christians about the Catholic view of so-called “additions” to the faith. I think we’d both agree that each argument (whether against Latter-day Saints or Catholics) is based on misunderstandings of the actual beliefs.
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Jash
Guest
No kidding. Its amazing how misunderstood the beliefs of many faiths are. Sometimes these misconceptions can be very amusing though. I’ve had quite a few laughs from the thread on “Problems with the Book of Mormon.” Most of the problems presented stem from misinterpretation of what is presented in the book. I would venture to say that aside from the Bible the Book of Mormon is the most misinterpreted book on earth.
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RebeccaJ
Guest
CHRISTIANS believe the Christ is the fulfillment of all things. There is nothing for your so-called prophets to proclaim as fulfilled. Jesus has already done this for us, ONCE and FOR ALL.
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