The Resurrection of Joseph Smith, Jr?

[Allweather]

Yesteday I was reading the entry on Sidney Rigdon in The Encyclopedia of Mormonism.

It seems that Sidney had been selected as Smith’s running mate in his 1844 candidacy for U.S. President, and had traveled to Pittsburgh to establish a campaign operation there. According to the Encyclopedia, Rigdon was living in Pittsburgh when news arrived of Joseph’s and Hyrum’s murders. Upon hearing of this, Rigdon immediately traveled back to Nauvoo,

“”, to offer himself as a ‘guardian of the church,’ promising to act as such until Joseph Smith was resurrected from the dead.""

The entry on Rigdon doesn’t go into any more detail on this expected resurrection.

My question is, did LDS people in 1844 think that Joseph Smith, Jr. was going to resurrect?

Judging from programs I’ve watched about Joseph Smith, Jr on the BYU channel, it has seemed to me that the LDS certainly do view Joseph as a type of Christ, and that from things Smith wrote, he had a similar view of himself. But I was not aware that LDS people actually expected him to rise again from the dead.

Anyone else know anything about this?

 

[Pani_Rose]

My mind is drawing a blank on that.

But your name on here struck me. I was in the Air Force with a guy whose name was ‘Merriweather’. I always thought that was neat. Kind of think in all kinds of weather, he truly was ‘Merri.’ Never seemed sad, always upbeat

 

[GIMJ]

My question is, did LDS people in 1844 think that Joseph Smith, Jr. was going to resurrect?

Judging from programs I’ve watched about Joseph Smith, Jr on the BYU channel, it has seemed to me that the LDS certainly do view Joseph as a type of Christ, and that from things Smith wrote, he had a similar view of himself. But I was not aware that LDS people actually expected him to rise again from the dead.

Anyone else know anything about this?

Of course Joseph Smith will be resurrected, just like you and me. The Mormons believe in that doctrine the same way Catholics do

Now if you’re asking whether the Mormons expected Smith to be resurrected about three days later like Jesus was, I don’t think so. I’ve never heard that before, but then again, Mormonism has redefined its history on more than a few occasions. I would say it’s possible, but quite improbable.

 

[Jerusha]

I’m not surprised. My friend Dale says that Rigdon was just as crazy as JS, just less flamboyantly so. (Dale Broadhurst is apparently currently writing a book about him.) Rigdon spent his last years composing pseudoscripture, sure that everything he wrote was “divinely inspired”. Remember that there is one theory that Rigdon was a primary contributor in the “cut and paste” effort that became the BOM.
The whole Nauvoo area was invaded with people with all sorts of psychopathology. It is no wonder that it has been so difficult to find out what really happened. Rigdon at one time was in trouble with the (pre 1844) Mormon hierarchy for something or other, I forget what.

 

[Jerusha]

If you want to look further here is the site:

sidneyrigdon.com/

 

[Allweather]

According to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism (which our Mormon friend Alma147 says is as close to authoritative as possible to get with Mormonism) Rigdon was one of Joseph Smith Jr’s, closest associates. They met in Dec. of 1830 after Rigdon was converted out of his Baptist ministry by a former convert of his who’d gone over to Mormonism a short time earlier. Rigdon brough about 100 parishoners from his Baptist congregation with him into the LDS operation. Rigdon was immediately ordained an elder, and was soon elevated into the highest positions of the LDS church. He served as transcriber for Smith’s dictation of the BoM after Martin Harris “lost” certain parts of earlier dictations. He became a member of the First Presidency.

Though he was later excommunicated from the LDS operation, and went on to establish at least two of his own new churches, he was very close to Joseph, and so if anyone would know about any resurrection teachings out of Joseph, it would be Rigdon.

Apparently, according to this account in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, in early 1833 Rigdon sustained a head injury during an attack by a mob, in which he and Smith, Jr were tarred and feathered. The entry says that Rigdon was never the same mentally after that injury, that he was very emotionally erratic for the rest of his life. The new churches he founded after being excommunicated in 1844, couldn’t hold on to members, primarily because of this erratic nature of his.

 

[Allweather]

My mind is drawing a blank on that.

But your name on here struck me. I was in the Air Force with a guy whose name was ‘Merriweather’. I always thought that was neat. Kind of think in all kinds of weather, he truly was ‘Merri.’ Never seemed sad, always upbeat

Hi Pani. I was in the Army, first part of which I was an air-traffic controller, and spent a lot of time around AF weather people. I take the nickname from a hobby of mine which is using a motorcycle for all means of transportation. Allweather, Allterrain. I’m usually the last guy out on the roads in the bad weather. Nice to meet you.