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Joe Smith and the Devil
Posted On 09/05/2008 01:35:46 by alexlds

 

 

On 25 August 1844 Parley P. Pratt published a little story in the New York Herald entitled "Joe Smith and the Devil." In this story the devil happens upon Joseph, and they have a pleasant conversation. The devil is insisting to the Prophet that he, the devil, is happy to support all creeds, systems, and forms of Christianity, of whatever name or nature; so long as they leave out that abominable doctrine, which caused me so much trouble in former times, and which, after slumbering for ages, you have again revived; I mean the doctrine of  . . . . . .(can you guess?) . . . . .  direct personal communion with God, by new revelation.

"The Great Man was always as lightning out of Heaven; the rest of men waited for him like fuel, and then they too would flame." (Thomas Carlyle) Joseph Smith ignited something in thousands of men and women that connects them to God and to each other in powerful ways. The god revealed by Joseph Smith was not a threat to human potential but was a being who gloried in that potential and whose work it was to bring it to fruition. That was why Joseph's message resonated and caught hold like a burning fire.

But his message also flamed forth because millions of men and women have freely chosen to believe. They carefully assayed (weighed) the opinions of doubters, and they gave a hearing to the critics. Like Brigham Young, they knew Joseph was human and subject to err, but they sampled his words and agreed that they tasted like honey. They weighed the beauty of a god and of human origins and of a human future unlike anything that had been before imagined. They found reason to doubt, and they found reason to believe. They chose to believe. (Terryl Givens)

There are some things that a cynical person will never ever know. There are some things that a sceptical person will never ever know To come to know the things of God there first needs to be a suspension of disbelief. We need to ask ourselves "I wonder if this just might be true". (Robert Millet)

"If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties." Sir Francis Bacon

 

Tags: Joseph Smith Devil Suspend Disbelief



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Viewing 1 - 2 out of 2 Comments

From: InTheDoghouse
09/05/2008 21:08:57

I do believe that if we ask, as Joseph Smith taught us, then we will be given the answer.  I also agree that we must be willing to believe if we are told the truth, this is considered an open mind, or "asking in faith, nothing wavering".  I know we will recieve an answer every time.

From: Hemidakota
09/05/2008 07:13:31

From the words of Apostle Pratt: In the spring I went to Boston as a missionary, and on business. I
proclaimed the gospel, as usual, while on this journey, on steamers on
the lakes and rivers; in the cities of the Atlantic, and in whatever
village or neighborhood I had opportunity. Visiting North Bridge, a
short distance from Boston, and having a day's leisure, I wrote a
dialogue entitled "Joe Smith and the Devil," which was afterwards published in the New York Herald, and
in various papers in America and Europe. It was finally published and
republished in pamphlet form, and had a wide circulation; few persons
knowing or mistrusting who was the author.

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