According to this website:

http://reform-mormon.blogspot.com/2006_08_20_archive.html

it says, "In the Diary of Orson F. Whitney we find considerable support to substantiate this new doctrine, although Wilford Woodruff publicly claimed it to be false:

"3 June 1889: This evening I heard that Pres. Woodruff, in a meeting at Manti, a few days ago, publicly declared that the doctrine of reincarnation, that is one spirit having several bodies, to be false; that he was Wilford Woodruff and no one else, &c &c. Alright, bro. Woodruff, if you really said it, it is between you and the Lord. I believe it to be a true doctrine, & have for the last [word cut out of entry] years.
---Diary of Orson F. Whitney, 3 June 1889 entry, Church Archives

Orson F. Whitney here declares his belief that "the doctrine of reincarnation" is "a true doctrine." Just five days later Orson F. Whitney entered the following comments about Lorenzo Snow in his diary:

"8 June 1889: During our talks he [Lorenzo Snow] told me that his sister, the late Eliza R. Snow Smith was a firm believer in the principle of reincarnation and that she claimed to have received it from Joseph the Prophet, her husband. He said he [Lorenzo Snow] saw nothing
unreasonable in it, and could believe it, if it came to him from the Lord or His oracle.
---Diary of Orson F. Whitney, 8 June 1889 entry, Church Archives

So, it was from Joseph Smith that Eliza R. Snow became "a firm believer in the principle of reincarnation." If Joseph did teach Eliza R. Snow about this principle, then he certainly kept it a good secret."

Wouldnt it be poetic justice if Horney Joe was reincarnated as a girl in a fundie polygamous compound?

Seriously, Baskin's "Reminiscences of Early Utah" if your want to see what kind of a tool Orson F. Whitney was...

BTW, I made that up about JS and Liza, but it could've happened...

It's funny how many beliefs and practices were attributed to Joseph Smith from private conversations. Definitely a good thing that most of them were hearsay and weren't fully incorporated into church doctrine.

I still shake my head about the whole history of garments and how they were an idea a sister proposed to JS and it wasn't till years later and after later prophets said that the sacred garments could never change that they found out the story and hence the modernization of garments.

Form Mormon Church History - June 1, 1843

-- Jun 1, 1843
"[Joseph Smith] Jewish convert Alexander Neibauer begins publishing a two-installment discussion of Kabbalist views of spirit transmigration or rebirth. His article cites ten Kabbalistic authors and works available only in Hebrew. The Kabbala is Judaism's mystical and magical tradition." Quote from Quinn, D. Michael, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47


From my old notes:
People were judged after life, and then sent back to whatever degree and sub-degree they had earned to try to earn a higher degree in their next life. This was known as "transmigration of souls" or eternal progression. Reports of two of his closest confidants said that JS was discussing reincarnation to other worlds as the next new doctrine as part of eternal progression just before he was killed.

Joseph Smith was enamored with Kabbalism.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2011 08:50PM by Jim Huston.

From my study of Smith during his Nauvoo period he seemed to be totally unwell. From all his sexual liasons do you suppose he had an STD that caused such extremities. Also, David his son born after his death spent his life in an asylum, possibly from the sins of the father transmitted through the birthing process?

I know baptism for the dead was suggested by a woman whose son had died and Joseph said WHY NOT. So what was the garment history referred to in the previous post?