Part 2: Joseph Smith, a Mental Mess
In another thread, RfM poster "Uncle Dale" asserts that "No, we will never know for sure how much [Joseph] Smith believed in himself, or his magic, or his destiny.
"Obviously there was something that made him charismatic and purpose-bound, but that drive and charm may have been rooted in childhood self-protection, rather than pure narcissism."
"Uncle Dale" also argues that other evidences of Smith's questionable mental state lack convincing substance:
" . . . Yes, Joseph's trouble with his leg probably impacted his personality in later years -- but, no, we can't trust his mother's reporting of that incident.
" . . . Yes, Smith probably did have dissociative episodes, other than just his periodic drunkenness. His mind may have indeed traveled to strange places as he gazed into his peepstones; but he was a con-man all the same. . . .
" . . . Perhaps Smith was abused as a child--perhaps sexually. Perhaps he really did witness strange goings on with his two weird parents. Maybe they were to blame for his goal of trying to be a latter day prophet. But then again, maybe not.
("Re: Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith," posted by "Uncle Dale," on "Recovery from Mormonism" discussion board, 29 April 2013, at:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,878818,878839#msg-878839)
_____
RESPONSE
--On matters of mental health and stability, Joseph Smith was arguably in very deep trouble.
In fact, it is worth considering the possibilities that Smith may have been manically depressed, an epileptic, paranoid, prone to hallucinations and an alcohol abuser.
To put it bluntaly, Mormonism's founding flake wcould well have been a walking, talking testament to mental illness whose personal psychological issues, combined with his genetic pre-disposition to brain disorder, produced a dingbat with a head in a hat who manifested classic signs of being strange, deranged and unarranged.
To put it mildly, the evidence seems--(how best to put it?)--overwhelming, as noted in the examinations below pointing to the high probably that Mormonism's founder was an over-sexed, polygamous, hallucinationg, moody, manic-depressive head case.
Quoting from Jerald and Sandra Tanner's analysis, "Joseph Smith Mentally Ill?":
"Dr. Lawrence Foster [hypothesized in a 1993 'Dialogue' article] . . . that Joseph Smith may have been mentally ill. . . . While it may be true that Foster did not use the specific words 'mentally ill . . . ,' he very strongly implied that Joseph Smith had a serious mental problem.
"Foster's hypothesis is that Smith suffered from manic-depression, which is certainly a form of mental illness. In his article . . . Foster wrote:
"'In no area were Joseph Smith's manic qualities more evident than in his efforts to introduce and practice polygamy during the last three years of his life. The point at which Joseph Smith began systematically to introduce polygamy to his closest associates has strong suggestions of mania. . . . his subsequent surge of activity with the sixteen or more women with whom he appears to have sustained sexual relations as plural wives . . . is even more suggestive of the hypersexuality that often accompanies manic periods.'"
("Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought," Winter, 1993, pages 4, 7, 9-13)
"Quoting . . . from his article, Foster further explains his hypothesis that Smith's involvement in polygamy may, in fact, have been rooted in his manic depressive state:
"To place this issue into a larger context, let us return to the perspectives of William James . . . and realize that religious prophets, including Joseph Smith, are is some sense, at least initially, 'sick,' 'disturbed,' or 'abnormal.' . . .
"Why did Joseph Smith feel so preoccupied with introducing plural marriage among his followers . . . . Was there some hidden psychological key that could help make sense of this seemingly obsessive drive? . . .
"A variety of factors including . . . Joseph Smith's own strong sex drive all made plural marriage an idea with considerable power for the Mormon prophet . . . Was Smith, as some of his previously most loyal followers at the time asserted, losing touch with reality during his final months in Nauvoo?
"A compelling psychological approach to explaining this and other puzzling features of the Mormon prophet's behavior during this period was suggested to me by a Mormon psychiatrist, Dr. Jess Groesbeck. . . . gradually the explanatory power of the interpretation came to seem more and more compelling to me.
"Groesbeck argued that many aspects of Joseph Smith's behavior, especially during the last years of his life, appeared strikingly similar to behavior that psychiatrists associate with manic-depressive syndromes.
"Although one could understand that any individual under the pressures Joseph Smith faced might have experienced substantial mood swings, in the Mormon prophet's case those mood swings appear so severe that they may be clinically significant.
"Groesbeck also pointed out that there is substantial evidence that tendencies toward manic-depression tend to be inherited. Although many people are aware that one of Joseph Smith's brightest and most appealing sons, David Hyrum, tragically lapsed into insanity and spent the last years of his life in a mental institution, few realize at least six other male descendants of the Mormon prophet also have suffered from psychological disorders, including manic-depression. . . .
"According to Harold I. Kaplan and Benjamin J. Sadock's 'Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry': '. . . The increased activity often takes the form of sexual promiscuity, political involvement, and religious concern. . . . Delusions and hallucinations are not unusual. . . . It is quite common for the person to communicate with God and to have it revealed that he or she has a special purpose or mission. Patients frequently describe themselves as an 'organ' of God through whom God speaks to the world.'
"In the various forms of manic-depressive illness, the manic highs alternate in bipolar fashion with periods of depression. . . .
"How do descriptions of psychological mania square with Joseph Smith's actions during the last three years of his life[?] . . . To anyone who has worked closely with the records of the Mormon prophet's life during those final years, the parallels are striking. . . .
"Most obvious is the Mormon prophet's extraordinary expansiveness and grandiosity throughout this period. During the last year of his life . . . Smith served as mayor of Nauvoo and head of his own private army, became 'king' of his secret Kingdom of God . . . ran for president of the United States . . . and was the 'husband' in some sense of dozens of wives. . . .
"In no area were Joseph Smith's manic qualities more evident than in his efforts to introduce and practice polygamy during the last three years of his life. The point at which Joseph Smith began systematically to introduce polygamy to his closest associates has strong suggestions of mania. . . . his subsequent surge of activity with the sixteen or more women with whom he appears to have sustained sexual relations as plural wives (the full number may have been much greater) is even more suggestive of the hypersexuality that often accompanies manic periods."
"("Dialogue," pp. 4, 7, 9-13) . . .
"If the First Vision is viewed as an hallucination, and the revelation to establish polygamy as a natural result of manic-depression, then one can be more sympathetic with Joseph Smith's strange behavior. Under this hypothesis many things about Joseph Smith can be explained."
--Joseph Smith having been one peepstone short of a full hat can be seen in his fits of uncontrolled anger.
". . . Foster stated that [manic depression] could account for 'Joseph Smith's ferocious anger in . . . the last couple of years of his life.' It could also help explain why Smith became the 'head of his own private army, became 'king' of his secret Kingdom of God . . . [and] ran for president of the United States . . .
"Joseph Smith . . . was [certainly] prone to violence. While Mormon writer John J. Stewart claimed that . . . Smith was 'perhaps the most Christ-like man to live upon the earth since Jesus himself,' this conclusion is not supported by 'Joseph Smith's History': 'I am not so much a "Christian" as many suppose I am. When a man undertakes to ride me for a horse, I feel disposed to kick up and throw him off, and ride him.'
("History of the Church," vol. 5, p. 335)
"Unlike the gentle and soft spoken man portrayed in the Mormon film, 'Legacy,' Joseph Smith was without question a fighting prophet. He not only liked to wrestle and prove his strength, but he sometimes kicked people and struck them very hard. Historian D. Michael Quinn observed that Smith was a "church president who physically assaulted both Mormons and non-Mormons for insulting him . . .'
(Quinn, "The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power," 1994, pp. 261-262)
"Jedediah M. Grant, a member of the First Presidency under Brigham Young, told of 'the Baptist priest who came to see Joseph Smith. . . . [T]he Baptist stood before him, and folding his arms said, 'Is it possible that I now flash my optics upon a man who has conversed with my Savior?' 'Yes,' says the Prophet, 'I don't know but you do; would not you like to wrestle with me?' That, you see, brought the priest right on to the thrashing floor, and he turned a sumerset right straight. After he had whirled round a few times, like a duck shot in the head, he concluded that his piety had been awfully shocked . . .'
("Journal of Discourses," vol. 3, pp. 66-67)
"Joseph Smith's close friend, Benjamin F. Johnson, made this observation after Smith's death:
"'And yet, although so social and even convivial at times, he would allow no arrogance or undue liberties. Criticisms, even by his associates, were rarely acceptable. Contradictions would arouse in him the lion at once. By no one of his fellows would he be superseded.... one or another of his associates were more than once, for their impudence, helped from the congregation by his foot. . . . He soundly thrashed his brother William . . . While with him in such fraternal, social and sometimes convivial moods, we could not then so fully realize the greatness and majesty of his calling.'
(Benjamin F. Johnson, letter to Elder George S. Gibbs, 1903, as printed in The "Testimony of Joseph Smith's Best Friend," pp. 4-5)
"Mormon writer Max Parkin refers to a court case against Joseph Smith in which Calvin Stoddard, Joseph Smith's brother-in-law, testified that, 'Smith then came up and knocked him in the forehead with his flat hand -- the blow knocked him down, when Smith repeated the blow four or five times, very hard -- made him blind -- that Smith afterwards came to him and asked his forgiveness . . .'
("Conflict at Kirtland," citing from the "Painesville Telegraph," June 26, 1835)
"Parkin also quotes Luke S. Johnson, who served as an apostle in the early Mormon Church, as saying that when a minister insulted Joseph Smith at Kirtland, Ohio, Smith, ‘"boxed his ears with both hands, and turning his face towards the door, kicked him into the street,' for the man's lack of charity."
(ibid., p. 268)
"In the 'History of the Church' for the year 1843, we read of two fights Joseph Smith had in Nauvoo:
"'Josiah Butterfield came to my house and insulted me so outrageously that I kicked him out of the house, across the yard, and into the street."
("History of the Church," vol. 5, p. 316)
"'Bagby called me a liar, and picked up a stone to throw at me, which so enraged me that I followed him a few steps, and struck him two or three times. Esquire Daniel H. Wells stepped between us and succeeded in separating us. . . . I rode down to Alderman Whitney . . . [H]e imposed a fine which I paid, and then returned to the political meeting.'
(ibid., p. 524)
"On August 13, 1843, Joseph Smith admitted that he had tried to choke Walter Bagby: 'I met him, and he gave me some abusive language, taking up a stone to throw at me: I seized him by the throat to choke him off.'
(ibid., p. 531)
"After he became president of the Mormon Church, Brigham Young commented, 'If you had the Prophet Joseph to deal with, you would think that I am quite mild. . . . He would not bear the usage I have borne, and would appear as though he would tear down all the houses in the city, and tear up trees by the roots, if men conducted to him in the way they have to me.'
("Journal of Discourses," vol. 8, pp. 317-318)
"In addition to choking, kicking people out of houses and churches, knocking them in the head, boxing their ears, and tearing their clothing, the evidence indicates that he threatened people's lives."
(For documentation see, 'The Mormon Hierarchy,' pp. 91-92).
--Joseph Smith's Mormonism may well have been the product of his personal holy hallucinations, combined with possible hereditary epilepsy.
"The idea that Joseph Smith was mentally ill has been around for a long time. In discussing theories about the origin of the Book of Mormon, Francis W. Kirkham, a Mormon writer, mentioned one of the anti-Mormon theories: 'The Book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith, a person subject to epileptic fits in early life and later to other pathological mental conditions.'
(Kirkham, "A New Witness For Christ in America," 1951, vol. 1, p. 350). . .
"Dr. Kirkham . . . [then cites] the following from the [1902] book, The Founder of Mormonism, written by Isaac Woodbridge Riley . . .:
"'Thurlow Weed, when first Joseph submitted to him the Book of Mormon, said that he was either crazy or a very shallow impostor. There is no call for so harsh a judgment . . . There is a truer and, at the same time, more charitable explanation -- it is, in a word, that Joseph Smith, Junior, was an epileptic.'
". . . [I]t does seem that there was something seriously amiss in [Smith's] life.
"It is interesting to note that Joseph Smith's grandfather, Solomon Mack, seemed to suffer from fits. He even wrote a book detailing some of his fits, 'severe accidents,' and unusual visions he received. In his book, 'A Narrative of the Life of Solomon Mack,' Joseph Smith's grandfather wrote:
"'I afterwards was taken with a fit, when traveling with an axe under my arm . . . I was senseless from one until five p.m. When I came to myself . . . I was all covered with blood and much cut and bruised. When I came to my senses I could not tell where I had been nor where I was going. But by good luck I went right and arrived at the first house . . . .'
(as cited in Joseph Smith's "New England Heritage," by Richard L. Anderson, 1971, p. 43)
"Although Dr. Anderson mentions that, '[t]here were also "some fits" among his later disorders," he rejects the idea that he was 'afflicted with hereditary epilepsy, which too neatly explains his grandson's visions as epileptic seizures, with flashing lights and lapses into unconsciousness. But the case of neither grandfather nor grandson fits such speculation.'
(ibid., p. 13)
"In a footnote on p. 166, Anderson says that '[i]t is even possible that Solomon used 'fit' in the early sense of 'a mortal crisis, a bodily state (whether painful or not) that betokens death.'
"Nevertheless, Solomon Mack described so many accidents in his book that it would make one wonder if there was something seriously wrong with the man.
"In any case, in the official account of Joseph Smith's First Vision he wrote:
"'. . . I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.'"
("Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith -- History," v. 15)
"Joseph Smith described the remarkable vision he saw and then went on to say: 'When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up to heaven. When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home.'
(ibid., v. 20)
"While Joseph Smith claimed that he saw an actual vision, there is a similarity to his grandfather's experience in that both of them were overpowered and passed out. Interestingly, both Joseph and his grandfather used the expression, 'When I came to myself'
(compare v. 20 with Solomon Mack's account cited above).
"Another account of the [First] [V]ision appears in Joseph Smith's 1835 dairy. This account contains some eerie material about a strange noise Joseph heard that was not published in the official version:
"'My tongue seemed to be swol[l]en in my mouth, so that I could not utter. I heard a noise behind me like some person walking towards me. I strove again to pray but could not. The noise seemed to draw nearer. I sprung up on my feet {page 23} and looked around, but saw no person or thing that was calculated to produce the noise of walking.'
("An American Prophet's Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith," edited by Scott H. Faulring, 1987, p. 51)
"It is interesting to note that some of those who suffer from epilepsy claim they hear "peculiar sounds" just prior to an attack
(see 'The American Medical Association Family Medical Guide,' 1987, p. 289).
"Whatever the case may be, the fact that Joseph Smith claimed he heard the sound of "some person walking towards" him whom he was unable to see is certainly weird.
"Some critics of the LDS Church claim that the spooky elements of the [First] [V]ision, such as Joseph Smith being 'seized upon by some power which entirely overcame" him, the "thick darkness,' and the attempt to 'bind' his tongue prove that the vision was demonic. Mormons, on the other hand, maintain that God thwarted an attack by Satan and gave Joseph a wonderful vision.
"Foster . . . gives another alternative: Joseph Smith may have suffered from an hallucination.
"Joseph's First Vision experience was not the only time that he passed out. Later, Joseph Smith claimed he was visited in the night three times by an angel who told him about the gold plates. Joseph wrote:
"'I shortly after arose from my bed, and, as usual, went to the necessary labors of that day; but, in attempting to work as at other times, I found my strength so exhausted as to render me entirely unable. My father, who was laboring along with me, discovered something to be wrong with me, and told me to go home. I started with the intention of going to the house; but, in attempting to cross the fence out of the field where we were, my strength entirely failed me, and I fell helpless on the ground, and for a long time was quite unconscious of anything.
"'The first thing that I can recollect was a voice speaking unto me, calling me by name. I looked up, and beheld the same messenger . . .'
("Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith -- History," v. 48-49)
"It is also interesting to note that both Solomon Mack and Joseph Smith claimed they prayed for God's forgiveness. Both maintained that they had a spiritual experience in which they saw a bright light in their house on more than one occasion.
"Mack wrote:
"'I was distressed to think how I had abused the Sabbath and had not taken warning from my wife. About midnight I saw a light about a foot from my face as bright as fire; the doors were all shut and no one stirring in the house. I thought by this that I had but a few moments to live, and oh what distress I was in. I prayed that the Lord would have mercy on my soul and deliver me from this horrible pit of sin. . . . I was in distress.
"'Another night soon after, I saw another light as bright as the first, at a small distance from my face, and I thought I had but a few moments to live.'
(as cited in "Joseph Smith's New England Heritage," p. 54)
"Joseph Smith wrote that after he had his First Vision, he was severely tempted:
"'. . . I was left to all kinds of temptations; and mingled with all kinds of society, I frequently fell into many foolish errors, and displayed the weakness of youth, and the foibles of human nature; which, I am sorry to say, led me into divers temptations, offensive in the sight of God. . . . on the evening of the above-mentioned twenty-first of September, after I had retired to my bed for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and follies . . .
"'While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside . . . The room was exceedingly light . . . He called me by name . . . He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates . . .
"'After this communication, I saw the light in the room begin to gather immediately around . . . the room was left as it had been before the heavenly light had made its appearance.
"'I lay musing on the singularity of the scene . . . when in the midst of my meditation, suddenly discovered that my room was again beginning to get lighted, as it were, the same heavenly messenger was again by my bedside.'
("Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith -- History," v. 28-30, 32-34, 43-44)
"Joseph Smith, of course, also asserted that when he had his [F]irst [V]ision he 'saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun . . . .'
("Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith -- History," v. 17) . . .
"[If Foster is correct in his hypothesis regarding manic depression], the fact that Joseph Smith wrote, 'When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven' (v. 20) could be significant.
"As he was lying there on the ground the rays of the sun may have seemed like a blinding light shining in his eyes. Since Smith claimed the vision occurred in the woods early in the spring, and that he was 'looking up into heaven,' it is certainly possible that the sun shining down through the branches could have given him the impression he was having a vision.
"In addition to these parallels, both Smith and his grandfather had an experience in which they believed they were addressed by God or Christ. Solomon Mack wrote: ' . . . I was called by my Christian name . . .' (pp. 54-55) Smith also stated: 'One of them spake unto me, calling me by name . . . .' (v. 17)"
--When it comes to all those contradictions, the prospect of a hay-wired brain can also help in explaining Joseph Smith's internal issues.
"If Joseph Smith experienced hallucinations, . . . it would go a long way towards explaining why his story of the First Vision contains so many glaring contradictions. In the first account, which he wrote in 1832, he said there was only one personage present in the vision: the Lord Jesus Christ.
(see "An American Prophet's Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith," pp. 5-6)
"In the version written in 1835, Smith maintained that there were two persons whom he did not identify. In addition, however, he also said that he 'saw many angels in this vision . . .' (ibid., p. 51) Finally, in the official account published in 1842, Smith claimed that he saw both God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ! This account omits the presence of angels in the vision.
"Besides a number of other contradictions, Smith claimed that the vision occurred at the time of a revival in the Palmyra-Manchester area. In his official account he claimed that the First Vision took place 'early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty.'
"Wesley P. Walters, however, demonstrated conclusively that there was no such revival in the Palmyra-Manchester area. In fact, Walters found hard evidence that the revival did not occur until the fall of 1824. . . .
"If Joseph Smith suffered from seizures and hallucinations, it would make it easier to understand why he could not tell a consistent story about the First Vision. As we have shown above, in Joseph's official account of the vision he said he felt that he was 'doomed to destruction.' He also revealed that he 'was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction . . . .'
"In his book, 'Hearts Made Glad: The Charges of Intemperance Against Joseph Smith the Mormon Prophet,' LaMar Petersen wrote the following:
"'Joseph's associates sometimes spoke of his paleness when "in vision" or when receiving a revelation. A daughter of Adaline Knight Belnap recorded her mother's impression of the Prophet in an instance of spiritual (spirituous?) passivity. "How well she remembers one day before her father died (Vinson Knight) of a little excitement in school. The children were busy when the school room door was carefully opened and two gentlemen entered, carrying the limp form of Joseph Smith. The children all sprang to their feet, for Brother Joseph lay helpless in their arms, his head resting on his brother's shoulder, his face pale as death, but his eyes were open, though he seemed not to see things earthly. The teacher quieted them by telling them that Brother Joseph was in a revelation, and they were carrying him to his office above the schoolroom."'
(Peterson, "Hearts Made Glad," 1975, p. 206)
"While there is no question that Joseph Smith and other early Mormon leaders did use alcoholic beverages . . . , this strange incident could be viewed as evidence supporting Foster's hypothesis of manic depression."
--The case can further be made that Joseph Smith had mental problems from head to toe, be it an infected Leg or an infected mind.
". . . [I}t is certainly possible that traumatic events he experienced could have had a serious effect upon him. For example, when he was just a young boy, he had an extremely bad infection in his leg. According to his mother, it finally came to the point that the doctors were convinced that 'amputation is absolutely necessary in order to save his life.' His mother, however, requested the doctors make 'one more effort' to save the leg.
"Joseph's mother went on to state that he refused to take any brandy or wine before the operation. Consequently, he had nothing to kill the pain. According to Mrs. Smith, the operation was horrific. The surgeons had to bore 'into the bone of his leg, first on one side of the bone where it was affected, and then on the other side, after which they broke it off with a pair of forceps or pincers. They thus took away large pieces of the bone. When they broke off the first piece, Joseph screamed out so loudly, that I could not forbear running to him. . . .
"'When the third piece was taken away, I burst into the room again -- and oh, my God! what a spectacle for a mother's eye! The wound torn open, the blood still gushing from it, and the bed literally covered with blood. Joseph was as pale as a corpse . . . .'
("Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith The Prophet, and his Progenitors for Many Generations," by Lucy Smith, 1853, pp. 63-65)
"Although Joseph Smith dictated his recollection of the operation for his 'History of the Church,' it was never included in the published 'History.' . . .
"Joseph Smith claimed that the illness came upon him when he 'was five years old or thereabouts' and said that he 'endured the most acute suffering for a long time . . .'
"When amputation was suggested he responded: ' . . . /'A]s young as I was, I utterly refused to give my assent to the operation, but consented to their trying an experiment by removing a large portion of the bone . . . .'
"Smith went on to claim that he suffered persecution at this early period of his life, which, of course, was years before he had his First Vision:
"'. . . I was reduced so very low that my mother could carry me with ease.
"'After I began to get about I went on crutches till I started for the State of New York where my father had gone for the purpose of preparing a place for the removal of his family, which he affected by sending a man after us by the name of Caleb Howard . . . . We fell in with a family by the name of Gates who were travelling west, and Howard drove me from the waggon and made me travel in my weak state through the snow 40 miles per day for several days, during which time I suffered the most excruciating weariness and pain, and all this that Mr. Howard might enjoy the society of two of Mr. Gates daughters which he took on the wagon where I should have rode, and thus he continued to do, day after day through the Journey and when my brothers remonstrated with Mr. Howard for his treatment to me, he would knock them down with the butt of his whipp. -- When we arrived at Utica, N. York Howard threw the goods out of the wagon into the street and attempted to run away with the Horses and waggon, but my mother seized the horses by the rein . . . . On the way from Utica, I was left to ride on the last sleigh . . . . I was knocked down by the driver, one of Gate's Sons, and left to wallow in my blood until a stranger came along, picked me up, and carried me to the Town of Palmyra.'
(Joseph Smith, "History," Book A-1, pp. 131-132, LDS Church Historian's Office, ibid., p. 480)
"In her book, 'Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith,' p. 69, Mrs. Smith did mention the trouble she had with Mr. Howard and also stated that he mistreated 'my children, especially Joseph. He would compel him to travel miles at a time on foot, notwithstanding he was still lame.'
"Interestingly, however, she says nothing about her son's incredible claim that he walked in his 'weak state through the snow 40 miles per day for several days . . . .' Moreover, Mrs. Smith is silent with regard to the fact that Joseph claimed he was 'knocked down by the driver . . . and left to wallow in my blood until a stranger came along, picked me up, and carried me to the Town of Palmyra.'
"The question might be raised as to whether Joseph Smith was exaggerating or hallucinating. On the other hand, although it is difficult to believe, his mother may have forgotten the incident.
"It does not seem possible that Joseph Smith, who was "still lame" from the operation, could have walked "40 miles per day for several days" in the condition he was in after his operation. Mormon writers state that the operation was so severe that Joseph Smith walked with a slight limp for the rest of his life.
"Joseph Smith's statement that he 'was five years old or thereabouts' when he had the operation is incorrect; he was actually just over seven years old at the time. Mormon writer LeRoy S. Wirthlin shows that Joseph's mother places the date in '1813' and notes that Joseph's claim of being 'about "5 years old or thereabouts" . . . would not have placed the family in Lebanon' at the time of the epidemic
(see "Brigham Young University Studies," Spring 1981, p. 146).
--Joseph Smith may well have been mentally mad and persecutionally paranoid.
". . . Lucy Smith . . . claim[ed] that one evening when Joseph 'was passing through the door yard, a gun was fired across his pathway, with the evident intention of shooting him. He sprang to the door much frightened. We immediately went in search of the assassin . . . The next morning we found his tracks under a wagon, where he lay when he fired . . . We have not as yet discovered the man who made this attempt to murder, neither can we discover the cause thereof.'
("Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith," p. 73)
"While one might think that this had something to do with Joseph Smith's work on Mormonism, Mrs. Smith made it clear that this was before his First Vision.
"Besides these experiences, in 1832, Joseph Smith was actually tarred and feathered by an angry mob. Fawn Brodie stated that the mob, 'dragged Joseph . . . They stripped him, scratched and beat him with savage pleasure, and smeared his bleeding body with tar from head to foot. . . . they plastered him with feathers. It is said that Eli Johnson demanded that the prophet be castrated, for he suspected Joseph of being too intimate with his sister, Nancy Marinda. But the doctor who had been persuaded to join the mob declined . . .'
(Fawn Brodie, "No Man Knows My History," 1971, p. 119)
"Interestingly, Nancy Marinda Johnson later became one of Joseph's plural wives.
At any rate, it seems possible that the combination of the horrendous operation and the cruel mobbing could have resulted in Smith having some serious problems. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, for example, is caused by very shocking experiences. 'The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,' Fourth Edition, p. 424, gives this information:
"'The essential feature of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is the development of characteristic symptoms following exposure to an extreme traumatic stressor involving direct personal experience of an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury . . . Traumatic events that are experienced directly include . . . violent personal assault . . .'
"It is obvious that the mobbing of Joseph Smith was a 'violent personal assault' upon him that could have affected his mental state. If he was prone to manic-depression, as Foster seems to believe, it could have had a devastating effect on his conduct. . . ."
--It can be persuasively shown that on balance Joseph Smith was probably a certifiably unbalanced.
In the interest of historical fairness (and we all know just how FAIR Mormon apologists can be), ". . . FARMS-BYU scholars . . . should . . . inform their readers that . . . Joseph Smith . . . may have been mentally ill."
"May"?
Just like the world "may" be round.
(Jerald and Sandra Tanner, "Salt Lake City Messenger," May 1996, Utah Lighthouse Ministry, under "Topical Index S-Z," at:
http://www.utlm.org/topicalindexc.htm ; click on "#90 Messenger, 'Joseph Mentally Ill?'")
_____
--Below are other assessments from well-read RfM posters on the shaky state of Joseph Smith's mental shelving.
RfM poster "SL Cabbie" adds his considered judgment on Smith's likely loose-nut condition:
"I'm strongly in the 'severe narcissistic personality' camp for a couple of reasons. The obvious evidence there is Joseph Smith managed to accumulate large numbers of followers, so his impairment wasn't immediately apparent.
"Per the literature, though, his relationships were tumultuous and often ended acrimoniously (John C. Bennett, for example). On the alcohol abuse front, I think the jury's out but William Law noted he 'wasn't prone to drunkenness.' There are credible stories, of course, of his getting sh*t-faced, and Samuel Taylor cited a claim where Joseph said he drank to prove himself human to his followers, otherwise they tended to idolize him. Excess alcohol intake, of course, affects non-alcoholics in a manner similar to alcoholics; i.e. it gets them drunk.
"Here's my original post that I'll just copy and paste with the link available to for those who want to refer to it in context:
"Include his marriage to Emma and his relationships with his family and individuals like Porter Rockwell (whom he certainly used, but he rewarded well).
"He appears to have a conscience at times, and he was aware of the recriminations his actions brought down on him. The break-up with Bennett, for example, was in part brought on by Bennett's view that Joseph Smith was too concerned with the 'Temple Rituals' and just should've 'got on with it.' Bennett appears to me more of a socopathic opportunist than Joseph Smith.
"As for the 'differences' in the brainscans of sociopaths, those are open to interpretation. I have no doubt the 'rewards center' (involving the various neurological structures, some dopaminergic, some norepenephrine oriented, and some where serotonin is the dominant neurotransmitter) are likely different; the question is that an outgrowth of nature 'genetics' or 'nurture' (malnurturing actually).
"Those would provide the stimulus/reinforcment connections that would make the behaviors self-rewarding. Early 'sexualizing' of a child often appears to be a factor in the intransigent resistance of many sexual disorders to therapeutic intervention, even extreme interventions (such as I electroshock, which I wholly condemn).
'There is a 'physiological force' that drives such monsters, and the two cases I was most familiar with (exhibitionists, I was 'fortunate' not to have to listen to the particulars of other 'garbage') convinced me that they were frequently incapable of preventing themselves from losing control long before they were consciously aware of anything.
"But as another mentor noteD, this kind of stuff isn't something you want to be identified as acquiring an expertise about.
"Now watch for the pharmacy companies to come up with a 'pill for socopathy' and Hare's 'nature' claims to find a ready market."
("The Narcissistic Elements of Joseph Smith," posted by "SL Cabbie," on "Recovery from Mormonism" board, 11 March 2011, at:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,133982,134609#msg-134609"SL Cabbie" continues:
"Subject: The Narcissistic Elements of Joseph Smith:
"Include his marriage to Emma and his relationships with his family and individuals like Porter Rockwell (whom he certainly used, but he rewarded well).
"Joseph Smith appears to have a conscience at times, and he was aware of the recriminations his actions brought down on him. The break-up with Bennett, for example, was in part brought on by Bennett's view that JS was too concerned with the "Temple Rituals" and just should've "got on with it." Bennett appears to me more of a socopathic opportunist than Joseph Smith.
"As for the 'differences' in the brainscans of sociopaths, those are open to interpretation. I have no doubt the 'rewards center' (involving the various neurological structures, some dopaminergic, some norepenephrine oriented, and some where serotonin is the dominant neurotransmitter) are likely different; the question is that an outgrowth of nature "genetics" or 'nurture' (malnurturing actually).
"Those would provide the stimulus/reinforcment connections that would make the behaviors self-rewarding. Early 'sexualizing' of a child often appears to be a factor in the intransigent resistance of many sexual disorders to therapeutic intervention, even extreme interventions (such as electroshock, which I wholly condemn). There is a 'physiological force' that drives such monsters, and the two cases I was most familiar with (exhibitionists, I was "fortunate" not to have to listen to the particulars of other 'garbage') convinced me that they were frequently incapable of preventing themselves from losing control long before they were consciously aware of anything. . . .Joseph Smith's 'excess libido' is well-documented, and this does point to likely psychodynamic origins for his sexual excesses. . . .
"Addendum: An NPD [Narcissistic Personality Disorder] 'jacket' does not preclude bipolar disease as well. I've had experience with those sorts, but it has involved individuals who were severely impaired. I'm doubtful it applied to Joseph Smith, but I'll acknowledge my biases, and I won't argue that one very forcefully."
("I'm Raising Heck on Political Sites, So This One is a Rerun," posted by "SL Cabbie," on "Recovery from Mormonism" bulletin board, 27 August 2012, at:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,617625,617767#msg-617767)
"SL Cabbie" provides further relevant information as to the likely tenuous mental condition of Joseph Smith:
"[While] [i]t's always dicey to 'diagnose' someone you haven't actually spent time with and particularly dicey with historical figures, . . . in November 2009 RfM poster 'Diaposon' suggested a diagnosis I think is plausible and for which he provided supporting evidence.
"Says 'Diaposon':
"In my opinion Smith meets the criteria for both Antisocial AND Narcissistic Personality Disorder. They are not mutually exclusive.
"The diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder is supported by the following criterion:
"A. There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following:
"Criterion A-1. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest.
a. Smith repeatedly performed marriages without legal authority
b. Smith illegally engaged in polygamy and polyandry and encouraged select members of his congregation to do likewise
c. Smith illegally and fraudulently created a bank in Ohio
d. Smith deceitfully misrepresented the banks assets to lure investors
e. Smith failed to honor financial commitments which led to the bank’s collapse
f. A warrant was issued for his arrest
g. Smith formed a private Army (Zion’s Camp) for the purpose of retaking property seized by citizens opposed to the influx of Mormon’s into their communities
h. Smith formed and illegal private police force (the Danites) which inflicted pain and terror on citizens of Missouri, plundered and pillaged their home, and engaged the Missouri State Militia in battle causing fatalities on both sides
i. Smith ordered the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor, a newspaper that was exposing his polygamous activities
"Criterion A-2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
a. Smith repeatedly told others he had the ability to locate buried treasure and conned people into paying him to find treasure on their property. He was tried and convicted of this crime in 1826
b. Smith made numerous public denials about polygamy when he was in fact actively practicing it
c. Smith purported to receive a revelation on from God commanding the practice of polygamy. But Smith had privately been practicing it for 12 years prior to the purported revelation
d. Smith claimed to be able to translate ancient Egyptian papyri. He claimed they consisted of the writings of Abraham. His translation was called the Book of Abraham. Later analysis of the papyri and of the facsimiles included in the Book of Abraham conclude that they papyri are nothing more the typical Egyptian funerary documents
e. Smith succumbed to a hoax claiming that forge/fabricated plates were ancient plates with engraving in ‘reformed Egyptian.’ The perpetrators of the hoax later confessed
f. Smith continually lied to Emma about his involvement in polygamy and repeatedly married other women without her knowledge or consent
g. After Emma finally consented to polygamy, Smith conducted a marriage ceremony in from of Emma to two women he had already married
"Criterion A-5. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others
a. Smith authorized the creation of an illegal militia that caused terror, committed murder, and plundered and pillage the homes of ordinary citizens
"Criterion A-6. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations
a. Smith looked for easy methods to make money rather than honest labor as evidenced by his money digging and treasure seeking
b. Smith instituted the United Order and expected all church members to sign over all their property and possession to the church. Smith himself did not abide by this order
c. Smith created an illegal and fraudulent bank which ultimately failed
d. Smith tried to persuade church members in Missouri to deed over title of their property to the church
e. Smith was financially liable for one-half of the cost of the first publication of the Book of Mormon but had no way to come up with the money and persuaded Martin Harris to pay for all of it
"Criterion A-7. Lack of remorse as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another
a. Smith never expressed any sadness or remorse for the citizens which lost home and personal property at the hands of the Danites
b. Smith never expressed sadness or remorse at causing the Saints to uproot and move numerous times
c. Smith never expressed any sadness or remorse for the people who lost all they owned in his Kirtland bank fraud
d. Smith never expressed sadness or remorse for the pain inflicted on his wife Emma by his adultery, polygamy, and polyandry
e. Smith never expressed sadness or remorse for persuading innocent teenage girls to become his plural wives.
"The diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder is support by the following criterion:
"A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five or more of the following:
"Criterion (1) Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g. exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
a. Smith considered himself greater than Jesus Christ as evidenced by the following statement made shortly before his death.
'I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam... Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet.' ('History of the Church,' vol. 6, pp. 408–09)
b. Smith purported to receive divine revelation modifying the Bible. He modified numerous passages in the Old and New Testaments, including adding passages to the book of Genesis which prophesied of himself.
"Criterion (2) Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
a. Smith founded and named himself as President and Prophet of his church
b. He was the major of Nauvoo
c. He was the commander of the Nauvoo Legion
d. He sought the presidency of the United States
e. He sought to establish a literal kingdom of God on earth in which he would be both the political ruler and religious leader
f. Pursued numerous women and had 33 wives some of whom of whom where already married to other men. Several of his wives were teenagers, some as young as 14-16 years old.
"Criterion (3) Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
a. Devalued the credentials of those who disappointed him (i.e. Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, John Whitmer, W.W. Phelps, Thomas B. Marsh. William Law, John Bennett)
b. Established a small group of men called the council of 50 which was to assist his candidacy for the presidency of the United States
c. Joined the Masonic lodge in Nauvoo and gained the highest degree within an unusually short period of time. Was expelled from the lodge for trying to exert too much influence
d. Smith believed that he was above the law.
"Criterion (4) Requires excessive admiration
a. Smith certainly craved and fed off the admiration of others. He demanded respect and agreement from those who surrounded him. He was quick to dispatch them if they disagreed.
"Criterion (5) Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance it his or her expectations.
a. Expected other women to comply immediately (within 24 hours – virtually an automatic compliance) of his request for them to become a polygamous wife
b. Smith excommunicated any church leaders that did not agree with him
c. Whenever Smith did not get acceptable performance for those who surrounded him and shared in leadership of the church, He claimed revelation from God to rebuke those close to him who didn’t follow his wishes and threatened them with eternal punishment if they didn’t comply with his wishes.
"Criterion (6) Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends. (Note: They expect to be given whatever they want or feel they need, no matter what it might mean to others. For example, these individuals may expect great dedication from others and may overwork them without regard for the impact on their lives….They often usurp special privileges and extra resources that they believe they deserve because they are so special.)
a. Smith exploited others by getting them to pay him to find buried treasure on their property which he was never able to do
b. Smith exploited women and young teenage girls. He married several teenage girls as young as 14-16 years old
c. Smith conned people into believing that he could find buried treasure on their property
d. Smith started the United Order in which every member was supposed to give everything they owned to the church. Smith himself did not abide by this la
"Criterion (7) Lacks empathy; is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
a. Not only did he lack empathy – he claimed revelations from God that rebuked others for not following his desires
b. Smith tried unsuccessfully for years to get his wife Emma to agree to polygamy (he was already practicing it behind her back). Smith was unable to recognize the emotional impact this would have on his wife. Smith finally claimed a revelation rebuking Emma for not accepting polygamy and threatened that she would lose her eternal salvation if she did not accept the principle
"Criterion (9) Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes
a. Asking numerous women to marry him, including teenagers and also women who were already married certainly exhibits arrogance
b. Smith excommunicated Oliver for challenging him on his adultery and his first polygamous marriage to Fanny Alger
c. Smith excommunicated church leaders in Missouri who opposed the actions of the Danites
d. Revised the Old and New Testament to prophecy of himself. Revising the Bible would have to be viewed as being extremely arrogant"
----------------------------------------------
"SL Cabbie" adds;
"Of course, what you come up with also depends on whether or not you believe Smith actually had the 'visions' he claimed to have or was fabricating them. I believe he was fabricating rather than hallucinating. His alternating between depression and elation fits the depression and inflation of narcissism (and could also be a product of the great stress he experienced)and is not necessarily indicative of bi-polar disorder.
"I also see Smith as more calculated rather than impulsive, again indicative of narcissism (and antisocial personality) rather than bi-polar disorder. His anger can be explained as narcissistic rage.
"Smith's medical trauma may have played a part. Robert D. Anderson, author of 'Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith: Psychobiography and the Book of Mormon,' believes the trauma from the surgery formed the seed of Smith's narcissism, by putting in Smith a profound position of helplessness that he would spend the rest of his life trying to prevent and compensate for.
"Anderson also notes that Smith's apparently ineffectual father, his father's alcoholism, the family's constant near-poverty, and his mother's great expectations of her sons also affected the development of Smith's personality.
"The book is worth the read for the insight Anderson has into Smith and his family, although I don't see how Smith's trauma is worked out through the Book of Mormon, both because I find many of Anderson's interpretations a stretch and because I don't believe Smith authored the book."
("Relevant Previous Post by 'SL Cabbie' on This Subject," reposted by Steve Benson, on "Recovery from Mormonism" bulletion board, 27n August 2012, at:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,617625,617773#msg-617773In an post titled, "When Did Joseph Smith Go Bad?," RfM poster "still struggling to escape the Morg," lists the evidences for Smith's likely psychiatric problems:
" . . . “When did Joseph Smith go bad?”
"I believe the answer to that question is in the book entitled 'Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith' by Robert D. Anderson, who is an experienced psychiatrist and a former member of the LDS Church. Anderson clearly identifies when Joseph Smith reached the turning point in his life (pp.92-95).
"As a child, Joseph was encouraged by his family to engage in magical thinking and fantasy. Joseph Smith, Sr., believed in witchcraft and taught magic to his children (This is very well-documented by Dr. Anderson). Lucy Smith believed that one of her children would become a prophet of God. Essentially, Joseph’s view of himself was largely determined by what his family wanted to believe about him. The family culture that Joseph Smith Jr. grew up was encouraging him to travel down a certain path.
"The opportunity to live a normal life came when he was under the influence of his father-in-law, Isaac Hale. It was while Joseph Smith was money-digging that Joseph Smith met his future wife, Emma Hale, and asked her father for her hand in marriage. Isaac Hale refused, believing Joseph deceived people in his activities as a money-digger. Then Joseph and Emma decided to elope.
"Isaac Hale found Joseph’s claims outrageous, barely tolerated him for Emma’s sake, and obviously wanted him to begin living a stable and hard-working life. It seems clear to me that Isaac Hale wanted Joseph to live and work in the real world, not some fantasy world.
"According to Dr. Anderson, when Joseph was removed from his family’s influence and confronted by his decent father-in-law, the shell of his false self temporarily cracked; but as he returned to his family, the grandiose personality with its supernatural claims reasserted itself.
"Anderson argues that if it had been possible to take Smith away --and keep him away--from people who wanted him to have supernatural powers then he might have developed into a normal adult.
"Dr. Anderson explains that for seven months, Joseph Smith lived a period of normalcy. From the chastening revelation on 3 July 1828 to February 1829, Joseph Smith retreated from his supernatural claims, and came as close to a conventional life as he ever would. Joseph later explained this gap as punishment for losing the 116 pages--the angle had taken away the gold plates and translating spectacles. Although he told his mother, Lucy, that these items had been returned to him 22 Sep 1828 (the night of the equinox), he later recalled that he “did not go immediately to translating, but went to labouring with my hands upon a small farm, which I had purchased of my wife’s father, in order to provide for my family.”
"During these seven months of normalcy, Joseph’s parents came to visit, staying with Isaac and Elizabeth Hale for perhaps two months. Lucy remembered Joseph as so “hurried with his secular affairs, that he could not proceed with his spiritual concerns as far as was necessary--and his wife had so much of her time taken up with the care of her house, that she could write for him but a small portion of the time.” The traditional Mormon perspective is to see this period as a dark one, a time of spiritual loss and suffering.
"But from a psychological point of view, Dr. Anderson sees it as one of the healthiest periods of Smith’s adult life. Smith’s deception was contained by fright, sorrow, and humiliation. And according to Anderson, fright, sorrow and humiliation can be import positive outside forces in the treatment of narcissistic personalities. Such experiences may provide some added motivation for the patient to struggle toward change by giving up grand claims that have gotten him in trouble and to move toward ordinary commonness.
"Joseph had reached a fork in the road of his life. He could continue to travel down the path that his family wanted and expected, or he could try to live a normal, decent life.
"But two factors encouraged his return to the supernatural, Anderson argues. The first was poverty. In early winter, Joseph and Emma were so poor that they paid a begging visit to Joseph’s older friend, Joseph Knight, asking for help. Knight gave Joseph food, a pairs of shoes, and $3.00. Anderson explains that only if we understand the desperateness of their economic plight can we begin to appreciate the extremity of Joseph’s solutions. Perhaps Joseph looked into the future during that winter and saw himself becoming his father. Perhaps he saw a future of poverty and contempt from this neighbour. But these factors are minor compared to the enormous underlying problem of identity. Take away the facade (that he was a 'prophet of God') that was now crystallizing, and what remained was a small, incomplete, and helpless shadow of a man. But for narcissists, seeing themselves as ordinary and common is to feel weak and perpetually threatened--that emotional deprivation, even physical hunger, might occur at any time. Perhaps even more powerful is feeling that they simply do not know who they are. Smith‘s need to be important and in control was strong; he returned to the compensating personality.
"Anderson sees the visit of Joseph’s parents as the second factor. They obviously encouraged his supernatural claims, perhaps reporting their own belief, that since the original manuscript had not resurfaced in Palmyra, it must have been destroyed, Smith could begin again.
"Anderson argues that “from a psychoanalytic perspective, this moment of return to claims of supernatural power was a decisive turning point for Joseph Smith, one that closed the door on the possibility of developing a healthy self. This moment is, in therapeutic terms, the saddest for Smith--not three years later when he is tarred, beaten, and nearly castrated in Ohio; or ten years later when he is incarcerated for months in Missouri; or fifteen years later when he is jailed and shot by a mob in Illinois. At this point, on a farm in Pennsylvania, his power over others is minimal; he has not has sexual relations with dozens of women and girls; three brothers and hundreds of followers have not yet died for him, given him their properties, their lives, their wives, their time, and their finest loyalty.”
"Anderson further explains that from a psychoanalytic perspective, 'a genuine acknowledgement that one comes from a dysfunctional, inferior family is a beginning step toward health. With such an admission, one can begin working toward authentic accomplishment. But to replace an honest awareness of dysfunction with the delusion that a man’s fears are divine visions and that he can do magical ('spiritual?') acts diverts energies from potential progress and mires him more deeply in fantasy.'"
("When Did Joseph Smith Go Bad?," posted by "still struggling to escape the Morg," on "Recovery from Mormonism" bulletin board, 1 January 2009, reposted by Steve Benson, on "RfM" bulletin board, 27 August 2012, at:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,617625,617788#msg-617788Finally, RfM poster "robertb" weighs in:
"Try 'Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith' by Robert Anderson. Dan Vogel provides some insight on family dynamics in his book 'Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet.' I don't think Smith can be characterized as mentally ill based on his belief in folk magic and angels because those beliefs were part of his social environment.
"If I were going to 'diagnose' him, which is dicey without actually knowing him, I would look to his narcissism and to his antisocial behaviors, such as his deception, law-breaking, sexual excesses and callousness.
"Early trauma, loss, deprivation, and family instability played a big part in how Smith thought of himself and related to others. As a boy he had been injured, crippled, poor, afraid and looked down upon. As a man he wanted to ensure he would never experience those things again and behaved accordingly."
("Re: Psychological diagnosis of Joseph Smith," posted by "robertb," on "Recovery from Mormonism" discussion board, 27 August 2012, at:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,617544,617582#msg-617582)
**********
Given the evidence, it clearly appears that the cranial case on Joseph Smith's mental imbalance is open and shut.
(Back to Part 1 on Joseph Smith's conscious fraud, at:
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,878921,878921#msg-878921Edited 19 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2013 03:14AM by steve benson.