Nauvoo Expositor

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Bonfire
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Nauvoo Expositor

Post by Bonfire » Wed Jun 09, 2021 11:40 am

Have you ever felt inclined to read the 1844 singled edition of the Nauvoo Expositor? There is a scanned archive of the document available on archive.org which you can access here.

If you take the time to read this fine publication then you will witness for yourself that those who decried the actions of Joseph Smith also made certain to affirm their testimony of the veracity of the Book of Mormon.
“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; “For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him” (D&C 18:10–11).

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Red Ryder
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Re: Nauvoo Expositor

Post by Red Ryder » Wed Jun 09, 2021 3:29 pm

Bonfire wrote:
Wed Jun 09, 2021 11:40 am
Have you ever felt inclined to read the 1844 singled edition of the Nauvoo Expositor? There is a scanned archive of the document available on archive.org which you can access here.

If you take the time to read this fine publication then you will witness for yourself that those who decried the actions of Joseph Smith also made certain to affirm their testimony of the veracity of the Book of Mormon.
I glanced through and have two thoughts:

1. 13 issues delivered for $20 sounds like a good price to subscribe to the NE.

2. It seems those who affirmed their testimony of the veracity of the Book of Mormon but decried the actions of Joseph Smith did so because they despised his polygamous marriages.

Sure they were believers in the restoration and the Book of Mormon. To them Joseph was a fallen prophet. He crossed the line with polygamy.

Read page 3, the first column. They accurately expose the methods Joseph attempted to draw women into his celestial (polygamous) marriages by offering eternal life and acceptance into the church inner circles if they accept his proposals. Damned to Hell for eternity and ostracized if they refused.

They simply exposed the Prophet for manipulating women. It must have been fairly accurate if it caused the Prophet to destroy the Nauvoo Expositor printing press.

Regardless, their belief in the Book of Mormon and the church remained in tact.
“It always devolves to Pantaloons. Always.” ~ Fluffy

“I switched baristas” ~ Lady Gaga

“Those who do not move do not notice their chains.” ~Rosa Luxemburg

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Bonfire
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Re: Nauvoo Expositor

Post by Bonfire » Thu Jun 10, 2021 11:04 am

Further into the text in the Resolutions section you'll read that the writer's of the Nauvoo Expositor also decried:
• The real estate speculation which the leaders of the church have participated in under the guise of temple construction funds, investment, and insurance. (Resolved 6, 9, 10)
• The secret court proceedings of high councilors who call witnesses to testify on a latter-day than when their meeting occurred. (Resolved 1, 5, 11, 12)
• The use of government and political power, as government is a coercive carnal weapon, neither being necessary nor desirable in God's Kingdom. (Resolved 3, 4, 15)
• The fornications, vices, debauchery, and whoredoms committed by the prophet Joseph Smith, Hyrum, and many other church officials whose actions do not abide by the pure and holy doctrines in the scriptures of divine truth: the Old and New Testaments, in the Book of Mormon, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. (Resolved 2, 7, 8, 13, 14)

The replica reads better and the full text option contains fewer OCR errors.

This document leads me to believe that neither the LDS church nor the US government have any credible source of power -- neither economic, legislative, executive, judicial, or otherwise -- and any intermingling of either is a disgrace of Christ's sacrifice and a denial of the power of God.

Why does the LDS Church accept the currency of the United States? Corruption
Why do the members routinely participate in real estate, banking, and ponzi schemes? Covetousness
Last edited by Bonfire on Sat Jun 12, 2021 1:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.
“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; “For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him” (D&C 18:10–11).

Zeezrom
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Re: Nauvoo Expositor

Post by Zeezrom » Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:35 pm

One of my biggest aha moments was realizing how stupid I was to think that Joseph and Hyrum went to Carthage Jail because of some kind of evil conspiracy by Satan to silence the True Prophet.

Quite the opposite actually. Joseph got himself thrown in jail by trying to silence his own former cohorts exercising their lawful freedom of speech, destroying private property in the process. I know I was aware in a peripheral sense of what Joseph did when he ordered the destruction of the printing press but to follow the prophet is to mentally enter a Machiavellian rabbit hole where right and wrong are defined by what is good or bad for the prophet personally. Joseph effectively inoculated himself when he declared that he was told by an angel his name would be had for good and evil from that time forward. David Koresh or Charles Manson couldn’t create a better self-alibi.

Still I don’t get how a former Judge like Dallin H. Oaks can talk about the US Constitution and religious freedom while testifying of Joseph the Prophet with a straight face!!!

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blazerb
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Re: Nauvoo Expositor

Post by blazerb » Fri Jun 11, 2021 5:49 am

Zeezrom wrote:
Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:35 pm
Still I don’t get how a former Judge like Dallin H. Oaks can talk about the US Constitution and religious freedom while testifying of Joseph the Prophet with a straight face!!!
I believe Oaks will say that the 1st amendment rights were not considered to apply to local and state decisions until after the Civil War, so for a lawyer there's no problem. JS didn't violate any civil rights. Of course the Mormons were also demanding respect for their personal property in Missouri. The loss of property there might have helped JS justify destroying his enemies' property in Nauvoo in his own mind.

Since forever, groups demanding "religious freedom" have typically been wanting protection for themselves while abusing everyone around who disagrees with them. I would have liked to see a prophet who stood for a higher principle when dealing with dissidents. It does not surprise me, though, that Oaks just continues in that tradition.

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alas
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Re: Nauvoo Expositor

Post by alas » Fri Jun 11, 2021 8:19 am

blazerb wrote:
Fri Jun 11, 2021 5:49 am
Zeezrom wrote:
Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:35 pm
Still I don’t get how a former Judge like Dallin H. Oaks can talk about the US Constitution and religious freedom while testifying of Joseph the Prophet with a straight face!!!
I believe Oaks will say that the 1st amendment rights were not considered to apply to local and state decisions until after the Civil War, so for a lawyer there's no problem. JS didn't violate any civil rights. Of course the Mormons were also demanding respect for their personal property in Missouri. The loss of property there might have helped JS justify destroying his enemies' property in Nauvoo in his own mind.

Since forever, groups demanding "religious freedom" have typically been wanting protection for themselves while abusing everyone around who disagrees with them. I would have liked to see a prophet who stood for a higher principle when dealing with dissidents. It does not surprise me, though, that Oaks just continues in that tradition.
If one can accept Nephi murdering because God told him to, then one can accept Joseph Smith destroying a printing press because God told him to. Whatever God commands is right, good, and justified, and it should not be important if it is illegal. The “law” of the land should always be subject to God’s law and not the other way around. Therefore, Joseph was totally in the right and should not have been sent off to jail because God’s law is the higher law and the officials should have known that and the fact that they arrested him just proves they are evil because they ignored the prompting that Joseph was really following God’s law.




Edited to add, my father had his PHD is law, even though he didn’t want to practice law and I said all that in my father’s sarcastic voice because that kind of thinking was something that he would rant against.

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Bonfire
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Re: Nauvoo Expositor

Post by Bonfire » Sat Jun 12, 2021 1:29 pm

alas wrote:
Fri Jun 11, 2021 8:19 am
The “law” of the land should always be subject to God’s law and not the other way around. Therefore, Joseph was totally in the right and should not have been sent off to jail because God’s law is the higher law and the officials should have known that and the fact that they arrested him just proves they are evil because they ignored the prompting that Joseph was really following God’s law.
Reading through the Nauvoo Expositor reveals that there were faithful members who disagreed with Joseph Smith's behaviors, specifically regarding Missouri.
Resolved 4 th, That the hostile spirit and
conduct manifested by Joseph Smith, and
many of his associates towards Missouri,
and others inimical to his purposes, are
decidedly at variance with the true spirit
of Christianity, and should not be encour-
aged by any people, much less by those
professing to be the ministers of the gospel
of peace.
Protestors and rioters being assaulted and murdered in the name of private property is an echo of these same behaviors exhibited by the Mormon prophet and early leaders. As for Nephi justifying murder to obtain the plates of Brass from Laban, thus leading to a continent of Nephi's descendants who are completely wiped out by those of his brothers, the sons of Lehi demonstrate the fatal flaw of vain holiness.

We experience the same behaviors and their well-documented consequences as social cliques and ostracization, the result of which are events such as the mountain meadow massacre and the Morrisites at Kington.

If we can learn anything from Nephi's murder of Laban, which he claims was inspired by God, then the inevitable result of such behavior is a nation utterly destroyed.
“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; “For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him” (D&C 18:10–11).

Zeezrom
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Re: Nauvoo Expositor

Post by Zeezrom » Sat Jun 12, 2021 4:34 pm

Just thinking about it, quite frankly I’m amazed that Brigham Young had the gonads to come out and declare polygamy openly in the 1850s in Utah. Personally I would have kept that practice on the down low if I were him.

JS maintained to his dying breath that he was being falsely accused of polygamy. He made a good enough case to convince his own family of that fact when they founded the RLDS church.

By making the practice of plural marriage public and official doctrine from the 1850s to the 1880s the church was testifying to the truth of the Nauvoo Expositor and exposing Smith’s duplicity. Sure in Utah they were safe from US law for the moment but they should have feared being exposed as frauds to the membership of the church. Just goes to show that men will go along with anything that offers church sanctioned sex with multiple partners. How TSCC went from the licentiousness of JS and BY to the extreme prudishness of more modern leaders is an amazing case of whiplash

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nibbler
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Re: Nauvoo Expositor

Post by nibbler » Sat Jun 12, 2021 4:50 pm

Zeezrom wrote:
Sat Jun 12, 2021 4:34 pm
JS maintained to his dying breath that he was being falsely accused of polygamy. He made a good enough case to convince his own family of that fact when they founded the RLDS church.
Did he convince his family that he wasn't a polygamist or was his family embarrassed enough by his actions that they decided to take up the lie?
We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.
– Anais Nin

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moksha
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Re: Nauvoo Expositor

Post by moksha » Sat Jun 12, 2021 9:56 pm

Red Ryder wrote:
Wed Jun 09, 2021 3:29 pm
Read page 3, the first column. They accurately expose the methods Joseph attempted to draw women into his celestial (polygamous) marriages by offering eternal life and acceptance into the church's inner circles if they accept his proposals. Damned to Hell for eternity and ostracized if they refused.

They simply exposed the Prophet for manipulating women.
Sounds like this should be included in the Nightmare Fraternity genre Hall of Fame, and not the third page of the Nauvoo Expositor. Mixing it into a religion is so bizarre.
Good faith does not require evidence, but it also does not turn a blind eye to that evidence. Otherwise, it becomes misplaced faith.
-- Moksha

Zeezrom
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Re: Nauvoo Expositor

Post by Zeezrom » Sun Jun 13, 2021 6:29 am

Good question nibbler. Sorry haven’t figured out how to copy comments yet. I think it was both. Emma pushed the polygamy denial because she was embarrassed of her own role/knowledge. I think Joseph Smith III just bought into the lie being so young at the time when it went down.

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2bizE
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Re: Nauvoo Expositor

Post by 2bizE » Sun Jun 13, 2021 7:14 am

What is the significance of the first thing on the newspaper being a poem from Thomas Campbell? Campbell was a founder of the Stone-Campbell restoration movement that so many members also believes in.
~2bizE

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Bonfire
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Re: Nauvoo Expositor

Post by Bonfire » Tue Jun 15, 2021 4:57 pm

THE LAST MAN.

BY THOMAS CAMPBELL.

All worldly shapes shall meet in gloom,
The sun himself shall die,
Before this mortal shall assume
Its immortality!
I saw a vision in my sleep,
That gave my spirit strength to sweep
Adown the gulf of time!
I saw the last of human mould,
That shall creation's death behold,
As Adam saw her prime!

The sun's eye had a sickly glare,
The earth with age was wan;
The skeletons of nations were
Around that lonely man!
Some had expired in fight, the brands
Still rusted in their bony hands!
In plagues and famine some!
Earth's cities had no sound nor tread;
And ships were drifting with the dead
To shores where all was dumb!

Yet prophet like, that lone one stood,
With dauntless words and high,
That shook the sere leaves from the wood
As if a storm pass'd by,
Saying, "We are twins in death proud Sun
Thy face is cold, thy race is run,
'Tis mercy bids thee go.
For thou ten thousand thousand years
Hast seen the tide of human
That shall no longer flow.

What though beneath thee man put forth,
His pomp, his pride his skill;
And arts that made fire, flood, and earth,
The vassals of his will;
Yet mourn I not thy parted sway,
Thou dim, discrowned king of day:
For all those trophied arts
And triumphs that beneath thee sprang,
Healed not a passion or a pang
Entailed on human hearts.

"Go, let oblivion's curtain fall
Upon the stage of men;
Nor with thy rising beams recall
Life's tragedy again.
Its piteous pageants bring not back
Nor waken flesh, upon the rack
Of pain anew to writhe;
Stretch'd in disease's shapes abhorr'd.
Or mown in battle by the sword,
Like grass beneath the scythe.

"Ev'n I am weary in yon skies
To watch thy fading fire;
Test of all sunless agonies,
Behold me not expire.
My lips that speak thy dirge of death,
Their rounded grasp and gurgling breath,
To see thou shalt not boast.
The eclipse of nature spreads my pall,
The majesty of darkness shall
Receive my parting ghost!

This spirit shall return to him!
That gave its heavenly spark;
Yet think not Sun, it shall be dim
When thou thyself art dark!
No it shall live again, and shine
In bliss unknown to beams of thine,
By Him recall'd to breath,
Who captive led captivity,
Who robbed the grave of victory,
And took the sting from Death!

Go, Sun, while mercy holds me up
On nature's awful waste,
To drink this last and bitter cup
Of grief that man shall taste;
Go, tell the night that hides thy face,
Thou saw'st the last of Adam's race,
On earth's sepulchral clod;
The dark'ning universe defy
To quench his immortality,
Or shake his trust in God!
The Nauvoo Expositor is printed with such intricate lettering, which inspires awe considering the detail required to organize each character.
Do we take for granted how easily we press these keys?
“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; “For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him” (D&C 18:10–11).

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