What would have happened if JS was successful in selling the BoM copyright?

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Spicy McHaggis
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What would have happened if JS was successful in selling the BoM copyright?

Post by Spicy McHaggis » Wed Mar 15, 2023 12:37 pm

It's well known that JS tried to sell the copyright for the Book of Mormon, a few times if my memory is correct.

It's also fairly well known that JS never actually preached from the BoM. For that matter, I don't think Brig or any of the older prophets ever used the BoM for their sermons. I think prophets using the BoM was more common from the 1960s onward (I may be wrong about that).

Since JS never seemed to take the BoM very seriously, as actual scripture, I think if he had sold the copyright, the BoM would have just become a footnote in church history and most Mormons wouldn't even know it existed, much less study and obsess over it.

It's almost as if JS knew it was fiction.

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Red Ryder
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Re: What would have happened if JS was successful in selling the BoM copyright?

Post by Red Ryder » Wed Mar 15, 2023 2:56 pm

He knew.

I think this is an idea that is often overlooked and under researched. It possible could have changed the trajectory of the church had he been successful. He would have taken the money and plowed it into his next con assuming he had another one up his sleeve. Since it didn’t sell, he had to continue down the path which led to the church establishing it as the second great event after the first vision.

Here’s what happened:

1. First vision to introduce restoration idea.
2. Book of Mormon is to perpetuate idea.
3. Missionary program to recruit new members.
4. Polygamy to sleep with new members.
5. Temple ceremony to keep polygamy (sex) quiet.
6. Repeat step 3 - 5 indefinitely until manifesto, 1890?
7. After manifesto, focus on repairing reputation.
8. Growth in 1950-60’s, changes in 1978.
9. Establishment of “Mormons are nice” reputation
10. Hoard money and invest in real estate.
11. Repeat number 10, indefinitely
12. Treat members like shit. Repeat indefinitely.

Here’s what would have happened:

1. First vision to introduce restoration idea.
2. Book of Mormon is to perpetuate idea.
3. Sale Copyright
4. Use new money to update wardrobe and wagon fleet.
5. Develop dating website called CelestialWife.com
6. Find and marry more women.
7. Move to Florida

So yeah, the sale of the copyright would have been a game changer. Descendants of Joseph Smith would have owned all the cattle ranches and real estate in Florida instead of the Mormon Church.
“It always devolves to Pantaloons. Always.” ~ Fluffy

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Hagoth
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Re: What would have happened if JS was successful in selling the BoM copyright?

Post by Hagoth » Thu Mar 16, 2023 7:10 am

That whole episode is really important, I think, in understanding Joseph and the early church. I think Joseph expected the BoM to be a big seller and let him retire in his 20s. He even had a revelation that his only gift was to translate the BoM and then he would sit back and in cruise mode. What a disappointment it must have been when the book was a total bomb. Selling he copyright seems like a last ditch effort to get money from it. Another bomb. What now? Step up the con, get a new revelation that makes him The Boss, and use that to try out other cons: a bank, united order, real estate grabs, build a mansion...

Now imagine if the book had been a huge success and Joseph got rich off it. Would God have ever talked to him again? Would the Mormon church have ever really been more than a publishing company? Would there have been sequels? Maybe that was what teasing the sealed portion was all about: Moroni and the Chamber of Secrets.

Also, what did Joseph think someone else would do with the copyright? I mean, if the guy who actually claimed to have discovered and translated a gold book of scripture couldn't get people to buy it in an environment like the Burned Over District, who in Canada would be delusional enough to think they could profit from it?
“The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.” -Mark Twain

Jesus: "The Kingdom of God is within you." The Buddha: "Be your own light."

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moksha
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Re: What would have happened if JS was successful in selling the BoM copyright?

Post by moksha » Thu Mar 16, 2023 2:02 pm

Apologists say he was only selling the Canadian copyright.

Future Wikipedia writers would have pointed out that Smith helped pave the way for Jules Verne.
Good faith does not require evidence, but it also does not turn a blind eye to that evidence. Otherwise, it becomes misplaced faith.
-- Moksha

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jfro18
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Re: What would have happened if JS was successful in selling the BoM copyright?

Post by jfro18 » Fri Mar 17, 2023 7:13 am

Hagoth wrote:
Thu Mar 16, 2023 7:10 am
Also, what did Joseph think someone else would do with the copyright? I mean, if the guy who actually claimed to have discovered and translated a gold book of scripture couldn't get people to buy it in an environment like the Burned Over District, who in Canada would be delusional enough to think they could profit from it?
That's my thought too - the idea that Canada would want to buy the copyright for a book that wasn't even selling well in the US is hilarious when you really think about it.

I don't think a whole lot would've happened if Joseph sold the copyright to Canada though, although it could've created some fun issues for the church today if Canada owned the rights to the Book of Mormon and would have made it tricky to make changes (white and delightsome forever, y'all)/add headings/etc to it.

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moksha
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Re: What would have happened if JS was successful in selling the BoM copyright?

Post by moksha » Fri Mar 17, 2023 1:30 pm

Smith had seen Solomon Spaulding and Ethan Smith get published. He probably assumed anyone could be published, no matter how it was written. He was right in that a vanity press did publish it after it was paid for by selling the Martin Harris farm.
Good faith does not require evidence, but it also does not turn a blind eye to that evidence. Otherwise, it becomes misplaced faith.
-- Moksha

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