Joseph Smith
Nov. 21st, 2025 05:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brenainnAnd now, time for something that I’ve written. My experiences with Carl Jung have led me to reconsider another spiritual figure, this time one from my own past. This would be Joseph Smith. I do believe he was a genuine prophet. That began not long after some young missionaries showed up at my door in 2010. I had been Catholic for a few years, and was mostly (though not entirely) happy with it. When these young men came knocking, I really had no interest in leaving the Church. Still, they were pleasant young men and, since I like reading, I did accept their offer of a copy of the Book of Mormon. As I began reading it, I didn’t get a burning in the bosom or whatnot. I did find the narrative mildly interesting.
After about a week or so, though, as I was sitting on my porch, I suddenly had a sort of vision (it was kind of transparent, but the images were discernible) of Nephi and his family on a ship bound for the Americas. At least, I assume it was showing me this. The vision was of a scene where I could see a tall man standing at the bow, surrounded by his family. There were no sounds or anything, just the images (I’m not even sure they were moving in this vision). It lasted only a few moments but after that, I was convinced of Joseph Smith’s prophethood. I actually called up those missionaries and they literally came running over, because I told them I wanted to be baptized in their church. I later found out that they had gotten a number of calls that day from others they’d been visiting, telling them to stop coming by or canceling appointments. I’m guessing my phone call was a welcome change.
Anyway, they met with me for a couple of weeks, getting the six lessons out of the way, and then I was baptized into the LDS tradition. But the reality of life in a branch (my area didn’t have enough Mormons for a full ward) was rather different from what I might have expected (I guess lots of the Holy Ghost?). In fact, the local members, while mostly pleasant, were about as exciting as one of those bloodless Protestant worship services that JMG has mentioned. I also saw some uncharitable stuff that I won’t go into, and was eventually the recipient of some unkindness. So, I stopped attending and eventually resigned my membership. I returned to the practice of Catholicism, but I’ve never quite been able to put to rest my belief in Joseph Smith himself.
I know, he’s a controversial figure. There are some unsavory aspects of his history. Nonetheless, as I’ve gotten more familiar with the concept of the “holy scoundrel,” I’ve been thinking more and more about taking up some kind of veneration of Joseph Smith, and see where it goes. At this point, I’m such an oddball polytheistic heterodox cultural Catholic something or other, that it doesn’t really bother me to make a go of it. I am not, to be clear, interested in rejoining the LDS church or any of the other offshoots. This is, to borrow a common Evangelical phrase (but in a way that would no doubt horrify them!), an effort to form a personal relationship with the Prophet Joseph Smith, and see what spiritual benefits come from that.
After about a week or so, though, as I was sitting on my porch, I suddenly had a sort of vision (it was kind of transparent, but the images were discernible) of Nephi and his family on a ship bound for the Americas. At least, I assume it was showing me this. The vision was of a scene where I could see a tall man standing at the bow, surrounded by his family. There were no sounds or anything, just the images (I’m not even sure they were moving in this vision). It lasted only a few moments but after that, I was convinced of Joseph Smith’s prophethood. I actually called up those missionaries and they literally came running over, because I told them I wanted to be baptized in their church. I later found out that they had gotten a number of calls that day from others they’d been visiting, telling them to stop coming by or canceling appointments. I’m guessing my phone call was a welcome change.
Anyway, they met with me for a couple of weeks, getting the six lessons out of the way, and then I was baptized into the LDS tradition. But the reality of life in a branch (my area didn’t have enough Mormons for a full ward) was rather different from what I might have expected (I guess lots of the Holy Ghost?). In fact, the local members, while mostly pleasant, were about as exciting as one of those bloodless Protestant worship services that JMG has mentioned. I also saw some uncharitable stuff that I won’t go into, and was eventually the recipient of some unkindness. So, I stopped attending and eventually resigned my membership. I returned to the practice of Catholicism, but I’ve never quite been able to put to rest my belief in Joseph Smith himself.
I know, he’s a controversial figure. There are some unsavory aspects of his history. Nonetheless, as I’ve gotten more familiar with the concept of the “holy scoundrel,” I’ve been thinking more and more about taking up some kind of veneration of Joseph Smith, and see where it goes. At this point, I’m such an oddball polytheistic heterodox cultural Catholic something or other, that it doesn’t really bother me to make a go of it. I am not, to be clear, interested in rejoining the LDS church or any of the other offshoots. This is, to borrow a common Evangelical phrase (but in a way that would no doubt horrify them!), an effort to form a personal relationship with the Prophet Joseph Smith, and see what spiritual benefits come from that.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}