"Joseph was no hair-shirt prophet. He believed in the good life, with moderate self-indulgence in food and drink, occasional sport, and good entertainment. And that he succeeded in enjoying himself to the hilt detracted not at all from the semi-deification with which his own people enshrouded him. Any protests of impropriety dissolved before his personal charm. "Man is that he might have joy" had been one of his first significant pronouncements in the Book of Mormon, and from that belief he had never wavered. He was gregarious, expansive, and genuinely fond of people. And it is no accident that his theology in the end discarded all traces of Calvinism and became an ingenuous blend of supernaturalism and materialism, which promised in heaven a continuation of all earthly pleasures—work, wealth, sex, and power."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Founders of religionsMayors from the United StatesFreemasonsLatter Day Saint leadersUnited States presidential candidates, 1844
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History; The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 294-95
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith%2C_Jr.
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Joseph Smith, Jr.
Joseph Smith, Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844) was the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mormonism, and the Latter Day Saint movement.
48 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Joseph Smith, Jr. →
Related Quotes
"Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none."
"Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to …"
"The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, t…"
"Truth is "Mormonism." God is the author of it."
"We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a litt…"
"A fanciful and flowery and heated imagination beware of; because the things of God are of deep import; and time, and …"
"A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure in…"
"Salvation cannot come without revelation; it is in vain for anyone to minister without it. No man is a minister of Je…"
"If you do not accuse each other, God will not accuse you. If you have no accuser you will enter heaven, and if you wi…"
"I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religi…"