The Whitney Store
(Photo by Jon Ridinger
from Wikipedia)

[This is the fifth post in a series. To read the series from the beginning, go to A Faithful Joseph.]

Before we discuss the details of the women and men who interacted with Joseph on the subject of marriage, let us remember that Joseph Smith primarily taught his followers doctrines of faith, repentance, and baptism that are familiar throughout the Christian world.

Of those doctrines the rest of Christianity find controversial, the vast majority are teachings Mormons cherish: mankind’s relationship to God, the responsibility of individuals to their children, and our duty to our ancestors. We cherish the power the marriage bond offers us in Mormon theology.

The crucible that gave birth to modern Mormon marriage practices, however, is the mis-understood, never-talked about *thing* that causes so many to question the simple faith they had as children, converts, or young missionaries. But Joseph’s struggle has a pattern to it that most of us have failed to see. Before I started telling you the stories of these women, I wanted to explain my conceptual framework for understanding these ladies and the milieu in which the concepts associated with modern Mormon marriage emerged.

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Book review: Letters to a Young Mormon, by Adam S. Miller, $8.96 at Amazon.

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” – Henry David Thoreau

What should you expect from a book that has less than 100 pages, and whose dimensions seem to be designed for a small child’s hands?  Perhaps a children’s story about farm animals that talk, or visiting one’s grandparents.  This book is deceptive in this way.  Although the cover design and size are very diminutive, there are so many great treasures to be found therein.

Adam Miller is a professor of philosophy, who has previously written some very brilliant stuff on Mormonism. You can see some of his LDS philosophy work as free pdfs at saltpress.org.

This book is also full of philosophy. But it is taken in an entirely different direction than his other books.  We live in a world of information. Every teenager has an IPhone and gets updates on the world every few seconds via texting, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  We do not live in the LDS world I grew up in, where the sanitized history and teachings were not questioned, or if they were questioned, average Mormons did not have access to those questions and so lived our lives in blissful ignorance.  But today’s kids live in a world of change, where media swirls around them 24/7.  Our kids need a new method and philosophy that can teach them how to cope with the world, while still keeping their feet and testimonies firmly planted in gospel soil.

In a series of short letters, Adam writes on various topics the things that he feels will affect them most. He uses innovative concepts to teach his topics, yet is frank and to the point.  Tthe themes and story, while related, are often related in ways we usually do not hear in Church or on Internet web sites. Adam sets things in a very unique setting. 

He writes about: Agency, Work, Sin, Faith, Scripture, Prayer, History, Science, Hunger, Sex, Temples, and Eternal Life. Each topic is taken in turn, each with unexpected twists and turns that will surely satisfy a young person’s search for truth. He treats them as adults, without speaking down to them. He is faithful in truth-telling, and explains things in ways that can only increase faith and testimony.

He explains, for example, that the gospel gives us a road map (baptism, seminary, mission, temple marriage, etc), but our feet still must travel the rough road of experience. The road map tells us we must pray and read our scriptures, but we must still learn how to really communicate with God and learn about him through our own efforts over years of praying and studying. Adam explains that we all sin (and ostensbly become miserable) because we seek to write our own life story, rather than letting God write it for us.

If ever a book was written to help youth regain or find a testimony, this one is it.  It does not tell them where one’s testimony is hiding.  It does explain how one plants and develops a strong testimony by living the precepts of God in the right soil, in the right way, for the right purpose.  It places the right kind of philosophy behind our testimonies. While discussing difficult topics, wherein the world’s philosophy is so very distinct from the LDS view, we learn how to establish a strong foundation on some very important and key principles that will help us, and especially our youth, learn how to establish a foundation of faith and to excel in that belief.

My advice?  Every parent, teen, bishop and stake president should own a copy of this book. Remember the book everyone wished was given them before they had teens or were called as bishop?  For parents and leaders, Letters to a Young Mormon is that book. The answers are concise, and direct. The treasures in Adam’s book do not just hack at branches (hoping youth will somehow figure it out), but directly strike root with each swing. Because of its brevity, it is a great book to read with your youth (I wish I had it when my kids were teens). I know I will share it with my grandchildren, and with those adults who struggle with life’s journey.

 You can read the book excerpt from chapter 3 Sin at FairMormon: http://blog.fairmormon.org/2014/01/16/exclusive-book-excerpt-letters-to-a-young-mormon-chapter-3/

Any reasonable reading of the scriptures as a whole makes it clear that the attitude of the prophets toward excessive taxation is one of hostility.

In 1 Samuel 8, we see that the Lord condemns even a 10 percent level of tax. In Mosiah 11:3, we see that the evil King Noah imposed a hateful 20 percent tax. And we read that a 50 percent tax rate imposed by the Lamanites turned the people into slaves (see Mosiah 19:15). In Matthew 17:24-27, we see that Jesus says that the people who don’t pay taxes are “free” and that tax collectors impose taxes on strangers rather than their own children. As I show in this post, King Benjamin, who does not impose taxes, is held up as a righteous king in direct contrast to evil King Noah, who imposes a 20 percent tax. In addition, as I point out in this post, excessive taxes encourages breaking the commandments against theft and against coveting.

In short, any fair read of the scriptures shows that excessive taxation is unjust. This is not disputable.

But what many people do not consider is that excessive taxation is also futile. The truly rich will always find ways to avoid paying taxes, and the middle class will end up bearing the burden.

Let’s look at the most recent example, Puerto Rico.

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Interesting history lesson by Ludwig Von Mises that shows early capitalism in Europe saved people from starving to death.

It states that in the early 18th century, prior to the industrial age, there were only about 6 million people in Europe. 1-2 million were outcasts that did not fit into the feudal system (no room at the inn?), and so wandered in an abject state of poverty.  The feudal system was limited in what it could do, and was focused on benefitting on a small group at the top. Then, some people began small cottage industries.  Instead of manufacturing luxury items for the rich, they made simple things for the common person.  Now, where there once were 2 million people, 1/3 of the population of England starving to death, there are 53 million people with a safety net.  This means that many children who would have died of starvation, survived and thrived because of capitalism. Continue reading →

In the back and forth between the more progressive and the somewhat conservative blogs and voices in the online Mormon blog universe (aka bloggernacle), one common complaint is that the conservatives accuse the progressives of apostasy (not following the prophets, ignoring the scriptures, mingling the gospel with false philosophies) and the progressives accuse the conservatives of bigotry (racism, misogyny, sexiism, homophobia).

This is true. In my own limited, subjective experience, the accusations of apostasy tend to be implied whereas the accusations of bigotry are more explicit – and accusations of apostasy tend to be more general (“Failing to support the Proclamation on the Family is apostasy”), whereas accusations of bigotry call people out by name (“John Doe is a racist for failing to support immigration reform”), but I could be wrong in my impressions here, and my argument doesn’t hang on these observations.

However, I don’t think accusations of bigotry and apostasy are equal opposites.  In fact, I think the accusations of bigotry are objectively worse because they can destroy lives, whereas accusations of apostasy are at best (outside of certain rarefied instances) annoyances.

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