The evil men did not succeed. After once retrieving the plates from a secret place, Joseph was attacked by three men but fought his way out, his mother Lucy Mack Smith recorded in her book, "History of Joseph Smith."
"As he was jumping over a log, a man sprang up from behind and gave him a heavy blow with a gun," his mother wrote. "Joseph turned around and knocked him to the ground, and then ran at the top of his speed. About half a mile further, he was attacked again in precisely the same way. He soon brought this one down also and ran on again, but before he got home, he was accosted the third time with a severe stroke with a gun.
"Joseph struck this third and final attacker with such force that he dislocated his own thumb. He continued running, 'being closely pursued until he came near his father’s house,' at which time his assailants, 'for fear of being detected,' broke off the chase. Reaching a fence corner, he 'threw himself down … to recover his breath,' then rose and continued running until he reached the house."
I wonder who Lucy’s source was... All three attackers had guns, but none of them attempted to shoot Joseph... And they ran off, just before being seen...
“When we are confronted with evidence that challenges our deeply held beliefs we are more likely to reframe the evidence than we are to alter our beliefs. We simply invent new reasons, new justifications, new explanations. Sometimes we ignore the evidence altogether.” (Mathew Syed 'Black Box Thinking')
I think they managed (successfully in some respects, considering how the religion eventually flourished) to make Joe into a mythological figure, in the way we now think of Marvel superheroes and such. Certainly Thor could carry heavy plates and do all that. Difference is that the people who share stories and appreciation of Thor and Iron Man and Wonder Woman know that they’re all fictional.
The evil men did not succeed. After once retrieving the plates from a secret place, Joseph was attacked by three men but fought his way out, his mother Lucy Mack Smith recorded in her book, "History of Joseph Smith."
"As he was jumping over a log, a man sprang up from behind and gave him a heavy blow with a gun," his mother wrote. "Joseph turned around and knocked him to the ground, and then ran at the top of his speed. About half a mile further, he was attacked again in precisely the same way. He soon brought this one down also and ran on again, but before he got home, he was accosted the third time with a severe stroke with a gun.
"Joseph struck this third and final attacker with such force that he dislocated his own thumb. He continued running, 'being closely pursued until he came near his father’s house,' at which time his assailants, 'for fear of being detected,' broke off the chase. Reaching a fence corner, he 'threw himself down … to recover his breath,' then rose and continued running until he reached the house."
I wonder who Lucy’s source was... All three attackers had guns, but none of them attempted to shoot Joseph... And they ran off, just before being seen...
Goldilocks and Three Bears, Three Billy Goats Gruff, Three Musketeers, Rumpelstiltskin spins thrice for the heroine and she tries to guess his name three times over three days, The Love of Three Oranges, the Silent Princess who breaks the pitcher three times and when found she tries to speak three times, the Three Pigs,.... and the list goes on.
"Omne Trium Perfectum" ...everything that comes in three is perfect.
And fairy tales often has a triad of events or characters. Look for the pattern.
And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love...you make. PMcC
I wonder who Lucy’s source was... All three attackers had guns, but none of them attempted to shoot Joseph... And they ran off, just before being seen...
Some of the easiest defenses would be that she doesn't remember the story accurately as told her from Joseph, or that Joseph embellished the story to make it sound better, or a combination of the two. This story has little to no impact on whether I believe Joseph had real ancient plates. It's other things like his money digging, Archaeology, linguistics, DNA, Joseph's character, other claims made by Joseph, witnesses, Text fitting the ancient world or Joseph's world, etc that inform me whether his claims are likely true or false.
And fairy tales often has a triad of events or characters. Look for the pattern.
i always thought it was the same three attackers who sequentially went after Hiram Abiff; who refused to divulge the secrets of masonry.
Lou Midgley 08/20/2020: "...meat wad," and "cockroach" are pithy descriptions of human beings used by gemli? They were not fashioned by Professor Peterson.
LM 11/23/2018: one can explain away the soul of human beings...as...a Meat Unit, to use Professor Peterson's clever derogatory description of gemli's ideology.
As I read the full article I came away thinking that Joseph and Co. went to a LOT of effort to protect those plates. To the point of leaving the area they were in to get away from the folks that were trying to grab them. If Joseph and Co. were play acting during this whole time, they were putting on a dang good show.
I would assume that those who read this article will/have read the whole thing and not the small section taken out of context. Including the link found in the article:
by the way, if Joseph was attacked three times and the men that attacked him weren't necessarily out to kill him...wouldn't they be more likely to try and wallop him with their weapons rather than fire them at him with the intent to kill, etc.?
Joseph Smith ...... SUPERHERO!!!!!! He can out wrestle and out run anyone. He does this without breaking a sweat and he is king among the ladies.
"Religion is about providing human community in the guise of solving problems that don’t exist or failing to solve problems that do and seeking to reconcile these contradictions and conceal the failures in bogus explanations otherwise known as theology." - Kishkumen
-