Deceit
We had an interesting discussion this week about Joseph Smith. We have been trying to keep up with the weekly Sunday School lesson and read the assignment before class on Sunday. We have found that we may be head of some. We covered week 4 yesterday.
We found that every class talked about a different point. Some focused on Joseph getting the plates, some focused on losing the 116 pages, but we talked about the following around the table. We know that during the time Joseph was being instructed by Moroni and the time that he was received the plates, he was was constantly ridiculed. Then when he received the plates, harassment really picked up. Why do you think they wanted those plates? For the gold? More than likely.
Anyway, I was taken back by the fact that the Lord referred to Martin Harris as a wicked man. Was he scheming? Maybe Martin was looking at the plates in a different fashion. He gave Joseph and Emma $50 to get out of town. Then he kept tabs on them. $50 was a lot of money in those days. When he checked on Joseph, he asked to see what he was translating. Did he want the plates? Sure, but he got a copy of the characters and the translation. Martin went to get it validated.
Let's think about that. Martin was a business man, if he could authenticate that these plates were real, the translation was real, and then convince Joseph to put them on display, he was in for a lot of cold hard cash. Maybe Martin's heart was not in it for the right reasons.
We see that he took the manuscript around June 1828, Section 3. Joseph lost his translation powers and was not given them back until late summer 1828, section 10. However, in section 5, March 1829, Martin is now inquiring as to his status with the Lord. It took him almost a year of remorse and repentance before he comes back to the Joseph asking for true forgiveness. Still the Lord refers to him as wicked.
Martin, was one of three witnesses. He did a complete 180 degree turn around. Were his intentions correct in the beginning? Maybe not. Was he able to change? Yes. How many of us are doing things for the wrong reasons? Can we change? Yes. Was Martin deceived? More than likely. Don't let the same thing happen to you. He battled with it all of his life.
We found that every class talked about a different point. Some focused on Joseph getting the plates, some focused on losing the 116 pages, but we talked about the following around the table. We know that during the time Joseph was being instructed by Moroni and the time that he was received the plates, he was was constantly ridiculed. Then when he received the plates, harassment really picked up. Why do you think they wanted those plates? For the gold? More than likely.
Anyway, I was taken back by the fact that the Lord referred to Martin Harris as a wicked man. Was he scheming? Maybe Martin was looking at the plates in a different fashion. He gave Joseph and Emma $50 to get out of town. Then he kept tabs on them. $50 was a lot of money in those days. When he checked on Joseph, he asked to see what he was translating. Did he want the plates? Sure, but he got a copy of the characters and the translation. Martin went to get it validated.
Let's think about that. Martin was a business man, if he could authenticate that these plates were real, the translation was real, and then convince Joseph to put them on display, he was in for a lot of cold hard cash. Maybe Martin's heart was not in it for the right reasons.
We see that he took the manuscript around June 1828, Section 3. Joseph lost his translation powers and was not given them back until late summer 1828, section 10. However, in section 5, March 1829, Martin is now inquiring as to his status with the Lord. It took him almost a year of remorse and repentance before he comes back to the Joseph asking for true forgiveness. Still the Lord refers to him as wicked.
Martin, was one of three witnesses. He did a complete 180 degree turn around. Were his intentions correct in the beginning? Maybe not. Was he able to change? Yes. How many of us are doing things for the wrong reasons? Can we change? Yes. Was Martin deceived? More than likely. Don't let the same thing happen to you. He battled with it all of his life.
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