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Verfasser: Mark
Datum: Montag, den 26. Februar 2001, um 13:31 Uhr
Betrifft: Salamander Brief

Nur mal eine kurze Randnotiz zum Salamander Brief:

wie Sven richtig sagt, wurde dieser von der Kirche der Öffentlichkeit vorgestellt - trotz seines Inhalts, welcher ja nun nicht gerade das "glorifizierte" Bild Joseph Smiths stützt, wie es den Missionarslektionen zugrundeliegt. Warum? Weil es nicht die Aufgabe der Missionare ist, jeden Untersucher mit jeder Theorie über das Leben oder die Verfehlungen des Propheten der Wiederherstellung bekanntzumachen! Daraus zu schließen, daß die Kirche sich deshalb grundsätzlich den Tatsachen verschließt ist falsch! Dies ist ein wunderbares Beispiel. Eigentlich hätte doch der Salamander Brief dann im "First Presidency Vault" verschwinden müssen! Nein! In einer Botschaft von der Ersten Präsidentschaft wurde an prominenter Stelle im Ensign von September 1985 über diese Funde - wenn auch mit der nötigen und auch (angesichts der Tatsache, daß sich der Brief später als Fälschung von Mark Hofmann herausstellte) berechtigten Vorsicht - durch Gordon B. Hinckley berichtet! Diese Botschaft entstammt zudem einer Kirchlichen Satelitenübertragung für Junge Erwachsene! Hier ein Auszug aus dieser Botschaft:

>I was once a university student, and along with other things, I studied some philosophy, some anthropology, some history. I had been reared in a good Latter-day Saint home, imbued with the faith of my good father and mother. But questions stirred in my mind. It was a gloomy period in the history of the world, a time of dark cynicism, not only over economic matters but over values in general. We were in the midst of the worst economic depression in modern history. The rate of unemployment in Utah was more than 30 percent at the time I was graduated. The prospects for employment were bleak indeed. And the prospects for marriage were seriously clouded by the lack of opportunity to earn a living. It was easy to become sour, to look upon the world with a sense of gloom, to doubt one’s faith in the Church and in religious matters generally.

>I was called as a missionary to the British Isles. That represented a very serious financial sacrifice on the part of my father, but he made the sacrifice with willingness and love. That mission became a marvelous experience, one for which I shall be eternally grateful, and one which set some anchors and guideposts in my life. Among other things that I gained during that mission was a solid and enduring testimony of the divine origin of the Book of Mormon and of the divine calling of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

>I returned home and was married in the Salt Lake Temple forty-eight years ago. My income was meager, but we were immensely and wonderfully happy. We were poor by today’s standards, but we were as happy as if we owned the whole world.

>I have now climbed the mountain high enough to be able to look down not only at my own life, but at the lives of hundreds of friends reaching back into childhood. Every one of us has had to  make thousands of decisions along the way. I have noted that those who have kept the faith and who have made their decisions by the standards of the gospel have almost without exception lived happy and productive lives. Most of us have not become wealthy. But there have been other compensations sweet and wonderful. On the other hand, I have observed those who have not kept the faith and have seen in their lives things I am confident even they wish they had avoided.

>We live at a time when old beliefs and old standards are being challenged. The Church of which we are members is being attacked on many sides. A few dissidents, apostates, and excommunicants have marshaled their resources in an effort to belittle and demean this work—its history, its doctrine, its practices. Some have stooped to falsehood, misrepresentation, and mockery. A few weak ones have been taken in by their sophistry.

>There is another group presently receiving wide publicity across the nation. They are poking into all the crevices of our history, ferreting out little things of small import and magnifying them into great issues of public discussion, working the media in an effort to give credibility to their efforts.

>None of this is new, of course. From the day that Joseph Smith walked out of the grove in the year 1820, critics and enemies—generation after generation of them—have worked and reworked the same old materials. They have minutely explored the environment in which Joseph Smith lived in an effort to rationalize—some on the basis of folk magic and the occult—the remarkable things which he did. Early in this fishing expedition, one of them gathered affidavits from neighbors and associates in an effort to undermine the character of Joseph Smith. This old bale of straw has been dished up again and again as if it were something new. They have raked over every available word that he spoke or wrote, and they then in turn have written long tomes and delivered long lectures trying to explain the mystery of his character and his work.

>There have been cycles of this during the past 165 years. They have ebbed and flowed. Now we are in another peak era, which also will pass.

>As most of you know, recently there have been great stirrings over two old letters. One was purportedly written in 1825 by Joseph Smith to Josiah Stowell. If it is genuine, it is the oldest known product of Joseph Smith’s handwriting. It concerns the employment of Joseph by Mr. Stowell, who was engaged in a mining operation looking for old coins and precious metals. The other carries the date of October 23, 1830, and was purportedly written by Martin Harris to W. W. Phelps.

>I acquired for the Church both of these letters, the first by purchase. The second was given to the Church by its generous owner. I am, of course, familiar with both letters, having held them in my hands and having read them in their original form. It was I, also, who made the decision to make them public. Copies were issued to the media, and both have received wide publicity.

>I knew there would be a great fuss. Scholars have pored over them, discussed them, written about them, differed in their opinions, and even argued about them.

>I am glad we have them. They are interesting documents of whose authenticity we are not certain and may never be. However, assuming that they are authentic, they are valuable writings of the period out of which they have come. But they have no real relevancy to the question of the authenticity of the Church or of the divine origin of the Book of Mormon.

>Much has been said about the Martin Harris/ W. W. Phelps letter. I ask: Shall two men, their character, their faith, their lives, the testimonies to which they gave voice to the end of their days, be judged by a few words on a sheet of paper that may or may not have been written by the one and received by the other?

>If you have been troubled in any way by press reports concerning this letter, I ask only that you look closer at the man who presumably wrote it and at the man who presumably received it Martin Harris and W. W. Phelps.

>The letter is dated subsequent to the declaration of the Testimony of the Three Witnesses, one of whom was Martin Harris. In language unequivocal and certain he and his associates had declared to the world: “Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come: That we, through the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, … And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true. … And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the
plates, and the engravings thereon.”

>Would Martin Harris have mortgaged his farm, eventually losing it, to pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon if he had thought of that book as a fraud? He endured ridicule, persecution, and poverty. He lived to the age of ninety-two and died in full faith, voicing his testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon to the end of his life.

>What about W. W. Phelps? Five years subsequent to the date of the letter, he wrote: “Now, notwithstanding my body was not baptized into this Church till Thursday, the 10th of June 1831, yet my heart was there from the time I became acquainted with the Book of Mormon; and my hope, steadfast like an anchor, and my faith increased like the grass after a refreshing shower, when I for the first time, held a conversation with our beloved Brother Joseph whom I was willing to acknowledge as the prophet of the Lord, and to whom, and to whose godly account of himself and the work he was engaged in, I owe my first determination to quit the folly of my way, and the fancy and fame of this world, and seek the Lord and His righteousness.” (Latter-day Saints Messenger and Advocate, vol. 1, no. 7, letter no. 6, Feb. 26, 1835.)

>This is the same man who wrote that majestic and marvelous hymn of tribute to the Prophet Joseph—“Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah! Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer. Blessed to open the last dispensation, Kings shall extol him, and nations revere.” (Hymns, no. 147.)

>He had no doubt concerning the divine origin of the Book of Mormon or the divine calling of him who was the instrument in the hands of the Almighty in bringing it forth. William W. Phelps died as a high priest in Salt Lake City in full faith.

>Marvelous and enduring love and loyalty of the kind shown by these two men do not come from an experience with a “salamander” as we generally interpret that word.

>Would these two men have so endured, so declared their testimonies, and so lived out their lives in faith had there been any doubt about the way in which the Book of Mormon plates were received from the hands of Moroni and translated by the gift and power of God?

>As I have already mentioned, from the beginning of this work there has been opposition. There have been apostates. There have been scholars, some with balance and others with an axe to grind, who have raked over every bit of evidence available concerning Joseph Smith, the prophet of this dispensation. I plead with you, do not let yourselves be numbered among the critics, among the dissidents, among the apostates. That does not mean that you cannot read widely. As a Church, we encourage gospel scholarship and the search to understand all truth. Fundamental to our theology is belief in individual freedom of inquiry, thought, and expression. Constructive discussion is a privilege of every Latter-day Saint.<

Dazu kann ich nur sagen: AMEN!

Viele Grüße,

Mark.
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