The Life Of Joseph Smith - A Star For Every Saint
Christ. The published became the Book of Mormon, one of the sacred scriptures for Mormons today.
Though most of the leaders of established churches were shocked or angry at the Book of Mormon, the people of Western New York were fascinated with it. The book was written in the style of the King James version of the Bible and Judeo-Christian and American traditions were included in it. Although it is not known how much Joseph knew of Kabbalah (Jewish esoteric tradition) and other ancient paths of religion (including Hinduism), the Book of Mormon has many connections with them (such as multiple heavens and Gods).
Several days after the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830, Joseph organized his first congregation for the Mormon church. A handful of people were baptized in Lake Seneca that day, including his brothers and parents. Encouraged by the faithful members he had obtained already, Joseph and Emma traveled to the Susquehanna Valley, where he spread the Book of Mormon and gained more followers. Emma’s parents were not convinced and refused to join. Pressed by the Presbyterian minister not to convert, they left soon after. It would be the last time Emma saw her parents.
Through 1830, many people converted. Joseph didn’t preach fire and brimstone like most religious figures of the time. Instead of scaring people into joining, he offered visions of kingdoms in heaven they could live in, even if they led imperfect lives. Regular sinners, such as blasphemers and adulterers, would not live in the same luxurious heaven as the saints (what Mormons refer to themselves as) but they would be comfortable enough in a lower heaven. He taught that God himself was once man ("God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted Man, and sits enthroned in yonder heaven”), followers of Mormonism could eventually become God-like, and when they died they would become master or mistress of their own star.
While Joseph collected more and more followers, his own wife hadn’t converted. She did not say why she but refused to join the church for six months. Under considerable pressure from her husband, she became Mormon. Shortly after in 1831, a preacher converted his entire congregation. The city in which the congregation lived, Kirtland, Ohio, quickly became the biggest Mormon community. Joseph moved there and took over power. The city quickly changed from being communistic to free enterprise and every member paid one-tenth of their income as a tithe. This practice is still present in the church today.
Meanwhile, the non-Mormon community (referred to by Mormons as gentiles) thought the Mormons strange and distant. Smith was tarred and feathered when rumors flew that he made advances on a seventeen year old girl, and decided to move his city away from the gentiles. Only then could they maintain an ideal society, called Zion. Wherever the settlement tried to move, [next page]