KarltheMD

COVID changed my worldview permanently. Nearly six years after COVID began, not one world leader has seriously examined what the vaccines did to the people they harmed. Not one investigation. Not one parliamentary inquiry with genuine teeth. Not one head of state who has stood at a podium and said, we owe the injured an honest accounting and we are going to provide it. The silence is universal. And it is coordinated in a way that individual negligence cannot explain. This is the observation that matters most to me, more than any document, more than any leaked communication, more than any specific piece of evidence. Because the behaviour of every major government simultaneously tells you something that the individual pieces cannot tell you alone. Genuine public health emergencies produce genuine review. What worked. What did not. Who was harmed and how. That is what accountable institutions do. What we have instead is a wall. And on the other side of that wall, the vaccine injured, still without diagnostic codes, still without compensation, still without the basic acknowledgment that what happened to them was real. While Long COVID is promoted heavily by the same governments and the same media that will not ask a single honest question about the injections. The parallel presentations. The overlapping symptoms. The convenient framing that points everywhere except at the product. The universal silence of world leaders on vaccine injury is not the behaviour of people who have nothing to hide. It is the behaviour of people who have collectively decided that the cost of honesty exceeds the cost of continued silence. That decision is itself the answer.

I understand the academic world. I have a BS in Zoology, and minors in history, English and Biochemistry. I also have an MD and a Board Certified Anesthesiologist. Let’s see if you can understand my position. The defenders of the Joseph Smith was a polygamist narrative, like you, site the academic “Church Historians” that currently support the Joseph was a polygamist narrative. My point, listen carefully, is that when credentialed historians begin to make the very easy case that Joseph wasn’t a polygamist, what are you going to do at that point? You can say that hasn’t happened yet, but it will. Personally, I don’t care what the credentialed historian class has to say about it. I have published in peer review journals. I understand the process. I’m totally capable of coming to my own conclusions without the approval of history academics. Again, can you prove that Joseph was a polygamist without an appeal to authority or sighting testimonials that came after Joseph’s death? You cannot. Nobody can. I simply believe Joseph and Emma. I’m moving on. I’ll let you have the last snarky, discombobulated response.

@KarltheMD @John_Stone_ Just an FYI in the academic world, someone only having a masters instead of a PhD is a GIGANTIC nevertheless. But it proved my point, and that is that you actually don’t know who the experts are because you don’t care because truth doesn’t matter to you your feelings do.

As a new Orthodox Christian who was born and raised in a devout LDS household, there is a stark difference between Mormonism and Orthodox Christianity that has been weighing on my mind heavily lately. The difference is how Mormonism and Orthodox Christianity prioritize the truth versus the preservation of mortal life. I am reminded of the Christian student at Columbine High School who, seconds before she was shot, was asked: “Do you believe in God?” Her truthful “yes” answer resulted in her being shot. Having grown up in a devout LDS family, my sense is that most Mormons would justify, excuse, or rationalize away a dishonest “no” answer to that question by arguing that such dishonesty would have been justified to avoid physical harm and/or loss of life. By contrast, as an Orthodox Christian, I understand there has been 2,000 years of history of honest Christian martyrs refusing to deny Christ at the cost of their lives. The lesson there is that the truth is more important than the preservation of mortal life. Orthodox Christians know that death is an illusion. Thanks to Christ, there is no death. So, we cannot feel justified in lying to avoid the illusion of death. Truth must prevail, at all costs, including the cost of our own mortal lives. And Christ is the Truth. This major difference in how Mormonism and Orthodox Christianity respectively prioritize truth versus the preservation of mortal life has major implications. When Mormon apologists attempt to justify Joseph Smith lying to his wife and his followers by dishonestly denying his secret practice of polygamy, arguing that honesty about his secret polygamy would have cost him his life—i.e., prioritizing the preservation of his mortal life above his speaking the truth—Orthodox Christians are understandably unconvinced. They know about the countless Christian martyrs who, for 2,000 years, prioritized speaking the truth above the preservation of their mortal lives.

You are correct. Don Bradley has a masters degree in history from Utah State, not a Phd. Nevertheless, his work is primarily what the Church uses in the Gospel Topic essays on polygamy. I think it is significant that he does not support scriptural justification for polygamy, especially in Jacob. I only care what Joseph said about polygamy. Not what someone said he said or did after he was dead. You can’t prove Joseph practiced polygamy. Go ahead. Prove it. Nobody can. Quoting “Church historians” is not proof.

@KarltheMD @John_Stone_ Oh really… What is Don Bradley‘s PhD in and what university is it from? He doesn’t actually have one and that’s the reason why you won’t be able to answer that question. Also Don Bradley believes Joseph Smith practiced polygamy so why are you using him as an example?

When the Church eventually changes the name of BYU, I vote for The University of Joseph.

@Manhattva @NormieUtah Buying Twitter changed everything.

If you hate Elon Musk, and don’t recognize that he is single-handedly, changing the trajectory of humanity, Then I can’t help but consider you to be a complete fool. The world is a massively better place because he is in it.

Have you noticed how many “conspiracy theories” come true? To get up to speed, I would recommend the new peer review “Journal of Mormon Polygamy”. Live by the academic sword, die by the academic sword. The appeal to authority strategy in defense of Joseph’s polygamy narrative is backfiring.

@KarltheMD @John_Stone_ That’s quite the conspiracy theory. Was Hyrum lying too?

Oh yes…..good O’l Bother Arrington! What a weird dude. Have you read any of his 70 volumes of his personal diaries? He was the GOAT as far slandering Joseph. He had many spawn. The most notable was “Rough Stone Rolling”s Richard Bushman. Finally, the academic momentum is moving toward the truth. Joseph never practiced nor preached polygamy. Polygamy, spiritual wives and all sorts of other bazaar relationships were started by Brother Brigham and others surrounding Joseph during his lifetime. After Joseph and Hyrum were murdered, Brigham and others excused their practices by saying Joseph taught polygamy in secret to them. There is zero proof that Joseph practiced or preached polygamy. Zero. Hearsay is not proof. Section 132 provenance is extremely problematic.

When the leaders of a church claim it’s okay that their founding prophet lied about being an adulterer, that inevitably has downhill consequences. In the case of the LDS, it’s led to an entire church who believes that lying can be prudent, and justifiable. Sad.

“Journal of Mormon Polygamy” is an academic journal. Don Bradley PhD is on the editorial board. He was the historian that Brain Hales hired to help publish Brain’s work on Mormon Polygamy that is currently found on the Church website. BTW, Doctor Bradley just opined that there is no “out clause” for polygamy anywhere in the scriptures. Including Jacob. So you have some work to do understanding what’s going on.

@KarltheMD @John_Stone_ Well you clearly don’t understand the word if you think people running and publishing that garbage can journal are accredited PhDs…. self published on Amazon, but that’s not considered academic.

Because the Church has become everything that President Benson warned about. It’s basically the Progressive philosophies of Men mingled with Restoration scripturs. No matter. Brother Joseph purposely, under the direction of a loving Heavenly Father, established a Disseminated Priesthood. Lay leadership at the Ward level. All the members are given the Gift of the Holy Ghost. This structure serves as a check and balance against wayward policies and doctrines from Salt Lake. President Benson explicitly said the Church is not going to save us. The Priesthood holders have the responsibility to do so.

Why has Church culture created SO MUCH TENSION? When we all know we’re all going to a heavenly home. #EternalPerspective

@DiasporanVoice1 @John_Stone_ Check out the new peer review “Journal of Mormon Polygamy”. Live by the academic sword, die by the academic sword.

@KarltheMD @John_Stone_ And I suppose you think it was Brigham who promulgated the doctrine? I tell you, it was not Brigham whom credible rumors followed from Upstate New York to Hancock County Illinois; and it was not Brigham who kept the company of such likes John C. Bennett and William Smith.

@Gazelem3723 @John_Stone_ Live by the academic sword, die by the academic sword.

@KarltheMD @John_Stone_ The “academic moment”?!?!? There is not a single PhD historian… not one… LDS or non LDS that believes Joseph didn’t teach and practice polygamy… NOT ONE! Believe what you want but don’t ever use the word academic again because it doesn’t mean what you think it does.

@TheReeveOliver @John_Stone_ May I call your attention to the new peer review “Journal of Mormon Polygamy”. Live by the academic sword, die by the academic sword.

@KarltheMD @John_Stone_ This is a delusion. God bless you to find your way out of it.

@Gazelem3723 @John_Stone_ May I refer you to the new peer review “Journal of Mormon Polygamy”. I think you might have to change your perspective. Cheers!

@DiasporanVoice1 @John_Stone_ Prove that Joseph preached or practiced polygamy. You can’t. Saying Joseph told me secrets when he was alive, only after Joseph was dead, doesn’t count.

@RandomRation @John_Stone_ Joseph didn’t write Section 132.

@KarltheMD @John_Stone_ Nonsense. D&C 132 has a commandment for Joseph and Emma to accept the practice. Joseph is the source for that revelation.

@joshnaa2gez Hello Josh. I think best to refer you to the new, peer review “Journal of Mormon Polygamy”. All this was not on my radar until a beloved family member left because of issues surrounding this topic. I choose to stay and fight for the reputation of Joseph.

@KarltheMD I’ve heard theories before. Can you provide me any evidence? And what do you think it means about the current church?

First of all, this is shifting the argument. We’re going from “nobody ever told me about polygamy!“ To “nobody ever told me all the nitty-gritty details!” In my original post I was arguing against the former not the latter. Second, I actually do think that the church could have done a better job at being transparent throughout the decades regarding the details of Joseph Smith’s practice of polygamy. Had they done so they could’ve pointed out that the early latter-day Saints, who had newly been introduced to the concept of eternal sealings, were practicing what they thought of as spiritual adoption. After all, Joseph was not only sealed to teenagers and already married women, but he was also sealed to men. So are we claiming not only that he was an adulterer and pedophile, but also a homosexual? That is absurd. It is clear and historically accurate to recognize that many of Joseph Smith’s sealings were about being bound together as a body of Christ in the eternities, not always about earthly marriage and sexual relationships. And I will not claim that none of Joseph Smith’s plural marriages were consummated. There seems to be good evidence that some of them were, but that makes sense since the purpose of marriage is family. However, in many cases, especially with younger teenagers and already married women, there’s certainly is not clear evidence that anything sexual occurred. Indeed, the often cited case of fanny. Alger is particularly weak since the record shows that she never left her parental home after the brief sealing ceremony. And never dealt with Joseph Smith again. So yes, I do think the church should’ve cleared that all up before our enemies had a chance to skew the narrative.

My fellow Latter Day Saints, respectfully, it’s time to let this one go. This is an initiative whose time has passed. I know many people still deeply admire President Nelson and wish to carry on his teachings and wishes. I understand and respect that impulse. But policing people’s language in this matter, both inside the church and out, is not only rude but also intellectually disingenuous. We leaned into the term Mormon since the days of the prophet Joseph Smith. We owned it and took it on ourselves as our identity. We did that, nobody else. We call our belief system Mormonism. This is how language works. Not only that, it makes us distinct from other denominations. This was the whole point of the restoration. Joseph Smith restored the gospel away from the apostasy that had been happening for almost two thousand years. A distinct and defining term for this is appropriate. Nobody believes we worship Mormon. This is absurd. There is no confusion of who members of the church actually worship. We worship Jesus Christ. I have never, not once in my life, been ashamed of being a Mormon. And neither should we. With all due respect to President Nelson, I implore you to heed President Hinckley’s wise words on this matter. But not only his, also President Monson’s: Dare to be a Mormon; Dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm; Dare to make it known.

@DChadwickAuthor “All those in favor” My hand is up.