The Man Who Finds Fault with the Church - In Context

Joseph Smith said: “I will give you one of the Keys of the mysteries of the KIngdom. It is an eternal principle, that has existed with God from all eternity: That man who rises up to condemn others, finding fault with the Church, saying that they are out of the way, while he himself is righteous, then know assuredly, that that man is in the high road to apostasy; and if he does not repent, will apostatize, as God lives.” 1  

This famous statement, made by the prophet on 2 July 1839, is often quoted to members who are critical of you [general authorities] as a warning that criticism can lead to apostasy. But this twists the original meaning and purpose of the statement. 

Joseph Smith did not say these words to church members who were critical of their leaders. He said them to church leaders - to apostles and seventies - who were critical of church members. 

He warned leaders of the church not to put themselves above others, not to condemn others, not to find fault with the church, not to say that members are out of the way while leaders are righteous.

The whole article is worth reading: Dialogue: A Plea to the Leaders of the Church, by Paul Toscano

Random Thought 3

The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know anything. I had an experience [several] nights ago wherein I saw and felt the darkness and filthiness I reside in, that we all reside in - yet so many of us (myself included) think we have Light. It was disheartening, to say the least.

During that same experience, I reached out to the Holy Spirits that reside in us and found spirits that were willing to help, and power came and helped out with the thing I was concerned about.

It is like a paradox. Everything.

We are dark. We are Light. (Varying shades, spiritually speaking.)
We have to have faith in God to know God but we need to know Him to some degree before we can have faith in him.
We have to give up our lives to live.
We have to sacrifice everything to have everything.
We have to experience hell to experience heaven.
And probably a thousand other things.

I honestly believe that the Reality we left behind more closely resembles our dreams than it does our waking lives.

Random Thought 2

The fact that the Bible has been mistranslated, altered, torn apart and put together again really makes it difficult to trust the book. Add metatext in the form of headings and footnotes, then it is even more difficult to trust the "truths" in the book.

On top of that, we often take our metatext Bible and imprint it onto the Book of Mormon so that it may not say what we think it says. *Sigh* This waking up and seeing scriptures with new eyes is not so easy to accomplish at times.

Random Thought 1

Someone asked: What false religious traditions need to be shed?

The answer given:
That we need a middleman between us and the Lord.

That all is well in Zion (heck, the fallacy that the church IS Zion).

That every man who had the title of prophet, seer, and revelator since JS has communed face to face with the Lord (perhaps even every Thursday), and they can do no wrong, preach no falsehoods.

That the priesthood line of revelation takes precedence over the personal line of revelation.

That angels and Gods need not visit the common people because anything that needs to be revealed will be revealed to prophets, seers, and revelators only.

That men hold the keys to heaven.

That all has been revealed that needs to be revealed so we don't really need revelations, visions, angels, etc.

That the Book of Mormon is talking to and about people who are NOT members of the churches that claim Joseph Smith as their founder and the Book of Mormon as scripture.