Monday, September 15, 2008

A Very Short Tribute to Joseph Smith

Let others howl that our respect for Joseph Smith borders on worship. Hogwash!! A great but flawed man lived a flawed but great life - and we should never hesitate to make that point clear. What I love most about Joseph is precisely the constant beatings he took (from man, but, more importantly, from God) - and that he recorded those beatings for all of us to see.

I don’t want a sanitized saint. I want a bloodied and conflicted and agonized and noble and bombastic and gentle and loving prophet - someone whom I can try to emulate, since I see in him not only my potential but also my griefs and sorrows and failings. Truly, "Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah."

3 comments:

Tasha said...

AMEN!!

Mama D said...

Excellent point. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about JS.

Anonymous said...

A great but flawed man lived a flawed but great life

I'm putting you on notice right now, Ray, that I'm stealing this line and making it my own. Loved the whole post, but this is the money quote.