Latter-day Saint Life

John Bytheway: What If There Were No Joseph Smith?

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Look at how the prayer of a teenage boy has transformed the world we live in today. Check out these great insights from John Bytheway about what the world would look like if Joseph Smith had never been born.

Joseph Smith’s birthday was 210 years ago today.  When you think about it, you are reading this blog, from an LDS author because a fourteen-year-old boy said a prayer.  Because of that prayer, and because of all that happened in the Sacred Grove that Spring morning, thousands of people walked across a continent, and many of my facebook friends are their descendants.  I suppose we should never underestimate the power of a teenage prayer.

In the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey had the opportunity to see what the world would be like  if he had never been born.  The world was a much different place without a George Bailey.

We could ask a similar question.  What if Joseph Smith had never been born?  What if Joseph Smith had not been inspired by James 1:5?  Or what if he had never gone into the sacred grove to pray?   What if that teenage prayer have never been uttered?

Lead image from Wikimedia Commons.

The Joseph Smith Papers publishing project puts into one comprehensive collection the writings attributed to this religious leader, offering information and insight about Joseph Smith, early Mormonism, and nineteenth-century American religion.

This facsimile edition of Revelations and Translations: Manuscript Revelation Booksopens a new series. The volume provides new access to priceless documents dating from 1828 to 1834. For the first time, you can view photocopies of original writings in the actual hand of early Church leaders such as Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery and Sidney Rigdon.

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