2 ms·

Or maybe he just made stuff up? You don't need drugs for that.

• pmoriarty 6y ago
  "Or maybe he just made stuff up? You don't need drugs for that." It wasn't just him, though. According to the paper: "These early Church members sought direct experience with God and believed that Joseph Smith had the power to grant their desires. Confidence in their Prophet was not misplaced. Between 1829 and 1836, under the supervision of Joseph Smith, many early Mormon converts enjoyed heavenly visions and spiritual raptures." "It appears that soon after the Church was organized in New York and later in Ohio, members partook of wine in sacrament meetings which occasioned visionary states and strange behaviors not typically associated with alcohol consumption or intoxication..." "However, after Joseph’s death in 1844, the great visionary period of Church history came to an end. ... So stark was the dearth of visionary experience that in 1864, twenty years after Joseph Smith’s death, members would ask Mormon Apostle George A. Smith, "...why it is that we do not see more angels, have more visions, that we do not see greater and more manifestations of power?""
  • pstuart 6y ago
    To this day you can find people speaking in tongues and hearing God speak to them, et cetera, et cetera. Again, no drugs required. People are wired for worship and all they need is a little peer pressure to guide them. I think that guided psychedelic experiences can be wonderful opportunities for spiritual journeys -- no church needed :-)