Walk - Brigham Young Is Being Ambushed

180 years ago, these same arguments were prevalent in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in the RLDS. Today, they are resurfacing and they are all focused on Brigham Young.

The triad of the temple, character, and polygamy are ambushing Brigham Young and lancing attacks as a corrupt, evil man.

 Raw Transcript

all right well let's take a walk I would
normally say but I'm sitting here again
this time around
uh just wanted to go over a few thoughts
that I've been having and talk about
Brigham Young who is definitely been at
the center of things for a while but he
is really crescendoing into uh a focal
point for Attack on the church and it's
coming from a lot of different angles
from the left from the right from
different uh uh approaches different
doctrines different cultural events that
are happening all focusing in here on
Brigham Young now at this time so I'm
going to go over a few different areas I
think three different areas here that uh
we can look at to see what is happening
here with Brigham Young right now this
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with that so Brigham Young all right uh
a few things I want to talk about and I
get this from you know perusing things
online reading things from opposition uh
which I don't go into too much but uh
and I say opposition I mean uh those
that are uh attacking the church uh and
then internally Within the church
there's quite a bit of this going on you
know there's a a few events culturally
that have happened recently that have
really brought this about uh first and
foremost is the black lives matter
movement uh where you had students and
others that were wanting to do things as
far as take down the statue of briam
young on campus at Bigham Young
University changing the name of the
University uh because of Brigham Young's
approach to blacks and the priesthood
uh and and comments that he's had on
Race uh that was one big event that kind
of chiseled this uh uh um focus on
Brigham Young uh another one that's
happened that's really happening right
now is you have the Joseph Smith papers
you have saints you have all of this
information that's going online for
everybody and so right now we're in a
phase with all this information that's
very
reactionary and and you can think about
this right what I try to do when I think
about these things is is step back a
little bit and look at how these things
happen in other scenarios and this is
simply a system a process it is there
are parallels to this where you have all
this information come out and then you
have a reaction to this that is
sometimes very knee-jerk right and
because these things haven't said
settled in this yet we haven't really
understood this this is new information
and even little details of history that
we try to put puzzles together and and
and so we get a reactionary view of
these things and so this is I think what
we're doing i' I've said this used this
analogy before but Shrek right he talks
about himself as an ogre and hey ogres
are like onions and they have layers and
and so when you pull back the first
layer of the onion and it's not any
longer the same looking onion that you
had before the reaction is is well this
onion isn't the onion right it's
something
different and and what I try to explain
to people is because I've been through
this process several times and I think
you have to look at it this way is that
there are still more layers to the
onion right there's still more layers
and not just one and so you've pulled
back a layer and maybe it's polygamy or
or maybe it's uh the history of the
church specifically with Joseph Smith or
it's uh comments from Brigham Young
about race or uh you know whatever it
might be right it's like like hold on
just hold on there is more to learn
there's more to go through and and these
things need to settle in a little bit to
help understand them and the last thing
you want to do is make a knee-jerk
reaction and decision and and faith
adjustment based on new information that
has just you've just come
to um so
it's look there's more there's more
layers there there are always more
layers for you to get through to really
put things together and I think that
that's where we are now with just this
you know cache of knowledge and and
history and notes and and and documents
that we have with the church with church
history right now and Brigham Young
right now is a target partially because
of that and I think there's a lot more
that needs to be discussed parsed out
these things need to settled in us a
little bit more and uh and so that's
another event that I think is has really
happened where it's Brigham Young has
been put into the spotlight of course
Joseph Smith's always there but but in a
way right now it's kind of moving beyond
Joseph Smith over now to Brigham Young a
lot of these things have settled with
Joseph Smith people have chosen their
belief system with that and their
narrative and and and their view back on
history with Joseph Smith and the
beginnings of the church and and now
we've kind of move we're moving on at
least a good portion of us are moving on
to Brigham Young And so you have things
like uh uh the the most recent uh
Netflix uh series is being very po
popular right which uh well now I'm
going to lose the name of it somebody
put it into the comments least for me
because I'll remember afterward
obviously but uh it's you know you've
got you've got this character
assassination of Brigham Young um I I've
seen some of this I actually like the
show there's a lot about it that I like
I like these historical I love Western
type things uh and and so there's a lot
that I like about the show but the
characterization of Brigham Young like
anything that's going to come out of
Hollywood that has to do with religion
is going to strip it of righteousness
and goodness and the spirit
right it's just going to strip it all
out and it's going to look at Power
that's what it looks at and so basically
Brigham Young is a power monger and
that's just a manifestation of of what
several uh LDS and
non-lds uh advisors to those that are
making the show are bringing up and
talking about with Brigham Young they
don't like Brigham Young right they
don't like him and you know what for
anyone out there that's okay you can
like Brigham Young that's that's okay
you can be a a faithful member of the
church and not like Brigham Young I want
to get into that a little bit deeper but
uh you know you can not like somebody
that's that's okay some people don't
like Nephi how do you not like Nephi
well some people think he's just too
self-righteous or at least the way he
writes himself is too self-righteous you
know that's that's that's okay right uh
a lot of us are on different levels of
spiritual maturity maybe you're beyond
some others maybe you're not as far
along as others but uh you canot like
things about something or someone and
and it's it's okay but there's three
different areas and these these three
different areas
are very much aligned all with Brigham
Young right and and and so the first one
is temples you get a lot more attacks on
on temples right now um that
are uh
attacking everything from a from a from
a non-lds standpoint which is you don't
need temples right it's a theological
standpoint it is you're earning your
salvation through temples or you are uh
um going through a checklist with these
ordinances why do you need that all you
need in fact is a relationship with God
and that's and you're done of course
those are people that don't understand
the covenants that are being made it's
not the ordinances it's not a checklist
list you are building a relationship
that's the whole point of the temple is
to build a relationship with God and the
idea of going through the Washings and
anointings and and the the covenants
that you're making the ordinances and
getting to the veil into the ritual
Embrace at the veil is all about getting
there right building that relationship
those covenants are about building a
relationship with God but that's one of
the attacks that there is and how much
money is being spent on the temple and
how nice the temple is and and all of
these things are are those voices on the
temples are getting louder and louder
and louder as we are building more and
more and more temples and it comes back
to brigam Young because many now are
saying well Joseph Smith didn't really
push the temple right which is silly or
the endowment or talk about you know the
issues of EX a in the covenants which is
silly uh it is Brigham Young that
started all of this and and it's his
legacy and uh it's not really part of
the restoration of Joseph Smith so
they're laying that on Brigham Young
when they attack the temple
secondly is is uh Brigham Young's
character and so again you you you get
this a little bit in Hollywood right
it's it's it's but it's it's his
comments on Race I understand it I I get
it right it's polygamy which we'll get
to in a second here um it's uh his rough
way of
talking right he's
he's he's uh he
he's he's a little bit uh you know Rough
Around the Edges he's going to talk very
strongly and and often many people did
back then talk that way he's a he's a
he's a uh he he's going to offend people
right we have a culture in the in
latterday Saints today where it's like
oh that's the worst thing you can do is
offend someone and so often times we
might look back and now starting to read
more about Brigham Young and say he's
offensive I don't like the way that he
talks right of course we're all Monday
morning historians when we do these
things because we aren't in that
culture we don't know Brigham Young we
didn't talk to Brigham Young we didn't
benefit from his SA sacrifice and his
inspiration and the work that he did
with the early Saints right so so that's
something else right or uh um anything
else that has to do with Brigham Young
where he was very strong uh a strong
opinionated person and and you know kind
of the the Moses maybe Moses was the
same way maybe he had to be to
accomplish what he had to accomplish I
don't know right the third place that I
think we see this now is and I and I I
do not want to bring this up but but
it's part of this thought is with
polygamy right and so I want to address
this because I don't think I've ever had
a stronger push back on things then with
those who don't believe that Joseph
Smith uh practi polygamy all right I
want to preface this with okay if that
is where your research has taken you and
that's where you're at
okay okay right that's that's not my
issue right that's not this isn't about
this isn't an argument make it let me
make it very clear about whether or not
Joseph Smith practiced
polygamy okay I disagree with those that
deny that okay but this is not an
argument for that please understand that
when you make your
comments okay the point is is that those
that do deny Joseph Smith
practiced polygamy put it all on brigam
Young and for the most part not everyone
right are going to character assassinate
Brigham
Young because they don't believe that it
was com get came from God and they don't
believe it came from Joseph Smith and so
therefore briam young is a scoundrel
that's almost always what I'll see not
everyone being clear not everyone but
Joseph Smith or uh Brigham Young was a
scoundrel uh who wanted to commit
adultery and let his lust overtake
him and uh you know was was for some
people it was happy to see Joseph Smith
expire so that he could move forward
with polygamy now whether or
not Joseph
Smith had polygamy right were practice
polygamy is beside the point the point
is it undermines the inspir ation and
the calling and the mantle of bramy as a
prophet there's no way around that and
yes the argument comes back that he uh
you know uh God works through uh you
know sinful men and sure I believe that
I I believe that's true and that this
portion of it briam youngly had off
but you're going to end up with a number
of people that are going to have a
harder and harder time with a prophetic
succession from Joseph Smith to
president Nelson and and I think that
most people would agree with me with
that all right again aside from the
argument of Joseph Smith with
polygamy I think it undermines briam
young right it's it's it's certainly a
strike against him and I think that most
people that deny that Joseph Smith
practiced
polygamy would agree with that I think
that most would agree with that as far
as Brigham Young's character goes okay
what's interesting and I said that these
things were
all kind of brought together under one
umbrella well they're all focused on
Brigham Young obviously but they're also
all of the doctrines and the teachings
of the reorganized Church of Jesus
Christ of latterday saints today the
Community of
Christ which is full of a lot of really
good people and and was founded by good
people right Smith III and that family
even with Emma and everything else and I
know people really push back there but I
think these are really good people that
that were trying to do the right thing
and and I don't agree with them I don't
agree that they had the authority I
don't agree that they uh had the
fullness of the Gospel I think that the
whole restoration of the temple and and
the doctrine of exaltation and
everything else right with the
priesthood Etc is crucial I think it's
absolutely necessary and I don't believe
that they had that but all of those
points of the temple the character of
Brigham Young and polygamy are all this
under the reorganized Church of Jesus
Christ of latterday saints The Community
of Christ which is fascinating to me
right we are going back in history to
the
split we're going back in history to the
split between Brigham Young and Jose
eventually Joseph Smith
third and and and it's the same issues
now it's like we're coming back in this
historical cycle revisiting the exact
same
thing and that is fascinating to me I I
you know I I love Cycles I love
parallels I I think in those terms uh
and and I I I would suggest to you that
that is where we're at here because
those ideas about Brigham Young are
surging right now within and without the
church church and so for me as a
faithful latterday Saint or you know
whatever you want to call me uh
is I I I I I I think it's crucial for
faithful Latter-Day Saints to be aware
of these things that are happening and
understand that this already has
happened and it was messy right Brigham
Young wasn't Prophet right away took
years and years I don't remember how how
many before he actually was put in as
the president of the church there are
there are messy things there
but I I think you've got to ask yourself
do I have a
testimony of the succession of the
priesthood and do I believe that Brigham
Young was a prophet and was a good
man with with with some Edge on him
right but was a good man and was he was
he grossly sinning or was he a prophet
of God and I don't believe those two are
synonymous was he grossly
sinning with adultery right or was he
was he a prophet of God and and what
else will undermine Brigham Young are we
going to see more and more things come
up to go after Brigham Young like I said
I think that this a little bit in this
heelan dialectic we've kind of started
off here with Joseph Smith we're moving
up here a little bit more with Brigham
Young
and and and
uh with with all the new information
that's come out and I think with the
things that Joseph Smith have settled a
little bit not that it'll ever end it
won't it'll never end and it'll probably
get worse but but we are moving on a
little bit to Brigham Young and the
attacks that are focused there so I'm
just suggesting be aware of these
things and decide right where are you
and and what do you think about about
Brigham Young and what do you think
about the succession of priesthood and
of prophethood if you will uh coming all
the way up to president Nelson do you
sustain that do you believe that's part
of the crucial part that
priesthood is a crucial part of the
church because I do I believe it's there
just some thoughts thanks for listening