Mormon Thunder

I read a lot this last weekend. This Jedediah is a very interesting character. I can only wish to have the faith that he had. It is amazing how much things have changed since this time. I served as a missionary and while reading this contemplated how things might be different if you did this later on in life. I know that my wife's grandfather served a mission after he was married. I love the families conversion stories and the Zion's camp incident. Jedediah is an amazing speaker. I wish I could be more that way. I love his no script incident with the preacher and other important people.

There are several things that I would like to know more about after reading this book. Obviously we don't practice polygamy anymore. Jedediah has some pretty strong statements about commitment to the Lord. One that I had questions about was the idea of Joseph Smith asking the men to give them their wives hands in marriage. I had read something similiar in a few other times, but polygamy isn't talked about anymore atleast in the church very much. That would be quite a sacrifice. This idea of blood atonement that he expounds on is a little frightening to me also. He says that he believes that the apostates should be killed to save themselves from their sins. Yikes! I know that the Bible talks about many of these ideas. You look at the Old Testament and stoning people was common practice. I need some more time to absorb all of this. There is a lot of history I would like to know more about now. I would also like to know more about the time period right after Joseph Smith's death.