Martyrdom and divinity

[deacon blues]

For those of us old enough to remember the Kennedy assassination, you might recall that there was an immediate mood of immortalizing Kennedy, and referring to his death as a type of martyrdom. This occurred even in Rexburg, Idaho, where, despite my hometown's conservative leanings, a new elementary school was immediately named for Kennedy, while another was named for Lincoln, who had been assassinated one hundred years before. As a then ten year old, I remember feeling disappointed that I was to attend the Lincoln Elementary.
I am also reminded of D&C 135, in which John Taylor Taylor announced Joseph Smith's martyrdom, and announced that Joseph Smith was second only to Jesus Christ in his accomplishments. I think it's possible that, if it had been religiously and doctrinally expedient, he might have placed Joseph Smith as #1. We are taught that many, but not all ancient prophets were martyred, and others were translated.
I bring this up in order to discuss the human tendency to immortalize and deify the martyr.

[alas]

It started, or was officially verbalized back when the Romans were feeding Christians to the lions. Justin Martyr wrote a book (yes, it is named after him, and according to the rules of English should be capitalized) about how becoming a martyr sanctified a person....then he got to prove it when the Romans fed him to the lions. It was as much a political statement as a religious statement because it had two purposes, one was to convince the Christians that being Christian was still good, because if you survived, good and if the Romans got you, then you became sanctified which guaranteed you your slot in heaven. The second purpose was to inform the Romans that killing Christians was just proving to others how important the religion was because people were willing to die for it and that fighting against Christianity was only making it stronger. It worked to some extent because the Romans decided killing Christians was just making the Christians more determined and spreading the sect.

[Hagoth]

I often wonder how things would have turned out for Mormons if Joseph had lived a few more decades and continued to follow his trajectory without the benefit of martyr stardom. At the very least I assume his potential rivals like Brigham Young would have been squashed out and one of his children would have succeeded him as king. I also imagine the Mormons would have been forced out of Nauvoo anyway and ended up resettling somewhere else. Joseph had his eye on the Rocky Mountains, but he was also seriously considering Texas. The temples would likely be very different as a result, and there are indicators that Joseph was planning to bring back animal sacrifice in the temples. Without the praise-worthy man who communed with Jehovah sealing his testimony in blood I suspect the church would be quite small and weird today, probably something more along the lines of the current FLDS.

[wtfluff]

I often wonder how things would have turned out for Mormons if Joseph had lived a few more decades and continued to follow his trajectory without the benefit of martyr stardom. At the very least I assume his potential rivals like Brigham Young would have been squashed out and one of his children would have succeeded him as king. I also imagine the Mormons would have been forced out of Nauvoo anyway and ended up resettling somewhere else. Joseph had his eye on the Rocky Mountains, but he was also seriously considering Texas. The temples would likely be very different as a result, and there are indicators that Joseph was planning to bring back animal sacrifice in the temples. Without the praise-worthy man who communed with Jehovah sealing his testimony in blood I suspect the church would be quite small and weird today, probably something more along the lines of the current FLDS.

My useless daydream about Joseph surviving is that his cult completely implodes and disappears - like many other similar over-the-top fundamentalist cults have.

[Reuben]

I often wonder how things would have turned out for Mormons if Joseph had lived a few more decades and continued to follow his trajectory without the benefit of martyr stardom. At the very least I assume his potential rivals like Brigham Young would have been squashed out and one of his children would have succeeded him as king. I also imagine the Mormons would have been forced out of Nauvoo anyway and ended up resettling somewhere else. Joseph had his eye on the Rocky Mountains, but he was also seriously considering Texas. The temples would likely be very different as a result, and there are indicators that Joseph was planning to bring back animal sacrifice in the temples. Without the praise-worthy man who communed with Jehovah sealing his testimony in blood I suspect the church would be quite small and weird today, probably something more along the lines of the current FLDS.

My useless daydream about Joseph surviving is that his cult completely implodes and disappears - like many other similar over-the-top fundamentalist cults have.

It would probably have imploded if he had been killed by his own people, so he doesn't necessarily have to survive in these scenarios. Precedent: James Strang, who was shot in the back by Stangites.

[Emower]

As a then ten year old, I remember feeling disappointed that I was to attend the Lincoln Elementary.

My wife worked at Lincoln for a little while. Good memories there.

The temples would likely be very different as a result, and there are indicators that Joseph was planning to bring back animal sacrifice in the temples.

I didn't know that. He was planning lots of crazy stuff so it doesn't surprise me.