Commentator:
Bottom line is that the polygamy proclaimed by Joseph as a revealed concept was then and remains entirely bogus. It was bogus then, it is bogus now and we only silly ourselves up by trying to pretend that somehow the Mystical, Magical Thinking Man-Child somehow had a special corner on God’s ear and mouth as regarded the rest of humanity.
Joseph truly made it up as he went along.
John Crane:
Perhaps, but he came up with a pretty compelling story. Even people who compose fiction and who reach within themselves for thoughts and ideas can bump into truth and revelation, now and then. There are passages in literature that deserve to be considered scripture.
Commentator:
As part of the thinking-people-everywhere, where would you like to go from here?
John Crane:
Since you asked, here’s my vision in rough form.
I would like to see the Restoration put back on course and continue, right up to and through the Millennium. Churches, organized religion, prophets, apostles, and the lone reformer (after the mold of “the one mighty and strong”) have all been discredited. What’s needed is something new. We have a responsibility to establish a true Zion, and prepare the world for the second coming of Christ. I don’t believe he will come until we are ready. We will not be idle spectators to events that unfold, but through the power of the priesthood, through our UNITED faith, we will control future world events. I don’t believe Christ will come until we are ready, and we invite Him to come. He will not come to impose his will on people, or solve our problems, but we, the people of the earth, can undo the problems, we ourselves created.
I see it continuing through a NEW dispensation, building on all former dispensations, in harmony with principles laid out the Joseph Smith dispensation, but not copying it. I see God working through MANY men and women to bring this about, not just one “chosen vessel”.
In order for the new “church” to be born, the old “church” must die — in the hearts and minds of the people. By new “church”, I mean “church” in the Greek sense “ecclesia”: the out-called — the gathering of the elect. By old “church”: the Old English “cir”, meaning the building or the legal institution.
John144 