Martyrdom |
To Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith died a martyr’s death, persecuted to the end for preaching the restored gospel. Critics have objected to the LDS perspective of the prophet’s death. More than one critic has claimed that Joseph “died in a blazing gun battle in which he killed at least two men and wounded another.... Joseph Smith was no martyr....” (Decker and Hunt, 173.) This charge deals with two separate issues: 1) Joseph supposedly killed at least two men in a gun battle during his final moments of life; 2) Joseph Smith, according to the critics, does not qualify as a martyr. This paper will deal with issue number two. (For a discussion of issue number one, see Joseph Smith/Martyr/Gunfight.)
Joseph Smith was not a martyr.
The first question that might be asked is: Do martyrs resist death? Paul resisted being put to death through Rome’s legal and judicial system, apparently taking advantage of every provision of Roman law that might bring an acquittal. Joseph’s situation was a little different. He was with friends who were simply visiting him in jail, he had the (false) promise of the Governor that he would be safe, and he had means of protecting himself and his friends.
What does the word “martyr” mean? Hugh Nibley notes:
The word martyr simply means “witness,” not dead witness. The important thing is that a martyr is a witness.... A true martyr is put to death for his testimony and that alone. (Nibley, 1987, 175 - 176.)
Joseph Smith was a “martyr” in the truest sense. Like the prophets and apostles of old, Joseph Smith was a “witness” of Christ and his restored gospel. Both the prophets and apostles of old, as well as modern day prophets and apostles, are witnesses of Christ by either direct visitations or personal revelations. That is the whole gift and genius of revelation and prophecy. “...for the testimony [witness] of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10). God ordains prophets and apostles in His Church so that they might witnesses to the world that Jesus Christ is Savior. A prophet then, is a witness, a martyr, in the very literal sense of the word. Joseph Smith was murdered for being a witness (martyr) of Jesus Christ just as apostles of old were killed for claiming to be witnesses.
Michael R. Ash