I'll throw this out;
it might have been possible for Joseph Smith to have believed his crap, either from the start (and it being due to a mental condition, tumor or wiring fault or head trauma) or perhaps at a later time when after a period of charlatanism and then being surrounded by (seemingly) sincere believers he started to believe his own lies in consequence.
So in the latter angle, old horny Joe did essentially 'trick' himself into belief, in spite of himself.
Now as to the probability Joe was ever sincere, Idunno. It seems PROFOUNDLY unlikely he ever believed any of the mountains of crap he produced for a simple reason:
if he was ENTIRELY convinced God Almighty Himself had dictated the TRUTH to him and employed him as a vessel for re-establishing His True Church, would Joe have dared change even a jot or tittle of anything God said ?
I didn't think so.
Joe, by changing EVERYTHING God (supposedly) dictated, falsified his own religion. He was crooked to the bone, and crooked from start to finish, Still, funny to speculate if Joe ever managed to suck himself into his own perfidy.
it might have been possible for Joseph Smith to have believed his crap, either from the start (and it being due to a mental condition, tumor or wiring fault or head trauma) or perhaps at a later time when after a period of charlatanism and then being surrounded by (seemingly) sincere believers he started to believe his own lies in consequence.
So in the latter angle, old horny Joe did essentially 'trick' himself into belief, in spite of himself.
Now as to the probability Joe was ever sincere, Idunno. It seems PROFOUNDLY unlikely he ever believed any of the mountains of crap he produced for a simple reason:
if he was ENTIRELY convinced God Almighty Himself had dictated the TRUTH to him and employed him as a vessel for re-establishing His True Church, would Joe have dared change even a jot or tittle of anything God said ?
I didn't think so.
Joe, by changing EVERYTHING God (supposedly) dictated, falsified his own religion. He was crooked to the bone, and crooked from start to finish, Still, funny to speculate if Joe ever managed to suck himself into his own perfidy.
The granting of a pardon is an imputation of guilt, and the acceptance a confession of it.
