In considering the character of the Prophet Joseph Smith, it is good "to transfer what we know into how we act," Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy said May 12.
Elder Jensen, recently released as Church Historian and Recorder, was the evening dinner speaker for the National Society of the Sons of Utah Pioneers Annual Symposium held in Salt Lake City. Other presentations from the symposium, which was themed "Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration," will be reported later in the Church News. All of the speakers have been involved with the Joseph Smith Papers Project currently being undertaken and published by the Church History Department.
"I'm interested as a preacher of the gospel in the relationship between what we know and what we do," Elder Jensen told the society members and guests. "I want to try to take what I have learned about Joseph Smith ... and share a few thoughts about how his life, his teachings, have worked themselves out in my behavior."
Joseph stands out, Elder Jensen said, for his "normalness" in addition to being "one of the truly noble and great souls of all time in the pantheon of prophets."
"I'm glad he said a prophet is only a prophet when he's acting as a prophet, because sometimes he just acted like a normal, ordinary person," Elder Jensen said, "and that gives me hope, because most of the time, I act like an ordinary person."
He spoke of Joseph's engaging in vigorous activities such as stick-pulling, wrestling, playing baseball, of his interest in animals, of his inclination to sit and talk with friends.
Acknowledging that the Savior is the only perfect person to have lived in mortality, Elder Jensen added, "Of course, that's no excuse for us to behave in a lesser standard than we otherwise would; we can't draw strength from anyone else's weaknesses, but it's just nice to know that Joseph was an ordinary person in many ways."
Elder Jensen said he takes encouragement from Joseph being a student and a scholar, "and I marvel how he could do this, as unlearned as he was to begin with, as busy as he always seemed to be, as much in demand as he was. In the history of the Church and in his journals, you find repeated entries where he spent part of the day, or sometimes all of the day at home learning Hebrew, learning German."
Elder Jensen remarked that when he had opportunity to read the Joseph Smith Papers volumes, he was struck by the output and quality of the revelations Joseph Smith received. After reading Enoch's words from Moses 7, he commented, "The brilliance of this, the spiritedness, the tenderness of this never fails to touch my heart and to give me insight into our position in our world and relationship to Deity. How anyone fussing about the origins of the Pearl of Great Price and the books of Abraham and Moses could read these passages and not be impressed with their authenticity, with their origination having to be with God through a prophet baffles me."
Joseph was a true and forgiving friend, Elder Jensen observed, touching on the incident in which he received a repentant William W. Phelps back into friendship after Brother Phelps had betrayed him. Joseph often referred to his wife, Emma, as his friend, and in the oath he and his brethren took in the School of the Prophets, they pledged themselves to one another in friendship, Elder Jensen noted.
"Another way in which his teachings have worked themselves out in my life is the universal priesthood he restored," Elder Jensen said. "As I look back at my life, my most choice and spiritual experiences have been in exercising my priesthood in my family."
He said he is grateful that Joseph had a deep appreciation for temporal needs, as indicated by the laws of consecration and of tithing that were given through the Prophet.
Elder Jensen praised the Prophet for his "pure grit" in the midst of the challenges and trials that confronted him, especially in the final few years of his life, including legal prosecutions, rising opposition from outside the Church and rising dissent from within it. He cited a comment once made by Joseph that if he were buried in the deepest pit in Nova Scotia with the Rocky Mountains piled on top of him, he would keep working until he came out on top.
"That's grit," Elder Jensen exclaimed. "I think we're going to need a lot of that."
Finally, Elder Jensen said, "All of us owe Joseph Smith so much for what he taught us about Deity, for his introduction of all of us to a God who does appear, who has a form, who speaks, who introduces His Son, and to that Son who appears and has from and calls Joseph by name and restores through him the true Church."
