An anti-Mormon claim making the rounds on the internet is that Joseph Smith tried to join the Methodist Church in 1828.

They use this claim to argue that Joseph Smith lied and contradicted himself because his 1832 history says that God told him not to join any churches after his vision in the spring of 1820. But because they claim he tried joining a Methodist church, that’s supposedly proof that Joseph Smith contradicted himself and just made it all up.

They also use this accusation against Joseph to try and discredit his character, claiming that Joseph Smith was kicked out of the Methodist church because of his fradulent activities and poor character.

It’s not exactly a new anti-Mormon claim, as it has been going around since 1879.

This is a meme demonstrating how they foiled Joseph again.

Sounds pretty conclusive. If you ignore the actual evidence and rely on the selective framing, one could believe that Joseph Smith and the Church were lying all along!

But once again. Like every other anti-Mormon claim it uses stacked layers of assumptions and Testimonies of later sources to provide a narrative that isn’t supported by any conclusive actual evidence.

Let’s actually check the sources and see what we can find.

Examining the Claim: Did Joseph Join the Methodists?

The claim comes from a publicatin in the Amboy Journal in 1879. 51 Years AFTER the supposed claim happened. I’m not even 51 years old myself, but I know full well that small details, especially placing exact dates and times fade quickly.

The claim was made by Joseph and Hiel Lewis who were cousins of Emma Hale Smith and did live nearby in the Harmony Pennsylvania area. Like much of the Hale family, the Lewis family was hostile to Joseph Smith from the beginning. Harmony was not a large area, but Joseph and Emma had to leave it in 1829 because the persecution against Joseph was so severe. Historians always take claims from people hostile towards someone else carefully, especially when the accounts are decades later.

According to them, a minister placed Joseph’s name on the class book for three days. Joseph Lewis claimed that when he learned about it, he and local preacher Joshua McKune confronted Joseph and told him that his reputation and conduct were incompatible with church membership. They accused him of fraudulent and hypocritical practices and gave him the choice of publicly withdrawing his name or facing a disciplinary investigation.

According to their account:

“We gave him his choice, to go before the class and publicly ask to have his name stricken from the class-book, or stand a disciplinary investigation.

He chose the former, and immediately withdrew his name. So his name as a member of the class was on the book only three days.”

Doesn’t this statement tcompletely dismantle the anti-Mormon claim that Joseph Smith never tried joining the Methodists? It’s kind of tough to make an argument when the original anti-Mormon who made the claim 150 years ago rebutted the actual argument if you actually look at the first hand source and read what they said.

Then to immediately make the accusation even less credible.

In May 1879 after this publication Michael B. Morse who was Emma’s brother in law claimed that he was the Methodist class leader and that Joseph’s name was on the class role for nearly six months, but was eventually removed because Joseph “Did not seek to become a member”

Attending Church Services Was Not Forbidden in the First Vision

From thes conflicting accounts of Joseph’s involvment in the Methodist church it is very likely that Joseph Smith did attend Methodist meetings with the Hale family while they lived in Harmony. Joseph was a seeker of truth and was always looking for more light and truth. In the first vision, Joseph isn’t told to never attend religiuos services, just that he wasn’t to join any of the sects because they didn’t have the fullness of truth.

Another interesting tidbit is that there were NO Methodist church building in Harmony Pennsylvania in 1828. The local Methodist congregations met in homes, likely the home of Nathaniel Lewis who was the father of Joseph and Hiel.

June 1828 Was Very Crowded. When did Joseph Supposedly try to Join?

June 1828 was a very significant month in Church history:

• First week of June: Joseph Smith was translating with Martin Harris and finishing the Book of Lehi. Joseph could have attended a meeting this week, but does anyone really belive that he would be motivated to join another church while he is working on the very book that would lead to the church of which he would be the founder?

  Also, the anti-Mormon claims also say that Joseph “may have” been motivated to join Methodism because of the death of their child which wouldn’t happen until later in the month.

• Second week of June: Joseph and Martin finished the 116 pages. Emma then gave birth to their first child, who died shortly after birth.
• Third week of June: Emma was critically ill and nearly died from complications following childbirth. Joseph stayed with her and cared for her.
• Last week of June: While Emma was still weak and recovering, Joseph, feeling that he “had lost his soul” because Martin lost the 116 pages, left Harmony to find out what had happened to the manuscript he and Martin had worked so hard to produce.

So the question is, during this incredibly busy and eventful time, when exactly was Joseph supposedly trying to join the Methodist Church?

He was in the middle of translating the Book of Mormon. His first child was born and died. Emma nearly died from complications after the birth. Joseph spent days caring for her while she recovered. Then, almost immediately afterward, he left Harmony worried that the 116 pages he and Martin Harris had worked so hard to produce had been lost and that he had failed God in the process.

And somewhere in the middle of all of that, we are supposed to believe Joseph decided to join another church, only to get kicked out almost immediately?

It doesn’t make much practical or logical sense.

There is no Contemporary Evidence

More importantly, there is no contemporary evidence showing that Joseph joined the Methodist Church, attempted to become a full member, or was kicked out for “fraudulent and hypocritical practices.”

The evidence we do have are conflicting accounts written more than 50 years later.

Yes, it is entirely possible, and even likely, that Joseph attended Methodist meetings, Bible studies, or worship services while living in Harmony. Emma’s family had strong Methodist connections.

But attending a Methodist meeting is not the same thing as joining the Methodist Church.

And nothing in Joseph’s First Vision accounts says that God commanded him to never attend another religious service, listen to another preacher, or associate with people from other faiths. The issue was believing that one of the existing sects as God’s true church that contained the fullness of the gospel.

Throughout his life, Joseph continued to talk with people of other religions, attend religious discussions, invite ministers to preach, and defend the right of others to worship “how, where, or what they may.”

The evidence does not show Joseph Smith getting caught contradicting his First Vision story.

It shows critics taking a disputed account written more than 50 years later, treating every accusation in it as fact, adding assumptions about Joseph’s motives, and then stacking those assumptions together until they can turn “Joseph may have attended or briefly associated with a Methodist class” into “Joseph Smith tried to join the Methodist Church and was kicked out for fraud. Therefore, he was a liar and a fraud.”