Joseph Smith photo isn’t real or maybe it is

19 March 2008 @ 3:48 pm | 4 comments

Rachel at LDS.About.com reports on a statement issued by the Church on the authenticity of this purported photo of Joseph Smith.

A purported image of Joseph Smith is circulating widely on the Internet. Some persons have mistakenly claimed that this image belongs to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that Church officials have verified or are verifying its authenticity. These claims are not true.

While it may not be confirmed by the Church, it still may be real.  On the other hand, all the recent publicity may just be orchestrated to publicize a new book.

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  1. Jared’s avatar

    Jared on 19 March 2008 at 4:13 pm

    I posted that press release at Juvenile Instructor. I just want it to be clear that the idea that this publicity was orchestrated to publicize a book was not my angle with that post. That was an initial thought, but the press release frames it in terms of the publicity being negative and external and the announcement of the book being a response. Gimmicks? Anything’s possible, but I feel inclined to take them at their word until other evidence indicates. Thanks.

  2. David H. Sundwall’s avatar

    David H. Sundwall on 19 March 2008 at 4:35 pm

    Sorry Jared. I didn’t mean to overstate your position.

    I’m probably more inclined than you are to believe that there has been some PR work involved as it’s definitely gotten a lot of free publicity for the book and DVD.

    But you’re right we should just take their word for it. Either way it’s very intriguing.

    I actually like the picture a lot and hope its real.

  4. John Edge’s avatar

    John Edge on 25 April 2008 at 8:49 pm

    This picture does not ring true with me. The one picture I have seen that really stood out to me was on http://www.josephsmithphoto.com. It is not an image that you would expect, but when you look at the death mask, and the early descriptions of the saints. Wow, it really makes you take another look with an open mind and makes you think. It is a picture of two individuals, one individual is confirmed to be of Brigham Young, the other is, I feel at least, Joseph the prophet. It was the broadness of his shoulders that made me really take a look. There is a video of how the picture was discovered that is interesting to watch too. Doesn’t do anything for your salvation, but it still kind a cool.