You mean other than those 35 women he married? ?
Most of those women he married were only sealed to him after this life. Many of those sealings took place after his death. He only ever lived with one wife. He only had children with one wife. There is absolutely no evidence that he slept with anyone other than Emma.
That, of course, is a bit of a side issue though. Practicing poylgamy is not evidence of fraud.
Yeah, he died penniless, after a lifetime of pulling one scam after another, and getting chased out of four states for his bad behavior before they shot him like a dog.
He was chased from state to state and murdered in cold blood because he had the audacity to testify that He had seen the risen Lord. He had been found innocent of crimes again and again.
Today we know he was lying. We know he was making it up about golden tablets.
Oh really? And were the 12 other witnesses lying too? And tell me, what exactly was their motivation to reaffirm their testimonies as they did after they had their falling out with Joseph? Take Oliver Cowdery for instance. He had a falling out with Joseph, was excommunicated. Was involved in politics and lost because he was unwilling to deny that He saw the plates or the angel. He later came back to the Church after Joseph's death. Does that sound like he was lying?
Or Martin Harris. He financed the first printing of the Book of Mormon. He too at a falling out. Was excommunicated from the Church. Continued to reaffirm his testimony and eventually came back to the Church.
Or David Whitmer. He was excommunicated and He one that never came back to the Church, but he made it a point to do an interview when he was older reaffirming that He saw the plates and the Angel. He also reaffirmed that Oliver died reaffirming his testimony of the Book of Mormon.
The biggest problem you have with your assertion though is the Book of Mormon itself. We have the Book of Mormon. We can hold it in our hands. We can read it's words. We can study and pray over it. We can learn from the Holy Spirit whether it's true or not. And I can tell you that I know by the Power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true.
You can find out for yourself as well if you read and pray over it.
We know that the Kinderhook plates he claimed were proof of the Nehites were fakes,
Only problem there is Joseph claimed no such thing. In fact, he showed no interest in the Kinderhook plates whatsoever. Contrast how he reacted with the Book of Abraham where he went out of his way to make sure he purchased it.
we know the papyrus scrolls he claimed were the book of Abraham were a Ptomoleic funeral scroll.
Unfortunately, most of the papyra was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire. So while we have retained some which are funeral scrolls, we don't have the complete collection Joseph had so to claim there is no Book of Abraham among the scrolls is inaccurate.
And considering what we've learned about Abraham through recent discoveries Joseph nailed quite a few things he shouldn't have.
In short, we know he was a con man. So why do we treat Mormonism seriously
In short, your summary is inaccurate, laced with unsustainable assertions.
Mormonism is treated seriously because the doctrines cannot be contended with. That is of course why you are trying to discredit Joseph is it not? The problem is showing that he was a flawed human being doesn't discredit the message. Was he flawed? yes as every human is. Is he guilty of what he is usually accused of, for the most part no.
Take this account from an eyewitness in Nauvoo:
James Leach was an Englishman who had come to Nauvoo with his convert sister and her husband, Agnes and Henry Nightingale. After looking for work without success, James and Henry determined to ask the Prophet for help. James recalled:
“We … found [the Prophet] in a little store selling a lady some goods. This was the first time I had had an opportunity to be near him and get a good look at him. I felt there was a superior spirit in him. He was different to anyone I had ever met before; and I said in my heart, he is truly a Prophet of the most high God.
“As I was not a member of the Church I wanted Henry to ask him for work, but he did not do so, so I had to. I said, ‘Mr. Smith, if you please, have you any employment you could give us both, so we can get some provisions?’ He viewed us with a cheerful countenance, and with such a feeling of kindness, said, ‘Well, boys, what can you do?’ We told him what our employment was before we left our native land.
“Said he, ‘Can you make a ditch?’ I replied we would do the best we could at it. ‘That’s right, boys,’ and picking up a tape line, he said, ‘Come along with me.’
“He took us a few rods from the store, gave me the ring to hold, and stretched all the tape from the reel and marked a line for us to work by. ‘Now, boys,’ said he, ‘can you make a ditch three feet wide and two and a half feet deep along this line?’
“We said we would do our best, and he left us. We went to work, and when it was finished I went and told him it was done. He came and looked at it and said, ‘Boys, if I had done it myself it could not have been done better. Now come with me.’
“He led the way back to his store, and told us to pick the best ham or piece of pork for ourselves. Being rather bashful, I said we would rather he would give us some. So he picked two of the largest and best pieces of meat and a sack of flour for each of us, and asked us if that would do. We told him we would be willing to do more work for it, but he said, ‘If you are satisfied, boys, I am.’
“We thanked him kindly, and went on our way home rejoicing in the kindheartedness of the Prophet of our God.”
James Leach was baptized that same year and recorded that he “often had the privilege of seeing [the Prophet’s] noble face lit up by the Spirit and power of God.”
Does that sound like someone obsessed with taking money from people? Does it sound like someone who has the disposition to con people?
That's just one of countless eyewitness accounts of Joseph Smith's charity. Now either James Leach and the others are lying and he is a con man or you are misinformed.
