{"id":106710,"date":"2024-08-26T13:29:05","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T19:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=106710"},"modified":"2024-08-27T09:26:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T15:26:00","slug":"necessary-notes-on-six-days-in-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/08\/necessary-notes-on-six-days-in-august.html","title":{"rendered":"Necessary Notes on “Six Days in August”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"6DIA<\/a>
Leaving Nauvoo for Carthage, Joseph looks back one last time toward his wife, Emma, and his family, in a scene from the forthcoming Interpreter Foundation film \u201cSix Days in August.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Correcting the falsehoods regularly purveyed by my Malevolent Stalker and his handful of zealous disciples over at the Peterson Obsession Board could easily be a full-time job if I permitted it to be. \u00a0Sometimes, though, I do find it advisable to publicly contradict their allegations and accusations. \u00a0Now is one of those times. \u00a0I\u2019ll be brief:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. No, my wife and I receive no compensation \u2014 we have received no compensation, and we will receive no compensation \u2014 from our time and efforts as the two executive producers of Six Days in August<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0Our income from the film will not vary so much as a single cent whether fifty million people see the film or nobody does. \u00a0Both of us do what we do as unpaid volunteers. \u00a0In fact, we\u2019re donors.<\/li>\n
  2. Was I or anybody else connected with the film unethically given access to Brigham Young University\u2019s list of donors? \u00a0No. \u00a0Neither \u00a0I nor anybody else connected with the film was given any access at all<\/em> to Brigham Young University\u2019s list of donors. \u00a0Did we somehow illicitly obtain BYU\u2019s donor list? \u00a0No. \u00a0We don\u2019t have BYU\u2019s donor list at all<\/em>. \u00a0I\u2019ve never so much as seen<\/em> it.<\/li>\n
  3. I\u2019ve referred on occasion to recent criticisms of Brigham Young, to which I hope that Six Days in August<\/em> will offer a contrast. \u00a0Contrary to the claims of a few on the Obsession Board, I haven\u2019t invented<\/em> these criticisms. \u00a0Nor do I have the Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in mind. \u00a0Not even slightly. \u00a0I have in mind accusations against Brigham Young of racism, misogyny, autocracy, and even, ever since the nineteenth-century days of sensationalistic dime novels, of murder. \u00a0I have in mind the claim that he led an illegitimate and rather Machiavellian \u201capostolic coup.\u201d \u00a0Some of these accusations have even come from members of the very Church over which he presided for more than three decades. \u00a0(LaJean Carruth<\/a> quite aptly calls them \u201cBrigham bashing.\u201d) \u00a0And, unfortunately, at least a few readers here will be aware of recent assertions \u2014 to me, not only unjustifiable and false but positively revolting \u2014 that it was Elders John Taylor and Willard Richards of the Twelve, not an armed mob with blackened faces, who murdered Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Carthage Jail, and that they did so at the command of the president of their quorum. Brigham Young.<\/li>\n
  4. Is Six Days in August<\/em> an attack on the Community of Christ? \u00a0No, it is not. \u00a0It is true, of course, that I and the others involved in the creation of the film believe that the Twelve Apostles were the proper choice to lead the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> following the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. \u00a0Implicitly, that means that we do not believe that Joseph Smith III was the proper choice. \u00a0But Joseph III doesn\u2019t even figure in the story we\u2019re telling. \u00a0He was only eleven years old in August of 1844. \u00a0Nor does James Strang appear in the film, as he was scarcely so much as a rumor by that date. \u00a0The major rival to the Twelve in our story is Sidney Rigdon. \u00a0But, by deliberate decision, Six Days in August<\/em> will treat even Sidney with respect. \u00a0Favoring the Twelve doesn\u2019t mean disdaining others, let alone hating them, any more than favoring Beethoven means condemning Brahms, any more than being a practicing Jew means despising Christians, any more than preferring Jane Austen and apple pie entails abhorring cherry pie and Charles Dickens.<\/li>\n
  5. Is the Interpreter Foundation at war with, or in a competitive rivalry with, FAIR and Scripture Central? \u00a0No. \u00a0Not in any sense of which I\u2019m aware. \u00a0If we were in a battle with each other, I can\u2019t imagine that Scripture Central would have flown me back to Palmyra, Harmony, and Kirtland two or three months ago to film one of the episodes in their video series A Marvelous Work<\/em><\/a>, or that Jeff Bradshaw (one of the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s vice presidents) and I would have been featured speakers at the annual FAIR LDS conference earlier this month, or that the leaders of Scripture Central and Interpreter and FAIR would hold a monthly online coordinating meeting.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In my considerable experience as their perpetual target over the past two decades, there seems to be little if any interest in the truth among the anonymous folks there who love and make lies. \u00a0(See Revelation 22:15<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>
    George and Ewan Mitton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    My wife and I attended the funeral for George Mitton this morning. \u00a0Two of the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s vice presidents \u2014 Steve Densley and Jeff Bradshaw \u2014 were also there, as was Shirley Ricks, a member of Interpreter\u2019s board. \u00a0My decades-long friend Jack Welch also attended, with his wife, and so did Lou Midgley, our good friend and George\u2019s. \u00a0Both Lou and George were present at the creation of Interpreter.<\/p>\n

    I remain of the opinion that a good funeral is one of the best meetings in the Church. \u00a0And this was a really good one, full of faith and confidence and good music and humor. \u00a0(At Hugh Nibley\u2019s service, one of his daughters remarked that it was high time to put the fun<\/em> back in funeral<\/em>. \u00a0This one certainly did that.). George is fortunate in having committed, active Latter-day Saint children who organized and spoke at his farewell.<\/p>\n

    One story that struck me involved the marriage of George and his wife. \u00a0Ewan Harbrecht came to know President David O. McKay when she accompanied the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for its 1955 European tour, which culminated in the dedicatory services in Zollikofen bei Bern, in Switzerland, for the historic first temple in Europe. \u00a0At one point, President McKay told Ewan that, when she got married, he would like to perform the ceremony.<\/p>\n

    As her wedding approached, Ewan had a dream in which she saw herself being married in a room where she could see ancestors stretching off into the indefinite distance and, on the other, descendants extending, seemingly without end. \u00a0She also clearly saw the date, which was 19 June.<\/p>\n

    So she contacted President McKay\u2019s secretary, who replied that the twentieth of June was the only day in the month that he would be available. \u00a0Ewan was deeply disappointed, and even troubled. \u00a0She wrote back, asking the secretary whether she might check again. \u00a0This time, the response came back that there had been a mistake: \u00a0The only day in the month that he was available was not 20<\/em> June, but 19<\/em> June.<\/p>\n

    I loved a scriptural passage that was cited by one of the speakers:<\/p>\n

    And it came to pass that there were many who died, firmly believing that their souls were redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ; thus they went out of the world rejoicing. \u00a0(Alma 46:39<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    What a great theme for the funeral of a faithful Latter-day Saint in a faithful, covenant-keeping community! The service was conducted by the first counselor in the branch presidency that serves the Legacy Village<\/a> facility. \u00a0He reported that, in their branch, they don\u2019t talk about people \u201cdying\u201d or \u201cpassing\u201d but, rather, about people \u201cgraduating.\u201d \u00a0I love that.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0 Correcting the falsehoods regularly purveyed by my Malevolent Stalker and his handful of zealous disciples over at the Peterson Obsession Board could easily be a full-time job if I permitted it to be. \u00a0Sometimes, though, I do find it advisable to publicly contradict their allegations and accusations. \u00a0Now is one of those times. \u00a0I\u2019ll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":64769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1266,292,1152,20973,114,28443],"class_list":["post-106710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apostles","tag-brigham-young","tag-brigham-young-university","tag-george-mitton","tag-interpreter-foundation","tag-six-days-in-august"],"yoast_head":"\nNecessary Notes on "Six Days in August"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  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