“To Disabuse the Public Mind”

Joseph Smith, who described himself as an “obscure boy” (Joseph Smith—History 1:22-23), was charged with establishing the Church of Jesus Christ and bringing it “out of obscurity and out of darkness” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:30). Easier said than done, particularly when you have antagonists spreading disinformation to harm your cause.

His strategy was simple: state the facts clearly (“so far as I have such facts in my possession”) in order to “disabuse the public mind, and put all inquirers after truth in possession of the facts” (Joseph Smith—History 1:1).

Of couse, not everyone is fair-minded. Some people, and perhaps all of us at times, are so entrenched in their assumptions that they are unwilling to consider antithetical evidence. But Joseph Smith chose to write his history because he believed that there were many open-minded people who genuinely wanted to know the truth and who would benefit from hearing his experiences firsthand.

Writing is always a leap of faith. Moroni worried that his future readers would mock him because of his “weakness in writing” (Ether 12:23). Nephi acknowledged that many people “cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught” (2 Nephi 33:2, see also 1 Nephi 19:6-7). But they both chose to communicate anyway, believing that some people would benefit from their words. Mormon described his target audience as he visualized the impact of his sobering description of the annihilation of his people:

This I speak unto their seed [the descendants of his enemies, the Lamanites], and also to the Gentiles who have care for the house of Israel, that realize and know from whence their blessings come.

For I know that such will sorrow for the calamity of the house of Israel; yea, they will sorrow for the destruction of this people; they will sorrow that this people had not repented that they might have been clasped in the arms of Jesus.

Mormon 5:10-11

It’s easy to become cynical, to believe that no one will listen to us or be influenced by us. It’s important to override that cynicism, to believe in objective listeners, to visualize your ideal reader and to write for them.

Today, I will trust that people are usually fair-minded. I will share facts with others, assuming that they will consider those facts objectively and make wise decisions with the information I provide.