For those who wish to attack Mormonism, or those who simply don't understand or completely disagree, the most common cause of their dislike is the role of the prophet Joseph Smith. In my opinion, the second greatest problem people have with Joseph Smith is misinformation (often if not usually willfully acquired, or at least gathered under complete bias), but the REAL problem, the reason they are so willing to believe the outlandish stories, or unwilling to objectively seek out the truth, is because of his claim to the prophetic calling.
Others have also claimed to be prophets, but in almost all cases, they have not made much of an imprint, and so they are easy to shrug off (Mohammed being the obvious exception). IF Joseph Smith was a prophet, called by God and Christ, then his message and all of the consequences thereof are real, important, and "true." That means, plain and simple, that you'd have to become a member of His church, enter into His covenants, and bear the yoke. It's not easy--that's why it's a yoke.
It's much easier instead to pass on Joseph, and thus believe whatever one will about Christ. I know a lot of Christians who are better people than I am, but they have admitted to finding great comfort in the simplicity of modern Christianity. Faith alone, Christ alone, Bible alone--it's pretty vague and you can do what you want with it. Yes, many do with that as much as I do with mine. Some more. We'll be hanging out in heaven if I can make it. The problem is that this is simply not God's plan. His house is a house of order, not a free-for-all. It is a yoke, not an event or a statement. We, as society and individuals, need much more structure than modern social philosophies promote. We need covenants and priesthood and revelation and ritual and expectations and Church. Joseph restored all of that.
Christ taught that no one can reach the Father except through Him (John 14:6). It is not exactly the same, but a similar message I would share about Joseph Smith. No one (and I mean that) can get to the truth about Jesus Christ except through the teachings from Christ about Himself and the Father, which were restored by Joseph Smith.
Just think about it--NO major religion in the entire modern world teaches that God has a physical body. The last groups who understood that were from the ancient world (among whom we would include the early Christians, obviously, since Christ--God--had/has a body). NO major religion in modern times believes in Revelation. NO major religion believes in (near) universal, though graded salvation. NO Jewish or Christian group have much resembling the Temple. Catholics and Orthodox retain some extremely distant similarities, but it takes an expert to relate fragmented practices and beliefs to the real thing in the House of the LORD. Those are just a few examples, but none of these things would be possible without Joseph Smith. In addition to these beliefs and practices, he also restored the Priesthood and the way it should be organized here on Earth.
As Christians, our faith in Christ is everything. However, the entire Christian world believes incorrect things about Christ. This does not mean that they aren't amazing and sincere and ... , but it does mean that they do not have the accurate knowledge of what Christ is saying to them at this very day. Latter-day Saints are the only ones who claim to receive His word now. Who Christ is, or is not, what He teaches, or does not, and what He expects, or does not, should be the greatest desire of every Christian to learn. Good friends of mine would obviously agree, but would say that He gave us the Bible, and that is enough. Who said so? Who said that the Bible is it, and God would never speak again. Clearly those to whom He did not speak.
No--Even with the Bible, and even with the Book of Mormon, God must reveal Himself or remain unknown. We cannot comprehend His truths, we are too weak, finite, etc. He must reveal himself, and do so often. His love for us is proven by the fact that He does. Without His constant revelation, no amount of past writings would keep us strong and teach us truth.
And that is why Joseph Smith is necessary. God is revealing Himself again, and it began with Joseph Smith.
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