Brigham Young made a few attempts to influence the religious doctrines handed down to him by Joseph Smith, either by speculation or by alteration, and on the two occasions when he did so, the effects were bad. The first time was when he encouraged the reformation of 1856, with its extreme views of the doctrine of blood atonement. The second time was when he speculated publicly that Adam and Christ were the same person; that is, that the original sin had been committed by the same personage by whom it was later atoned for; and this led to such outcries and ridicule by gentiles and apostates that the subject was hastily dropped. What this amounted to, his opponents charged, was Adam-worship.