All Activity

This both begs the question and, in my view, is not based on a dispassionate view of the evidence. I think we need to examine the evidence. It has. If she was assaulted, she deserves every measure of support and understanding. Again: "A terrible story. I hope those found guilty, if any, are punished to the fullest extent the law." "I am looking at the text messages, and then once again be revolted at the vulgarity and licentiousness that seems to be a chronic and systemic element of the Greek System, and of Hookup Culture in general." "To be sure, the texts are repulsive. Group sex advertised like a commodity." "While I was in the Army I stopped what looked like an attempted sexual assault. As a missionary I confronted and stopped a drunk guy who was kicking his wife while she lay curled up on the sidewalk. I did something." "If {online commentators are calling Jane Doe a 'whore' and saying 'she wanted it'}, this is appalling." "{I} 100% agree {that nothing a women does ever gives permission to have sex with her without her consent}." If she was not assaulted, if she is making false accusations, then the risk of serious adverse consequences is fairly small. Again: One year. Heidi Jones pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of filing a false report. She got three years of probation and 350 hours of community service, matched to the hours the police spent on the case, and she lost the WABC job. No jail. Tawana Brawley totally got away with her false accusations. A grand jury found the story fabricated. She was not prosecuted. Crystal Mangum also got away with it. The Attorney General declared the players innocent in 2007. She was not charged for the false report. (FYI, she is currently in prison for stabbing her boyfriend to death in 2011. She admitted the Duke story was false in 2024, from that prison.) Wanetta Gibson got away with it. She was never charged. Prosecutors said a case would be hard to prove because she was a juvenile at the time and would not formally repeat the recantation. "Jackie," the accuser in the Rolling Stone article, was not charged. Danmell Ndonye got away with it. The Nassau County District Attorney declined to charge her. The condition was counseling and 250 hours of community service, Biurny Peguero pleaded guilty to perjury in 2009 and was sentenced to one to three years. Nikki Yovino pleaded guilty to falsely reporting an incident and was sentenced in 2018 to a year in jail. Thanks, -Smac

I listened and am not convinced. I don’t find the argument plausible.

Do you mean 1882? Or 1884? Do you mean 1883?

I summarized everything that he said relating to the topic, but you can listen from 2:36:00 to hear his words specifically on how he first came to believe that Joseph Smith didn't practice polygamy. His study of Section 132 and sharing it with his family only came after he had first become convinced that Joseph didn't practice it.

God specifically says in the D&C that "no man" needs to break the lands of the land that the Saints were living under at the time. Monogamy as Divine Design expounds on this too! (They're really great sites, I really recommend reading them.) These are the specific sections in question, they're situated right next to eachother on the website: MDD 7. 'Couldn't the practice of polygamy still have been given to Brigham Young as a temporary commandment?' One talk in the October 2024 General Conference contained this quote, The Lord’s commandments are of two types: permanent, like the doctrine of Christ, and temporary. Temporary commandments are those necessary for the needs of the Lord’s Church or the faithful in temporary circumstances, but to be set aside when the need has passed. An example of temporary commandments are the Lord’s directions to the early leadership of the Church to move the Saints from New York to Ohio, to Missouri, and to Illinois... Dallin H. Oaks, October 2024 General Conference Some have argued this to be the case for early Mormon polygamy — that it was a temporary commandment, meant to be followed for only a set period of time before being discontinued. But this assertion does not align with an exegetical reading of D&C 132, as the text does not leave itself open to be viewed as a temporary commandment when it reads, "all those who have this law revealed to them must obey the same." (D&C 132:3) Another issue with applying a commandment to "move the Saints" with a practice like polygamy is that moving homes doesn't break any previously-established commandments, whereas polygamy will always break the previously-given commandment to have only one wife. A "temporary commandment" cannot be morally described as such if it is something that breaks a permanent commandment. MDD 8. 'But the Spirit told Nephi to kill Laban, which was against the commandment to not kill.' Nephi's actions of killing Laban qualified as self defense (and defense of others), even under the conditions of the law of Moses and the law of the land of his time, as Laban was actively seeking to kill Nephi and his brothers. That Laban had already given the orders to kill Nephi (and had even sent his men out to fulfill those orders) justified Nephi under the law to take the actions against Laban that he did. Laban had also stolen Nephi's family's property by force, meaning Nephi was then justified to take Laban's brass plates by the law of Moses "eye for an eye" reasoning of recovering property of an equal or lesser value. It is significant that the Lord did not deliver Laban into Nephi's hands until the conditions had been met that Nephi would be morally justified in taking the plates for his family. Nephi did not violate any law of God or law of the land by killing Laban or taking his plates, and the Lord from the outset orchestrated it to be so. However, these conditions of self defense did not apply to Mormon polygamy, and cannot apply to polygamy in any circumstance. There is no scenario in which a Mormon man has to practice polygamy as a means of self defense. Historicalmonogamy.wixsite.com/divinedesign

Section 132 is definitely filled with problems but that is not evidence for Joseph Smith practicing or not practicing polygamy.

? Whether someone thinks there will be zero cases of eternal polygamy (neither polyandry nor polygyny), or whether someone thinks there will only be selective cases of eternal polyandry/polygyny (from certain remarried widows/widowers. The HMD sites themselves don't strictly argue as to whether there will be no instances of them or only select instances of them. I have my own personal opinion on it of course) it still yet remains that in either scenario, there is no polygamy doctrine being taught as being a commandment by God for anyone to live either for this life or the next, and is being taught that God expressly forbids it in any form for this life. Also ?

This section is referencing the directly preceding sections of the same website, as well as referencing the first website too. The second website (Monogamy as Divine Design) has multiple sections (all previous to this one) that individually address each aspect. The sections of the websites are intended to be read all together in numerical order. It would rather be too much however for me to copy and paste 15+ sections into one comment in order to show you all the info it is referencing.

We also have the canonized scripture, the excommunications and the court cases to consider: HMD 5. 'Couldn't that have been empty language that was used to protect himself?' Joseph Smith went beyond merely speaking out against polygamy. In 1835 he included monogamy in the Doctrine & Covenants as the law of marriage in the church (the original Section 101.) He also excommunicated men in the church for having practiced and taught it (John Bennet, Francis M. Higbee, Chauncey Higbee, Hirum Brown, Harrison Sagers) and acted to sue one of the same men in court (Chauncey Higbee) for slander for stating that Joseph was teaching it in private. He also had church members write affidavits swearing to his innocence during his preparations for the trial. HMD 6. 'Weren’t his public actions against polygamy in part because of Emma?' The idea that Joseph was hiding his polygamy due to Emma’s opposition and bad temper was first reportedly taught by lawyer Chauncey Higbee, and Joseph and Emma together acted to sue him in court for defamation over this teaching: “…one Chancy [sic] L. Higbee has slandered and defamed the character of the said Joseph Smith, and also the character of Emma Smith, his wife, in using their names, the more readily to accomplish his purpose in seducing certain females, and further this deponont [sic] saith not.” Complaint, 24 May 1842 [State of Illinois v. C. L. Higbee] That Joseph made motion to sue a lawyer for defamation, in a state where polygamy of any kind was illegal, is significant — If Chauncey Higbee had any evidence to show that Joseph Smith was in fact practicing polygamy, even with one woman, then not only would the case against Chauncey have been lost but Joseph would then be exposed and brought under punishment of the law himself, for a considerably more serious crime than defamation. Historicalmonogamy.wixsite.com/evidenceofdoctrine When Hyrum was accused of polygamy, he made complaint to the city, trial was held, and the man was found guilty of slander and charged $50 and costs (HMD section 10) Section 101 was included by Joseph in the selection of sections for both editions of the D&C, and it wasn't the only pro-monogamy scripture either: HMD 19 ~ Section 132 is contradicted by other parts of the Doctrine & Covenants ~ Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else D&C 42:22 Wherefore, it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation; D&C 49:16 Both of these sections were included by Joseph Smith in both the first and second editions of the Doctrine & Covenants. Those who argue that polygamy is a "higher law" or a "restoration of all things" forget that D&C 49:16 states that the earth has answered "the end of its creation" by having one wife to one husband. "Twain" means "two". Historicalmonogamy.wixsite.com/evidenceofdoctrine

We have scriptures where prophets disobey laws (famous case is Daniel praying when it is against the rules). We have scriptures where God commands someone to go against His previous commandments (famous case is Nephi being commanded to kill). I don't get this type of argument. Why is marriage/polygamy "special" when we have many other scriptures showing God can command things to be different. If God did command Joseph to practice polygamy, then I don't see how this argument matters.

So you are ok with polygamy? And you do accept that Joseph did teach polygamy?

Notice how your source cites 0 sources? How do I know that the website just made this all up?

We don't have doctrinal precedence for the idea of God "changing" an oath someone has made, especially not to the point of it being such a complete contradiction that the initial oath is broken — and remember, a marital vow wasn't an oath just made to your wife and to God, but was also a legal contract to the state itself, which polygamy was an irreconcilable violation of. There's this point made in Historical Monogamy Doctrine: HMD 36 ~ The 'angel with a drawn sword' story is contradicted by both the Doctrine & Covenants and Pearl of Great Price ~ Polygamy, whether called spiritual wifery, plural marriage, or by any other term, was not lawful during Joseph Smith's life and fell under the legal definition of adultery or bigamy, which in some cases was a serious enough offense to lead to legal charges and fines. The Lord in D&C 58:21 states, Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land. Joseph Smith included Section 58 in both the first and the second edition selections of the Doctrine and Covenants. In The Articles of Faith, the list of twelve basic tenets of church doctrine which is included in the Pearl of Great Price, he wrote as number twelve, We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. Historicalmonogamy.wixsite.com/evidenceofdoctrine Me again: Even if you want to argue that God was okay with men disregarding their marital vow to God in order to practice polygamy, the law was definitely not okay with men disregarding their legally contractual marital vows made to the state in order to practice polygamy, to the point that they enforced real legal punishment for doing so. Monogamists: "Grooms' marital vows were made to their wife, to God, and to the State." Polygamists: "God was okay with them not following those vows made to Him, in order to adopt polygamy." Monogamists: "What about the other two?"

If Brigham Young, John Taylor, or many of the other men who we knew practiced polygamy in Nauvoo had also died in Carthage, we would be having this same argument over whether or not they practiced polygamy. Because they also denounced polygamy. Many of them put out statements or signed documents that denounced polygamy. Joseph was better recorded than them so we have more of his statements (and he probably does more denials because he is actively teaching polygamy, unlike the others who aren't actively teaching it). But we have pretty much the same amount of contemporaneous documentation for all of the men involved. So, basing the argument on just what is contemporaneously recorded isn't good enough or else we would all have to say that there was no polygamy in Nauvoo, which is obviously false. You say there are no verified records during his life. I'm guessing you are on the side that says Clayton's journals are not contemporaneous (I sure hope the Yale printing has photographs of the actual journals so we can really know this). What do you make of Hyrum publicly stating that he is sealed to 2 women (one dead and one living)? D&C 84 was received in 1832. Long before any polygamy was introduced. It was added to the D&C as section 4 in 1835, which is still before polygamy. I find Bradley's recent research in the start of the Alger relationship to be pretty strong and he dates it to shortly after the Kirtland Temple dedication in 1836. I don't see how D&C 84 has anything to do with polygamy.

I find it noteworthy that so many of the systemic issues we see in modern polygamy were also seen in higher rates in Mormon polygamy, even during the years that it was supposedly approved by God: MDD 56. 'Doesn't polygamy produce different outcomes if it's sanctioned by God?" There are those who have argued that data from polygamous or polyamorous groups outside of early Mormonism should never be applied to the polygamy of early Mormonism. They argue that polygyny as practiced by Muslims, FLDS, or non-religious individuals is unsanctioned polygamy, and so ought never to be compared to the polygamy that was supposedly commanded by God to the early Mormons. They argue that God blessed the early Mormons with divine strength, understanding, and purity of heart, and so any polygamy figures from groups outside early Mormonism is therefore misapplied data. But with the early-Mormon-isolated data that young children of polygamous Mormons had higher mortality rates, that polygamous Mormons had higher divorce rates, and that polygamous Mormon women and children suffered under greater levels of neglect, we can see that the level of suffering and dysfunction experienced by early Mormons in polygamy refutes such an argument. Whatever it was that God still blessed early Mormon polygamous family members with, they were not blessed to be as demographically healthy, secure, prosperous, or functional as their monogamous counterparts. Early Mormon monogamous families fared better than Mormon polygamous families during every period in which Mormon church leaders practiced polygamy. It is significant that so many of the exact same societal issues of present day polygamous societies — higher rates of neglect, poverty, contention, and death itself — were found in early Mormon polygamy as well. Historicalmonogamy.wixsite.com/divinedesign

Hyrum Smith's entire address was an anti-polygamy sermon, stating that Joseph's marriage revelation was about eternal marriage, not plural marriage, and Hyrum specifically included the detail of himself being sealed to his deceased wife and his current wife to emphasize to the men that being sealed to more than one woman *isn't* justification for any of the men to start thinking there to be polygamy being practiced or taught in the church. The Historical Monogamy Doctrine sites themselves, while arguing against the idea of mass polygamy in the afterlife (see HMD section 32) nevertheless don't outright protest against the idea of selective cases of it, they rather argue that it wouldn't be a necessity for anyone. But they also suggest that it's not unreasonable to ask whether a spouse might only be eternally matched to progress in exaltation with whichever one spouse they are most compatible to be eternally paired with: MDD 67. "Even if there isn't mass polygamy in Heaven, there would still have to be some polygamy. What about widowers who remarry? They have to be polygamists in heaven." Widowers who remarry do not have to have two wives for all eternity any more than widows who remarry have to have two husbands for all eternity. It is just as reasonable to suggest that we may only be eternally paired with the one spouse to whom we are most mutually compatible with, and that any other remaining spouse will be paired with someone else who is more mutually and eternally suitable for them. If God doesn't allow for any polygamy exceptions in this life, it is reasonable to discuss whether there might not be any polygamy exceptions in the next life. Heber C. Kimball, even while asserting that, "The principle of plurality of wives never will be done away" also divulged, "some sisters have had revelations that, when this time passes away and they go through the veil, every woman will have a husband to herself". Historicalmonogamy.wixsite.com/divinedesign

You can listen to the 7 minutes he talks about it at 2:36:00 — It wasn't through his visions that he first became convinced Joseph didn't practice polygamy, but through his online reading of others who were making that claim and the info they shared. He thought they were "crazy" at first (that was the same as me actually, I thought it was a super delulu idea when I first heard it) and then it was afterwards that the Spirit ordered him (he didn't want to) to do a verse-by-verse analysis of Section 132 and make note of all of the problems with it. Once he was done, the Spirit ordered him to share it with his polygamist family members, which he again really didn't want to do.

Such promising young men.... Judging a rape accusation by focusing on the woman's past (such as how drunk she was or what kind of girl she was to be where she was when the assault happened, etc) while focusing on the man's (men's) future is the epitome of rape culture in this country. Has what won't be restored to Jane Doe if she was actually raped been discussed yet? Or do only the men's futures matter.

Or the whole patriarchal lineage for Adam to Noah is cobbled together. I mean look at this comparison. Here is the line from Adam to Noah: Adam Seth Enosh Kenan Mahalalel Jared Enoch Methuselah Lamech Noah Here is the lineage of Adam through Cain with names that are obviously similar: Adam Cain (Kenan) Enoch (in both lists and Enosh is similar) Irad (Jared) Mehujael (Mahalelel) Methushael (Methusaleh) Lamech Some of them are swapped around some but they are the same or obviously similar names. It is the same list. Cain’s list also doesn’t work with the flood account. In there we get names where the person is supposed to be the progenitor of certain kinds of people. Those that dwell in tents, those that make music, etc. If they all died in the flood that story makes no sense. Most biblical scholars think two diverging accounts were stitched together. The editor appears to favor the Seth to Noah account as they get the heroic stuff and Cain’s line gets the secular stuff. You get a similar stitching with the two incompatible creation accounts at the beginning of Genesis. It is also possible that one of these literary lines didn’t have Adam and Eve as the only humans avoiding the plot hole of how Cain ran off and got a wife.

Dr. Judith Curry? The Dr. Judith Curry who has said the Earth is warming and that human produced CO2 is the primary cause? She says it is all a hoax? You’ve been lied to again. Stop believing the people feeding you this swill. Oh, and she is being ignored? She has testified before Congress at least six times now, is quoted (usually in a misleading way) regularly by people in power to justify doing nothing to mitigate climate change when she does advocate for climate change mitigation measures. The measures she suggests are more moderate but she does suggest that mitigation measures should be taken. So that is another lie from your lying friends. She is a contrarian about how severe climate change’s effect will be but in no way suggests that it is a hoax. She is also somehow ignored while being called before Congress repeatedly and used as a source to justify not doing anything about climate change? Do you realize how stupid that makes your silly little meme created by idiots who are either willfully and deliberately stupid or are malicious deceiving those that listen to them. And you just slurp up that misinformation and pass it along like a good little drone? Why do you do this? Do you not have any sense of dignity? Why aren’t you livid with these people who are lying to you repeatedly? I would be. Do you prefer comforting lies to reality? What is the problem here?

It would be noteworthy to add that the Lord in D&C says the Saints are to be following the "Book of Mormon and the former commandments": 106 ~ The Lord in D&C confirms that members in Joseph Smith's time were under condemnation ~ Section 84 of the Doctrine & Covenants reads, And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written— That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom; otherwise there remaineth a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion. D&C 84:57-58 The Lord here states explicitly that church members will be under condemnation for not following the "former commandments" and the Book of Mormon, and that this condemnation will follow us until we both do and say according to that which the Lord has written. The Book of Mormon was written for Joseph Smith's day, for our day, and for the day of our future generations. We have never had any valid doctrinal excuse to dismiss the Lord's commandments to the Nephites through Jacob as only being for the Nephites Historicalmonogamy.wixsite.com/divinedesign Me again: (This was received from the Lord by Joseph and added to the D&C during the years that Joseph was supposedly practicing polygamy himself, but it was in fact other men who were practicing it behind Joseph's back. Arguing that polygamy was a higher commandment that the Lord wanted the Saints to follow doesn't align with D&C 84.)

If it were only that we have no verified contemporaneous records of him speaking in favor of polygamy, then it would indeed be a weaker argument than it is, but the fact that we have no verified records (during his life) of him teaching polygamy while *also* having a very long page of verified, first-hand words of him specifically denouncing polygamy makes it a much, much stronger case. These quotes are words that are predominantly either from him or that he approved for publication, many of them being said during the same years that polygamy apologists argue he was practicing polygamy himself: Historicalmonogamy.wixsite.com/timeline

But Joseph Smith was a polygamist. I mean, if your visions contradict reality which is wrong? Your visions or reality?

The Nauvoo Expositor made this claim too, and Joseph Smith is contemporaneously recorded in the High Council minutes notes as publicly refuting it: 67 ~ The traditional Section 132 revelation story contradicts Joseph Smith's statement of his marriage revelation ~ LDS historians have stated Joseph Smith received a revelation on marriage in answer to a question asked by Joseph during his translation of the Bible. They have stated plural marriage as being the question and the doctrine received in this case, citing Section 132 where it says, ...inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines - The Nauvoo Expositor also made this claim. However, Joseph's testimony to the Nauvoo City Council against the Expositor states his revelation on marriage to have been from his inquiry on an altogether different passage of the Bible (specifically Matthew 22:30), and was in reference to eternal marriage, not plural marriage, Mayor [Joseph Smith] said he had never preached the revelation in private as he had in public - had not taught it to the annointed in the church in private which many confirmed. - On enquiry the passage in the resurrection they neither mary & I received for answer. Men in this life must be married in view of eternity, was the amount of the revelation, otherwise they must remain as angels - in heaven, and spoke at considerable length in explanation of this principle..." Nauvoo City Council, 10 June 1844; published in "EXTRA," Nauvoo Neighbor 2:8, published 19 June 1844 historicalmonogamy.wixsite.com/evidenceofdoctrine

Or we could act to effect social and cultural change so that women do not have to operate on the presupposition that all men are potential rapists? Just a thunk. And no, your analysis is not dispassionate. You clearly favor the perpetrators over the victim. It is all over your posts here.