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Joseph Smith And Polygamy


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Posted

As I have asked before, why should the LDS Church pstulate polygamy? To what would it achieve? While personally I would like information on people such as Fanny Agler from the website the fact that it's not there doesn't bother me much. I think that the main idea of this thread, that Joseph Smith practiced polygamy, is not hidden on the Church's website.

Posted

Rob Bowman #86;

I don't know what else ot tell you. While strictly speaking, I don't think people say that the LDS Church hides everything but there are many folks who place their lack of knowledge on things like Joseph Smith practicing polygamy on the LDS Church. That the Church does not teach it. Such is nonesense.

Posted

Regardless of the reasoning and purpose, It is impossible to find polyandry in a current church source that is accesible to others up until recently or if at all.( LDS.ORG, church manual, General Conference Talk, or Church Magazine)

You're probably correct but this was shared with me during early morning cemetery seminary.

Posted (edited)

That's interesting. I've no idea why 6/8 of the LDS presidents have no spouse listed. I don't think Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith, or Heber J. Grant practiced polygamy, at least not during their presidencies. So why the referenced presidents have no listing oftheir marriages is not clear. I agree that it's confusing to outsiders as it would be confusing to insiders as well. I just sent the website feedback on this observation.

Joseph F Smith, Lorenzo Snow, and Heber J Grant did practice polygamy

Edited by DBMormon
Posted

Wives

Grant was the last of the LDS Church presidents to practice plural marriage. He married a first time in 1877 and then twice more in 1884. By the time he became President of the Church only one of his wives, Augusta, was still alive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heber_J._Grant

Posted

Joseph F Smith, Lorenzo Snow, and Heber J Grant did practice polygamy

I'm sure you're right. Did they as LDS Church's presidents? I see you already answered this for Grant in your #105 post

Posted

Critics have claimed, and I am referring to active internet exmembers, that the church hides the fact that Joseph practiced polygamy. For many, they claim that they never knew this. But there it is on the church website. No hiding.

How long has it been on the Church website?

I know active Temple attending members who do not know about Smiths polygamy.

Does the Church website address the polygamist marriages to woman already legally to another man?

Why me, that you created this poat, indicates to me that you do not even want try and understand the issues people might have with LDS church history.

Posted

Anyone who doesn't know that LDS practiced but no longer practice polygamy is in serious need of eye glasses.

Or a window in his intestinal wall.
Posted

I'm sure you're right. Did they as LDS Church's presidents? I see you already answered this for Grant in your #105 post

It depends how you define "practicing polygamy." Joseph F. Smith still cohabited with his plural wives after 1890, as did most Church leaders.

From Wikipedia:

"In 1906, Smith was brought to trial on a charge of unlawful cohabitation with four women in addition to his lawful wife; he pleaded guilty and was fined $300, the maximum penalty then permitted under the law."

Posted

I just looked at the LDS Church website on Joseph Smith (josephsmith.net) and I can see no mention of any marriage to anyone other than Emma. (I'm not saying it isn't there just that I couldn't find it). It does seem to be a fairly large ommission

Posted
You're probably correct but this was shared with me during early morning cemetery seminary.

I joined at 17 didn't attend seminary, how was I to know (polyandry)

Posted (edited)

I joined at 17 didn't attend seminary, how was I to know (polyandry)

For Joseph Smith's polyandrous sealings to be discussed in a seminary class would be an extraordinary and extremely rare occurrence. I am quite sure that more than 99.99 percent of seminary students have never heard of Zina Jacobs.

However, I am reliably informed that the new Book of Mormon curriculum, due out in 2013, will deal with the polygamy issue with unprecedented openness.

Edited by Nevo
Posted

You knew about Smith's polyandry when you joined?

Did the missionaries teach you?

I envision tss as one who does not rely on others to spoon feed him all the information that goes into his mind.

Posted

Polygamy was illegal in Illinois when Joseph Smith first started the practice.

Which is one reason why it needed to be kept secret. Also, technically since the marriages were not recognized as legal, Joseph was not technically married to these women. But he did not practice polyandry. The women who were already married did.

Posted

For Joseph Smith's polyandrous sealings to be discussed in a seminary class would be an extraordinary and extremely rare occurrence. I am quite sure that more than 99.99 percent of seminary students have never heard of Zina Jacobs.

However, I am reliably informed that the new Book of Mormon curriculum, due out in 2013, will deal with the polygamy issue with unprecedented openness.

And this of course, will be due to Elder Jensen's influence.

Posted

You knew about Smith's polyandry when you joined?

Did the missionaries teach you?

You mean about the lds women's polyandry right? Joseph did not practice polyandry since it refers to married women marrying other men. But he practice polygamy.

Posted

I just looked at the LDS Church website on Joseph Smith (josephsmith.net) and I can see no mention of any marriage to anyone other than Emma. (I'm not saying it isn't there just that I couldn't find it). It does seem to be a fairly large ommission

However it is on lds.org. I linked it with the OP.

Posted

That it is on the website NOW says nothing of when these people were members. Do we know how long that page has been there?

I have no idea how long that it was there. However, I do believe that changes are coming and very little will be 'hidden' in the future.

Posted

Ok this is the last one I'm replying to tonight, I promise:

I don't know what kind of semantics this "he can't be a polyandrist because he's a man" is, but it doesn't seem right in any way. Are you saying that women can't be polygamists because they are women? I'm pretty sure we consider the women of polygamous marriages polygamists. Does the LDS church not excommunicate women for polygamy?

Let me try this again: married women who marry other men are engaged in polyandry. Not the men. If the man is married, he is engaged in polygamy. So, Joseph was not a polyandrist but a polygamist. But the married women were engaged in polyandry. The married women needed to consent to marry joseph and as such, they engaged in polyandry.

Posted

If you will change the word polygamy to polyandry, you can use me as one reference.

Regardless of the reasoning and purpose, It is impossible to find polyandry in a current church source that is accesible to others up until recently or if at all.( LDS.ORG, church manual, General Conference Talk, or Church Magazine)

I will avoid saying they hid it but certainly they avoided it.

Don't bite my head off unless this isn't factual - I am not creating the reason or motiff, just that it isn't there

Well, of course, the lds church would have to come out and say that some lds women engaged in polyandry with Joseph. That would do the trick. But polyandry falls on the women and not the men.

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