New Gospel Topic Essays - Polygamy

[MormonFreeThinker]

It is now official, Joseph Smith did practice plural marriage. I am sorry Alan. 

 

"In Nauvoo, Joseph Smith married additional wives and authorized other Latter-day Saints to practice plural marriage." 

"Sealings for time and eternity included commitments and relationships during this life, generally including the possibility of sexual relations. Eternity-only sealings indicated relationships in the next life alone. Evidence indicates that Joseph Smith participated in both types of sealings"

https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng

 

https://www.lds.org/topics/the-manifesto-and-the-end-of-plural-marriage?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints?lang=eng

 

 

Remember, the Gospel Topics are approved by the First Presidency 

 

"Most of those sealed to Joseph Smith were between 20 and 40 years of age at the time of their sealing to him. The oldest, Fanny Young, was 56 years old. The youngest was Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of Joseph’s close friends Heber C. and Vilate Murray Kimball, who was sealed to Joseph several months before her 15th birthday. Marriage at such an age, inappropriate by today’s standards, was legal in that era, and some women married in their mid-teens. Helen Mar Kimball spoke of her sealing to Joseph as being “for eternity alone,” suggesting that the relationship did not involve sexual relations. After Joseph’s death, Helen remarried and became an articulate defender of him and of plural marriage."

https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng

Edited October 22, 2014 by MormonFreeThinker

[Buckeye]

I thought these were supposed to come out on a Friday? Darn you!

[JLHPROF]

Very good essays.  Couple of hiccups and partial facts here and there, but the most honest, open and accurate I've ever seen in official Church material.

Edited October 22, 2014 by JLHPROF

[MormonFreeThinker]

Brian C Hales and Gregory L Smith mentioned in the Resources 

[cinepro]

I like the "Choose Your Own Adventure" approach the Church has taken with the essays.

 

 

"If you wish Joseph Smith had never practiced polygamy, click here to return to the regular LDS.org website and forget you ever read this essay."

Edited October 22, 2014 by cinepro

[tonie]

I like the "Chose Your Own Adventure" approach the Church has taken with the essays.

 

 

"If you wish Joseph Smith had never practiced polygamy, click here to return to the regular LDS.org website and forget you ever read this essay."

 

lol

[tonie]

Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

 

"In Joseph Smith’s time, monogamy was the only legal form of marriage in the United States."

 

 

 

Interesting statement, considering IIRC some of the past apologetics to the contrary.

[Tacenda]

I've got to say...bless the leaders & scholarly historians for putting up the essay. I can no longer be thought of as believing only anti stuff if my FC were ever to become known to the rest of my very TBM in laws. I now have a place to point them. It's just that I'd be instructed to go by an even bigger faith from here on out.

But I've been waiting for this day for years. Not to shove it in people's faces, I won't, but it's my get out of jail free card, it's my alibi, it's my insane free diagnosis, it's my get out of Twilight Zone nightmare card...need I go on? So grateful for this new day. ETA:  I hope Scott will help facilitate this being reported by the Deseret News as well!  Because the truth is useful!  Edit again:  DN article...good one!! 

Edited October 22, 2014 by Tacenda

[Buckeye]

I agree that, overall, the essays are very good. They will help to facilitate better discussions of this difficult topic. That said, it would be nice to see at least once citation to D. Michael Quinn, but I guess that's too much to ask.

[Buckeye]

During the years that plural marriage was publicly taught, not all Latter-day Saints were expected to live the principle, though all were expected to accept it as a revelation from God. Indeed, this system of marriage could not have been universal due to the ratio of men to women. Women were free to choose their spouses, whether to enter into a polygamous or a monogamous union, or whether to marry at all. Some men entered plural marriage because they were asked to do so by Church leaders, while others initiated the process themselves; all were required to obtain the approval of Church leaders before entering a plural marriage.

 

It would be nice to know if the same ratio will exist in the eternities as well.

[JLHPROF]

Some interesting items on the manifesto period:

 

A footnote addressing the existence of the 1886 revelation. https://www.lds.org/topics/the-manifesto-and-the-end-of-plural-marriage?lang=eng#14

 

President John Taylor’s son, the Apostle John W. Taylor, later reported that he found among his father’s papers, after his death, “a revelation given him [President Taylor] of the Lord.” “President Taylor desired to have to have it [plural marriage] suspended, but the Lord would not permit it to be done” (Abraham H. Cannon diary, April 1, 1892, Church History Library, Salt Lake City). Years later, Apostle Taylor presented a copy of this revelation to the Twelve at his excommunication trial for continuing to perform plural marriages. Francis M. Lyman, President of the Twelve, noted in his diary entry for that day that this “purported revelation” was “never submitted to the Councils of the Priesthood nor the church” and was therefore not binding on the Church (Francis M. Lyman diary, Feb. 22, 1911). If authentic, the revelation had been superseded by the Manifesto, which was given by revelation to President Wilford Woodruff and was accepted by the Church at general conference.

 

This is a bit disingenuous since most of these were performed by the quorum of the 12 and over half the apostles (possibly including Pres. Woodruff) took additional wives.

Under exceptional circumstances, a smaller number of new plural marriages were performed in the United States between 1890 and 1904, though whether the marriages were authorized to have been performed within the states is unclear.

 

 

 

The Manifesto which was issued by revelation was only to submit to the laws of the US.  Where did Jos. F. Smith receive a revelation to end plural marriage permanently?

 

The Manifesto declared President Woodruff’s intention to submit to the laws of the United States. It said nothing about the laws of other nations. Ever since the opening of colonies in Mexico and Canada, Church leaders had performed plural marriages in those countries, and after October 1890, plural marriages continued to be quietly performed there.

 

 

The acknowledgement that the original Manifesto was never intended to ban plural marriage.  The Second Manifesto banned plural marriage, although the revelation to Jos. F. Smith to take this step seems to not be on record.

 

The Second Manifesto was a watershed event. For the first time, Church members were put on notice that new plural marriages stood unapproved by God and the Church. The Second Manifesto expanded the reach and scope of the first. “When [the Manifesto] was given,” Elder Francis M. Lyman, President of the Quorum of the Twelve, explained, “it simply gave notice to the Saints that they need not enter plural marriage any longer, but the action taken at the conference held in Salt Lake City on the 6th day of April 1904 [the Second Manifesto] made that manifesto prohibitory.”

[mormonnewb]

Kudos to the Church!  In a few places, I think the Church went above and beyond the call of duty in full disclosure (e.g., acknowledging false public denials of the practice, the marriage of a 14 yo, Emma's unease with the practice, etc.).  I was impressed that the Church went about as far as it possibly could in tackling those issues that seem to create the greatest stumbling block for members.

 

I know that some of my peeps will argue that the Church used "apologetics" to try to explain away or justify JS' behavior.  To which I respond, "Duh!"  That is the Church's job -- to defend its core principles and doctrines -- one of which is the practical inerrancy of prophets (i.e., God will kill the Prophet if he even THINKS of leading the Church astray).  The Church can't possibly say, "Brother Joseph took us for a ride with this whole polygamy thing, but you can trust everything that we now say about tithing."  We're Mormons, not Methodists!

 

And while I don't think this essay will change the minds of those who think that JS got it wrong on polygamy, it should at least allay the concerns of those who feel that they were deceived by the Church.

 

Now, comes the interesting part -- SLOWLY incorporating this information into our instructional materials.  But for now, I say, "Bravo!  You go, Church!"

[MormonFreeThinker]

I like the "Chose Your Own Adventure" approach the Church has taken with the essays.

 

 

"If you wish Joseph Smith had never practiced polygamy, click here to return to the regular LDS.org website and forget you ever read this essay."

 

That is what you are going to do when the church publishes essays about Macro-Evolution and Death Before the Fall. 

[Scott Lloyd]

Yet another instance of the Church hiding things in plain sight and encouraging its members to go find them.

[Scott Lloyd]

I like the "Chose Your Own Adventure" approach the Church has taken with the essays.

 

 

"If you wish Joseph Smith had never practiced polygamy, click here to return to the regular LDS.org website and forget you ever read this essay."

Is that right above the one that says: "If you want to continue to pretend the Church hides its history, log off now and forget you ever saw this web page"?

Edited October 22, 2014 by Scott Lloyd

[Scott Lloyd]

Now, comes the interesting part -- SLOWLY incorporating this information into our instructional materials.  But for now, I say, "Bravo!  You go, Church!"

From today's Deseret News story by Tad Walch:

 

Church leaders want the Gospel Topics section of LDS.org to become a focus of gospel study for church members. The church's relatively new curriculum for teens is online only, and much of it is drawn from links to content on Gospel Topics pages. The church is preparing a new adult curriculum that similarly will be online-oriented and draw on Gospel Topics content.

Online curriculum can be updated quickly and cost-effectively to reflect new research and new talks by church leaders.

 

But of course, according to Bill Reel, the Deseret News can't be trusted because the Church owns it.

Edited October 22, 2014 by Scott Lloyd

[JAHS]

I knew of the "requirement that the husband gain the consent of the first wife before marrying additional women." But I did not know it was called the "Law of Sarah".

[HappyJackWagon]

Interesting essay. I had to chuckle a little bit when they described Helen Mar Kimball being sealed to Joseph Smith several months before her 15th birthday. They couldn't bring themselves to say she was 14. They also didn't mention the other 14 year old.

 

Still, a step in the right direction and its nice to have acknowledgement that JS practiced polygamy and likely consumated at least some of the sealings because so many refuse to accept it. It will be interesting how this will be spun by some members to deny what the church just admitted.

[JAHS]

Interesting essay. I had to chuckle a little bit when they described Helen Mar Kimball being sealed to Joseph Smith several months before her 15th birthday. They couldn't bring themselves to say she was 14. They also didn't mention the other 14 year old.

 

Still, a step in the right direction and its nice to have acknowledgement that JS practiced polygamy and likely consumated at least some of the sealings because so many refuse to accept it. It will be interesting how this will be spun by some members to deny what the church just admitted.

 

I don't think there is much of a problem of him consummating some of the sealings, so long as he did not consummate the sealings he had with women who were already married.

[Scott Lloyd]

Interesting essay. I had to chuckle a little bit when they described Helen Mar Kimball being sealed to Joseph Smith several months before her 15th birthday. They couldn't bring themselves to say she was 14.

Wow! Nothing gets by you, HappyJackWagon.

[Buckeye]

I knew of the "requirement that the husband gain the consent of the first wife before marrying additional women." But I did not know it was called the "Law of Sarah".

 

The law of Sarah is not the law of consent. The law of Sarah is that if your wife does not give her consent, you are then free to proceed without it.

[Scott Lloyd]

Interesting insight that had not occurred to me regarding sealings to women already married:

 

These sealings may also be explained by Joseph’s reluctance to enter plural marriage because of the sorrow it would bring to his wife Emma. He may have believed that sealings to married women would comply with the Lord’s command without requiring him to have normal marriage relationships.³³ This could explain why, according to Lorenzo Snow, the angel reprimanded Joseph for having “demurred” on plural marriage even after he had entered into the practice.³⁴ After this rebuke, according to this interpretation, Joseph returned primarily to sealings with single women.

 

[Nevo]

I don't expect the Church will do anything to publicize the "Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo" essay (so far it's unlisted on the Gospel Topics site) but I'm glad it exists. The official line up until now has been that "much unreliable information pertaining to [Joseph Smith's practice of] plural marriage exists on the Internet and in many print sources." Now the Church has formally defined what it views as reliable information on the subject. That's a big deal.

Edited October 22, 2014 by Nevo

[Scott Lloyd]

I don't expect the Church will do anything to publicize the "Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo" essay (so far it's unlisted on the Gospel Topics site) but I'm glad it exists.

So this story in today's Deseret News doesn't count as publicity, then? (Online for now; probably be in print tomorrow.)

 

Also, I have it on the best of authority that the same story will be appearing in this weekend's Church News, which is an official news publication of the Church.

Edited October 22, 2014 by Scott Lloyd

[juliann]

I don't think there is much of a problem of him consummating some of the sealings, so long as he did not consummate the sealings he had with women who were already married.

Sexist much?

 

This says a lot more about what people think about a woman's place in a man's world than it does polygamy!