Thank you for your Spam next time put it in a can!:)
Posted on 12/30/2013 12:28:31 AM PST by Colofornian
POCATELLO — A Cedar City, Utah, man convicted of felony injury to a child stemming from inappropriate contact with a 16-year-old child in 2012, was placed on probation Monday and sentenced to spend the next 10 days in Bannock County Jail.
Derrick Starley was serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chubbuck when the incident occurred. He was originally charged with sexual battery of child 16 or 17 years old...
Starley pleaded guilty to the reduced charge in early November as part of a plea agreement through which prosecutors agreed that they would not oppose probation but also said they would likely ask for local jail time.
JaNiece Prices, assistant chief deputy prosecutor for Bannock County did just that. She said that based on the presentence investigation report and psycho-sexual evaluation, Starley did not appear to be a substantial risk to re-offend, but that he did need treatment for an addiction to pornography.
She asked Sixth District Judge Robert Naftz for local jail time and that the treatment be a part of Starley’s conditions for probation. She also recommended Starley’s probation be a lengthy term to assure he has time for that treatment.
The victim’s father then spoke to the judge, conveying the depth to which the incident has affected the victim and their family. He then said the family has forgiven Starley and only hopes that he gets the treatment he needs.
SNIP
The judge sentenced Starley to serve 10 days in the Bannock County Jail in addition to the five days he spent in jail when first arrested, meaning he will spend Christmas in jail.
“You affected people by your conduct,” Naftz told Starley. “There has to be some kind of consequence so you understand.”
(Excerpt) Read more at idahostatejournal.com ...
Did your family get 'help' to send you off to Denmark?
1–5, Faithful elders who preach the gospel will gain eternal life; 6–12, Pray to receive the Comforter, who teaches all things; 13–22, Elders will sit in judgment on those who reject their message; 23–36, Families of missionaries are to receive help from the Church.
2 Hearken, O ye who have agiven your names to go forth to proclaim my gospel, and to bprune my vineyard.
3 Behold, I say unto you that it is my will that you should go forth and not tarry, neither be aidle but blabor with your might—
4 Lifting up your voices as with the sound of a trump, aproclaiming the btruth according to the revelations and commandments which I have given you.
5 And thus, if ye are faithful ye shall be laden with many asheaves, and bcrowned with honor, and glory, and immortality, and eternal life.
6 Therefore, verily I say unto my servant aWilliam E. McLellin, I brevoke the commission which I gave unto him to go unto the eastern countries;
7 And I give unto him a new commission and a new commandment, in the which I, the Lord, achasten him for the bmurmurings of his heart;
8 And he sinned; nevertheless, I forgive him and say unto him again, Go ye into the south countries.
9 And let my servant Luke Johnson go with him, and proclaim the things which I have commanded them—
10 Calling on the name of the Lord for the aComforter, which shall teach them all things that are expedient for them—
11 aPraying always that they bfaint not; and inasmuch as they do this, I will be with them even unto the end.
12 Behold, this is the will of the Lord your God concerning you. Even so. Amen.
13 And again, verily thus saith the Lord, let my servant Orson Hyde and my servant Samuel H. Smith take their journey into the eastern countries, and proclaim the things which I have commanded them; and inasmuch as they are faithful, lo, I will be awith them even unto the end.
14 And again, verily I say unto my servant Lyman Johnson, and unto my servant Orson Pratt, they shall also take their journey into the eastern countries; and behold, and lo, I am with them also, even unto the end.
15 And again, I say unto my servant Asa Dodds, and unto my servant Calves Wilson, that they also shall take their journey unto the western countries, and proclaim my gospel, even as I have commanded them.
16 And he who is faithful shall overcome all things, and shall be alifted up at the last day.
17 And again, I say unto my servant Major N. Ashley, and my servant Burr Riggs, let them take their journey also into the south country.
18 Yea, let all those take their journey, as I have commanded them, going from ahouse to house, and from village to village, and from city to city.
19 And in whatsoever house ye enter, and they receive you, leave your blessing upon that house.
20 And in whatsoever house ye enter, and they receive you not, ye shall depart speedily from that house, and ashake off the dust of your feet as a testimony against them.
21 And you shall be filled with ajoy and gladness; and know this, that in the day of judgment you shall be bjudges of that house, and condemn them;
22 And it shall be more atolerable for the bheathen in the day of judgment, than for that house; therefore, cgird up your loins and be faithful, and ye shall overcome all things, and be dlifted up at the last day. Even so. Amen.
23 And again, thus saith the Lord unto you, O ye elders of my church, who have agiven your names that you might know his will concerning you—
24 Behold, I say unto you, that it is the aduty of the church to assist in bsupporting the families of those, and also to support the families of those who are called and must needs be sent unto the world to proclaim the gospel unto the world.
25 Wherefore, I, the Lord, give unto you this commandment, that ye obtain places for your afamilies, inasmuch as your brethren are willing to open their hearts.
26 And let all such as can obtain places for their families, and support of the church for them, not fail to go into the world, whether to the east or to the west, or to the north, or to the south.
27 Let them aask and they shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto them, and be made known from on high, even by the bComforter, whither they shall go.
28 And again, verily I say unto you, that every aman who is obliged to bprovide for his own cfamily, let him provide, and he shall in nowise lose his crown; and let him labor in the church.
29 Let every man be adiligent in all things. And the bidler shall not have place in the church, except he repent and mend his ways.
30 Wherefore, let my servant Simeon Carter and my servant Emer Harris be united in the ministry;
31 And also my servant Ezra Thayre and my servant aThomas B. Marsh;
32 Also my servant Hyrum Smith and my servant Reynolds Cahoon;
33 And also my servant Daniel Stanton and my servant Seymour Brunson;
34 And also my servant Sylvester Smith and my servant Gideon Carter;
35 And also my servant Ruggles Eames and my servant aStephen Burnett;
36 And also my servant Micah B. Welton and also my servant aEden Smith. Even so. Amen.
yep. pure insanity
There was a common price for travel tickets through Morris Travel SLC. Cannot remember the amount, probably about $150.
Other than that, my parents sent me $65. per month which was the total amount received (no help). I bought a bike for about $30 which was my transportation.
We lived very sparing lives, worked our asses off and for me was the finest experience I had ever experienced as a 19 year old kid. Not the religion or the dogma but the people, the food not to mention a few other special things.
After thirty months I had my father sell a cow that I had won in an FFA public speaking contest as a 17 year old. He sent me the $500 and I spent a month on my own touring Europe, smoking Camel cigarettes, drinking the finest beers and spending time with the beautiful young women in Geneva, Amsterdam, Rome, Berlin and Paris.
The finest and best two and a half years of my life.
“
“Sounds like your inner demon doesn’t like having too much light thrown on it.
Interesting how a “conservative” who would never think a sixteen year old is adult enough to vote, drink alcohol or be trusted with your credit cards thinks they’re all grown up when you need a place to put your penis.”
Wow, you must live in a fantasy world.
My objection is to calling a 16 year old a child. From that you dreamed up all the above?
When I was 16 I had a car that I bought and paid for. (All $175 bucks worth) I had a job that I drove to every day after school. In my car. That I paid for. And when I first started, I did use my parents gas card for gas until I had a couple of paychecks to pay them back and get started. I payed them back in three weeks and gave the card back. (I guess that would be called responsible use of a credit card by a 16 year old, right?)
At 18 I was legal to go in the bars and drink. I did. How’s that grab ya?
So what kind of sick twisted guilty conscience warped mind do you have that you can make up all that other stuff about me based on what I posted?
“The context was...
...sexploitation...
...possible/likely? force & coercion...
...a person in a place of trust (a missionary) misusing it for either of the above mispurposes... “
I don’t give two hoots in a holler what the context was.
A 16 year old male is supposed to be well on his way to being a young man. He is certainly no child. And should not be treated as one or referred to as one.
And I just can’t resist that last line “a person in a place of trust (a missionary) “
If you think the law should place a Mormon missionary (who tends to be 18 to 20 or thereabouts, BTW) in the same category as a real clergyman or teacher you are nuts. Plain and simple nuts.
The last thing any knowledgeable and sane person is going to do is hold a cult recruiter in such high regards.
I don’t know why you are posting that junk to me. I’ve never been LDS, and have never read that stuff, nor do I intend to, or have any interest.
Sorry, Colofornian; that last post was supposed to be to Elsie.
“lEsie, you are a religious bigot!
You might be right; But I have a LOT of MORMON data that I post; don’t I.”
You must be a dried up shrew with no one to share your life with! Like most organized religions, Mormonism at it’s core is about controlling it’s adherents lives ( just like Marxists). All of them, far from “setting an individual free,” feed off of the weak by convincing them that unless they adhere to “their principles,” you will not have a good life and you will be shut out of whatever the “life after death” offers to the “faithful.” Then there’s always the money. The Catholic Church used to “sell indulgences.” And actually they all still do. Seeing as how you are “all up on Mormon theology,” you will probably agree that by the so-called “standards of Mormonism,” Harry Reid is an apostate. And yet there he is, supposedly a member in good standing. I’d think a lot more of the Mormons if they would excommunicate him, but people with power or money (or both) can pretty much get away with heresy without penalty. I mean, look at Nazi Pelousey. She’s pro-abortion and pro-homosexual, both of which are “mortal sins” in the Catholic church, but you don’t see anyone in that church’s hierarchy stepping up and kicking her sorry ass out.
But all that aside, I fail to understand why you are wasting your time on the Mormons? As churches go, they are a pretty benign group. I can only guess that you are a Jehovah’s Witness or some other fringe church, because they are the only one’s who go around picking fights with other people’s religions. How sad, to try and build up your own relationship with your God, buy denigrating others whose quest is just like yours.
Finally, at the end of the day, this article shouldn’t even have been posted on FR in my view. We have much more important issues before us that should be consuming our debate efforts. Something you might want to consider.
LDS Church lowers age requirement for missionary service
President Thomas S. Monson announced that effective immediately, young men may begin their full-time missionary service following their graduation from high school, even if they are only 18 at the time. And young women, who have not been eligible for full-time missionary service until age 21, may now begin their service at age 19.
“I am not suggesting that all young men will — or should — serve at this earlier age,” President Monson said. Rather, he said, the option is now available based on individual circumstances and the recommendation of their local church leaders.
It’s in my nature to defend an underage victim abused by a person in a position of power. From your first post you legitimized the perpetrator’s right to deposit his sperm.
The words “underage victim” produce a different train of thought in your mind than my own. Our first instincts are certainly different.
In another decade nobody will be underage. You win.
I have dealt with her before. While I am no fan of Mormonism, I have seldom seen anyone with the venom she has for the Mormons.
***
Elsie is not a she Elsie is a HE and you are so right!
My goodness that man has a crude way of talking I can not believe he was once Mormon...
but it sure explains why he is now X!
Just an observation of behavior..
And His blessings on you and yours as well, Colofornian.
May the Great Redeemer of the world, even Jesus Christ, who’s Salvation is unto all who truly come unto Him, bless and keep you and yours.
If you think the law should place a Mormon missionary (who tends to be 18 to 20 or thereabouts, BTW) in the same category as a real clergyman or teacher you are nuts. Plain and simple nuts.
______________________________________
well the Mormons call that Mormon kid an ELDER and put him in authority and knowledge and importance OVER all Christian clergy, even the Catholic pope..
so what do you think ???
since the Mormon kid claims to be superior to Billy Graham and the pope, shouldn’t he as an adult and a RECOGNIZED “anointed” and “ordained” minister of the Mormon gospel of Joseph Smith also be accountable ??
it would be nuts to give him a pass since nobody forced him to be a Mormon Elder ...
It’s considered courteous and uncowardly to ping the person you’re posting about. But “mormons are such nice people” so you can lower the bar.
Since we have such an obedient, devout mormon at hand, perhaps you can actually contribute something to the discussion. Was your disgraced missionary simply following the dictates and example of his pedo prophet?
——————————*
www.exmormon.org
History, not Mystery: Joseph Smith was a Pedophile (as confirmed by even Mormon sources) . . .
Like Warren Jeffs, Joseph Smith engaged in sex with underage girls (despite what robo-Mos dependent on FAIR propaganda peddling may wish to believe—and as proven by Mormon history itself).
*Smith’s Well-Earned Reputation for Being a Sex-Obsessed, Self-Possessed Philanderer
As a baseline (and as known in Mormon circles of his day), Smith was legendary for his sexual attraction to women.
In fact, the official LDS publication, “History of the Church” (vol. 5, p. 53), acknowledged the lore of Smith’s attraction to females, as described in ‘The Wasp,” a LDS newspaper published in Nauvoo, Illinois:
“[On 2 July 1843], the [Mormon] Church newspaper ‘The Wasp’ publishe[d] a phrenology chart of Smith’s head and personality. The first trait [was] ‘Amativeness-11, L[arge]. Extreme susceptibility; passionately fond of the company of the other sex.’ The official ‘History of the Church’ still publishes this chart, along with the caution that such a high score indicates ‘extreme liability to perversion’ in the trait.”
Perversion is right.
Smith’s moves to seduce other men’s wives were so brazen and notorious that they led one distraught husband—Orson Pratt—to attempt suicide in Nauvoo on 15 July 1842:
“Thousands of Nauvoo Mormons search[ed] for Orson Pratt after discovering a suicide note. They find him distraught because Smith, according to Pratt’s wife, had tried to seduce Pratt’s wife Sarah.”
Not only did Smith have a reputation as a ladies’ man, he also had a record of defending friends of his who were sleeping around.
According to the “Minutes of the High Council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Nauvoo Illinois” (6 February 1841), Smith directed “the Nauvoo high council not to excommunicate Theodore Turley for ‘sleeping with two females,’ requiring him only to confess ‘that he had acted unwisely, unjustly, imprudently, and unbecoming.’”
Eventually, Smith’s sexual excess caught up with him in court. On 23 March 1844, William Law filed suit against Smith for committing adultery with Smith’s foster daughter and plural wife:
“William Law file[d] a formal complaint with the Hancock County [Illinois] circuit court charging Smith was living ‘in an open state of adultery’ with Maria Lawrence, Smith’s foster daughter and polygamous wife. Maria Lawrence was a teenaged orphan who was living in the Smith household. In fact, Smith had secretly married both Maria, age 19, and her sister Sarah, age 17, on 11 May 1843 and was serving as executor of their $8,000 estate.
“William Law apparently hoped that disclosing Smith’s relationship with the young girls might lead him to abandon polygamy but Smith immediately excommunicated Law, had himself appointed the girls’ legal guardian and rejected the charge in front of a church congregation on 26 May 1844, denying that he had more than one wife.”(Joseph Smith, “History of the Church,” vol. 6, p. 403; and Richard S. Van Wagoner, “Mormon Polygamy: A History,” p. 66)
(all preceding and subsequent citations and quotes are found in “Joseph Smith’s Polygamy Chronology,” at: http://www.i4m.com/think/polygamy/JS_Polygamy_Timeline.htm)
_____
*Smith and 16-year-old Fanny Alger
Smith’s first known sexual affair was with a teenager named Fannie Alger, who was living with Smith and his first wife Emma in their Kirtland, Ohio, home. Fanny was also Smith’s first confimred plural wife. Smith “came to know [her] in Kirtland during early 1833 when she, at the age of 16, stayed at his home as a housemaid. Described as ‘a very nice and comly young woman,’ according to Benjamin Johnson, Fanny lived with the Smith family from 1833 to 1836.”
Fanny eventually became the target of Smith’s sexual advances, with Smith’s predatory behavior soon becoming the talk of the town:
“Martin Harris, one of the ‘Three Witnesses’ to the Book of Mormon, recalled that the prophet’s ‘servant girl’ claimed he had made ‘improper proposals to her, which created quite a talk amongst the people.’ Mormon Fanny Brewer similarly reported ‘much excitement against the Prophet . . . [involving] an unlawful intercourse between himself and a young orphan girl residing in his family and under his protection.”
Emma discovered the sexual affair between Smith and Fanny and exploded in anger. Caught with his hand in Fanny’s cookie jar, Smith confessed. A noticeably pregnant Fanny eventually was kicked out of the house by Emma, as reported thusly:
“Former Mormon apostle William McLellin later wrote that Emma Smith substantiated the Smith-Alger affair. According to McLellin, Emma was searching for her husband and Alger one evening, when through a crack in the barn door she saw ‘him and Fanny in the barn together alone’ on the hay mow. McLellin, in a letter to one of Smith’s sons, added that the ensuing confrontation between Emma and her husband grew so heated that Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams, and Oliver Cowdery had to mediate the situation.
“After Emma related what she had witnessed, Smith, according to McLellin, ‘confessed humbly and begged forgiveness. Emma and all forgave him.’ While Oliver Cowdery may have forgiven his cousin Joseph Smith, he did not forget the incident. Three years later, when provoked by the prophet, Cowdery countered by calling the Fanny Alger episode ‘a dirty, nasty, filthy affair.’
“Chauncey Webb recounts Emma’s later discovery of the relationship: ‘Emma was furious, and drove the girl, who was unable to conceal the consequences of her celestial relation with the prophet, out of her house’ . . .
“’ . . . Webb, Smith’s grammar teacher . . . reported that when the pregnancy became evident, Emma Smith drove Fanny from her home. . . . . Webb’s daughter, Ann Eliza Webb Young, a divorced wife of Brigham Young, remembered that Fanny was taken into the Webb home on a temporary basis . . . . . Fanny stayed with relatives in nearby Mayfield until about the time Joseph fled Kirtland for Missouri.
“Fanny left Kirtland in September 1836 with her family. Though she married non-Mormon Solomon Custer on 16 November 183614 and was living in Dublin City, Indiana, far from Kirtland, her name still raised eyebrows. Fanny Brewer, a Mormon visitor to Kirtland in 1837, observed ‘much excitement against the Prophet . . . [involving] an unlawful intercourse between himself and a young orphan girl residing in his family and under his protection.’”
(Van Wagoner, “Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait in Religious Excess,” p. 291; and Van Wagoner, “Mormon Polygamy: A History,” p. 8; cited in ibid)
_____
*Smith and 19-year-old Zina D. Hunington
Smith further cemented his reputation for fooling around by making moves on a then-married teenager, Zina D. Hunington, who he asked on 25 October 1841 to become another of his multiple wives. Smith informed her (using a line he also employed with Emma and others) that he was ordered to do so by a sword-wielding angel who was threatening to kill him if he disobeyed:
“Already married, 19 year-old Zina remained conflicted with Smith’s polygamy proposal ‘until a day in October, apparently, when Joseph sent [her older brother] Dimick to her with a message: an angel with a drawn sword had stood over Smith and told him that if he did not establish polygamy, he would lose “his position and his life.” Zina, faced with the responsibility for his position as prophet, and even perhaps his life, finally acquiesced.’ They were secretly married within days “
(Todd Compton, “In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith,” pp. 80-81, cited in ibid).
_____
*Smith and 19-year-old Nancy Rigdon
Smith also secretly hit on another teenager, 19-year-old Nancy Rigdon, daughter of his close confidant Sidney Rigdon, in Nauvoo on 10 April 1842.
Nancy was not amused:
“ . . . Smith invited Nancy Rigdon, 19-year-old daughter of his close friend and counselor, Sidney Rigdon, to meet him at the home of Orson Hyde. Upon her arrival Smith greeted her, ushered her into a private room, then locked the door. After swearing her to secrecy, wrote George W. Robinson, Smith announced his ‘affection for her for several years, and wished that she should be his . . . [T]he Lord was well pleased with this matter . . . [T]here was no sin in it whatever . . . but if she had any scruples of conscience about the matter, he would marry her privately.’
“Incredulous, Nancy countered that ‘if she ever got married she would marry a single man or none at all.’ Grabbing her bonnet, she ordered the door opened or she would ‘raise the neighbors.’ She then stormed out of the Hyde-Richards residence.
“The next day, Smith wrote Nancy a letter, where he justified his advances, saying, ‘That which is wrong under one circumstance may be, and often is, right under another . . . . Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire. . . . even things which might be considered abominable to all who understand the order of heaven only in part, but which in reality were right because God gave and sanctioned by special revelation.’ This is his first written statement of theocratic ethics.”
(“Official History of the Church,” vol. 5, p. 134-36; and Van Wagoner, “Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait in Religious Excess,” p. 295; cited in ibid)
_____
*Smith and 17-year-old Sarah Ann Whitney
Prior to wedding Sarah in Nauvoo on 27 July 1842, Smith conveniently received a “revelation” for the benefit of Sarah and her parents, essentially condoning his adultery in the name of polygamy:
“ . . .Smith received and recorded [this] revelation on polygamy, which remains in LDS church archives. Although recorded in the official ‘Revelation Book’ of the time, the revelation was not canonized as scripture. In this revelation, the Lord reveals a plural marriage ceremony, which would later be altered and become the sealing ceremony in the temple . . . :
“’Verily, thus saith the Lord, unto my servant Newell K. Whitney, a revelation to Newell K. Whitney, 27 July 1842, and Joseph Smith, Elizabeth Ann Whitney and Sarah Ann Whitney
“Verily, thus saith the Lord unto my servant N[ewell]. K. Whitney, the thing that my servant Joseph Smith has made known unto you and your family [his plural marriage to Sarah Ann Whitney], and which you have agreed upon is right in mine eyes and shall be rewarded upon your heads with honor and immortality and eternal life to all your house both old and young because of the lineage of my priesthood, saith the Lord. It shall be upon you and upon your children after you from generation to generation, by virtue of the holy promise which I now make unto you, saith the Lord.
“’These are the words which you shall pronounce upon my servant Joseph and your daughter Sarah Ann. Whitney. They shall take each other by the hand and you shall say, “You both mutually agree,” calling them by name, “to be each other’s companion so long as you both shall live, preserving yourselves for each other and from all others and also throughout all eternity, reserving only those rights which have been given to my servant Joseph by revelation and commandment and by legal Authority in times passed.”
“’If you both agree to covenant and do this, then I give you Sarah Ann Whitney, my daughter, to Joseph Smith to be his wife, to observe all the rights between you both that belong to that condition. I do it in my own name and in the name of my wife, your mother, and in the name of my holy progenitors, by the right of birth which is of priesthood, vested in my by revelation and commandment and promise of the living God, obtained by the Holy Melchizedek Jethro and others of the Holy Fathers, commanding in the name of the Lord all those powers to concentrate in you and through to your posterity forever.
“’All these things I do in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that through this order he may be glorified and that through the power of anointing David may reign King over Israel, which shall hereafter be revealed. Let immortality and eternal life henceforth be sealed upon your heads forever and ever. Amen.”
(original manuscript of “Kirtland Revelation Book,” Church Historical Department, Ms f 490 # 2; “The Historical Record,” vol. 6, p. 222 (1887 edition); and Compton, “In Sacred Loneliness,” p. 348-49; all cited in ibid)
Smith then made secret arrangments to have a sexual rendevous with Sarah, without Emma finding out. On 19 August 1842, he wrote the following love letter to Sarah, laying out his plans to meet up with her:
“To arrange [a] night liason with [his] plural wife—Newell K. Whitney’s daughter Sarah Ann—Smith writes: ‘ . . . [T]he only thing to be careful of is to find out when Emma comes, then you cannot be safe but when she is not here, there is the most perfect safety. . . .
“’Only be careful to escape observation, as much as possible. I know it is a heroic undertaking; but so much the greater friendship and the more joy; when I see you I will tell you all my plans. I cannot write them on paper. Burn this letter as soon as you read it; keep [it] all locked up in your breasts, my life depends upon it. . . . .
“I close my letter, I think Emma won’t come tonight. If she don’t, don’t fail to come tonight. I subscribe myself your most obedient, and affectionate, companion and friend. Joseph Smith.”
(“Joseph Smith, Jr., to Newell K. Whitney, Elizabeth Ann Whitney, etc.,” 18 August 1842, George Albert Smith Family Papers, Special Collections, Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, text and signature of this document in the handwriting of Joseph Smith, Jr.; this document has been reproduced in Dean C. Jessee’s “The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith” [Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Co., 1984], pp. 539-40; and Compton, “In Sacred Lonliness,” pp. 349-350; cited in ibid)
_____
*Smith and 19-year-old Emily Dow Partridge
Smith secretly took Emily as another of his wives in Nauvoo on 4 March 1843, with Elder Heber C. Kimball officiating the ceremony.
Emily later reported in sworn testimony that she had honeymoon sex with Smith the next night:
“Emily D. Partridge Smith testified that she ‘roomed’ with Joseph the night following her marriage to him and said that she had ‘carnal intercourse’ with him.
(“Temple Lot” case, complete transcript, pp. 364, 367, 384; Foster, “Religion and Sexuality,” p. 15; Andrew Jenson, ”LDS Biographical Encyclopedia” [1951], vol. 1, p. 697; S. Easton, “Marriages in Nauvoo Region 1839-45;” “Civil Marriages in Nauvoo 1839-45.” Lyndon Cook, “Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register 1845-46; Mormon Manuscripts to 1846;” cited in ibid).
_____
*Smith and 16-year-old Flora Ann Woodworth
Smith married Flora in April 1843 (exact date unknown).
(Elder William Clayton affidavit, in “Historical Record,” vol. 6:, p. 225; cited in ibid)
_____
*Smith and 17-year-old Lucy Walker
Smith married Lucy on 1 May 1843, in the Smith’s store, Nauvoo, officiated by William Clayton
(FamilySearch.com record for Joseph Smith, Jr.; cited in ibid)
_____
*Smith and 19-year-old Maria Lawrence
Smith married Maria on 11 May 1843.
(“Historical Record,” vol. 6, p. 223; Lucy Walker Smith Kimball, in “Temple Lot” case, full transcript, p. 461, LDS archives; Helen Kimball Whitney, “Woman’s Exponent,” 15 February 1886, p. 138; cited in ibid)
_____
*Smith and 17-year-old Sarah Lawrence
Smith married Sarah the same day he married Sarah Lawrence’s sister Maria, 11 May 1843.
(FamilySearch.com record for Joseph Smith Jr., “Historical Record,” vol. 6, p. 223; Lucy Walker Smith Kimball, in “Temple Lot“ case, full transcript, p. 461, LDS archives; Helen Kimball Whitney, “Woman’s Exponent,” 15 February 1886, p. 138, cited in ibid)
_____
*Smith and 16-year-old Nancy Maria Winchester
Smith married Nancy in Nauvoo on 28 July 1843:
“According to Mormon Church Historian Andrew Jenson, Nancy married Joseph sometime before his death in June of 1844. In addition, Orson Whitney, son of Nancy Maria’s friend, Helen, also identified her as Smith’s wife. These two witnesses, taken together, make a good case for Nancy as a plural spouse of Joseph. Though there is no exacT date for her marriage to the prophet, the best hypothosis is that the ceremony took place in 1843.”
(Andrew Jenson, “LDS Biographical Encyclopedia” [1951], vol. 1, p. 697; “ Marriages in Nauvoo Region 1839-45;” and Compton, “In Sacred Lonliness,” p. 606; cited in ibid)
_____
*Smith and 19-year-old Melissa Lott
Smith married Melissa in Nauvoo on 20 September 1843, with Hyrum Smith officiating:
“Melissa testified that her marriage to Smith included sex.”
(FamilySearch.com record for Joseph Smith Jr.; and Affidavit of Melissa Willes, 3 Auust 1893; cited in ibid)
_____
*Smith and 14-year-old Helen Mar Kimball
As part of Smith’s brimming quiver of teenager brides, in May 1843, in Smith’s Nauvoo store, he married an underage 14-year-old female named Helen Mar Kimball. Helen’s father, Heber C. Kimball, officiated the wedding of his underage daughter to Smith.
Helen was the youngest of Smith’s brides—and according to Helen, he had sex with her.
Helen wrote about how her marriage to Smith was orchestrated by her father:
“Having a great desire to be connected with the Prophet, Joseph, he (my father) offered me to him; this I afterwards learned from the Prophet’s own mouth. My father had but one Ewe Lamb, but willingly laid her upon the altar: how cruel this seemed to my mother whose heartstrings were already stretched unil they were ready to snap asunder, for she had already taken Sarah Noon to wife and she thought she had made sufficient sacrifice but the Lord required more.”
Smith pressured Helen to marry him, giving her only 24 hours to give him answer.
Helen wrote:
“[My father] left me to reflect upon it for the next 24 hours. . . . I was skeptical—one minute [I] believed, then doubted. I thought of the love and tenderness that he felt for his only daughter and I knew that he would not cast me off, and this was the only convincing proof that I had of its being right.”
The next day, Smith came by to explain to Helen the “Law of Celestial Marriage,” and, having done that, to take her as his latest bride.
Helen described Smith’s pitch:
“After which he said to me, ‘If you take this step, it will ensure your eternal salvation and exaltation and that of your father’s household and all of your kindred.’ This promise was so great that I willingly gave myself to purchase so glorious a reward.”
Helen’s mother was none too pleased with the marriage, as Helen explains:
“None but God and his angels could see my mother’s bleeding heart. When Joseph asked her if she was willing, she replied ‘If Helen is willing I have nothing more to say.’ She had witnessed the sufferings of others, who were older and who better understood the step they were taking, and to see her child, who had yet seen her fifteenth summer, following the same thorny path, in her mind she saw the misery which was as sure to come as the sun was to rise and set; but it was hidden from me.”
Helen was under the unfortunate misimpression that her marriage to Smith was merely “dynastic.” She was to discover soon enough, however, that it was sexual.
Helen later confessed to a close friend in Nauvoo:
“I would never have been sealed to Joseph had I known it was anything more than ceremony. I was young, and they deceived me, by saying the salvation of our whole family depended on it.”
(Helen Mar Whitney journal: Helen Mar autobiography: “Woman’s Exponent,” 1880; reprinted in “A Woman’s View;” FamilySearch.com record for Joseph Smith, Jr.; and Van Wagoner, “Mormon Polygamy: A History,” p. 53; cited in ibid)
_____
RfM contributor “Deconstructor” on his own website asks-—then answers—the question: “Was it normal to marry 14 year-old girls in Joseph Smith’s time?”
To set the stage, he first quotes from Smith’s Mormon scriptural justification for polygamous sex as a general principle required for Mormon exaltation (the same scriptures, by the way, faithfully cited and espoused by Warren Jeffs, as well):
“And I will bless Joseph Smith and multiply him and give unto him an hundredfold in this world, of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, wives and children, and crowns of eternal lives in the eternal worlds.”
“And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified.”
“But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused [to Joseph Smith], shall be with another man, she has committed adultery and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto Joseph Smith to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be glorified.” (”Doctrine and Covenants Section” 132:55, 62-63)
Now, for the evidence that Smith, like Jeffs, had sex with his own underage child victims:
“Many LDS Church leaders and historians suggest that sexual relations and the marriage of Joseph Smith and his youngest wife, Helen Mar Kimball, 14 at the time, was ‘approaching eligibility.’
“There is no documentation to support the idea that marriage at fourteen was ‘approaching eligibility.’ Actually, marriages even two years later, at the age of 16, occurred occasionally but infrequently in Helen Mar’s culture. Thus, girls marrying at 14, even 15, were very much out of the ordinary. 16 was comparatively rare but not unheard of. American women began to marry in their late teens; around different parts of the United States the average age of marriage varied from 19 to 23.
“In the United States the average age of menarche (first menstruation) dropped from 16.5 in 1840 to 12.9 in 1950. More recent figures indicate that it now occurs on average at 12.8 years of age. The mean age of first marriages in colonial America was between 19.8 years to 23.7, most women were married during the age period of peak fecundity (fertility).
“Mean pubertal age has declined by some 3.7 years from the 1840’s.
“The psychological sexual maturity of Helen Mar Kimball in today’s average age of menarche (first menstruation) would put her psychological age of sexual maturity at the time of the marriage of Joseph Smith at 9.1 years old. (16.5 years-12.8 years = 3.7 years) (12.8 years-3.7 years = 9.1 years)
“The fact is Helen Mar Kimball’s sexual development was still far from complete. Her psychological sexual maturity was not competent for procreation. The coming of puberty is regarded as the termination of childhood; in fact the term ‘child’ is usually defined as the human being from the time of birth to the on-coming of puberty. Puberty [is] the point of time at which the sexual development is completed. In young women, from the date of the first menstruation to the time at which she has become fitted for marriage, the average lapse of time is assumed by researchers to be two years.
“Age of eligibility for women in Joseph Smith’s time-frame would start at a minimum of 19-and-a-half years old.
“This would suggest that Joseph Smith had sexual relations and married several women before the age of eligibility, and some very close to the age of eligibility including:
“Fanny Alger, 16
“Sarah Ann Whitney, 17
“Lucy Walker, 17
“Flora Ann Woodworth, 16
“Emily Dow Partridge, 19
“Sarah Lawrence, 17
“Maria Lawrence, 19
“Helen Mar Kimball, 14
“Melissa Lott, 19
“Nancy M. Winchester, [14?]
“And then we have these testimonies:
“’Joseph was very free in his talk about his women. He told me one day of a certain girl and remarked that she had given him more pleasure than any girl he had ever enjoyed. I told him it was horrible to talk like this.’ (Joseph Smith’s close confidant and LDS Church First Councilor, William Law, interview in ‘Salt Lake Tribune,’ 31 July 1887)
“’When Heber C. Kimball asked Sister Eliza R. Snow the question if she was not a virgin although married to Joseph Smith, she replied, “I thought you knew Joseph Smith better than that.”’
(Stake President Angus M. Cannon, statement of interview with Joseph III, 23, LDS archives)”
“Short Bios of Smith’s wives:
http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org
“Did Smith have sex with his wives?:
http://www.i4m.com/think/history/joseph_smith_sex.htm
“Whatever the average age of menarche might have been in the mid-19th-century, the average age of marriage was around 20 for women and 22 for men. And a gap of 15 to 20 years or more between partners was very unusual, not typical. Whatever biology might have to say, according to the morals of his time, several of Joseph Smith’s wives were still inappropriately young for him.
“It is a pure myth that 19th-century American girls married at age 12-14.
“For example, Laura Ingalls Wilder, from ‘Little House on the Prairie’ fame, was born in 1867, which puts her later than Joseph Smith but still in the 1800s. She tells of hearing of the marriage of a 13-year-old girl, and being shocked. She also notes that the girl’s mother ‘takes in laundry’ and is sloppy and unkempt—implying that “nice” people don’t marry off their teenaged daughters. Laura herself became engaged at 17—but her parents asked her to wait until she was 18 to marry.
“You merely need to go to your local courthouse and ask to see the old 19th century marriage books. Take a look at and pay attention to the age at marriage. Sure, a very few did but it was far from the norm. The vast majority of women married after the age of 20.
“In fact, look up the marriage ages in the Smith family before polygamy. You’ll find that one of the Smith girls was 19. The rest of them, and their sisters-in-law, were in their early 20s when they married. The Smith boys’ first wives were in their 20s. The same pattern was true for . . . the rest of American society at the time.
“On the extremely rare occasions women younger than 17 married, it was to men close to their same age, not 15 to 20 years older.
“The case is even true in pioneer Utah among first marriages. Mormon men in their 20s started out marrying someone their own age. Then later, these older men married girls under 20 to be their plural wives. But the first wives were the age of the husband and married over the age of 20. This is still the case is the rural Utah polygamist communities.
“References:
“Coale and Zelnik assume a mean age of marriage for white women of 20 (1963: 37). Sanderson’s assumptions are consistent with a mean of 19.8 years (Sanderson 1979: 343). The Massachusetts family reconstitutions revealed somewhat higher mean ages. For Hingham, Smith reports an age at first marriage of 23.7 at the end of the 18th century (1972: Table 3, p. 177). For Sturbridge, the age for a comparable group was 22.46 years (Osterud and Fulton 1976: Table 2, p. 484), and in Franklin County it was 23.3 years (Temkin-Greener, H., and A.C. Swedlund). 1978. ‘Fertility Transition in the Connecticut Valley:1740-1850m’ ‘Population Studies’ 32, March 1978, 27-41.: Table 6, p. 34.
“Jack Larkin, ‘The Reshaping of Everyday Life,’ 1790-1840 (New York: Harper & Row, 1988), 63; Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, ‘Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750’ [NY: Oxford University Press, 1980], 6; Nancy F. Cott, ‘Young Women in the Second Great Awakening in New England,’ ‘Feminist Studies’ 3 [1975] 16; Dr. Dorothy V. Whipple, ‘Dynamics of Development: Euthenic Pediatrics’ [New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966]”
(”Was It Normal to Marry 14 year-old Girls in Joseph Smith’s Time?,” by “Deconstructor,” at: http://www.i4m.com/think/polygamy/teen_polygamy.htm
_____
—More Data from Joseph Smith’s Time Linking Him to Sexual Abuse of Young Girls
RfM poster “TLC,” in observations entitled “Joseph Smith, Menses, Pedophilia, Etc.,” writes:
“. . . In our efforts to sort through the wasteland that is Mormon history (fact vs. fiction), it’s worthwhile . . . to have some context within which to make our judgments.
“. . . The statistics are very clear [on] the notion that the age of sexual maturity among women has changed or is still changing. . . . The age of menarche is dropping in virtually all areas of the world. More on that below.
“[A] claim being disputed is that Joseph Smith was a pedophile. While it’s easy to throw that word around in light of today’s problems with child abusing priests in the Catholic clergy, the fact remains that ‘pedophilia’ is defined as ‘[t]he act or fantasy on the part of an adult of engaging in sexual activity with a child or children.’
“Furthermore, the pathology of pedophilia is understood to be an attraction or activity that is limited to pre-pubescent children. It’s been well-established that true pedophiles lose interest almost immediately when a boy or girl exhibits the first signs of sexual maturity.
” . . . [A] quick Googling of the word ‘pedophilia’ will take you to the professional community’s definitions. They are very clear as to what does and what doesn’t constitute pedophilia.
“By today’s definitions, when it comes to the pathology of pedophilia, Joseph Smith would probably not be considered a true pedophile. [It] doesn’t mean however, that he wasn’t a lecherous scumbag who would stop at nothing to bed any young woman who captured his fancy.
“More on sexual maturity among women.
“As closely as I can tell from investigating the median age of menarche (first menses) in Joseph Smith’s time, it is possible that one or two of the girls he married and/or had relations with might not have been sexually mature. All of the research I’ve been able to find . . . indicates that the average age of menarche in the mid-1800s was 17.
“What that might tell us about a girl who was 14 or 15 back then is hard to determine because of the nature of averages. In any event, it does make it clear that Joseph Smith was treading a very fine fine when it came to the sexual maturity of the girls he courted and/or married.
“There is a lot of research in this arena because of the alarming shift in menarchal age from the 1800s to present day where the median onset of menarche has now dropped to age 12:
“’ . . . In 1840, the average young woman in Europe and the United States menstruated for the first time at the age of 17; her modern counterpart reaches the age of menstruation at about 12. Well known to biological anthropologists as the “secular trend,” this crash in the age of sexual maturity has proceeded at the rate of four months per decade and, in most populations, continues. . . .’
“’Boys and girls now experience puberty at younger ages than previous generations. In general, girls enter puberty between ages 8 and 13 and reach menarche (first menstruation) several years later, while boys enter puberty between ages 9 and 14 . . . . The reasons for earlier menarche in girls are not well understood. Most of the change is attributed to better health and nutrition. . . . In North America age at menarche decreased by three to four months each decade after 1850; in 1988 the median age at menarche was 12.5 years among U.S. girls. . . . In some developing countries age at menarche appears to be decreasing even faster. For example, in Kenya average age at menarche fell from 14.4 in the late 1970s to 12.9 in the 1980s . . . .’
“So, . . . it helps to understand the context from within which we assess the lecherous scumbag known as Joseph Smith. We don’t know if he had sex with pre-pubescent children, therefore we don’t know if he was truly a pedophile. We don’t know if the teenaged girls he married and/or had sex with were sexually mature or not.
“But regardless of whether they were sexually mature or not, something in us is sickened by the thoughts of them being coerced into any kind of relationship with this lecher who was pretending to use God as his motivator.
“Joseph Smith was not the first—nor will he be the last—to prey upon young girls for sexual gratification. And that in no way justifies his actions. But in aiming for accuracy in trying to describe Joseph Smith, there are a lot of words other than ‘pedophile’ that do the job more saliently and succinctly. . . .
“What one of us as fathers here today would hesitate for a second to deck [someone] like [Joseph Smith] if he so much as glanced in any of our daughters’ directions? I know that my response would be visceral and swift.
“Makes you wonder what kind of men Smith had around him that they would so willingly hand over their young daughters to him. Therein lies the true pathology of Mormonism.”
(”Joseph Smith, Menses, Pedophilia, Etc.,” by “TLC,” on “Recovery from Mormonism” bulletin board, 9 August 2003, at: http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon253.htm)
Deconstructor concurs with the above assessment, declaring its findings to be “absolutely correct.”
(”TLC Is Absolutely Correct; Here’s a Repost on This Subject,” by “Deconstructor,” on “Recovery from Mormonism” bulletin board, 9 August 2003, at: http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon253.htm)
18 yo missionaries was a new 2013 development for the Lds church; in 2012 when this occurred, they were disallowed.
And, as I said, there's LOTs of part-time youth workers who are college-aged who work for (non-Lds) churches.
Thank you for your Spam next time put it in a can!:)
BTW none of this changes the crude statement you made you are real, here, and alive, now own it!
So now we all know where you mind is at!
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