Essay: Mormon founder had teen bride during early days of faith when polygamy was practiced

Fox News ^ | 10/24/2014 | Associated Press

[Alex Murphy]

SALT LAKE CITY – A new church essay reveals Mormon church founder Joseph Smith had an underage bride and was married to other men's wives during the early days of the faith when polygamy was practiced.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says most of Smith's wives were adults, but one was a 14-year-old girl who was the daughter of Smith's close friends. Research shows the marriage might not have involved sex.

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

Alex, I told my son the other day that you never win a convert by trying to insult your neighbor, only an enemy. Was thinking of you.

I told him to answer questions others ask of you with good will about your faith and perhaps ask them questions of good will about theirs.

You seem to have fairly upset someone. Jesus loses again.

[ravenwolf]

— who the hell cares about 10 wives or 10 husbands for one sore wife? Give me a break.

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Yep, if queer marriage is not wrong then there is absolutely nothing that we should condemn any one for doing.

[rrrod]

Agree 100%. Attacking Mormans is a lifestyle for some. History is what it is...period. What happenned in “those” times may/may not be acceptable today.

The near hysterical attacks against Mormans reminds me of the Islamanazis ranting about Jews/Christians.

[sauron]

I’ll say it again: Compare Joseph Smith with Muhammed.

Both men founded a religion and got all the money and sex they could from it. For personal benefit.

Christ’s Apostles didn’t angle for money, sex, or political power, unlike Joe Smith and Mad Mo’.

They sacrificed their livelihoods, and finally, their own lives, knowing that spreading the Good News would cost them their lives under the Klingon, er, Roman Empire. (I say that to get the reader to realize that the Romans were just as brutal.)

It was a DEATH sentence to preach Christianity within the Empire, the Apostles new it, and it took more courage than 21st century folks can understand (or have) to do it.

Certainly, the early Christians can be distinguished from the followers of the other two (Mormon, Muslim) by their actions. They didn’t start fake banks, scr3w young girls,or engage in any of that. It was entirely self-sacrifice, and I admire them for that.

Sauron

[sauron]

"They only believe the Bible insofar as it is translated correctly"

Please don't repeat misinformation.

Septuagint, Koine Greek, Hebrew. There are plenty of scholars who can speak it, read it, write it.

This one line is what you always hear; it's oft-repeated, and entirely WRONG. My wife speaks Spanish. I speak some. You can very accurately translate concepts from language to language if you have the knowledge, skills, education, or tools (like a good lexicon).

Please don't repeat this untruth. We have very accurate translations of the Bible, both Old and New Testament. There were SO many manuscripts to compare, it made the process remarkably easy to double-check.

There are over 5,200 copies of the New Testament extant in museums, libraries, and personal collections. They are in agreement. There's more evidence for the Christ of the Bible than there was in the few manuscript copies for Plato/Aristotle/Socrates. (I think seven copies, if I'm not mistaken.)

YET...people don't want to believe in Christ (5,200+) but readily believe in Socrates (7) although only Plato/Aristotle mentioned him in what they wrote.

Go figure.

[LouAvul]

Joseph Smith and the current POTUS have a great deal in common, viz. they each stumbled and bumbled their way into two of the greatest con jobs in history. Smith was a con artist from New York state actually under indictment for defrauding people when Sidney Rigdon stole the manuscript of what was to become the "Book of Mormon." Rigdon turned it over to Smith and the rest is history.

O'Bummer is a con artist from Chicago. Proof positive that in America a person can accomplish whatever they desire if they're evil enough.

[greyfoxx39]

Interesting thead...here's what the mormon missionaries tell people.

Mormon Secrets: What the Missionaries Don't Tell

[Tennessee Nana]

Helen herself said sex weas involved...

she said Joey Smith lied to her parents about that..

she was told by them that sex would not be involved, but it was..

she and Smith shared her bed that night at her fathers house..

However he did go to a stag dance the next night and left her alone..(wives didn’t go to those “dances”)

he was looking for fresh victims...

[SZonian]

"Nobody said that polygamy was needed to enter heaven..."

Interesting choice of terms teppe...considering that mormonism doesn't define heaven as Christians do...mormons call them kingdoms...with the Celestial Kingdom being the highest...exaltation, and here is what mormon "prophets" had to say about attaining that level.

Brigham Young - "Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned." Journal of Discourses, vol. 3, p. 266 (1855)

Heber C. Kimball - ”Opponents of polygamy will be "cut off" by God.”Journal of Discourses, vol. 4, p. 108 (1856)

”If you are someone who objects to plural marriage, then I would challenge you to search within yourselves. There is no doubt in my mind that your attitude towards plural marriage will determine your place in eternity.”

President Brigham Young also warned:

"Now, where a man in this Church says, "I don't want but one wife, I will live my religion with one," he will perhaps be saved in the celestial kingdom; but when he gets there he will not find himself in possession of any wife at all. He has had a talent that he has hid up. He will come forward and say, "Here is that which thou gavest me, I have not wasted it, and here is the one talent," and he will not enjoy it, but it will be taken and given to those who have improved the talents they received, and he will find himself without any wife, and he will remain single for ever and ever."

Joseph F. Smith - "Plural marriage is not some sort of superfluity or non-essential to the salvation or exaltation of mankind. Marriage to only one woman is only partial compliance to the law of exaltation." Journal of Discourses, vol. 20, p. 28 (1878)

But before we dismiss the references to the JoD’s as just “opinion”, as has been claimed in the past, let’s remember the words of Brigham…

"The Journal of Discourses is a vehicle of doctrine, counsel, and instruction to ALL people, but especially to the Saints. It follows then, then, [sic] that each successive volume is more and more valuable as the Church increases in numbers and importance in the earth." Journal of Discourses, vol. 11, p. iii (1867) " — Brigham Young

[Tennessee Nana]

its just a new approach to get Willard elected..

look at how “open” we are about our past..

However Willard himself has never denounced the polygamy of his own ancestors down to his grandfathers..

He has only said in 2008 that polygamy “in the desert” of Mexico must have been awful...

nothing about polygamy itself being awful or evil or unrighteous or unGodly or unbiblical..

[svcw]

There were not, even though mormonisms tries to make it so.

[Tennessee Nana]

Abraham, Isaac (probably Jacob too)were polygamists
_________________________________________

“probably” for Jacob, O Bible scholar ???

I’ll give you Jacob’s wives...Leah and Rachel...

Now you list your supposed extra wives of Abraham and Isaac...

(any extra wives while one wife was living)

CRICKETS

[Tennessee Nana]

Abraham, Isaac (probably Jacob too)were polygamists
_________________________________________

meanwhile Joey Smith was a polygamist just like Mohammad...

The Bible calls polygamy, adultery...

[svcw]

JS said/implied polygamy was necessary for entry into heave, hence the “multiple celestial marriages” going on in the “temple” today. IE still practicing poligamy
After reading the thread its interesting that so far no one has mention JS “married”other men’s wives WHILE they were still married to their husbands.
What JS practiced was pedophilia, adultery, and polyandry.
Amazing.

[svcw]

Problem is T doesn’t understand historical context or what a handmaiden is and that Abraham and Sarah as well, were punished as result of Hagar then Ishmael.

[Elsie]

A new church essay reveals Mormon church founder Joseph Smith had an underage bride and was married to other men's wives during the early days of the faith when polygamy was practiced.

So... the 'church' is finally owning up to what those EVIL ANTI-Mormon websites have been saying for years!

Where are Paragon Defender, Restornu, Saundra Duffey ETAL now??

[Elsie]

Decisions decisions!

Emma Hale only!!

Fanny Alger Lucinda Morgan Harris Louisa Beaman Zina Huntington Jacobs Presendia Huntington Buell Agnes Coolbrith Sylvia Sessions Lyon Mary Rollins Lightner Patty Bartlett Sessions Marinda Johnson Hyde Elizabeth Davis Durfee Sarah Kingsley Cleveland Delcena Johnson Eliza R. Snow Sarah Ann Whitney Martha McBride Knight Ruth Vose Sayers Flora Ann Woodworth Emily Dow Partridge Eliza Maria Partridge Almera Johnson Lucy Walker Sarah Lawrence Maria Lawrence Helen Mar Kimball Hanna Ells Elvira Cowles Holmes Rhoda Richards Desdemona Fullmer Olive Frost Melissa Lott Nancy Winchester Fanny Young

[Elsie]

Aren’t Mormons also supposed to believe the Bible in addition to their ‘Book of Mormons’?

Actually; that is backward.

Their AoF (Articles of Faith) casts severe doubts on the authenticity of the KJV bible.

---

Not many folks realize that the BoM does NOT contain much 'doctrine' at all!

The Main book for Mormonism is the D&C: Doctrines and Covenants - 138 separate sets of instructions from GOD.

There is also a smaller set of Mormon scriptures - The Pearl of Great Price.

One can buy these four volumes bound together in what is known as the Quad.

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc?lang=eng

[Elsie]

Bigotry is a personal issue !!, is it not ?

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Questions put to Joseph Smith: "'Do you believe the Bible?' [Smith:]'If we do, we are the only people under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do'. When asked 'Will everybody be damned, but Mormons'? [Smith replied] 'Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119).

Joseph Smith: "for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible" (from Pearl of Great Price 1:12). "What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270).

 

 

 

Brigham Young stated this repeatedly: "When the light came to me I saw that all the so-called Christian world was grovelling in darkness" (Journal of Discourses 5:73); "The Christian world, so-called, are heathens as to the knowledge of the salvation of God" (Journal of Discourses 8:171); "With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world" (Journal of Discourses 8:199); "And who is there that acknowledges [God's] hand? ...You may wander east, west, north, and south, and you cannot find it in any church or government on the earth, except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.24); "Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity" (Journal of Discourses 10:230).

 

 

 

Orson Pratt proclaimed: "Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the 'whore of Babylon' whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. Any person who shall be so corrupt as to receive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent" (The Seer, p. 255).

 

 

 

Orson Pratt also said: "This great apostasy commenced about the close of the first century of the Christian era, and it has been waxing worse and worse from then until now" (Journal of Discourses

, vol.18, p.44) and: "But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for a great many centuries past, until the present century, the people have lost sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the Christian Church should be established, and they have denominated a great variety of people Christian Churches, because they profess to be ...But there has been a long apostasy, during which the nations have been cursed with apostate churches in great abundance" (Journal of Discourses , 18:172).

 

 

President John Taylor stated: "Christianity...is a perfect pack of nonsense...the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century." (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.167); "Where shall we look for the true order or authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom." (Journal of Discourses , 10:127).

 

 

 

James Talmage said: "A self-suggesting interpretation of history indicates that there has been a great departure from the way of salvation as laid down by the Savior, a universal apostasy from the Church of Christ". (A Study of the Articles of Faith, p.182).

 

 

 

President Joseph Fielding Smith said: "Doctrines were corrupted, authority lost, and a false order of religion took the place of the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it had been the case in former dispensations, and the people were left in spiritual darkness." (Doctrines of Salvation, p.266). "For hundreds of years the world was wrapped in a veil of spiritual darkness, until there was not one fundamental truth belonging to the place of salvation ...Joseph Smith declared that in the year 1820 the Lord revealed to him that all the 'Christian' churches were in error, teaching for commandments the doctrines of men" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, p.282).

 

 

 

More recent statements by apostle Bruce McConkie are also very clear: "Apostasy was universal...And this darkness still prevails except among those who have come to a knowledge of the restored gospel" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol 3, p.265); "Thus the signs of the times include the prevailing apostate darkness in the sects of Christendom and in the religious world in general" (The Millennial Messiah, p.403); "a perverted Christianity holds sway among the so-called Christians of apostate Christendom" (Mormon Doctrine, p.132); "virtually all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ whom they vainly suppose to be a spirit essence who is incorporeal uncreated, immaterial and three-in-one with the Father and Holy Spirit" (Mormon Doctrine, p.269); "Gnosticism is one of the great pagan philosophies which antedated Christ and the Christian Era and which was later commingled with pure Christianity to form the apostate religion that has prevailed in the world since the early days of that era." (Mormon Doctrine, p.316).

 

 

 

President George Q. Cannon said: "After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They all belong to Babylon" (Gospel Truth, p.324).

 

 

President Wilford Woodruff stated: "the Gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the Lord, and stops all communication with Him. I want nothing to do with such a Gospel, I would rather prefer the Gospel of the dark ages, so called" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 2, p.196).

[Elsie]

A Higher Court already has a ruling on these matters.

Genesis 13:13
Romans 1:24-29
1 Corinthians 6:9-11