Holding Joseph Smith to account

Historical development

Sec 132 was added to the 1876 edition of the D&C along with 25 other sections. It superseded what was previously Sec 101 in the 1835 edition, resulting from a statement at a church conference, it included the following: “Inasmuch as the Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication and polygamy, we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife, and one woman, but one husband, except in the case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again”.

Observation

Historical evidence shows that Joseph Smith entered a polygamous marriage with Fanny Alger, this fact is accepted by the LDS church The actual date is debated, It doesn’t matter whether it was before or after the 1835 declaration. If the statement was previous to Alger’s marriage then Joseph married knowing that he had secretly acted contrary to the church’s statement.  If the marriage was before the statement, then Joseph knew the church was lying to cover his secret marriage. 

Restoration Ethics

It is important to recognise that obeying The Lord trumps obedience to the law. This brings an interesting interpretation to the 12th Article of Faith, written to comply with a request from a Chicago newspaper editor, John Wentworth in 1842, “We believe in being subject to kings….in obeying and honouring the law.” There are other examples where the church has lied about it’s position, quite a few related to plural marriage, that will be written about separately.

Recap

Joseph married a plural wife, Fanny Alger, either he, the church or both mislead the general church membership and the general public on this point.

Scripture

Arguably a major reason for accepting religious writing as scripture, is to hold people to account by what that scripture contains. If The Lord commands, then his precepts are to be obeyed, we should not be expecting exceptions, otherwise there is an absence of meaning in those scriptures. It is natural to expect that a prophet recording scripture will endeavour to be an example of how to uphold commandments.

Sec 132 Commandment Highlights pertaining to plural marriage

21 “Except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory,” referring to plural marriage and becoming Gods

41 “If she (a woman received as a wife in the new and everlasting covenant) be with another man….I have not appointed unto her by the holy anointing, she hath committed adultery and shall be destroyed”.

43 “And if her husband be with another woman, and he was under a vow, he hath broken his vow and hath committed adultery” 44  “Then Joseph can take her and give her to him that hath not committed adultery”.

61 “If any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another and the first give her consent, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man…he cannot commit adultery 62 even unto ten virgins”

63 “But if a virgin be with another man after she is espoused, she has committed adultery…..for they (women) are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth”.

65 “It will be lawful in me, If she (a woman) receive not this law (plural marriage), for him to receive all things whatsoever I, the Lord his God, will give unto him……then she becomes the transgressor; and he is exempt from the law of Sarah….(Obtaining a wife’s permission to marry another)

Highlights Review

1.Plural marriage is integral to becoming a God

2.Once this law is revealed, a man must abide by it

3.A woman after entering the new and everlasting covenant is adulterous if she be with another man

4.A man breaking his vow by being with another woman outside of the new and everlasting covenant may have any wife taken away and they will be given to another more worthy male

5.The law of Sarah, in reference to Abraham’s wife, is that a woman must give her approval to any new wife.

6.A woman is virtually bound to permit her husband to marry otherwise she is a transgressor

7.If a wife does not agree to her husband marrying another, providing the husband has asked her, he can go ahead without her agreement

8.The purpose of plural marriage is to procreate.

9.Plural marriages only mention virgins v 61

I won’t discuss the implications for women by this doctrine, other than to say they don’t have any worthwhile rights, any request is merely a courtesy.

Does Joseph live by the standards of this doctrine?

5.Emma Smith tells her son Joseph III, in 1879, that his father never took a plural wife. Historical evidence suggests that she only knew of four that she approved, the sisters Emily & Eliza Partridge and the sisters Sarah & Maria Lawrence.   It appears that Joseph did not request her approval for the remaining twenty nine (as documented by Todd Compton, ‘In Sacred loneliness’). Therefore under condition 7, Joseph for the majority of his plural wives did not request Emma’s permission, he did not abide by verse 65.

8.There is no reason to argue that his marriages did not involve sex, the doctrine v 63 states the intention of the law is to procreate. To marry and have a celibate marriage is to mock The Lord.

3.A woman entering the new and everlasting covenant is problematic if she has sex with another man, she is forbidden, she is an adulteress. Under these conditions, the following are adulterous If they continued to have sex with their husbands once they were sealed to Joseph Smith v41

Lucinda Pendleton Morgan married to George Harris at time of marriage to Joseph

Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs married to Henry Jacobs

Presendia Lathrop Huntingdon Buell married to Norman Buell

Sylvia Sessions married to Windsor Lyon

Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner married to Adam Lightner

Patty Sessions  (mother of Sylvia)  married to David Sessions

Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde  married to apostle Orson Hyde

Sarah Kingsley Howe Cleveland married to John Cleveland

Ruth Vose Sayers married to Edward Sayers

Elvira Annie Cowles Holmes married to Jonathan Holmes

9.Additionally as the above were already married, they were presumably not virgins, which seemed to be the criteria for seeking plural wives v 61, a course of action Joseph has not complied with.

7.There is evidence to support requests from plural wives to approve additional marriages, as many plural wives attended Josephs marriages, on these occasions Emma is never listed among those present. In some instances even husbands were present.

Conclusion

Under the terms of the D&C 132 doctrine Joseph

  • Did not consult his first wife in the majority of cases
  • Did not espouse virgins in a third of his marriages
  • Allowed his sealed wives to cohabit with their life only marriages which would make them adulteresses
  • Was not very successful in multiplying and replenishing the earth

The church has not complied with The Lord’s command that once revealed a man must live by it or be damned,  The church is in default of this commandment, the manifesto of 1890 has the Lord contravening his own decree.

Fundamentalism

It is understandable that members who take the Doctrine & Covenants literally would not want to jeopardise their eternal lives by not adhering to the doctrine of plural marriage once it has been revealed to them. For many, the churches renunciation in 1890 and 1904 was tantamount to betraying God’s command and a number of apostles were sympathetic to this idea, men like John Taylor are responsible for giving a mandate to saints to continue as best they could living the principle. The fundamentalist groups rejected by the mainstream church, clearly hold the church to be apostate and despise the church for not abiding the doctrine.