Category: Moral Issues
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Joseph Smith is Triggering Faith Crises Among Mormons
The Salt Lake Tribune recently conducted a survey, asking readers (Mormons) “if they have experienced a faith crisis, what triggered it and how they resolved it.” The newspaper received just over 1700 responses. The demographical breakdown was roughly in thirds: no longer members (538), inactive members (637), and still active members (532). The faith-crisis triggers…
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No Room for Debate: Mormon Church’s Controversial Policy Revealed By God
It seems that perhaps the Mormon Church is tired of all the dissention and discussion regarding the Church’s recently revealed policy affecting same-sex couples and their children. It began in early November (2015) when the Church Handbook of Instructions was changed to include a directive for Church leaders to the effect that same-sex Mormon couples…
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Gospel Topics Essay: Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah
Gospel Topics Essay: Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah To see an introduction to the Gospel Topics essays, click here. The entire essay is printed below, underlined, with my commentary included throughout. Because I will try to be short and to the point as much as possible, a number of sites (many from MRM) to support…
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Gospel Topics Essay: The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage
Gospel Topics Essay: The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage To see an introduction to the Gospel Topics essays, click here. The entire essay is printed below, underlined, with my commentary included throughout. Because I will try to be short and to the point as much as possible, a number of sites (many from MRM)…
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A List of Joseph Smith’s Wives
A List of Joseph Smith’s wives Here is a list of Joseph Smith’s plural wives, each with a name, date, marital status (Single, Married, Widowed), and age when the marriage to Smith occurred: Fanny Alger (1833) S 16 Lucinda Pendleton (1838) M 37 Louisa Beaman (4/15/1841) S 26 Zina Diantha Huntington (10/27/1841) M 20 Presendia…
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List of Joseph Smith’s Wives (George A. Smith)
Mormonism’s founder, Joseph Smith, was married to more than 30 women, meaning that Emma was not his one and only wife. Many who know about Smith’s philanderous ways may assume that these women must have been widows or “old maids” and their prophet was doing a favor to them by marrying them. However, the idea that Joseph Smith…
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Redefining Celestial Marriage
Mormon temples and the rituals performed in them constitute one of the more important disciplines of the LDS faith. While a great portion of the activity in a Mormon temple is on behalf of the dead (baptisms for the dead, endowments for the dead, etc.), marriage ceremonies for the living, called celestial marriage, also plays…
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Mormonism 201: Chapter 16 Response to Michael W. Fordham
To visit the list of rejoinders, go here. Response to Michael W. FordhamRejoinder by Richard Abanes In 2000, Mormonism 101 (Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson) was published by Baker Books. Within a few years, a group of Mormon apologists provided a rebuttal to the chapters in the book. We decided to respond to many of the…
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JosephsWives.com
Welcome to JosephsWives.com, a page that has been created to help people better understand the truth about the more than thirty wives of Joseph Smith. We invite you to look through the information we have made available here and see that what we are saying is historical fact, not anti-Mormon rhetoric. And please understand what…
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Did Emma Smith Approve of Polygamy?
Some Latter-day Saints may rationalize Smith’s behavior. After all, some might think, his wife Emma must have been a believer in this practice. Actually, Emma Smith approved of plural marriage for only a short time–maybe a few weeks–but she otherwise always despised polygamy and her husband’s involvement with this practice. In their book Mormon Enigma: Emma…
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Doug Barton Interviews Bill McKeever on the Streets of Manti, UT
On June 26, 2015, MRM produced a dramatic portrayal of Joseph Smith’s 33 plural wives (plus Emma) on the streets of Manti before the Mormon Miracle Pageant. Doug Barton, who has been a part of the pageant since the very beginning and has been known “Mr. Sounds and Lighting,” decided to interview MRM’s Bill McKeever…
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Portrayal of Joseph Smith’s 34 wives
On June 26, 2015, a group of women went onto the streets of Manti, UT before the Mormon Miracle Pageant took place to illustrate what the 34 wives of Joseph Smith could have looked like. The illustration helped a number of people see that Joseph Smith was not within his moral rights to marry women…
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Does 2 Samuel 12 Support Polygamy?
Does 2 Samuel 12 support the practice of polygamy in the Old Testament and 19th century Mormonism?
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Book Review: Nauvoo Polygamy
Nauvoo Polygamy: “…But We Called It Celestial Marriage” By George D. Smith Polygamy (or plural marriage as it is also called) was a major issue for the LDS Church in 2014, as three different Gospel Topic essays on this topic were published. For many Latter-day Saints, the information disseminated by the church—including the fact that Joseph Smith…
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Joseph Smith and His Many Wives
The Mormon Church recently admitted in a Gospel Topics essay that Joseph Smith had a total of 30-40 plural wives, meaning that Emma was not his “one and only.” In fact, the church even acknowledged that there was sexual intimacy in most of these relationships. Does this information agree with scholarship? And is it true…
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Book Review: Mormon Polygamy: A History (2nd Edition)
Mormon Polygamy: A History (2nd Edition) By Richard S. Van Wagoner Reviewed by Eric Johnson
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Mormon Church Posts Essays on Joseph Smith’s Polygamy
It’s all over the news. The Mormon Church has finally “admitted” long-buried facts about Joseph Smith’s polygamy. The new Church essays were actually posted at lds.org sometime around October 22nd (2014), but for some reason the news only hit the big-time mainstream media this week. Once the New York Times picked up the story, many…
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Polyandry (Defined)
Polyandry. A woman taking more than one man as a husband. At least 10 of Joseph Smith’s wives were married to other men. Return to dictionary here.
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Gospel Topics Essay: Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo
On October 22, 2014, the LDS Church published another “Gospel Topics” essay titled “Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo.” There were a number of admissions made. However, all the facts were not included to give a complete picture. The information contained within should be disconcerting for any faithful Latter-day Saint, as history doesn’t lie. A…
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Early Mormon Marriages: Tangled Webs to Sort Out in the Eternities
Many people are aware of Joseph Smith’s practice of polygamy. A subset of those people are also aware that some of Joseph’s plural wives were married to other men at the same time they were married to Joseph. Many of these folks think Joseph Smith was the only Mormon leader to engage in these strange…