Alright, polygamy episode! Between roughly 1833 until it's formal and in
1890, some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practiced
polygamy. One husband having multiple wives. It's a controversial subject, and
I'm really not gonna defend it much. Polygamy is unfair to women, I don't like
it, anybody who practices it today is
excommunicated from the church. It's not a thing anymore. But why, then was it a
thing? What do we do with this chunk of unappetizing history? Let's dive in.
There are generally two extremes when it comes to reactions about polygamy. On one
extreme you have the people that think, "Yes, God commanded Joseph Smith to
practice polygamy, and he implemented it among the Saints perfectly." On the other
the side is, "Joseph was a fraud and just wanted to sleep around." I personally
think God did command it, I don't think Joseph was just a creep,
but I also think Joseph made plenty of mistakes trying to implement plural
marriage. Now, while there are a lot of questions we can't answer, let's take a
look at some of the facts and see what we can't answer. First, the fact is
Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon, and probably Moses all practiced polygamy. Why did God
allow it to happen? I don't know. But we're talking about major figures of
Christianity here. At the very least, it shows a precedent that God has permitted
past prophets to practice it. Oftentimes Christian critics are quick to condemn
the historical Latter-day Saint practice of polygamy,
while entirely overlooking their own history of polygamy. Again, I'm not
endorsing polygamy, it's a gut-wrenching practice to our modern sensibilities, but
history is history and polygamy if you're Christian, happened. But even to
the sensibilities of those in Joseph Smith's time, polygamy was an unsettling
practice. One early Saint, Mercy Rachel Fielding said: "This subject when first
communicated to me tried me to the very core all my former traditions and every
natural feeling of my heart rose in opposition to this principle." Mary Hales
said, "The brethren and sisters were so averse to polygamy that it could hardly
be mentioned." And it was hard for men, too: When Brigham Young first learned about
it he said, "...it was the first time in my life that I had desired of the grave, and
I could hardly get over it for a long time. And when I saw a funeral, I felt to
Envy the corpse its situation and to regret that I was not in the coffin." The
quotes go on and on. Even Joseph Smith, who was commanded by an angel to
institute the practice, was reluctant. The Angel apparently had to visit him three
times, the last time with a drawn sword threatening his life, before Joseph
complied. And even then, it seemed Joseph tried to avoid fully
practicing polygamy. One of the ways he seems to have done this was to marry
women who each already had a husband. In Latter-day Saint theology we believe a
a couple is sealed together for time and eternity. As the early church worked to
understand the sealing power, Joseph had women sealed to him for time and /or
eternity. A few ceilings were for time, or this life, only. Some were for eternity
only marriages that would take effect after this life. And some were for time
and eternity. Every woman, he married that was already married was an eternity only
marriage. They still each lived with their husband and there is no evidence
whatsoever to suggest that Joseph was intimately involved with any of them. If
Joseph was just a sex-crazed maniac, I see little point in any of these distant,
eternity only marriages. It seemed more like a way for him to sort of fulfill
God's command, while providing some emotional relief to his first wife, Emma.
One motive behind many of Joseph's ceilings was probably the idea of
creating one giant interconnected family of saints. This seems to be one of the
reasons why one man, Heber C. Kimball, wanted his fourteen-year-old daughter
Helen, married to Joseph, which she was only about thirteen months before Joseph
was killed. Heber had a great desire to be connected with the Prophet Joseph. Of
course the idea of a fourteen-year-old bride is understandably shocking to us
in the 21st century. It was less shocking in the 1800s. Still unusual, but not
nearly as unusual as something like you know polygamy. Researchers frankly don't
know if their marriage was ever consummated, though evidence suggests
that it probably was not. She continued to live at home with her parents. Author
Bryan Hales says that "Helen wrote more about plural marriage than any other
female author in the 19th century defending it and Joseph Smith through
those pages Helen never describes even one time being alone with the Prophet
without a chaperone." Now looking from the outside in, it's easy to brush the whole
polygamy topic off and say, "Joseph just wanted to sleep around. End of story."
But if we actually look at the history, the evidence really disagrees with that
assumption. Joseph went to great lengths to make sure
the practice was not driven by lust. For example John C. Bennett was the mayor of
Nauvoo and a member of the church. Soon it came to Joseph's attention that Bennett
was deceiving and seducing women in the city. If Joseph was after the same thing
as Bennett, he could have made the perfect accomplice. Instead, Joseph
excommunicated him. One author wrote, "Contrary to the popular 19th century
notions about polygamy the Mormon harem dominated by lascivious males with
hyperactive libidos did not exist the image of unlimited lust was largely the
creation of travelers to Salt Lake City more interested in titillating audiences
back home than in accurately portraying plural marriage newspaper
representatives and public figures visited the city in droves seeking
headlines for their eastern audiences Mormon plural marriage proved to be a
rather drab lifestyle compared to the imaginative tales of polygamy dripping
with sensationalism demanded by a scandal hungary eastern media market." In a
podcast with Dr. Valerie Hudson I was listening to, she made an interesting
observation. She said, "...one of Joseph Smith's brothers appeared eager to
practice polygamy, and so his brother, Joseph forbade him from practicing
polygamy, which I thought was really interesting. So those men who were not
pure-hearted enough to see it as a test, but rather as a perk were not allowed to
practice it." Maybe as a perk no it's just me. And again the quotes continued the
idea that Joseph was driven by lust is simply contradictory to what the
historical record shows. But we still haven't answered the age-old question
why polygamy? Doctrine and Covenants 132, the official revelation on polygamy,
gives us a few reasons. For example, it was part of the restitution or
restoration of all things. (I don't totally understand this one) It provided
some women the opportunity to have a temple marriage when the otherwise might
not have been able to. (This makes a little sense to me) Also, it was to
multiply and replenish the earth. (This one makes a little more sense to me than
the others) The Book of Mormon explicitly condemns plural marriage, unless the Lord
sanctions it for the purpose of raising up seed, in other words, multiply and
replenish. Strangely there are zero recorded children from any of Joseph
Smith's polygamous relationships. I suspect Emma may have had
something to do with that she understandably struggled immensely with
polygamy. But other families definitely had a ton of kids. I myself am evidence
of that because my great great great grandfather was one of those polygamists,
without whom, I wouldn't be here. At the end of the day doctoring Covenants 132
compares plural marriage multiple times to an Abrahamic test. You remember the
story of Abraham and Isaac. God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son. Abraham
wrestles with the commandment. Why would God command this? It's wrong it doesn't
make sense it's contradictory. But he steps up. Luckily his test ended before
having to kill Isaac, but sometimes that doesn't happen. Another example of an
Abrahamic test might be when Nephi is commanded to slay Laban. John Taylor who
is a polygamist, said polygamy, "...was one of the greatest crosses that ever was taken
up by any set of men since the world stood." Helen Mark Kimball, that 14-year
old we mentioned earlier, later wrote that according to Joseph, "the practice of
this principle would be the hardest trial the Saints would ever have to test
their faith." It was a test of faith, and it is a test of faith. But again, it'd
be ignorant of me to pretend like these situations are exclusive to the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They're not. On rare occasions, God has
commanded people to do things that seem to be flat-out wrong. I mean, if the Old
Testament is correct, God commanded the Israelites to commit genocide for
heaven's sake. Frankly, that makes voluntary polygamy look like small
potatoes. There are just some things that religious people put on the proverbial
shelf until they receive a few more pieces of the puzzle. We shouldn't ignore
these issues or pretend they don't exist, but it's okay to not have all the
answers. It's easy for us to look back at polygamy, point fingers and say, this was
obviously a horrible thing. But if we acknowledge the experiences of those who
lived through this period, we see a different picture. Multiple women
eventually wrote books defending polygamy. Several women and men had
intense spiritual experiences comforting them concerning the practice, including
angelic visitations, visions, and dreams. The story of Heber and violet Kimball is
amazing. Look that up. If those people who were initially repulsed by it were
eventually able to obtain a testimony of it and even live it, then
I can at least come to the conclusion that there are still things I don't
understand about it, and things I'm probably not meant to yet understand
about it. So I'm willing to shelf it and wait for more information. If you want
more information right now on this topic, check out the links in the description.
There's weeks and weeks of information there. And have a great day.