For BC - Joseph's Polyandry

[_harmony]

Yes, it is natural to find such things shocking. Nothing we were ever taught in church hinted at such practices, whether or not you find them innocent.

Is this an attempt of witholding/hiding church history? I find it that way not unless the pioneer members in my area would really tell me that these things (polygamy, polyandry) were taught to them.

Most likely, the pioneer members in your area don't/didn't know anything about the polyandry; if they even knew anything about the polygamy, I'd be surprised. It's not something the missionaries ever teach to new investigators.

Welcome to the board, lingsat. I'm sorry it's this subject that is trying your faith and rattling your world. Many of us have been there, done that ourselves. The only consolation I can offer is that this board presents both sides of the story. We don't offer faithful history here, because we try to avoid whitewashing anything, but at least for the most part, we try to be evenhanded (well, except for vegas and PP. But we love them anyway).

Joseph may have recieved a revelation (I'm not one of the ones that holds to that, but there are some here who do), and it may be that the way he implemented the revelation was 180 degrees opposite of what the Lord intended or desired, which may have contributed to his loss of the prophetic mantle and eventual death at the hands of the mob. Each person has to come to their own conclusions about all of it. So will you. Again, welcome to the board. We look forward to your participation from the Philippines.

[_bcspace]

So, your feeling on the matter is similar to that of the RLDS Church. Dale explained to me when I was on FAIR and asked this question that Joseph's polyandrous marriages were part of the Law of Adoption. Joseph was basically trying to seal everyone to him so that they would all be together in the next life. My understanding is that Brigham Young made changes to the practice when he became President of the Church, stating that husbands could be sealed to wives, and families could be sealed to themselves within their own family units as long as the priesthood members were upstanding.

Was this your understanding of the events which took place?

There are some similarities. You might find the following article to be of interest....

[url=http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/polyandry.pdf]A TALE OF TWO MARRIAGE SYSTEMS:
PERSPECTIVES ON POLYANDRY AND JOSEPH SMITH[/url]

[_Runtu]

There are some similarities. You might find the following article to be of interest....

[url=http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/polyandry.pdf]A TALE OF TWO MARRIAGE SYSTEMS:
PERSPECTIVES ON POLYANDRY AND JOSEPH SMITH[/url]

I have never found Katich's article particularly compelling. Yeah, I know. I'm just guilty of lazy research. ;-)

[_Seven]

So, your feeling on the matter is similar to that of the RLDS Church. Dale explained to me when I was on FAIR and asked this question that Joseph's polyandrous marriages were part of the Law of Adoption. Joseph was basically trying to seal everyone to him so that they would all be together in the next life. My understanding is that Brigham Young made changes to the practice when he became President of the Church, stating that husbands could be sealed to wives, and families could be sealed to themselves within their own family units as long as the priesthood members were upstanding.

Was this your understanding of the events which took place?

There are some similarities. You might find the following article to be of interest....

[url=http://www.fairlds.org/pubs/polyandry.pdf]A TALE OF TWO MARRIAGE SYSTEMS:
PERSPECTIVES ON POLYANDRY AND JOSEPH SMITH[/url]

I did read the article and I am even more convinced that these were not "Law of Adoption" sealings. I encourage all to read it. There were several parts I would like to discuss from the article but here is my first question:

Why was Zina Jacobs RE Sealed to Joseph in 1846 with Brigham standing proxy and Henry as witness? Was the first marriage to Joseph not a sealing?

One more point. Celestial marriage was taught as plural marriage. It was only revealed because of plural marriage. Today, the definition of Celestial marriage has changed but to the wives of Joseph, the only Celestial marriage was plural.

[_Seven]

There are several statements in the polyandry article on FAIR that suggest Joseph's polygamy with married women involved sexual relations. Here is one:

Zina wrote of her
feelings in learning of celestial marriage:
When I heard that God had revealed the law of
celestial marriage that we would have the privilege
of associating in family relationships in the
worlds to come. I searched the scripture and by
humble prayer to my Heavenly Father I obtained
a testimony for myself that God had required
that order to be established in this
church. I made a greater sacrifice than to give
my life for I never anticipated again to be looked
upon as an honorable woman by those I dearly
loved but could I compromise conscience lay
aside the sure testimony of the spirit of God for
the Glory of this world after having been baptized
by one having authority and covenanting
at the waters edge to live the life of a saint

If it was only a Law of Adoption sealing, there would be no reason those she dearly loved would look upon her as dishonorable woman.