I can no longer remain silent...

[_NOWmormon]

My name is Scott, a lifetime member of the church.

In recent years, the Church has added controversial content on the official church website lds.org, in an effort towards more transparency regarding its history.
Much of this information is new to me, let alone shocking.

Particularly, that the founder Joseph Smith:
-Married multiple women
-As young as 14 years old
-Had sexual relations with some of them
-While some were already married to other men
-And his wife, Emma, did not know about all of them.

After a half century as a member of the Church, I am finally being told what Church leadership had known for almost two centuries.
Because they hid so much from me, I feel betrayed, deceived and hurt.

I suffer Mormon wounds.

I am a NOW Mormon (Neglected Or Wounded Mormon).

And I know that I am not alone.

Are you a NOW Mormon?

[_Kishkumen]

Welcome, Scott. I wish you the best in your struggle. Many of us have been through similar struggles and I am sure you will find sympathetic readers here.

[_RockSlider]

Welcome NOW.

Tell us more. I.e. marriage history, children situation.

[_Chap]

After a half century as a member of the Church, I am finally being told what Church leadership had known for almost two centuries.
Because they hid so much from me, I feel betrayed, deceived and hurt.

You do not seem to be the only one in that situation.

As with other religions, Mormons are mostly Mormons because they were born into the religion into which their parents were born. Being or not being Mormon is in itself no grounds for viewing someone as likely to be a good person or a bad person.

But to be a leader of a religion that takes and has long taken active steps to minimise the possibility that members might become aware of the full range of information about its history, and thus, in effect, to deceive those members? That's a different matter.

[_suniluni2]

In recent years, the Church has added controversial content on the official church website lds.org, in an effort towards more transparency regarding its history.
Much of this information is new to me, let alone shocking.

Particularly, that the founder Joseph Smith:
-Married multiple women
-As young as 14 years old
-Had sexual relations with some of them
-While some were already married to other men

Where has the church published that Joseph Smith had sexual relations with someone other than Emma? And while married to other men?

[_I have a question]

In recent years, the Church has added controversial content on the official church website lds.org, in an effort towards more transparency regarding its history.
Much of this information is new to me, let alone shocking.

Particularly, that the founder Joseph Smith:
-Married multiple women
-As young as 14 years old
-Had sexual relations with some of them
-While some were already married to other men

Where has the church published that Joseph Smith had sexual relations with someone other than Emma? And while married to other men?

https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marri ... g&old=true

Sort of.

[_Chap]

They are doing their best not to admit it ... but ...

Joseph Smith and Plural Marriage
During the era in which plural marriage was practiced, Latter-day Saints distinguished between sealings for time and eternity and sealings for eternity only. Sealings for time and eternity included commitments and relationships during this life, generally including the possibility of sexual relations. Eternity-only sealings indicated relationships in the next life alone.

Evidence indicates that Joseph Smith participated in both types of sealings. The exact number of women to whom he was sealed in his lifetime is unknown because the evidence is fragmentary.24 Some of the women who were sealed to Joseph Smith later testified that their marriages were for time and eternity, while others indicated that their relationships were for eternity alone.

It doesn't really work, though, does it? Joseph taught plural marriage to his successor, Brigham Young, who certainly had sex with his plural wives.

By any normal standards of practical judgement, we don't need evidence from hidden video cameras to make it hard not to believe that Joseph Smith also had sex with his plural wives. I mean, why wouldn't he, if they were married?

[_QuestionEverything]

They are doing their best not to admit it ... but ...

Joseph Smith and Plural Marriage
During the era in which plural marriage was practiced, Latter-day Saints distinguished between sealings for time and eternity and sealings for eternity only. Sealings for time and eternity included commitments and relationships during this life, generally including the possibility of sexual relations. Eternity-only sealings indicated relationships in the next life alone.

Evidence indicates that Joseph Smith participated in both types of sealings. The exact number of women to whom he was sealed in his lifetime is unknown because the evidence is fragmentary.24 Some of the women who were sealed to Joseph Smith later testified that their marriages were for time and eternity, while others indicated that their relationships were for eternity alone.

It doesn't really work, though, does it? Joseph taught plural marriage to his successor, Brigham Young, who certainly had sex with his plural wives.

By any normal standards of practical judgement, we don't need evidence from hidden video cameras to make it hard not to believe that Joseph Smith also had sex with his plural wives. I mean, why wouldn't he, if they were married?

And especially considering that the *only* scriptural grounds for practicing polygamy to begin with, would be to 'raise a righteous seed.' Very little to no wiggle room there.

[_Analytics]

They are doing their best not to admit it ... but ...

Joseph Smith and Plural Marriage
During the era in which plural marriage was practiced, Latter-day Saints distinguished between sealings for time and eternity and sealings for eternity only. Sealings for time and eternity included commitments and relationships during this life, generally including the possibility of sexual relations. Eternity-only sealings indicated relationships in the next life alone.

Evidence indicates that Joseph Smith participated in both types of sealings. The exact number of women to whom he was sealed in his lifetime is unknown because the evidence is fragmentary.24 Some of the women who were sealed to Joseph Smith later testified that their marriages were for time and eternity, while others indicated that their relationships were for eternity alone.

It doesn't really work, though, does it? Joseph taught plural marriage to his successor, Brigham Young, who certainly had sex with his plural wives.

By any normal standards of practical judgement, we don't need evidence from hidden video cameras to make it hard not to believe that Joseph Smith also had sex with his plural wives. I mean, why wouldn't he, if they were married?

Saying, "because the evidence is fragmentary" pisses me off. While in a sense that is true, it is a dishonest spin to gloss over why the evidence is "fragmentary." We aren't talking about an obscure figure from the 11th century. We are talking about the marriage records of an American religious leader who kept prodigious records--records that we still have.

In fact, when accused of polygamy Joseph claimed he could prove that he didn't engage in any kind of sealings. He claimed that over the time period when he was actually "marrying" these women, his personal records were so exhaustive that if they didn't indicate he was getting married and having rendezvous with his alleged plural wives, that constituted proof that it wasn't happening.

For the last three years I have a record of all my acts and proceedings, for I have kept several good, faithful, and efficient clerks in constant employ; they have accompanied me everywhere, and carefully kept my history, and they have written down what I have done, where I have been, and what I have said; therefore my enemies cannot charge me with any day, time, or place, but what I have written testimony to prove my actions; and my enemies cannot prove anything against me. (LDS History of the Church 6:409)

The reason we don't know the details of Joseph Smith's marriages isn't because the evidence happens to be "fragmentary." The reason we don't know the details is because he contemporaneously and deliberately falsified his records to conceal what he was doing from his critics, from the members of his church, and from his actual wife.

[_Maksutov]

Lying for the Lord was the first and last doctrine of Joseph Smith. It is what guides the church today.