floatingboy wrote:not as a defense of Joseph Smith, but i don't really see a ton of similarity between fannie and that poor yemeni girl. for one, fannie didn't get brutally raped and die. and didn't she at least consent? yes, i know she was still a minor. the age thing is about all i see in similarity. fannie 16, Joseph Smith 30. yemeni girl 13, depraved "husband", 50-something.
A friend recently told me of a missionary in his mission who shortly after returning home had sexual relations with a 13 year old Latino girl. He was excommunicated and spent a year in jail, but later married this girl with permission of her parents. If other parents can approve of their young daughters relationship with an older man, I can see Fanny's doing so as well regardless of whether Joseph and Fanny were married, which seems a little unlikely(plus they were believers). I don't doubt that Fanny was in love with Joseph and could be convinced that their relationship had God's approval and the weight of marriage behind it without any real marriage being performed.
also, i have to agree that paul is not adding much to the Book of Abraham discussion, at least in this thread. maybe he is somewhere else? right, the name "shulem" isn't there in facsimile #3. i was familiar with that before it got said 17 times in this thread.
I wish Paul could tone things down a bit, but I do enjoy how he does cut through all the apologetic crap and keep asking a question he know they can't provide.