Wine and dine 'em...or promise them eternal life...first
Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 12:36 pm
The classic cad that has sex with women other than his wife begins by wining and dining the other woman in the restaurant of a hotel, telling her that she's so hot and that he's got to have her. Then they'd go up to a room.
JSJr, in order to have sex with women other than his wife, Emma, would promise the other woman that she (and possibly her family) would have eternal, exalted life if she would become his "spiritual wife". JSJr would have one of his compatriots perform a wedding like ceremony, in secret of course, in an upstairs room at the store in Nauvoo.
After they were finished, the cad goes home to his wife. His commitment with the other woman over, at least until she might next be willing for another rendezvous.
JSJr, too, would soon depart the upper floor room at the Nauvoo Store, and return to home to Emma and the boys. His commitment to his 'spiritual wife' at an end too, for all practical purposes, usually on to the next conquest (or next "wife") after his batteries were recharged.
When exposed and challenged, the cad denies the whole affair, leaving the other woman hanging in the wind, to fend for herself with a now soiled reputation.
When exposed and challenged, on May 26, 1844 JSJr said as part of his Sunday preaching aboard the Maid of Iowa, "What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one." Having, like the cad, denied that the women other than Emma were 'wives', then what were they? How did they different from the cad's conquests?
Shakespeare wrote "That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet." Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2). By that same token, 'that which we call adultery, by any other name betrays your wife'.
JSJr's conduct with these women other than Emma resembles much more closely the situation of the adulterous cad, not the true bigamist that maintains separate homes for each spouse. To say that JSJr was anything short of an adulterer is to deny the realities of the situation.
JSJr, in order to have sex with women other than his wife, Emma, would promise the other woman that she (and possibly her family) would have eternal, exalted life if she would become his "spiritual wife". JSJr would have one of his compatriots perform a wedding like ceremony, in secret of course, in an upstairs room at the store in Nauvoo.
After they were finished, the cad goes home to his wife. His commitment with the other woman over, at least until she might next be willing for another rendezvous.
JSJr, too, would soon depart the upper floor room at the Nauvoo Store, and return to home to Emma and the boys. His commitment to his 'spiritual wife' at an end too, for all practical purposes, usually on to the next conquest (or next "wife") after his batteries were recharged.
When exposed and challenged, the cad denies the whole affair, leaving the other woman hanging in the wind, to fend for herself with a now soiled reputation.
When exposed and challenged, on May 26, 1844 JSJr said as part of his Sunday preaching aboard the Maid of Iowa, "What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one." Having, like the cad, denied that the women other than Emma were 'wives', then what were they? How did they different from the cad's conquests?
Shakespeare wrote "That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet." Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2). By that same token, 'that which we call adultery, by any other name betrays your wife'.
JSJr's conduct with these women other than Emma resembles much more closely the situation of the adulterous cad, not the true bigamist that maintains separate homes for each spouse. To say that JSJr was anything short of an adulterer is to deny the realities of the situation.