Joseph's Clumsy Implementation of Polygamy
Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 4:51 am
As I have contemplated Josephs polygamous activates, the marriages that seem to cause myself, and many others the most problems are his polyandrous marriages. The current apologetic defense for his polyandry is that he received the “plural marriage” revelation but was unsure how to implement it. In his clumsy efforts to implement such a difficult doctrine he innocently married teenage girls, and women who were already married.
This maladroit defense is often used in conjunction with the “line-upon-line” defense. It goes something like this: over time, the church learned how the Lord wanted the practice of plural marriage implemented, because prophets are men, so the argument goes, we need to allow them space for error in their quest to understand the revelations they receive. The apologists will also state that revelation is murky, as Paul says, “we see through glasses darkly” hence God allows prophets to make errors as they work through these bursts of revelation. The receiving of more light and knowledge is a slow process that gradually builds upon itself, subsequently the Lord allowed Joseph to marry other men's wives because he did not fully understand the revelation, and had not received any new direction in the matter to correct his graceless implementation of the principle.
Here is my issue with this line of thinking. Many times Joseph would receive “on the spot” revelation on much smaller, insignificant matters such as the exact location of a stone alter in which Adam used in the garden of Eden, consider the following quotes:
LDS Apostle Wilford Woodruff, writing in his journal on March 30, 1873, commented:
"Again Presdet Young said Joseph the Prophet told me that the garden of Eden was in Jackson Co Missouri, & when Adam was driven out of the garden of Eden He went about 40 miles to the Place which we Named Adam Ondi Ahman, & there built an Altar of Stone & offered Sacrifize. That Altar remains to this day. I saw it as Adam left it as did many others, & through all the revolutions of the world that Altar had not been disturbed. Joseph also said that when the City of Enoch fled & was translated it was whare the gulf of Mexico now is. It left that gulf a body of water." (Waiting for World's End: The Diaries of Wilford Woodruff, edited by Susan Staker, Signature Books, 1993, p. 305)
Bruce R. McConkie explained that Joseph Smith had identified an altar in Missouri as one built by Adam:
"At that great gathering Adam offered sacrifices on an altar built for the purpose. A remnant of that very altar remained on the spot down through the ages. On May 19, 1838, Joseph Smith and a number of his associates stood on the remainder of the pile of stones at a place called Spring Hill, Daviess County, Missouri. There the Prophet taught them that Adam again would visit in the Valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, holding a great council as a prelude to the great and dreadful day of the Lord." (Mormon Doctrine, by Bruce McConkie, Mediation and Atonement pp. 69-70.)
Other example’s of Joseph’s on the spot prophetic riffing are:
• Zelph the white Lamanite.
• Kinderhook plates
• Greek Psalter
• Where men were to be sent on missions
• Exact names of women who were to marry him
• That the Gulf of Mexico was once the great city of Enoch
The Lord seemed to have no problem with "live prophetic streaming” to Joseph on these and many other seemingly trivial matters, so why the hesitation by the Lord to help Joseph course correct on such an important matter like polygamy? After all, it is just the “new and everlasting covenant”.
This maladroit defense is often used in conjunction with the “line-upon-line” defense. It goes something like this: over time, the church learned how the Lord wanted the practice of plural marriage implemented, because prophets are men, so the argument goes, we need to allow them space for error in their quest to understand the revelations they receive. The apologists will also state that revelation is murky, as Paul says, “we see through glasses darkly” hence God allows prophets to make errors as they work through these bursts of revelation. The receiving of more light and knowledge is a slow process that gradually builds upon itself, subsequently the Lord allowed Joseph to marry other men's wives because he did not fully understand the revelation, and had not received any new direction in the matter to correct his graceless implementation of the principle.
Here is my issue with this line of thinking. Many times Joseph would receive “on the spot” revelation on much smaller, insignificant matters such as the exact location of a stone alter in which Adam used in the garden of Eden, consider the following quotes:
LDS Apostle Wilford Woodruff, writing in his journal on March 30, 1873, commented:
"Again Presdet Young said Joseph the Prophet told me that the garden of Eden was in Jackson Co Missouri, & when Adam was driven out of the garden of Eden He went about 40 miles to the Place which we Named Adam Ondi Ahman, & there built an Altar of Stone & offered Sacrifize. That Altar remains to this day. I saw it as Adam left it as did many others, & through all the revolutions of the world that Altar had not been disturbed. Joseph also said that when the City of Enoch fled & was translated it was whare the gulf of Mexico now is. It left that gulf a body of water." (Waiting for World's End: The Diaries of Wilford Woodruff, edited by Susan Staker, Signature Books, 1993, p. 305)
Bruce R. McConkie explained that Joseph Smith had identified an altar in Missouri as one built by Adam:
"At that great gathering Adam offered sacrifices on an altar built for the purpose. A remnant of that very altar remained on the spot down through the ages. On May 19, 1838, Joseph Smith and a number of his associates stood on the remainder of the pile of stones at a place called Spring Hill, Daviess County, Missouri. There the Prophet taught them that Adam again would visit in the Valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, holding a great council as a prelude to the great and dreadful day of the Lord." (Mormon Doctrine, by Bruce McConkie, Mediation and Atonement pp. 69-70.)
Other example’s of Joseph’s on the spot prophetic riffing are:
• Zelph the white Lamanite.
• Kinderhook plates
• Greek Psalter
• Where men were to be sent on missions
• Exact names of women who were to marry him
• That the Gulf of Mexico was once the great city of Enoch
The Lord seemed to have no problem with "live prophetic streaming” to Joseph on these and many other seemingly trivial matters, so why the hesitation by the Lord to help Joseph course correct on such an important matter like polygamy? After all, it is just the “new and everlasting covenant”.
