A couple of thoughts on polygamy

[_Runtu]

I decided to reread Todd Compton's In Sacred Loneliness again, as the last time I read it I was still a believer. It's interesting how my perspective has changed. What strikes me the most is that, despite the criticism Compton gets from the mopologists, he seems to bend over backwards to find a spiritual/religious motivation behind Joseph Smith's actions. But a couple of things had me thinking late last night.

1. Mormons currently ridicule the "Saturday's Warrior" folk doctrine that we chose our spouses in the premortal life, but Joseph Smith taught his followers that certain "kindred spirits" were destined for each other since the premortal life; coupled with that teaching was the idea that the restoration made null and void (and even sinful) any prior marriage covenants. Therefore, all contracts were no longer valid, and it was up to faithful members to seek out their kindred spirits. Thus, Joseph Smith told some of his plural wives that they had been "his" since before the world began, and he told one of them that she was created just for him. Maybe Lex de Azevedo was a fundamentalist, after all.

2. There was a strong component of women as property to be passed around or traded as tokens of social status. For example when Levi Hancock went to Joseph Smith asking for permission to marry his sweetheart, Joseph said he would grant permission only if Levi arranged to get Fanny Alger (Levi's niece) to marry him. Also, Joseph taught that (again since marriage contracts were voided by the restoration), men with higher priesthood ranking had the right to take wives of lesser priesthood rank as their own without a divorce. This of course explains the rationale behind some of Joseph's polyandry.

Anyway, it's a great read and extremely well-researched.

[_Yoda]

Also, Joseph taught that (again since marriage contracts were voided by the restoration), men with higher priesthood ranking had the right to take wives of lesser priesthood rank as their own without a divorce. This of course explains the rationale behind some of Joseph's polyandry.

This is the first time I have EVER heard this! This explains A LOT about Joseph's polyandry.

Where did you find this teaching? Was it documented in Compton's book or somewhere else?

[cacheman]

Also, Joseph taught that (again since marriage contracts were voided by the restoration), men with higher priesthood ranking had the right to take wives of lesser priesthood rank as their own without a divorce. This of course explains the rationale behind some of Joseph's polyandry.

This is the first time I have EVER heard this! This explains A LOT about Joseph's polyandry.

Where did you find this teaching? Was it documented in Compton's book or somewhere else?

It's in Compton's book. I don't have it in front of me, but I'll look it up later if you'd like.

Oh, and one other thing. I think it was maklelan who asked me to make a list of the wives Emma didn't know about.

1. Fanny Alger. Depending on whom you believe, Emma found out about Joseph's relationship because Fanny couldn't hide her pregnancy, Oliver Cowdery and Warren Cowdery discovered them having sex, or Emma saw them copulating in a barn. Either way, Fanny, who had been very close to Emma, was summarily turned out of the house.

2. Lucinda Morgan Harris. This one is a little more iffy, but Mrs. Harris refers to herself as Joseph's "mistress," which you wouldn't expect if she was openly a plural wife with Emma's consent.

3. Louisa Beaman. According to the book, Emma was entirely unaware of this relationship.

[_The Nehor]

Also, Joseph taught that (again since marriage contracts were voided by the restoration), men with higher priesthood ranking had the right to take wives of lesser priesthood rank as their own without a divorce. This of course explains the rationale behind some of Joseph's polyandry.

This is the first time I have EVER heard this! This explains A LOT about Joseph's polyandry.

Where did you find this teaching? Was it documented in Compton's book or somewhere else?

It's in Compton's book. I don't have it in front of me, but I'll look it up later if you'd like.

I'd like to see where he taught that; never heard it before either.

[_Yoda]

Also, Joseph taught that (again since marriage contracts were voided by the restoration), men with higher priesthood ranking had the right to take wives of lesser priesthood rank as their own without a divorce. This of course explains the rationale behind some of Joseph's polyandry.

This is the first time I have EVER heard this! This explains A LOT about Joseph's polyandry.

Where did you find this teaching? Was it documented in Compton's book or somewhere else?

It's in Compton's book. I don't have it in front of me, but I'll look it up later if you'd like.

Thanks. That would be great. I find it interesting that this little tidbit hasn't been disputed by the brethren.

[_Doctor Steuss]

Also, Joseph taught that (again since marriage contracts were voided by the restoration), men with higher priesthood ranking had the right to take wives of lesser priesthood rank as their own without a divorce. This of course explains the rationale behind some of Joseph's polyandry.

This is the first time I have EVER heard this! This explains A LOT about Joseph's polyandry.

Where did you find this teaching? Was it documented in Compton's book or somewhere else?

It's in Compton's book. I don't have it in front of me, but I'll look it up later if you'd like.

I thought it was Brigham Young that taught this? Have I got my prophets mixed up?

[_Runtu]

I thought it was Brigham Young that taught this? Have I got my prophets mixed up?

Maybe I have my prophets mixed up. I'll check later.

[_Doctor Steuss]

I thought it was Brigham Young that taught this? Have I got my prophets mixed up?

Maybe I have my prophets mixed up. I'll check later.

It appears it was Brigham (although he seems to claim Joseph taught it):

Another relevant doctrinal statement comes from an 1861 speech by Brigham Young:

The Second Way in which a wife can be seperated from her husband, while he continues to be faithful to his God and his preisthood, I have not revealed, except to a few persons in this Church; and a few have received it from Joseph the prophet as well as myself. If a woman can find a man holding the keys of the preisthood with higher power and authority than her husband, and he is disposed to take her he can do so, otherwise she has got to remain where she is ... there is no need for a bill of divorcement ... To recapitulate. First if a man forfiets his covenants with a wife, or wives, becoming unfaithful to his God, and his preisthood, that wife or wives are free from him without a bill of divorcement. Second. If a woman claimes protection at the hands of a man, possessing more power in the preisthood and higher keys, if he is disposed to rescue her and has obtained the consent of her husband to make her his wife he can do so without a bill of divorcement.

This allows for two options: (1) if a man apostatized, his wife could leave him without a formal divorce; (2) if a woman desired to be married to a man with greater priesthood authority than her current husband, and if both men agreed, she could be sealed to the second man without a formal divorce. In some ways this principle can be applied directly to Smith's polyandrous marriages, for clearly he was regarded as having more priesthood authority than any other living man. The emphasis on the desire of the woman is notable. In nineteenth-century Utah there are well-documented cases in which married women asked to be joined to a prominent church leader. In Nauvoo, however, such cases would not be frequent, as polygamy was secret. In Young's statement the husband is granted his own volition, which would be consistent with the suggestion made above that the first husbands in Smith's polyandrous marriages may have known about the marriages and permitted them.

http://www.signaturebooks.com/excerpts/insacred.htm

[_Runtu]

Thanks, Stu. That's the passage I was thinking of. I guess it depends on whether you believe Brigham that Joseph taught this. I believe him, as it makes the Nauvoo polyandry a little more understandable (at least as to why the women and their husbands would agree to it).

[_Yoda]

Thanks, Stu. That's the passage I was thinking of. I guess it depends on whether you believe Brigham that Joseph taught this. I believe him, as it makes the Nauvoo polyandry a little more understandable (at least as to why the women and their husbands would agree to it).

It certainly does make sense...in a way I had never thought of before.

Any TBM's care to comment?