Jason Bourne wrote: Zina is very difficult. Not only did she marry Henry then later get sealed to Joseph (with Henry standing by) when Joseph was killed she was re-sealed to Joseph with BY as proxy and married to BY for time-with Henry standing by. Later BY basically told Henry that that which was Joseph's was now Brigham's and sent Henry away telling him to find another of his own level or class. This included Henry's children by the way. BY took over both Zina and Henry and Zina's kids. Henry was heart broken when away on a mission he learned Zina had move in with BY. What a strange tale.
Strange indeed. Reading Henry's letters to Zina while he was on his mission, one gets the sense of two people who loved each other deeply but were fated to be separated. For the life of me, I don't understand why Brigham did what he did.
I do find it - odd? interesting? of note? that the D&C specifically says the revelation is one date but it's obvious the prophet knew of it over a decade prior. The entire situation smacks of a lack of integrity and truly this one issue caused me to be skepitcal about everything else Joseph Smith said. It was the knowledge that Joseph Smith had not been honest with his wife about this that started the snowball rolling.
I do wonder if the church will eventually make an official declaration stating polygamy was a mistake. I was raised that we would practice polygamy in the hereafter and that our minds would be open so that we wouldn't feel the human jealousy and dispair that would normally accompany such an arrangement. This was certainly my understanding - is it doctrinal? Are children in the church being raised with the same understanding currently? To make an apology for polygamy would change the entire picture of Heaven in many people's minds.
The population of the Earth is amazingly very even between the gender. 51/49 female to male. One would think if God's plan was polygamy that 1) there would be many, many more women than men. 2) we would not be so sexually posessive as women (vast generalization.)
Insert ironic quote from fellow board member here.
Runtu wrote:Strange indeed. Reading Henry's letters to Zina while he was on his mission, one gets the sense of two people who loved each other deeply but were fated to be separated. For the life of me, I don't understand why Brigham did what he did.
He did it because he could. He was a dick. I can find some redeeming qualitites in Joseph Smith. But Brigham Young was a thug and tyrant. Utah was hell on Earth in the 1800s thanks to him.
"We of this Church do not rely on any man-made statement concerning the nature of Deity. Our knowledge comes directly from the personal experience of Joseph Smith." - Gordon B. Hinckley
"It's wrong to criticize leaders of the Mormon Church even if the criticism is true." - Dallin H. Oaks
Runtu wrote:Strange indeed. Reading Henry's letters to Zina while he was on his mission, one gets the sense of two people who loved each other deeply but were fated to be separated. For the life of me, I don't understand why Brigham did what he did.
I do. It's because he was a Grade A, Cast-Iron Asshole, just like his buddy and predecessor as sexual Predator In Chief Joseph Smith.
Mormonism ceased being a compelling topic for me when I finally came to terms with its transformation from a personality cult into a combination of a real estate company, a SuperPac, and Westboro Baptist Church. - Kishkumen
beastie wrote:I haven't read all the posts on this thread, but have to add my two cents, anyway.
I believe Joseph Smith constructed a paradigm which allowed him to believe that if he felt attraction - sexual, emotional - for a woman, that it was due to the fact that God had "given" him that woman in the pre-existence, and it was his right and privilege to take her in this life.
Does this fit in with David Bokovoy's pradigm shift theory?
"We of this Church do not rely on any man-made statement concerning the nature of Deity. Our knowledge comes directly from the personal experience of Joseph Smith." - Gordon B. Hinckley
"It's wrong to criticize leaders of the Mormon Church even if the criticism is true." - Dallin H. Oaks