Joseph's Clumsy Implementation of Polygamy

[Guest]

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”.

[_Bob Loblaw]

Another on the spot revelation was the appearance of an angel with a drawn sword threatening Smith with destruction if he didn't bed another teenager. The apologists' excuses are lame.

[_Yoda]

There is also the blatant lie he told in D&C 132 when he stated that God commanded Abraham to take another wife. That is NOT what happened. It was Sarah who gave her handmaiden to Abraham. God had promised Abraham infinite offspring, and Sarah was barren. She was trying to fulfill God's law the only way she saw possible.

God actually showed her the error of her ways by healing her barren state and allowing her to become pregnant with Issac.

[Guest]

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[_bcspace]

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

You are quite unfamiliar with women to have compared them to the location of objects thus. Think more of Disney's Aladdin in which there were "a few provisos and a couple of quid pro quos" on the three wishes. One of which was you can't make someone fall in love. In other words, he may have been sure, but he had to convince other people and may have been struggling with the notion himself.

Another on the spot revelation was the appearance of an angel with a drawn sword threatening Smith with destruction if he didn't bed another teenager

Another strawman.

There is also the blatant lie he told in D&C 132 when he stated that God commanded Abraham to take another wife. That is NOT what happened.

There is not enough information to falsify the doctrine on D&C 132:34 that "This revelation from the Lord makes it clear, however, that God commanded Abraham to accept Sarah’s recommendation that he take Hagar to wife."

[_Bob Loblaw]

Another strawman.

Angels aren't made of straw.

In other words the same god who gave explicit instructions about how the Nauvoo House would be constructed and financed, even setting the price of stock shares, couldn't be bothered to tell Joseph Smith how to implement polygamy. Hold on, he did give explicit instructions in section 132 and Joseph ignored them.