Reason # 175: Joseph Smith’s Teenage Wives
Many Mormons, upon being confronted with irrefutable evidence that Joseph Smith married multiple teenaged girls, respond that it was common in the 1800′s for older men to marry teenaged girls. However, this chart and information seem to dispute that. Chart courtesy of http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/Age.htm
Reason #162: The Mental Gymnastics of Anticipating Polygamy
As a young Mormon woman I believed that I should prepare myself for plural marriage (the mainstream LDS church does not practice earthly polygamy of course but does command its practice after death.) I believed I might be able to enjoy the exclusive attentions of my husband while on earth but must be mentally ready for eternity as a plural wife. That produced a kind of dichotomy in my thinking. On the one hand I looked forward to the mysteries of sex and marriage, but saw these two things not as most women would consider them (the first inherently fading, and the second temporary.) Rather, I believed each would be prone to constant and eternal acceleration. As I’ve conversed with other ex-Mormon women who like me once fervently yearned for an eternity of...
Reason #161: Because of Fanny Alger
On an ex-Mormon discussion board recently, the question was posed: What was the tipping point that caused you to leave Mormonism? (I asked the same question, but called it a “point of departure” in my book, Why We Left Mormonism (Baker Book House.) One person said it was because of Fanny Alger, a young woman who lived in Joseph Smith’s household and who became his first plural wife– without the knowledge nor consent of Emma, his wife. When I was a Mormon, even at BYU we were taught that Joseph Smith did not have any wives other than Emma. Mormons of my generation would never have believed that Smith would have slept with underage girls. But he did. Some as young as 14 years of age. And some, older ones, who had living husbands at the time...
Reason #154: Because Joseph Smith’s Polygamous Marriages Produced No Children
When I was a Mormon, I was taught that Joseph Smith had only one wife, Emma Hale Smith. I have since learned that Joseph Smith married over two dozen women — and apparently consummated some of those marriages. To date, no proof exists to substantiate the claims of some of the children of his wives that they were descended from Joseph Smith, except those children by Emma Hale Smth. However, if no children were conceived as a result of those polygamous marriages, they were considered whoredoms by the Book of Mormon which Joseph Smith produced. See: Jacob Chapter 2 23 But the word of God burdens me because of your grosser crimes. For behold, thus saith the Lord: This people begin to wax in iniquity; they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse...
Reason #109: Polygamy for Polygamists in Mormon Temples
Mormons continue polygamous temple rites for Mormon fundamentalists By Helen Radkey September 29, 2009 More than a hundred years ago, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) outlawed the practice of polygamy. LDS records, however, indicate that early Mormon leaders, Joseph Smith, Jr. and Brigham Young, have both been “sealed” (married) for eternity to hundreds of wives. Despite its current temporal ban on polygamy, the LDS Church promotes polygamy on a perpetual basis. Polygamous unions, mainly on behalf of the dead, using living Mormons as proxies, are routinely performed in LDS temples. Mormon...
