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|L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Use of sources | |L=Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Use of sources |
Index of claims | A FAIR Analysis of: Nauvoo Polygamy: "... but we called it celestial marriage", a work by author: George D. Smith
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Loaded and prejudicial language |
The author claims that,Danel Bachman and Ron Esplin's Encyclopedia of Mormonism entry on plural marriage briefly mention[s] the "rumors" of plural marriage in the 1830s and 1840s but only obliquely refer[s] to the teaching [of] new marriage and family arrangements .
Author's sources:
- "Plural Marriage", Encyclopedia of Mormonism
Rumors of plural marriage among the members of the Church in the 1830's and 1840's led to persecution, and the public announcement of the practice after August 29, 1852, in Utah gave enemies a potent weapon to fan public hostility against the Church...considerable evidence suggests that the principle of plural marriage was revealed to Joseph Smith more than a decade before...probably as early as 1831...a man could have more than one wife at a time and not be condemned for adultery...Evidence for the practice of plural marriages during the 1830's is scant. Only a few knew about the still unwritten revelation, and perhaps the only known plural marriage was that between Joseph Smith and Fanny Alger. (emphasis added)
Teaching new marriage and family arrangements where the principles could not be openly discussed compounded the problems. Those authorized to teach the doctrine stressed the strict covenants...those who heard only rumors...often envisioned and practiced something quite different... (emphasis added)
The author claims that, "…understandably hesitant to specify a precise date for the end of the world, Smith knew that 'our redemption draweth near.' " (emphasis added)Author's sources:
- Jesse, 306
- Jessee, The Personal Writing of Joseph Smith, p. 283
Kirtland Mills Ohio Aug 10th 1833.
Dear Brethren, W, J, E, I, J, and S, and all others who are willing to lay down their lives for the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ:
P.S. Brethren if I were with you I should take an active part in your sufferings, and although nature shrinks, yet my spirit would not let me forsake you unto death, God helping me. Oh be of good cheer, for our redemption draweth near. Oh, God save my brethren in Zion. Oh brethren give up all to God, forsake all for Christ's sake.
J[oseph] S[mith] (emphasis added)
The author claims that "Smith found [Matthias] credible enough to converse with from 11:00 a.m. until evening when Smith invited him to stay for dinner." "Without objection from Smith, Matthias asserted: 'The silence spoken of by John the Revelator…is between 1830 & 1851…." (emphasis added)Author's sources:
- The author cites Jesse, Papers of Joseph Smith, 2:68–73, 568–69.
- This information is also found in History of the Church 2:306, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, p. 78 and Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 104.
The citation in context:
I then withdrew to transact some business with a gentleman who had called to see me, when Joshua informed my scribe that he was born in Cambridge, Washington County, New York. He says that all the railroads, canals, and other improvements are projected by the spirits of the resurrection. The silence spoken of by John the Revelator, which is to be in heaven for the space of half an hour, is between 1830 and 1851, during which time the judgments of God will be poured out, after that time there will be peace.
Curiosity to see a man that was reputed to be a Jew, caused many to call during the day, and more particularly in the evening....
[After listening to what Matthias said] I told him that his doctrine was of the devil, that he was in reality in possession of a wicked and depraved spirit, although he professed to be the Spirit of truth itself; and he said also that he possessed the soul of Christ.
He tarried until Wednesday, 11th, when, after breakfast, I told him, that my God told me, that his god was the devil, and I could not keep him any longer, and he must depart. And so I, for once, cast out the devil in bodily shape, and I believe a murderer."
According to the author:Robert Matthews "advocated what he called a 'community of property and of wives,' in a more 'spiritual generation.' Mormons avoided the idiom but not the practice." "…Mormon communal practices extended to property as well as to marriage."
Author's sources:
- Richard S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), 8.
- Where, exactly, does one use this statement from the source to draw the conclusion that Latter-day Saints treated wives as "community property?" The source describes Matthews' views of communal marriage—not Joseph Smith's.
Another practicioner of spiritual wifery was Robert Matthews, alias "Matthias the Prophet." Matthews announced that "all marriages not made by himself, and according to his doctrine, were of the devil, and that he had come to establish a community of property, and of wives...After a brief prison sentence, Matthews turned up on Joseph Smith's doorstep in Kirtland as "Joshua, the Jewish Minister." Smith's account of the two day meeting is sketchy, but apparently Matthews was sent on his way after a disagreement on the "transmigration of the soul."
The author states that Oliver Cowdery said Joseph wanted to "commune with some kind of messenger."Author's sources:
- Oliver Cowdery to W.W. Phelps, LDS Messenger and Advocate 1 [No. 5] (Feb 1835): 79.
The author states that Oliver Cowdery said Joseph "had heard of the power of enchantment, and a thousand like stories, which held the hidden treasures of the earth."Author's sources:
- Author cites Oliver Cowdery to W.W. Phelps, Messenger and Advocate 1 (Feb 1835): 79.
- CITATION is in ERROR. The author is quoting from Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, 125, 134 and Vogel, Indian Origins, 14–15.
- Actual quote is found in: Oliver Cowdery to W.W. Phelps, LDS Messenger and Advocate 2/1 (October 1835): 197.
"On attempting to take possession of the record a shock was produced upon his system, by an invisible power [page 197] which deprived him, in a measure, of his natural strength. He desisted for an instant, and then made another attempt, but was more sensibly shocked than before. What was the occasion of this he knew not-there was the pure unsullied record, as had been described-he had heard of the power of enchantment, and a thousand like stories, which held the hidden treasures of the earth, and supposed that physical exertion and personal strength was only necessary to enable him to yet obtain the object of his wish. He therefore made the third attempt with an increased exertion, when his strength failed him more than at either of the former times, and without premeditating he exclaimed, "Why can I not obtain this book?" "Because you have not kept the commandments of the Lord," answered a voice, within a seeming short distance." (emphasis added)
The author states,"Skin color was important in other LDS scriptures as well, and blacks of African ancestry were denied full participation in the church until 1978. Interestingly, the rhetoric underlying the theology may have resulted from 1830s Mormons trying to convince their neighbors in the slave state of Missouri that they were not abolitionists."
Author's sources:
- Campbell, "'White' or 'Pure': Five Vignettes," Dialogue 29 (Winter 1996) 119-120
- Lester E. Bush Jr. and Armand L. Mauss, Neither White nor Black (SLC, Signature Books, 1994).
"These verses suggest that "white" garments are metaphors for purity and cleanliness. A physical cleansing agent removes stains, soils, dirt, disease, and impurities from clothing. Clothing washed in physical blood does not appear white....I suggest that “whiteness” for Mary and Jesus refers to a countenance that is exquisite, radiant, awe-inspiring, and not to blue-eyed, blond-haired, white-skinned Aryans....
The “whiteness” of gentiles is also metaphorical. To see this, consider the question, who are the gentiles in the Book of Mormon? The prophet Mormon gives us an answer on the title page. As did the Jews, Mormon divides the world into two: Jews and gentiles. Gentiles are the non-Jews. Black Africans, brown Hispanics, yellow Vietnamese, black Melanesians, fair-skinned Scandinavians, or olive-complected Italians are not Jews....
White-skinned Nephites and black-skinned Lamanites are metaphors for cultures, not for skin colour. The church teaches that the descendants of the Lamanites inhabited the Americas when Columbus arrived. But Lamanites are not black-skinned; they are not even red-skinned. As the “skin of blackness” is a metaphor, so too is the white skin of the Nephites. Perhaps 3 Nephi 2꞉15-16, in which the Lamanites have the curse taken from them, fulfills 2 Nephi 30꞉6. In these verses the Lamanite has become “white and delightsome” not “pure and delightsome.”...
It is Moroni in Mormon 9꞉6 who gives this fervent prayer as to what our condition may be on the day of resurrection: spotless, pure, fair. And white, not white skinned. Not Aryan. Not Caucasian. But cleansed by the Blood of the Lamb....
2 Nephi 26꞉33...elates salvation to sets of opposites. Salvation transcends gender, social condition, and race. Christ’s gospel is intended to overcome our narrow biases.
The author states that "Emma did not leave a diary, and her letters do not mention anything about Joseph's adolescence or later experiences with women...It was in a mysterious atmosphere of imaginative lore and a mix of theology and magic that Joseph and Emma eloped."Author's sources:
- No source provided (One wonders why the author didn't use the available source containing Emma's own words).
"I was visiting <at> Mr [Josiah] Stowell's who lived in Bainbridge and saw your father there. I had no intention of marying when I left home; but during my visit at Mr Stowell's, your Father visited me there. My folks were bitterly opposed to him; and being importuned by your father, aided by Mr Stowell, and preferring to marry him than any one I Knew, I consented, we went to Squire Tarbeill's and were married. Afterwards when father found I was married he sent for us. The statement in mother [Lucy] S[mith]'[s] history is substantially correct as to date and place." (Vogel, "Emma Smith Bidamon Interview with Joseph Smith III, February 1879", Early Mormon Documents, 538.
The author claims,"Another future wife, Marinda Johnson, was fifteen when she met Smith in Ohio. She said when he looked into her eyes, she felt ashamed. At the time, the Smiths were living with Marinda's family…."
Author's sources:
- No source provided.
"When [Marinda and her sister] reached the family farm, they found, to their chagrin, that their parents had invited none other than Joseph Smith himself to a cottage worship meeting in their house, and that they had converted to Mormonism. Marinda remembers that she felt only 'indignation and shame' at her parents' belief in such a 'ridiculous fake.'
She did not want to attend the meeting, but her parents prevailed upon her, and she agreed reluctantly. That night, as she walked into the meeting room, 'The Prophet, raising his head, looked her full in the eye. With the greatest feeling of shame ever experienced, she felt her very soul laid bare before this man as she realized her thoughts concerning him. He smiled and her anger melted as snow before the sunshine. She knew he was what he claimed to be and never doubted him thereafter." (Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, 228).
The author claims that "Joseph wrote in his journal on December 4, 1832, 'Oh, Lord, deliver thy servant out of temtations [sic] and fill his heart with wisdom and understanding.' If this was not in reference to Fanny Alger, it coincided with the report of two of Joseph's scribes, Warren Parrish and Oliver Cowdery, that Joseph had been 'found' in the hay with his housekeeper."Author's sources:
- Dean C. Jessee (editor), The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings (Vol. 1 of 2) (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1989), 16–17. ISBN 0875791999
- Jessee, note 11.
- D. Michael Quinn, Mormon Hierarchy: Origins, 44.
- Jessee, 17.
December 3d [1832]...William Mclelen was excommunicated from the church &c—[1]
Jessee notes that "The cause of McLellin's 1832 excommunication is not known...."[2] D. Michael Quinn, however, notes that McLellin was excommunicated in December 1832 for spending time with "a certain harlot" while on a mission.[3] This event, then, may have weighed on Joseph.
....this day I been unwell done but litle been at home all day regulated some things this Evening feel better in my mind then I have for a few days back Oh Lord deliver out thy servent out of temtations and fill his heart with wisdom and understanding.[4]
The author state that "Orson Hyde reported seeing a 'wonderful lustful spirit' on his visit to the polygamous Cochranite community….In 1834 he acquired his own lustful spirit in Marinda Johnson…."Author's sources:
- G. D. Smith (p. 532 n. 151) quotes Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy, 8. Van Wagoner indicates that Hyde’s journal “disdainfully described” the Cochranites’ practice. Elsewhere Van Wagoner likewise notes that Hyde was “worried” by the practice: “Mormon Polygamy at Nauvoo,” Dialogue 18/3 (Fall 1985): 69–70)
- Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (New York: S. Converse, 1828), s.v. "wonderful."
The author claims that the murder of Parley P. Pratt was "the proximate cause of the Mountain Meadows Massacre."Author's sources:
- Turley, Walker and Leonard, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, 30–32, 37.
- The author cites: Scott F. and Maurine J. Proctor, Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt (1874; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 586-99.
The author claims that "Joseph Smith had offered a time frame for Jesus' return, deciding that 'fifty-six years should wind up the scene and the Saviour should come to his people.' He made this assessment in February 1835."Author's sources:
- Not specified.
"President Smith then stated that the meeting had been called, because God had commanded it….and it was the will of God that those who went to Zion, with a determination to lay down their lives, if necessary, should be ordained to the ministry, and go forth to prune the vineyard for the last time, or the coming of the Lord, which was nigh—even fifty-six years should wind up the scene." (HC 2:182, 14 Feb 1835.)
The author states, "Instead of evaluating a difficult past in order not to repeat it, the church leadership tried to separate its troubles from their apparent causes."Author's sources:
- See, for example, John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 20:352-354. (30 November 1879)
- Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 volumes, edited by Brigham H. Roberts, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1957), 6:xxxvii–xxxviii. Volume 6 link
...the new marriage system, involving the practice, within certain limitations and under very special conditions, of a plurality of wives, [which] constituted a ground of appeal to popular prejudices and passions that would have been absolutely resistless if the paper had been allowed to proceed. In the presence of such difficulties, what was to be done? In addition to declaring the existence of the practice of plural marriage, not yet announced or publicly taught as a doctrine of the Church, and agitating for the unqualified repeal of the Nauvoo charter, gross immoralities were charged against leading citizens which doubtless rendered the paper grossly libelous.[2]
Notes
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