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Joseph Smith hid polygamy from the general Church membership
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Joseph hid polygamy from the general Church membership
Important introductory material on plural marriage available here
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Questions
Joseph initiated the practice of polygamy and hid it from the general Church membership.
To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, [[../CriticalSources|click here]]
Gospel Topics, "Polygamy (Plural Marriage)"
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gospel Topics, (2010)After God revealed the doctrine of plural marriage to Joseph Smith in 1831 and commanded him to live it, the Prophet, over a period of years, cautiously taught the doctrine to some close associates. Eventually, he and a small number of Church leaders entered into plural marriages in the early years of the Church. Those who practiced plural marriage at that time, both male and female, experienced a significant trial of their faith. The practice was so foreign to them that they needed and received personal inspiration from God to help them obey the commandment.
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Answer
It is true that Joseph did not always tell others about plural marriage. He did, however, make some attempt to teach the doctrine to the Saints.
Detailed Analysis
Question: Did Joseph Smith ever publicly attempt to teach the doctrine of plural marriage?
Answer: Yes.
A contemporary journal describes the reaction to Joseph's attempt to teach this doctrine:
- When the prophet “went to his dinner,” [Joseph Lee] Robinson wrote, “as it might be expected several of the first women of the church collected at the Prophet’s house with his wife [and] said thus to the prophet Joseph O mister Smith you have done it now it will never do it is all but Blassphemy you must take back what you have said to day is it is outrageous it would ruin us as a people.” So in the afternoon session Smith again took the stand, according to Robinson, and said “Brethren and Sisters I take back what we said this morning and leave it as though there had been nothing said.”[1]
Joseph tried to teach the doctrine, but it was rejected by many Saints, including Emma, his wife. Joseph then began to teach the doctrine privately to those who would obey.
Question: Why did Joseph keep the doctrine of plural marriage private?
Answer: The Saints would have suffered consequences.
Keeping the doctrine private was also necessary because the enemies of the Church would have used it as another justification for their assault on the Saints. Orson Hyde looked back on the Nauvoo days and indicated what the consequences of disclosure would have been:
- In olden times they might have passed through the same circumstances as some of the Latter-day Saints had to in Illinois. What would it have done for us, if they had known that many of us had more than one wife when we lived in Illinois? They would have broken us up, doubtless, worse than they did.[2]
It is thus important to realize that the public preaching of polygamy—or announcing it to the general Church membership, thereby informing the public by proxy—was simply not a feasible plan. Critics of Joseph's choice want their audience to ignore the danger to him and the Saints.
See: Gregory L. Smith, "Polygamy, Prophets, and Prevarication: Frequently and Rarely Asked Questions about the Initiation, Practice, and Cessation of Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," FAIR, 2005.
== Notes ==
- [note] Richard S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1986),48; citing Robinson, Journal, 23–24.
- [note] Orson Hyde, "The Marriage Relations," (6 October 1854) Journal of Discourses 2:75-75.