Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Chapter 13

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Claims made in "Chapter 12: Wars and Rumors of Wars"
A FAIR Analysis of:
Criticism of Mormonism/Books
A work by author: Richard Abanes
 Claims made in "Chapter 14: The Politics of Compromise"

Claims made in "Chapter 13: Unholy Matrimony"

Coexisting with these two deities was a limitless amount of cosmic spirit matter known as "intelligence," out of which Elohim and Heavenly Mother made countless spirit babies via celestial sex.
—One Nation Under Gods, p. 285

∗       ∗       ∗

282, 572n8 (PB)

Claim
  • Didn't Joseph approve a "pretend marriage" between his plural wife Sarah Ann Whitney and Joseph Kingsbury?

Author's source(s)
  • George D. Smith, An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton (1995), 27.
  • "History of Joseph Kingsbury, Written by His Own Hand, 1846, 1849, 1850," Stanley Snow Ivins Collection, vol. 15, 74-76, Utah State Historical Society.
Response

282, 572n8 (PB)

Claim
  • Did Joseph write a "revealing letter" to Sarah Ann Whitney's parent in which he invited them "to bring their daughter to visit him?"

Author's source(s)
  • George D. Smith, An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton (1995), 27.
  • Joseph Smith, letter to Whitney family, Aug. 18, 1842, photocopy, George Albert Smith papers, Special Collections, Marriott Library.
Response

283, 572n10 (PB)

Claim
  • Did Sarah Pratt's rejection of the Church have to do with her having been propositioned by Joseph?

Author's source(s)
  • W. Wyl, Mormon Portraits, 62.
Response

283, 572n11 (PB)

Claim
  • Why did Joseph publicly deny polygamy, when he stated: "What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one?"

Author's source(s)
  • History of the Church, vol. 6, 410-411.
Response

284 (PB)

Claim
  • Weren't many of Joseph's plural wives teenagers?

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

285, 575n21 (HB) 573n21 (PB)

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Coexisting with these two deities was a limitless amount of cosmic spirit matter known as "intelligence," out of which Elohim and Heavenly Mother made countless spirit babies via celestial sex."

Author's source(s)
  • McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 387, 750.
  • Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 11:122..
  • Orson Pratt, "The Pre-Existence of Man," The Seer, March 1853, vol. 1, no. 3, 38
Response
  • The author uses the offensive term "celestial sex" to characterize LDS beliefs related to the pre-existence.
  • The sources quoted, Bruce R. McConkie, Brigham Young, and Orson Pratt never use the term "celestial sex."
  • No LDS leader has ever used the term "celestial sex."
  • The term "celestial sex" was popularized in Ed Decker's 1982 anti-Mormon film The God Makers. This source is not credited as a source by the author, but its influence is obvious.
  • Loaded and prejudicial language
  • Celestial sex?
  • This claim is also made in Becoming Gods, p. 154, 392n14

285, 574n25 (PB)

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Earth, by the way, in this Mormon scenario, was fashioned as part of a joint creative project supervised by the most faithful of Heavenly Father's spiritual progeny (e.g., Jesus, Joseph Smith, Noah, Adam, John the Baptist, etc.). Elohim's other spirit children included: Lucifer, who would become the Devil (a.k.a. Satan); Napoleon; George Washington; Joseph Smith; Louis Armstrong, Donny and Marie Osmond, Senator Orrin Hatch, U.S. President George W. Bush, and everyone else who has ever lived on this planet."

Author's source(s)
  • McConkie, 169.
Response

286, 574n26 (PB)

Claim
  • Do Latter-day Saints believe that God the Father is a "polygamous god?"

Author's source(s)
  • Orson Pratt, "Celestial Marriage," The Seer, November 1853, vol. 1, no. 11, 172.
  • John J. Stewart, Brigham Young and His Wives and The True Story of Plural Marriage, 41.
Response

286 (PB)

Claim
  • Do Latter-day Saints believe that God the Father is "the god of this planet?"

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

286, 575n29 (PB)

Claim
  • Do Latter-day Saints believe that our mortal life is similar to what God the Father had to go through in order to become God?

Author's source(s)
  • McConkie, 64.
Response

287 (PB)

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "More spirit children means more power, which in turn pushes a Mormon male further up the hierarchical ladder of gods in our universe."

Author's source(s)
  • Author's opinion.
Response

287, 575n38(PB)

Claim
  • Is it true that Latter-day Saints do not believe that Jesus Christ was not "conceived in any way that might be considered supernatural" and that He was not "miraculously begotten, for instance, by the Holy Ghost, as Christianity teaches"?

Author's source(s)
Response

287-8, 575n39 (PB)

Claim
  • Do Latter-day Saints believe that God the Father visited the earth to conceive Jesus Christ through Mary after "making her his wife" even though she was "his daughter" and "betrothed to Joseph?"

Author's source(s)
  • Brigham Young, Deseret News, October 10, 1866.
  • Brigham Young, August 19, 1866, Journal of Discourses, vol. 11, 268. Brigham says, "The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband. On this account infidels have called the Savior a bastard. This is merely a human opinion upon one of the inscrutable doings of the Almighty. That very babe that was cradled in the manger, was begotten, not by Joseph, the husband of Mary, but by another Being. Do you inquire by whom? He was begotten by God our heavenly Father. This answer may suffice you—you need never inquire more upon that point. Jesus Christ is the only begotten of the Father, and he is the Savior of the world, and full of grace and truth."
  • Orson Pratt, :Celestial Marriage," The Seer, October 1853, vol. 1, no. 10, 158. (It should be noted that the First Presidency rejected Pratt's writings in The Seer as Church doctrine.)
Response

288, 576n42-43 (PB)

Claim
  • Do Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus became a polygamist just like His Father?

Author's source(s)
  • Orson Pratt, "Celestial Marriage," The Seer, 172, 158.
Response
  • The Church teaches no such doctrine. Most references to Elohim's status come from Orson Pratt, who believed that this was true. The Church, however, has neither accepted nor promoted such a teaching.
  • Was Jesus a polygamist?

288, 576n44

Claim
  • The author states that the "road to godhood" for others is "far more difficult and takes considerably longer" than the route taken by Jesus Christ, since Jesus did not require "wives" or "temple rituals" to achieve godhood.

Author's source(s)
  • Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 129.
Response
  • This is an absurd claim by the author. Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins—something that no man is even capable of doing for himself. This is what the author implies is the easier road to godhood?
  • Absurd claims

289, 578n51 (HB)
576n51 (PB)

Claim
The following differences exist between the hardback and paperback editions:
  • "According to the late BYU scholar Eugene England, Mormon women literally are to become 'birth machines' so Mormon males can continue creating and populating various worlds without end." (HB)
  • "In 1987, BYU scholar Eugene England noted how many "influential" Mormons and LDS religion teachers still saw women as mere "birth machines"—a view he called "one of the more popular rationales for eternal polygyny." Just recently "an increasing number of faithful Mormons" have started rejecting such a notion." (PB)

Author's source(s)
The following endnote was corrected in the paperback edition:
  • Jessie L. Embry, "Burden or Pleasure?: A Profile of LDS Polygamous Husbands," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Winter 1987), vol. 20, no. 4, 148. (HB)
  • Eugene England, "On Fidelity, Polygamy, and Celestial Marriage," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Winter 1987), vol. 20, no. 4, 148. The note states, "England condemned this view, explaining that it was based on a too rigid interpretation of D&C 132:63. (PB)
Response

290, 577n56-57 (PB)

Claim
  • Ann Eliza Young in her 1875 book Wife No. 19 stated the polygamy in Utah was not an option, but a command.

Author's source(s)
  • Ernest H. Taves, This is the Place: Brigham Young and the New Zion, 153.
  • Ann Eliza Young, Wife No. 19, or the Story of A Life In Bondage, Being A Complete Expose of Mormonism, and Revealing the Sorrows, Sacrifices, and Sufferings of Women in Polygamy.
Response

294, 579n68

Claim
  • Is it true that early LDS leaders allowed the marriage of near relatives? The book specifically mentions the sealing of John Bernhisel to his sister, Maria, as quoted in Joseph's diary.

Author's source(s)
  • Scott H. Faulring, ed., An American Prophet's Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith, 424.
Response

294, 579n74

Claim
  • George D. Smith notes in a study of 153 polygamous men: "two of the wives were only thirteen years old, more than a dozen girls were fourteen, twenty-one were fifteen; and fifty-three were only sixteen."

Author's source(s)
  • George D. Smith. Cited in Jerald Tanner and Sandra Tanner, "Joseph Smith and Women," Salt Lake City Messenger (#91), November 1996, 7.
Response
  •  The author's claim is false: G.D. Smith is not an "LDS scholar." GD Smith is an atheist, writes frequently for secular humanism's flagship publication Free Inquiry, and finances Signature Books, which expends considerable effort attacking the foundational events and doctrines of the Church.[1]
  • Polygamy book/Age of wives

295, 579n77

Claim
  • Is it true that Latter-day Saint men treated women as "livestock or property."
  • The endnote refers to an alleged quote made by Brigham Young to Henry Jacobs in which he is claimed to have told Jacobs that "the woman that you claim for a wife does not belong to you. She is a spiritual wife of brother Joseph...and she, in his behalf, with her children, are my property..."

Author's source(s)
  • William Hall, The Abominations of Mormonism Exposed (Cincinnati: I. Hart & Co., 1853), 43-44.
  • T.B.H. Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints: a full and complete history of the Mormons, from the first vision of Joseph Smith to the last courtship of Brigham Young (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1873), 185-186.
Response
  • Stenhouse could not have heard the alleged comment by Brigham in 1846, since he was baptized in England on July 14, 1845, and didn't come to the United States until late 1855. His "corroboration," therefore, is of no worth, and he is likely to have simply copied Hall's claim as his own.
  • Hall claimed that the comment was heard "in the hearing of hundreds," yet nobody else present among these "hundreds" has ever corroborated this story.
  • The claim also does not match Brigham Young's teachings on the subject.
  • Full details: Wyatt, "Zina and Her Men."

295, 582n81-82 (HB) 580n81-82 (PB)

Claim
  • Is it true, as the author claims, that "wife swapping" was "acceptable?"

Author's source(s)
  • Jedediah Grant. Quoted in T.B.H. Stenhouse, Rocky Mountain Saints: a full and complete history of the Mormons, from the first vision of Joseph Smith to the last courtship of Brigham Young (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1873), 294.
  • Jedediah Grant, February 19, 1854, Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, 14.
Response
  •  The author's claim is false: Grant's quote is about consecrating everything to God's service: money, wives, etc. It does not sanction "wife swapping."
  • This claim is also made in Becoming Gods, p. 237, 425n73-75

297, 581n88-89 (PB)

Claim
  • Were missionaries instructed to not select converted women as wives before they were brought back to Utah?

Author's source(s)
  • Heber C. Kimball, August 28, 1852, Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, 256.
  • Heber C. Kimball, Quoted in Stanley P. Hirshon, The Lion of the Lord: A Biography of the Mormon Leader, Brigham Young, 129-130.
Response
  • The author creates a composite idea from the two sources. Kimball's discourse doesn't actually mention plural marriage.
  • Kimball's quote in context:

"I say to those who are elected to go on missions, Go, if you never return; and commit what you have into the hands of God-your wives, your children, your brethren, and your property. Let truth and righteousness be your motto; and do not go into the world for anything else but to preach the Gospel, build up the kingdom of God, and gather the sheep into the fold. You are sent out as shepherds to gather the sheep together; and remember that they are not your sheep: they belong to Him that sends you: Then do not make a choice of any of those sheep; do not make selections before they are brought home and put into the fold."


297, 581n90-95 (PB)

Claim
  • If missionaries chose not to "heed Kimball's warning" about selecting wives before bringing them to Utah, were they castrated as a result?

Author's source(s)
Response

299, 581n95 (PB)

Claim
  • Why did Brigham Young say that "[t]he only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy?"

Author's source(s)
Response

301, 582n106 (PB)

Claim
  • Did Orson Pratt teach that anyone not entering into plural marriage "will be damned?"

Author's source(s)
Response

301 (PB)

Claim
  •  Author's quote: "Monogamy was equated with a failure to obey God, which not only displeased the Almighty, but endangered one's eternal destiny."

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

301-2, 582n108 (PB)

Claim
  • Did Brigham actually say that monogamy was the "source of prostitution and whoredom" throughout all Christendom?

Author's source(s)
Response
  •  Misrepresentation of source: Brigham actually said "a source," not "the source:"

302, 582n109 (PB)

Claim
  • Was failure to acquire plural wives considered a crime worthy of death?

Author's source(s)
  • Marie Cornwall, Camela Courtright, and Laga Van BeekHow, "Common the Principle?: Women As Plural Wives in 1860," Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought (Summer 1993), vol. 26, 142.
Response

302 (PB)

Claim
  • Were single or monogamous men "mocked and ridiculed as practically impotent?"

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response
  • The author provides no source to back up this assertion. The burden of proof is upon him.

303, 582n111 (PB)

Claim
  • Were LDS women told that they could only be saved through their husbands, who would provide them with salvation?

Author's source(s)
  • Sandra Tanner, "How the LDS Husband Hopes to Resurrect His Wife According to the LDS Temple Ceremony"
Response
  • LDS believe that salvation only comes through the atonement of Jesus Christ, and do not believe that it is dependent upon any man.

304, 583n114 (PB)

Claim
  • Did Brigham say of women: "It is for you to bear children,...are you tormenting yourselves by thinking that your husbands do not love you? I would not care whether they loved a particle or not; but I would cry out, like one of old, in the joy of my heart, 'I have got a man from the Lord!' 'Hallelujah! I am a mother—I have borne an image of God!'"

Author's source(s)
Response

305 (PB)

Claim
  • Does the Bible not sanction or command polygamy?

Author's source(s)
  • Various references related to providing an Evangelical view of how polygamy in the Bible is viewed.
Response

306 (PB)

Claim
  • Did the Hebrews never consider polygamy a standard practice?

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

307, 583-4n123-5 (PB)

Claim
  • Did Joseph Smith and Brigham Young believe that the New Testament teaches polygamy and that Jesus and his apostles were actually polygamists?

Author's source(s)
Response

308 (PB)

Claim
  • Doesn't the Book of Mormon condemn polygamy?

Author's source(s)
Response
== Notes ==
  1. [note]  For Smith’s long-standing links to the secular humanist movement, see Louis Midgley, "George Dempster Smith, Jr., on the Book of Mormon (Review of On the Barricades: Religion and Free Inquiry in Conflict by Robert Basil, Mary Beth Gehrman, and Tim Madigan)," FARMS Review of Books 4/1 (1992): 5–12. off-site. See also Louis Midgley, "Atheists and Cultural Mormons Promote a Naturalistic Humanism (Review of Religion, Feminism, and Freedom of Conscience: A Mormon/Humanist Dialogue by George D. Smith," FARMS Review of Books 7/1 (1995): 229–297. off-site. On Signature Books’ ideological atheism, see Louis Midgley, "The Signature Books Saga," FARMS Review 16/1 (2004): 361–406. off-site

Further reading

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