Mormons/LDS be honest what do you think?

Question

1. Why did joseph need so many wives, so many being under the age of 18?
2. Why did he take at least one 14 year old wife that we know of? Do you know any 14 year olds that are ready for marriage?
3. Did Joseph have sex with these young wives? He had sex with other plural wives, which I found records of their children on familysearch.org. If you do not believe he had sex with his 14 year old wife or other young wives then why did he have sex with his othe wives?
Resources = http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/AF/individual_record.asp?recid=7762167&lds=0®ion=-1®ionfriendly=&frompage=99
Be honest what do you think?

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/AF/individual_record.asp?recid=7762167&lds=0®ion=-1®ionfriendly=&frompage=99

Answer 1

Ok, I am not a Mormon, but I recently discussed the issue of polygamy in class and then with a Mormon friend so here it goes.

1. The Morman church practiced polygamy because they believed that in order to attain the goal of reaching the highest heaven (they believed in 3 layers of heaven) one had to be married. I have no Idea why so many were under 18.

2. I don't have a clue why he took this 14 year-old as a wife.

3. I do believe he would have had sex with them.

Answer 2

Your link doesn't work, but one thing you have to consider is that during those times a large number of Mormon men had been killed, leaving behind women and children that had to be taken care of. Many of these were taken into homes and since there was no law at that time against polygamy, some were taken to wife, possibly in an effort to forestall the likelihood of any impropriety. I haven't heard bout any 14 year olds and I doubt that to be true. There are so many things said that are fabrications. As far as sex goes; who knows and who really cares? What does it really change one way or another?

Answer 3

I'm not mormon and I'm not going to address all of your questions but I will address one.

Not so many years ago it was common for a girl of 14 to get married. They were far more mature than our 28 year olds today. We have decided that our children are not to grow up and that we should teach them utter nonsense in the schools so they can't think for themselves. This is why we have a high rate of teenage pregnacy and premarital sex. Their harmones are saying I'm ready to have children the the male harmones are saying I'm ready to make children but we keep them in school relearning stuff they have been taught already and forbid them to coupulate which is natural. And what do we produce? Useful idiots who walk lockstep with the liberal socialist nonsense the schools are spoon feeding into our children. I agree that right now a teenager is not emotionally mature enough to marry at 14 but thats our fault not theirs. In Josephs Smiths time that was not the case.

Answer 4

It's not an LDS issue, it's an historical context issue. It was fairly normal for women to be married that young at that time in history.
I would venture to say that a 14 year old women c.1850 was much better prepared for marriage than a 14year old woman c. 2007 is.

Answer 5

regardless of the religion, back 200 years ago and before that it was common to get married very young. People only lived to be about half the age we live to today. Think about growing all your own food, having to find water, etc. It was a rough life.

Answer 6

Here is the Mormon history of Polygamy:


1852
Polygamy is openly taught in specially convened conference in Salt Lake City. Revelation dated July 12, 1843, which teaches, even commands, plural marriage to be practiced, is publicly read, then expounded on by Apostle Orson Pratt and President Brigham Young (Smith, Essentials in Church History, p. 394). The revelation is incorporated twenty-four years later (see 1876) into the Doctrine &Covenants. (See 1838c cross-dates.)

1855
Brigham Young preaches a sermon on polygamy in which he explains, "Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned; and I will go still further and say, take this revelation, or any other revelation that the Lord has given, and deny it in your feelings, and I promise that you will be damned" (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 3, p. 266). (See 1838c cross-dates.)

1866
Brigham Young states, "The only men who become Gods, even the sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy" (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 11, p. 269; see 1852b, 1855b). (See also 1838c cross-dates.)

1876
First edition of Doctrine & Covenants without revelation prescribing monogamous marriage is published. Section 132 (current editions) which authorizes polygamy is added (Temple Lot Case, p. 309). (See 1838c cross-dates.)

1879
Mormon Apostle George Q. Cannon declares, "If plural marriage be divine, as the Latter-day Saints say it is, no power on earth can suppress it, unless you crush and destroy the entire people." At the October General Conference Apostle Franklin D. Richards declares, "...the government has determined that polygamy shall be abolished, but the government of heaven had previously determined that polygamy should be established..." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 20, pp. 276, 314; see 1843b, 1856c, 1866c). (See also 1838c cross-dates.)

1890
(a) "The final blow for Mormon polygamy was the Supreme Court's decision in The Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ vs. United States which upheld the seizure of Church holdings by the federal government" (Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 21, No. 1, p. 120; see 1887, 1890b). (See also 1838c cross-dates.)

(b) Wilford Woodruff issues the Manifesto in which it is stated, "We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its practice ... Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages ... I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws ... And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land" (Doctrine &Covenants, "Official Declaration-1", 1981 ed., p. 291-92). Following Joseph Smith's earlier example (see 1835c, 1838c, 1844b), Church leaders continued to practice polygamy for many years after the manifesto, while lying about the subject to the government, the public and even church members (see 1898b, 1906). (See also 1838c cross-dates.)

1898
October 17, "The Presbyterian synod of Utah, at its closing session in Ogden, passed resolutions declaring that polygamy was still practiced by the 'Mormons' in Utah" (Jenson, Church Chronology; see 1890b, 1906). (See also 1838c cross-dates.)

Answer 7

If you read the journal of Helen Mar Kimball, she never had sexual relations with Joseph Smith. I don't know about what might have happened with any others.

Answer 8

Because he was a greedy, unfaithful, oversexed, pompous pedophile with a God complex- why else?

Answer 9

Do you think that anyone is going to 'be honest' simply because a crackpot says to?