The Smelly Elephant in the Room of Mormonism Part 1

"The only men who become Gods, even the sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy...Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so; I promise that you will be damned." ~ Brigham Young

I need to address polygamy before going on with my story. Polygamy is the smelly, gigantic, disgusting ‘elephant in the room’ of Mormonism. If you have read my earlier posts concerning Mormonisms 'bat shit' crazy beliefs, then you are aware that there is polygamy in the Celestial kingdom, (the highest level of the Mormon version of Heaven). Men can have multiple wives in that ‘climax’ level of Heaven. According to Mormonism, God has multiple wives, Jesus has multiple wives, and so can those men who reach this exalted state of being. In fact, some believe it is required to have multiple wives to enter Heaven; my dad certainly believed that this was true. In October of 2015, I was shocked to learn of his many proposals to a woman in his ward over that summer, who was divorced with young children to raise, and who was also much younger than me, his youngest daughter. He proposed to this woman several times because he believed it was necessary for him to have another wife in order to get into the Celestial kingdom. (This religion is so fucked up!!) Polygamy is a part of my ancestry as well. My great-grandfather was a polygamist; and, 70 years old when my grandfather was born from his second wife. These beliefs surrounding the idea of Celestial marriage are important to understand. The church tries to down play polygamy, but this is still apart of the Mormon scriptures. In the temple men can be sealed to more than one woman at a time. Make no mistake, polygamy is a huge part of the modern Mormon's belief system. Just because it is not openly practiced today by the main stream church does not mean it is not taught, believed in, and assumed to return as a practice with the second coming of Christ. 
           The Seer was an official periodical, a monthly magazine, of the L.D.S church which first appeared in 1853. Its purpose was to defend the L.D.S religion. This is a quote from Orson Pratt, who was an early apostle of the church. In that magazine he said, “It will be seen that the great Messiah who was the founder of the Christian religion was a polygamist… the Messiah chose… by marrying many honorable wives himself, to show to all future generations that he approbated the plurality of wives under the Christian dispensation in which His polygamist ancestors lived. We have clearly shown that God the Father had a plurality of wives, one or more being in eternity, by whom He begat our spirits as well as the spirit of Jesus His First Born, and another being upon the earth by whom He begat the tabernacle of Jesus, as his only begotten in this world". (Mormons also believe in the literal sexual consummation of God the Father with Mary in order to conceive the baby Jesus, but that is a subject for another day!) "We have also proved most clearly that the Son followed the example of his Father, and became the great Bridegroom to whom Kings’ daughters and many honorable wives were to be married. We have also proved that both God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ inherit their wives in eternity as well as in time… And then it would be so shocking to the modesty of the very pious ladies of Christendom to see Abraham and his wives, Jacob and his wives, Jesus and his honorable wives, all eating occasionally at the same table, and visiting one another, and conversing about their numerous children and their kingdoms. Oh, ye delicate ladies of Christendom how can you endure such a scene as this? If you do not want your morals corrupted, and your delicate ears shocked, and your pious modesty put to the blush by the society of Polygamists, and their wives, do not venture near the New Earth; for polygamists will be honored there, and will be among the chief rules in that Kingdom.” This is how the early leaders of the church justified polygamy in the beginning days of the religion. God, Jesus, Abraham, and Jacob were all polygamists with concubines; and according to this quote, if polygamy offends you, then you should stay away from the ‘New Earth’ because polygamists will be the rulers over it.

           Again, polygamy is still in the modern-day Mormon scriptures. It is still Mormon doctrine, even though it is not practiced at this point in time by the mainstream L.D.S Church. However, Mormons believe it will, at some point, be restored as a practice in the future, most likely, before Christ comes again, or during His reign on Earth in the millennium. This quote by Bruce R. McConkie, a very famous apostle in the church from 1972-1985, and a highly recognized author for the church as well, clearly states this belief, he said, “Obviously the holy practice of polygamy will commence again after the second coming of the Son of Man and the ushering in of the millennium.” So, here we have a not so distant apostle stating that the practice of polygamy will return, before or with, Christ’s second coming. Polygamy definitely is the smelly, disgusting, enormous, ‘elephant in the room’ of Mormonism!

           The Celestial Kingdom is the highest level of heaven in Mormonism. Within the Celestial Kingdom are three levels as well. The uppermost level of the Celestial Kingdom is the only place where marriage is still valid and couples can still have sex in order to make spirit babies. In fact, men can have many virgins given to them as their wives once they are in this glorified position. Women cannot have multiple husbands in Heaven, however. That would just be ridiculous! Although, in the early days of the church, there were women who were married to more than one man at a time, polyandry was also practiced by Joseph Smith Jr. and some of his wives, and concubines. Yes, Joseph also took concubines, mistresses, as well as extra wives. In D&C 132: 38-40 it reads: “David also received many wives and concubines, and also Solomon and Moses my servants, as also many others of my servants, from the beginning of creation until this time; and in nothing did they sin save in those things which they receive not of me. David’s wives and concubines were given unto him of me, by the hand of Nathan, my servant, and others of the prophets who had the keys of this power; and in none of these things did he sin against me… I am the Lord thy God and I gave unto thee, my servant Joseph, an appointment, and restore all things. Ask what ye will, and it shall be given unto you according to my word.” This scripture proves Joseph felt justified to have sex with as many women as he so desired, and in his mind, he was not committing any ‘sexual sin’ when he did it. He was justified because these prophets of old did it too. As long as all involved were consenting, it was acceptable. 

          In Grant H. Palmer’s essay, released by Mormonthink.com on May 22^nd, 2016, titled, Joseph Smith and His Concubines, he states, “Smith’s idea and practice of concubinage is different than found in the Old Testament. His practice is similar to his contemporary John Humphrey Noyes’s ‘free love’ philosophy. Noyes’s Oneida community in New York taught that sex between consenting adults was not a sin, even among married people. The phrase ‘spiritual wife’ was used in different ways during Joseph Smith’s era. I believe Smith used the term as having a relationship with a woman somewhat like a concubine, or a wife for the night. A woman became Smith’s sexual concubine when she gave her consent; whereas, a plural marriage included an authorized officiator, a witness and a marriage ‘sealing’ ceremony.” Secrecy was Joseph’s safety net! In November, 1841 Joseph Smith preached to a crowd in Nauvoo saying, “If you do not accuse each other, God will not accuse you. If you have no accuser you will enter heaven, and if you follow the revelations and instructions which God gives you through me, I will take you into heaven on my back load. If you will not accuse me, I will not accuse you. If you will throw a cloak of charity over my sins, I will over yours, for charity covereth a multitude of sins. What many people call sin is not sin; I do many things to break down superstition, and I will break it down.”(Joseph Smith’s November 7^th, 1841 discourse) (The secret sex lives of many Mormon men, meaning Joseph and his closest accomplices, are the reasons why ‘the garments’ were first introduced, which every temple attending Mormon now wears underneath their cloths, more on the topic of 'the garments' aka Mormon's secret underwear will be covered in a future post.)

          Voltaire spoke the truth when he said, “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” Joseph Smith, through the power of his charm, charisma, and leadership, conned many women into adulterous affairs, and many men into committing outrageous atrocities. Section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants is quite long. It explains the rules regarding polygamy, concubines, aka ‘spiritual wives’, and the new and everlasting covenant. This section of scripture is as clear as mud, in my opinion. This is the law given to the early church leaders who practiced plural marriage. Here is a tiny bit of that long section of scripture. “And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood—if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else. And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified. But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be glorified.” (D&C 132: 61-63) According to this scripture concerning the Law of Plural Marriage, Joseph Smith broke God’s commandments regarding polygamy many, many times while practicing it before he was killed.

          Joseph took at least eleven women for wives who were currently married to other men, therefore, they did not ‘belong’ to him; hence the polyandry. Certainly, they were not virgins either, because they had in fact “vowed to another man”. At least one woman was pregnant with her first husband’s baby when she was also married to Joseph Smith. Many Mormons mistakenly believe polygamy was introduced by Brigham Young because supposedly there were many more women than men when they were trekking across the plains. They believe it was initiated to help out these single women. Clearly, this scripture paints a different picture. Polygamy was re-introduced for the motivation of making more Mormon babies. It was a great reason to have sex like rabbits with many women in order to ‘multiply and replenish the earth’, building up the kingdom of God through reproduction! In addition, Joseph was married in secret many times, and took on ‘spiritual wives’, without the consent, or knowledge, of his first wife Emma. There was a reason he didn’t ask for her permission before getting married again. She wouldn’t have given it! Of course, he didn’t always marry the women he had sex with; some were there just ‘mistresses’ for him to use as a ‘wife for the night’.

There is a story that I've heard many times. A visitor to Nauvoo once asked Emma her opinion about this practice of polygamy. It is believed she said, “It came straight from Hell and the devil himself.” The devil being, John C. Bennett, a name many Mormons are not familiar with, but this man greatly influenced Joseph Smith for a time while in Nauvoo before being excommunicated from the church. John played a significant part in Mormon Church history, but his name is pretty much erased from it just like Joseph’s multiple wives and concubines. Whether this story is true, or not true, it is still very clear how Emma actually felt about her husband, ‘the prophet’, practicing polygamy, and having mistresses. You only have to do a little bit of research to know for certain, she didn’t appreciate it! Yes, Joseph actually had sex with many of these other wives, and of course he was having sex with his concubines. Remember, the reason polygamy was introduced into the church was to help “multiply and replenish the earth.” Intercourse was necessary. This law was so upsetting to Emma, that after Joseph’s death, she denied that he ever practiced it. She was so ashamed of that doctrine, and didn’t endorse it once Joseph was dead.

           In this same revelation on polygamy, Emma was told to submit to it, or be destroyed. “And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none else. But if she will not abide this commandment she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord; for I am the Lord thy God, and will destroy her if she abides not in my law.” (D&C 132:54) She finally did submit to it after this revelation from ‘God’ telling her she would be destroyed if she continued to refuse to support it. (Threats of damnation and destruction are still used today as a common way to manipulate members to get them to comply with those in authority in the church. You can see that it was common nearly 200 years ago too. Unfortunately, things haven’t changed much since then in this regard.) Emma did agree to some of the marriages Joseph wanted. Yet, Joseph persisted to have many marriages, and affairs, behind Emma's back; marrying and copulating with many of her so called ‘friends’; consequently, totally screwing Emma in the process too. Truly, it was a pathetic situation for a ‘prophet’ of God. It is believed Joseph had at least 35 wives before his death in 1844. There could have been more. We will never know for certain how many wives and mistresses he actually had.
           In part two, I will dive a little deeper into the details of polygamy, it's consequences, and influence on modern day members. In the meantime, an excellent book on this subject is Carol Lynn Pearson's latest book, The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men. I highly recommend reading this if you want to know more and understand this heart breaking practice of polygamy. 



Namaste!

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