Believing a man is a prophet and also that he consistently lied or willfully misled is a devastating combination. It provides a basis for carte blanche justification of any dishonest behavior one engages in to accomplish what one believes to be God’s will. This must invariably lead to a debilitating impairment of one’s sense of right and wrong and more generally to the corruption of any religion that embraces such behavior.
I recently heard the following: “To believe the Church’s narrative on polygamy requires ignoring everything that we can prove Joseph actually said about it.“
To put the latter part of this statement in more explicit terms and to elaborate on it somewhat, I would say the following: To believe the Church’s narrative on polygamy requires either (1) ignoring everything we can prove Joseph actually said or wrote in denouncing polygamy, excommunicating those who practiced it, and claiming his own innocence in regard to the practice, or (2) asserting that Joseph Smith was lying or willfully and systematically misleading the public.
The Church’s narrative is inherited from a period of time between 1845 and the early 1900s when Brigham Young and subsequent leaders practiced and taught polygamy either openly or in secret. To continue the practice – amidst increasing pressure by the U.S. government to cease under penalty of law – required pinning the origins of it on Joseph Smith, the founder of the religion. The hope was to gain protection under the first amendment to continue the practice.
Interestingly, at least two contemporary, outside observers – Mark Twain (Roughing It) and an exceptionally astute woman by the name of C. V. Waite (The Mormon Prophet and His Harem) – unequivocally stated polygamy was introduced into the church by Brigham, not Joseph, and even offered their own defense of this position based on scripture produced by Joseph Smith (Jacob 2, of the Book of Mormon, and section 101 of the 1835 D&C) that explicitly condemns polygamy.
As outlined in detail in the presentation I linked to above, this only scratches the surface of the evidence, from 1830 to Joseph’s death in 1844, showing he never deviated from an absolute, unequivocal, and proactive denunciation of polygamy in speech and in writing.
Given below are some highlights of his effort in chronological order, including at least one instance where others, after his death, added to or altered his words to reverse their meaning before inclusion in a history of the church. I’ve included links to digital scans of relevant documents.
Until we come to see the truth of what actually transpired in connection with the timeline given below, we must necessarily be numbered among those of whom Joseph said on April 7, 1844, not three months before his death, “you never knew my heart.”
If the recently discovered Larsen daguerreotype does indeed turn out to be Joseph Smith, it would be timely and appropriate, perhaps even divinely orchestrated. How appropriate the symbolism if the face we have grown accustomed to in paintings bore no more resemblance to the actual man than the caricatures we’ve painted of him as a pedophile, adulterer, and liar.
In the eyes of this face in the daguerreotype, I see a man “...despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief… he was despised, and we esteemed him not...” (Isaiah 53.3), much like the Master I believe he served from the beginning up to his untimely death. He walked a lowly path and bore a genuine love always in his heart toward humanity. In his remarks on April 7, 1844, he said: “I have intended my remarks to all; both rich and poor, bond and free, great and small. I have no enmity against any man. I love you all. I am your best friend….”
Our traditions have made us blind. With the emergence of this daguerreotype, I say we take it as an invitation to reconsider what we’ve come to believe in connection with the Mormonism we inherited from Brigham Young and his successors and begin to reconstruct our faith on a new foundation with new eyes.
In the timeline that follows, keep in mind that what we now have as section 132 in the D&C was first presented publicly to the church in 1852 (8 years after Joseph’s death) and was not included in the D&C until 1876, at which time section 101 of the original D&C, explicitly condemning polygamy, was removed.
This supposed revelation is claimed to have been received by Joseph on July 12, 1843. Contemporary records suggest Joseph may have produced a revelation on marriage around this time, but that it referred strictly to the covenant between one man and one woman.
That the “revelation” Brigham Young presented to the church in 1852, which we now have as section 132 in the D&C, could have been an amalgamation of Joseph’s revelation on the monogamous marriage covenant and additions made after his death is supported by at least three observations of the content of section 132:
Observation #1: The very first verse contains notions that directly contradict scripture and inspired clarifications of the Bible that Joseph produced: “…inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines – Behold, and lo, I am the Lord thy God, and will answer thee as touching this matter.” Contradictions to this are listed in the timeline.
Observation #2: Verse 7 contains a parenthetical insertion (“and I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred“) that bears striking similarity to additions made to a journal entry of Joseph Smith, after his death. This journal entry and the additions are contained in the timeline.
Observation #3: The content of verses 15-16 closely resembles notes taken by Franklin D. Richards and William Clayton of an address Joseph is known to have given on July 16, 1843. This suggests there may have been a genuine revelation from Joseph Smith on the marriage covenant. That there were subsequent rumors of Joseph having taught a man may have more than one wife is evident in a series of denunciations of polygamy that Joseph and Hyrum made in the several months that followed.
With the above as context, consider the following timeline:
1830: Publication of the Book of Mormon
Jacob 2.23-24: “...thus saith the Lord: This people begin to wax in iniquity; they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of the things which were written concerning David, and Solomon his son. Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord....”
(27,34-35) “...there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none… now behold, my brethren, ye know that these commandments were given to our father, Lehi; wherefore, ye have known them before; and ye have come unto great condemnation; for ye have done these things which ye ought not to have done. Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds.”
1830-1833: Inspired corrections of the Bible
[Joseph’s versions taken from: https://scriptures.info/scriptures/oc]
2 Samuel 12:13 (Joseph’s version): “...David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also has not put away your sin, that you shall not die.”
KJV: “…The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.“
1 Kings 3:14 (Joseph’s version): “And if you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, then I will lengthen your days. And you shall not walk in unrighteousness, as did your father David.“
KJV: “...if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.”
1 Kings 11:4,6 (Joseph’s version): “...when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, and it became as the heart of David his father… And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, as David his father, and went not fully after the Lord.”
KJV: “...and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father… And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father.”
1 Kings 14:8 (Joseph’s version): “...Forasmuch as I exalted you from among the people… and rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you because he kept not my commandments….”
KJV: “…rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments…”
1835: Publication of the Doctrine and Covenants
Section 101 (removed under Brigham Young for the 1876 publication of the D&C): “Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again.“
1843, July 16: Sermon on the marriage covenant
[Similar to verses 15 and 16 in D&C 132, suggesting that this section, added by Brigham Young in 1876, could be an amalgamation of an original that came from Joseph (dealing only with marriage between one man and one woman) with later additions after Joseph’s death. Also, take note of what Clayton recorded concerning Joseph stating that Hyrum, his brother, held the office of prophet to the church and that the saints must regard him, “for he has authority”. This is important context when reading Hyrum’s April 8, 1844 denunciation of polygamy, included in the timeline.]
Franklin D. Richards, Notes: “All contracts in view of this Life only terminate with this Life. Case of the woman & 7 husbands Luke 20–29 &c Those who keep no eternal Law in this life or make no eternal contract are single & alone in the eternal world (Luke 20–35) and are only made Angels to minister to those who shall be heirs of Salvation never becoming Sons of God having never kept the Law of God ie eternal Law The earthly is the image of the Heavenly shows that is by the multiplication of Lives that the eternal worlds are created and occupied that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the spirit is spirit.”
William Clayton, Notes: “P.M. went to the Grove and heard pres. J. preach on the law of the priesthood. He stated that Hyrum [Smith] held the office of prophet to the church by birth-right & he was going to have a reformation and the saints must regard Hyrum for he has authority. He showed that a man must enter into an everlasting covenant with his wife in this world or he will have no claim on her in the next. He said that he could not reveal the fulness of these things untill the Temple is completed &c.”
1843, October 5: Journal entry modified after Joseph’s death (source)
Original journal entry:
“Evening at home, and walked up and down the Streets with my scribe. Gave instructions to try those persons who were preaching, teaching, or practicing the doctrine of plurality of wives. on this law Joseph forbids it, and the practice thereof. No man shall have but one wife“
After removals and additions for the history:
“…Gave instructions to try those persons who were preaching, teaching, or practicing the doctrine of plurality of wives. for according to the law I hold the keys of this power in the last days, for there is never but one on Earth at a time on whom the power and its keys are conferred— and I have constantly said No man shall have but one wife at a time unless the Lord directs otherwise.”
NOTE: Compare the above additions (about there only ever being one on earth with this power) with the following parenthetical included in verse 7 of D&C section 132 that was added in 1876:
“...I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred...”
1844, April 8: Hyrum’s denunciation of polygamy (source)
[One copy, presumably the original, of this was removed from the Joseph Smith Papers site. A second, slightly different, copy of this is still in the Joseph Smith Papers, but has a line through it, suggesting it was not selected by Brigham for final inclusion in the history of the church. An addendum on the Joseph Smith Papers site has a brief summary of Hyrum’s sermon from this day, but it completely omits his lengthy denunciation of polygamy. It’s this brief summary that made it into the history of the church.]
“…One reason I speak to the Elders is, in consequence of the Ten thousand reports which come to me from abroad— almost every foolish man runs to me, to enquire if such and such things are true, and how many spiritual wives a man may have. I know nothing about it; what he might call a spiritual wife, I should not know anything about. In about half an hour after he has gone, another person begins to say: ‘the Elders tell such and such things all over the country.’
“I am authorized to tell you from henceforth, that any man who comes in and tells any such damn fool doctrine, to tell him to give up his license. None but a fool teaches such stuff; the devil himself is not such a fool, and every Elder who teaches such stuff ought to have his nose wrung; any one found guilty of such teaching will be published and his license will be taken from him… I wish the Elders of Israel to understand it is lawful for a man to marry a wife, but it is unlawful to have more, and God has not commanded any of you to have more; and if any of you dare to presume to do any such things, it will spoil your fun, for you will never have the spirit to preach the Gospel. I despise a man who teaches a pack of stuff that will disgrace himself so; for a man to go into the world, and talk of this spiritual wife system he is as empty as an open sepulchre….”
For a much more detailed discussion of all of this above, see the presentation I linked to at the beginning.
...it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ...that ye must build your foundation... 