This morning I was greeted by headlines from all the major news outlets that the Mormon church has finally confessed that Joseph Smith had up to 40 wives. It was reported that Joseph Smith was married to Women as young as 14 and sometimes even to other men’s wives. These reports were met by extremely negative comments about Joseph Smith and Religion.
I want to share my thoughts and personal experiences on the subject with any who wish to hear.
The below thoughts are my own personal experience. I was given the privilege of receiving divine
communication from my loving Heavenly Father to instill in me a greater
testimony of him and his plan. I do not
present anything below as official church doctrine, only as personal testimony.
The Sunday school curriculum last year was based on the
Doctrine and Covenants. Toward the end
of the year I felt that I needed to read the book through completely as I had
neglected to keep up with the reading and study throughout the year. I even made the goal (successfully I might
add) that I would not play any electronic games until I had finished the book
from start to finish. I ended up reading
through it quite rapidly without too much major study. However, I was still touched in a profound
way on certain aspects of doctrine, and I did dedicate more time and effort
into the study and pondering of those topics that the spirit directed me
toward.
Much to my surprise, the topic that affected me the most was
that of marriage, and more specifically the doctrine of plural marriage. This struck me as odd because I had not been
thinking about such a topic and certainly cannot even fathom participating in
the practice. In fact, I believe I had
largely ignored the subject, knowing that it existed, but without any real
understanding I accepted that God had his purposes and that I needed to have
faith in that. I had heard explanations
that are given by church members, that there were more women than men and that
it was mostly to be able to provide support for the husbandless. I held, and still hold to the belief, that
unless God specifically states his purpose for doing something, that I am not
going to guess at the reasons. I can see
benefits that come from God’s commandments such as the above statements about
plural wives, but I will not go so far as to state that those benefits are the
reason for the commandment. I was
content with that point of view, but, after this most recent reading of the Doctrine
and Covenants, the Lord has blessed me with more than an acceptance of what was
a difficult to understand doctrine.
Through the Holy Spirit, the Lord has testified to me of the elegance
and beauty of the Plural Marriage doctrine, and how through it God’s love is made
manifest.
In truth, the testimony that I have gained of Plural
marriage is simple in explanation, but it was profoundly pressed onto my heart
of the great love my Father has for all his children to provide a way whereby
we all can partake of his glory if we have lived righteously. In D&C section 132 the new and
everlasting covenant of marriage is laid out.
This is in direct reference to a question by Joseph Smith about why the
Lord justified Abraham Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and Solomon to have multiple
wives and concubines. Is it strange,
that in reference to plural marriage, the Lord begins by presenting the
covenant we all enter into when being sealed to but one spouse? For me the answer is no. In truth what I understand from the early
part of the section is the Lord is teaching of the great importance that
eternal marriage has to the plan of salvation, and the eternal reward and exaltation
each of us receive through faithfulness to these covenants. In fact, giving everyone the opportunity to
enter into this covenant if they so choose is vital to the Fathers plan. By allowing his children the freedom to
choose “liberty and eternal life…or… captivity and death” (2 Nephi 2:27),
Heavenly Father (being omniscient) knew that in the end more spirit daughters
would return than spirit sons. But to
allow all of the faithful returning children the fullness of the blessings
Father desires for them, it had to be possible that some of the faithful spirit
sons would enter into covenant with multiple faithful spirit daughters. This beautiful doctrine ensures that a “fullness
of [his] glory” (vs 5) is achieved, his glory being the “immortality and eternal
life (Gods life) of man” (Moses 1:39)
After receiving this witness, my thoughts turned to the
early church leaders and their practice of this principle on earth. This point can be a huge stumbling block as
it is a difficult doctrine to understand and accept, particularly with the
views and beliefs that we have grown up with.
However, it is a fact that Joseph Smith was commanded by the Lord to
participate in Plural Marriages. I read
about the conjectures of church members that the majority of Joseph’s plural
marriages did not consist of actual sexual relations and I have found no
accounts of him having children by any other woman. However, I would not and cannot rest my
belief on the fact that the marriages were in name only. I believe the Lord commanded Joseph Smith to
take plural wives, and to institute the practice among the most faithful
members of the church as part of the restoration of all things. To restore the truths of that beautiful and
wonderful doctrine of plural marriage that has effects that stretch into the
eternities.
That Joseph Smith had sexual relations with other wives; I
find this to be extremely likely, as it would also be in fulfillment of the
true purpose of the covenant. Whether
this is the case or not however, does not really matter. I have felt the spirit testify to me that Joseph
Smith was a prophet of God and a great and extraordinary man. I know this to be true with all of my heart,
and will not let the claims of men cast away my confidence in the testimony
given through the spirit of truth. If
Joseph Smith is found to have fathered children by other wives, or to have done
any number of things that seem out of character for a man of God to our current
perspective, I will not waiver in this testimony. For the Lord knew him more
than I can ever hope to, and he has given his seal of approval as the prophet
of the restoration, who am I to deny this.
I am reminded of the conversation Joseph had with Brigham
Young in which Joseph told Brigham that if he were to tell him all he knew
about the kingdom that Brigham would apostatize straight away. Brigham told the prophet not to tell him
those things for what he knew to be true he knew. Likewise with me, through my life’s
experiences and the whisperings of the spirit, I have no doubt of the truthfulness
of the gospel. I do not need to seek for
hard doctrines, but am extremely grateful that the Lord has seen fit to give me
understanding line upon line.
This morning I was greeted by headlines from all the major
news outlets that the Mormon church has finally confessed that Joseph Smith had
up to 40 wives. It was reported that
Joseph Smith was married to Women as young as 14 and sometimes even to other men’s
wives. These reports were met by
extremely negative comments about Joseph Smith and Religion. I fell back on my previous testimony about
Plural Marriage and Joseph Smith, however, as I read some of the comments I
realized that a lot of other people’s concerns with the report were points that
I did not know how to defend. I
determined that I had better read the church publication for myself rather than
just the excerpts taken for the news reports.
The official church publication (https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng)
was far from an admission or confession, but was an informative essay detailing
lesser known information about the practice of plural marriage. As I read the essay, the peace that I had
felt months earlier returned to me testifying to me of the truthfulness of the
plural marriage doctrine.
I feel the essay was written extremely well, even describing
the two distinct forms of sealing that were performed. One: For time and all
Eternity, denoting a normal husband and wife relationship. And two: For all
eternity (with time being excluded), denoting that the sealing was essentially
in effect for the world to come only. The
essay does note that Joseph wed the daughter (Helen Mar Kimball) of Heber and
Vilate Kimball at the age of 14, but specifies the sealing was for eternity
only. Also, all documented instances of Joseph
being sealed to another man’s spouse were for eternity only. This seems to be consistent to the way I feel
the Prophet would have acted. The
official report presents plausible reasons for the sealings but also
acknowledges the lack of documented details.
There are confirmed sealings of single women for time and all eternity
to Joseph Smith which I also believe to be compatible with my previous
ponderings. In all, I feel the report
truthfully acknowledges the history of the prophets many wives as well as the
practice of other early leaders.
After this experience, my faith has grown even
stronger. I recognize that doubts are
difficult to keep from creeping into your minds. I cannot state enough my gratitude that the
Lord saw fit to give me a spiritual experience and testimony of the Plural
Marriage doctrine just months before this news broke on the major news
networks. Just reading through the small
quotes they included which were taken without context could be enough to shake
the faith of many, but the Lord had prepared me. I have been able to read the full essay, a
truthfull and forthright acknowledgement of what many, at least at first study,
may find hard to accept. Hopefully I can
provide a small amount of support for any who may be struggling with these
accounts. To such a person I say this;
the world does not understand what it means to be sealed, they read it to mean only
multiple marriages, or relationships. A
sealing is not about sexual relations or physical intimacy, but about the eternal
bonding of ones spirit to another. Only through the gift of revelation from
your Father in Heaven can one begin to understand the true glory of the
restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Seek
for that with patience and faith, and the Lord will make all things known unto
you “line upon line, precept upon precept” (2 Nephi 28:30), for “he that
receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light growth
brighter and brighter until the perfect day.” (D&C 50:24)
I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. He saw God the Father and Jesus Christ as a
14 year old boy. He grew into a Holy man
who restored onto this earth the true gospel of Jesus Christ through his
direction. He was given the power to
translate ancient records into the Book of Mormon. This book is real and it is true. A physical piece of evidence that Christ is
our Savior, the literal Son of God, who had power to overcome death and then descend
from the heavens to visit those in the American continent. While the book directly testifies of Jesus
Christ, it indirectly testifies of the Prophetic mission of Joseph Smith, for
how could he have provided such a book unless he was a man of integrity, faith,
and authority from God. Jesus Christ is
my Savior, Redeemer, Brother, and friend.
I love him with my whole heart and strive daily to be worthy of the
gifts he has given to each of our Heavenly Fathers children.
