FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Difference between revisions of "Did Joseph have lustful motives for practicing polygamy?"
m (Bot: Automated text replacement (-josephsmithspolygamy.org/history-2 +josephsmithspolygamy.org)) |
m |
||
| Line 21: | Line 21: | ||
{{:Source:Webb:BYUS:2011:18:Joseph Smith's doctrine and character demand our amazement}} | {{:Source:Webb:BYUS:2011:18:Joseph Smith's doctrine and character demand our amazement}} | ||
{{HalesSite | {{HalesSite | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
|subject4=Joseph Smith’s Personal Polygamy | |subject4=Joseph Smith’s Personal Polygamy | ||
| − | |link4=http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/ | + | |link4=http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/beginnings-mormon-polygamy/#AReluctantPolygamist |
|summary4=Many are quick to declare that Joseph's polygamy sprang from religious extremism and/or sexual desire. This article explores the difficulties that Joseph had with plural marriage, and evidence for what truly motivated his acts.}} | |summary4=Many are quick to declare that Joseph's polygamy sprang from religious extremism and/or sexual desire. This article explores the difficulties that Joseph had with plural marriage, and evidence for what truly motivated his acts.}} | ||
Revision as of 17:28, 22 July 2018
FAIR Answers—back to home page
Did Joseph have "lustful motives" for practicing polygamy?
Summary: Neutral observers have long understood that this attack is probably the weakest of them all. One might reasonably hold the opinion that Joseph was wrong, but in the face of the documentary evidence it is wrong to argue that he and his associates were insincere or that they were practicing their religion only for power and to satisfy carnal desires. Those who insist that “sex is the answer” probably reveal more about their own limited perspective than they do of the minds of the early Saints.
Jump to details:
- Question: Did Joseph Smith institute polygamy because he had a "voracious sexual appetite"?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith have a youthful struggle with unchastity?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith have a long history of "womanizing" before practicing plural marriage?
- Stephen H. Webb: "Evidence That Demands Our Amazement... Joseph Smith was a remarkable person"
The Prophet said...that it [plural marriage] would damn more than it would have because \so many/ unprincipled men would take advantage of it, but that did not prove that it was not a pure principle. If Joseph had had any impure desires he could have gratified them in the style of the world with less danger of his life or his character, than to do as he did. The Lord commanded him to teach & to practice that principle.
—Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Letter to Mary Bond, n.d., 3-9 quoted in Brian Hales, Joseph Smith's Polygamy: History, Vol. 1, 26-27. off-site
Now nothing can be more idle, nothing more frivolous, than to imagine that this polygamy had anything to do with personal licentiousness. If Joseph Smith had proposed to the Latter-day Saints that they should live licentious lives, they would have rushed on him and probably anticipated their pious neighbors who presently shot him.
—George Bernard Shaw, The Future of Political Science in America; an Address by Mr. Bernard Shaw to the Academy of Political Science, at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, on the 11th. April, 1933
Question: Did Joseph Smith institute polygamy because he had a "voracious sexual appetite"?
Jump to details:
- Question: Did Joseph Smith institute polygamy because he had a "voracious sexual appetite"?
- It is unjustifiable to argue that he and his associates were insincere or that they were practicing their religion only for power and to satisfy carnal desires
- Neutral observers have long understood that this attack on plural marriage is probably the weakest of them all
- Furthermore, Joseph Smith would not permit other members’ sexual misconduct
- Those who became Mormons were those who were least likely, culturally, to be thrilled at the prospect of polygamy
Question: Did Joseph Smith have a youthful struggle with unchastity?
Jump to details:
- Question: Did Joseph Smith have a youthful struggle with unchastity?
- There is no evidence from Joseph's early writings that he struggled over much with immoral thoughts or behavior
- The only evidence for a sexual component to Joseph’s sins is presumption and mind reading
Question: Did Joseph Smith have a long history of "womanizing" before practicing plural marriage?
Jump to details:
Stephen H. Webb: "Evidence That Demands Our Amazement... Joseph Smith was a remarkable person"
Non-LDS Christian Stephen H. Webb wrote:[1]
By any measurement, Joseph Smith was a remarkable person. His combination of organizational acumen with spiritual originality and personal decorum and modesty is rare in the history of religion. He was so steadfast in his ability to inspire men and women through times of great hardship that none of those who knew him could claim to fully understand him. He knew more about theology and philosophy than it was reasonable for anyone in his position to know, as if he were dipping into the deep, collective unconsciousness of Christianity with a very long pen. He read the Bible in ways so novel that he can be considered a theological innocent—he expanded and revised the biblical narrative without questioning its authority—yet he brusquely overturned ancient and impregnable metaphysical assumptions with the aplomb of an assistant professor. For someone so charismatic, he was exceptionally humble, even ordinary, and he delegated authority with the wisdom of a man looking far into the future for the well-being of his followers. It would be tempting to compare him to Mohammed—who also combined pragmatic political skill and a genius for religious innovation—if he were not so deeply Christian. [Title is Webb's.][2]:95