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Should I have a problem with being counted as a member of an organization based on the teachings of a lier?

December 21st, 2009 Leave a comment Go to comments

The reason I asked this question in the first place was because I watched the movie Emma Smith last week with Shay. The movie only lightly touched on the subject of polygamy which I thought was vary odd because it was the reason she left the church(1). So I did some research on wikipedia and read that she(2) and Joseph(3) never admitted publicly of being polygamists. Also that the RLDS witch was started by Emma and her son Joseph Smith III was based on the book of Mormon minus plural marriage. I’m not going to start copy and pasting a bunch of anti-Mormon junk that will only fall on deaf ears, but I am very troubled by how this commandment by god in the D&C specifically refers to Emma, and that she will be destroyed if she doesn’t comply(4). So how did it go down? Emma catches Joseph cheating(5) so he tells her that if she has a problem with it that god will kill her? The modern day Mormon church has a lot of good things going for it. I don’t think that being baptized or being on the records of any church has any power physically or spiritually over me. Should I have a problem with being counted as a member of an organization based on the teachings of someone who i believe to be a LIAR?

(1) Emma Smith was a tireless public campaigner against polygamy and stated: "We raise our voices and hands against John C. Bennett’s (acted as second in command to Joseph Smith, Jr. for a brief period in the early 1840s) ‘spiritual wife system’, as a scheme of profligates to seduce women; and they that harp upon it, wish to make it popular for the convenience of their own cupidity; wherefore, while the marriage bed, undefiled is honorable, let polygamy, bigamy, fornication, adultery, and prostitution, be frowned out of the hearts of honest men to drop in the gulf of fallen nature". The document The Voice of Innocence from Nauvoo, signed by Emma Smith as President of the Ladies’ Relief Society, was published within the article Virtue Will Triumph, Nauvoo Neighbor, March 20, 1844. The Voice of Innocence from Nauvoo is also referred to in LDS History of the Church 6:236, 241

(2) Throughout her lifetime Emma publicly denied knowledge of her husband’s involvement in the practice of polygamy and denied on her deathbed that the practice had ever occurred. Emma stated, "No such thing as polygamy, or spiritual wifery, was taught, publicly or privately, before my husband’s death, that I have now, or ever had any knowledge of…He had no other wife but me; nor did he to my knowledge ever have.Church History, Volume 3, pp. 355-356

(3) On May 26, just a few weeks before his death, Smith spoke before a large crowd of the Saints in front of the uncompleted temple and once again denied having any more than one wife. Smith stated "I had not been married scarcely five minutes, and made one proclamation of the Gospel, before it was reported that I had seven wives….I have rattled chains before in a dungeon for truth’s sake. I am innocent of all these charges, and you can bear witness of my innocence, for you know me yourselves….What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one. I am the same man, and as innocent as I was fourteen years ago; and I can prove them all perjurers."Address of the Prophet—His Testimony Against the Dissenters at Nauvoo, History of the Church, Period I, 6:408–412.

(4) The Doctrine and Covenants/Section 132 Revelation through Joseph Smith, Nauvoo, Illinois, recorded on July 12, 1843.
47 And again, verily I say, whomsoever you bless I will bless, and whomsoever you curse I will curse, saith the Lord; for I, the Lord, am thy God.
48 And again, verily I say unto you, my servant Joseph, that whatsoever you give on earth, and to whomsoever you give any one on earth, by my word and according to my law, it shall be visited with blessings and not cursings, and with my power, saith the Lord, and shall be without condemnation on earth and in heaven.
49 For I am the Lord thy God, and will be with thee even unto the end of the world, and through all eternity; for verily I seal upon you your exaltation, and prepare a throne for you in the kingdom of my Father, with Abraham your father.
50 Behold, I have seen your sacrifices, and will forgive all your sins; I have seen your sacrifices in obedience to that which I have told you. Go, therefore, and I make a way for your escape, as I accepted the offering of Abraham of his son Isaac.
51 Verily, I say unto you: A commandment I give unto mine handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have given unto you, that she stay herself and partake not of that which I commanded you to offer unto her; for I did it, saith the Lord, to prove you all, as I did Abraham, and that I might require an offering at your hand, by covenant and sacrifice.
52 And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure, and ha
have said they were pure, shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God.
53 For I am the Lord thy God, and ye shall obey my voice; and I give unto my servant Joseph that he shall be made ruler over many things; for he hath been faithful over a few things, and from henceforth I will strengthen him.
54 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 abide not in my law.
(5) Alger’s parents were neighbors of the Smiths, and Alger lived with Smith and his wife, Emma. Chauncey and Ann Eliza Webb, ex-Mormons, later recalled that rumors had been whispered while Alger lived with the Smiths about Smith and Alger. Alger stopped living with the Smiths as a result of a fallout with Emma and was dismissed as their housekeeper. The first contemporary reference to the alleged relationship was in a letter dated January 21, 1838. Oliver Cowdery wrote to his brother Warren stating that Smith had inappropriately spent time alone with Alger, referring to it as a "dirty, nasty, filthy affair." During this time Cowdery was estranged from Smith and they were disagreeing over leadership issues in the new movement. Fawn Brodie, in her famous work No Man Knows My History, also made the claim that Alger had been an affair of Smith’s.
Layla – As a member of the LDS faith i think i have a right to ask this question.
Rander1049 – You are probably right about that. haha
flora*and*fauna – Actually this is a real question that i think about and I’m really interested in others opinions.
Me – where in the bible is polygamy condoned by god?

I don’t know. But I bet members of the organization know how to spell "liar".

  1. Layla
    December 21st, 2009 at 20:25 | #1

    If you have a problem with Mormonism, nobody is forcing you to be one. You don’t have to publicly hurt Mormons like that with this question.
    References :
    Muslim

  2. rander1049
    December 21st, 2009 at 20:45 | #2

    I don’t know. But I bet members of the organization know how to spell "liar".
    References :

  3. flora*and*fauna
    December 21st, 2009 at 21:17 | #3

    right…. you just wanted a reason to write a term paper because you are on a winter break and missed doing homework….. I give it an A for effort.
    References :

  4. Me
    December 21st, 2009 at 22:04 | #4

    LDS hasnt practiced polygamy in over a 100 years so whats your point? Anyways the Bible allows polygamy. The New Testament only forbids bishops from having more than one wife.
    References :
    Atheist who actually read the Bible

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