Tuesday, February 6, 2018

IN DEFENSE OF JOSEPH AND POLYGAMY

I got a little hot under the collar when some poor (ignorant) chap on youtube was basically being an apologetic for Joseph Smith (essentially saying that he did some backward stuff - but we should still accept him as a Prophet and just cut him some slack....).

Of all the things I have to endure on this telestial sphere, I despise the wolves in sheep's clothing who are the apologists and intellectuals in the Church because they simply destroy faith, whether it is blantantly cover/overt or inadvertent through the ridiculous youtube I had to endure.....   Grrrrr.....  If someone rips on Joseph, I am a freakin' pitbull in attack mode.  I LOVE that man far greater than I love my wife - whom I have had five children and been to hell and back several times with due to circumstances of our lives.  All of that - stacks up pitifully compared to the love I have for a man I have never even met.  I hope to be able to just shake his hand one day and utter a hear-felt thanks for what he has done for me and the world.

To hear people malign his character is a little more than I can take sometimes.

Here is my shred on FB:

Iraq:   My wife flipped out (as a sexual abuse survivor) back in the early 1990's at BYU when she took a course on Polygamy from a Women's Studies prof who I thought was clearly an anti and I believe was ex'd later on because she kept pushing the idea that Joseph was running around having sex with all these people including 14 year old girls, etc. It is clear that he was sealed to all these women; YES. Did he consummate those relationships? NOPE. The proof is in the literal pudding. Joseph was not shooting blanks - his many biological children with Emma proves that. Yet there were reports coming from every direction (from those who hated him for the concept of Plural Marriage) that he was literally hitting the hay with these women. Thanks be to God for genetic testing that all the babies of these women proved to be from anyone OTHER than Joseph. ALL of those accusations flying around. Not a SHRED of proof that the children those women bore were his. My wife just about flew to pieces over it back in 1992 and I chose to simply trust what I already knew. I told her, she could throw Joseph under the bus - but SHE would be judged for it. She has since passed through MANY sorrows including losing her own son - as part and parcel of the judgment that she brought upon herself for not having more faith in Joseph's character and choosing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
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Iraq: To go on with this theme, the Joseph WAS sealed to a woman who was married to another man (who was NOT LDS) for time ONLY. She was sealed to Joseph - but having normal sexual relations (and children) with the man she was married to, for time only. Perverse you say? You judge a celestial event from a hellish and telestial perspective and are in danger of the Judgment, I promise you. This because, in the same act of judging Joseph, you just threw God himself under the bus. God had some form of union (I believe it was direct sexual contact - my wife believes it was a fairy or the HG that placed God's seed in Mary's womb..... whatever) with a virginal Mary and then Joseph was told to take her to wife (for time only) to take her and care for the seed of the other Man (God) while having NO sexual relations with her until after she delivered Jesus and had gone through the requisite days of purification. THEN he could consummate the union with his new wife - and only then.
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Iraq: So, I have gone round and round over this topic. From our pitiful perspective, we tend to judge things we have NO perspective nor power, nor ability to judge. We simply are out of our league. So to have Masa's ward member start spouting the idea that we should cut Joseph Smith some slack for being a less than perfect mortal.... I get VERY hot under the collar. That is an apologetic position that is horribly wrong, mis-guided, and puts the average person in a situation where they likely could fall or be in danger of the judgment for having not judged righteous (or perfect) judgment. Not as we see things - but as God sees them - from a perfect perspective.
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3 comments:

  1. Bryan DormanFebruary 6, 2018 at 8:24 PM

    I also get hot under the collar when someone tries telling me things that Joseph and Brigham clearly did not sanction, among the other brethren, and when people misuse the Scriptures in order to make their point. I have had to end quite a few friendships with people that should know better, but they don't.

    Now I am basically on the outside looking in. The Progmos (their term that means progressive Mormons) are proud of what they do to try to convince others that the Mormons will follow their ideals eventually, but are really dissenters, wolves running amongst the sheep.

    They despise the earlier leaders. They despise the current leadership for switching Uchtdorf for Oaks, who is for them what Packer was for the liberal Mormons in the 80s and 90s. It is as if we are seeing an Amlicite type rebellion amongst them (Alma 2). Look at their philosophy; it smells of Nehorism. They congratulate a gay guy that got divorced from his straight wife and two children, who also supported the decision so that the gay guy could go with his kind. They will cite David and Jonathan for sanction for gay marriage while making fun of the sages that said that that was the reason why the Flood was sent, that is, if they believe in the Flood.

    The Progmos forget a very important scripture: The Saints should never be divided into classes, but should be as one.

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  2. Bryce StevensonFebruary 6, 2018 at 8:57 PM

    I agree 100% with your view on this subject, but I'm sorry to say that the church does not agree with either of us. Their historians including Brian Hales all claim Joseph did have sex with many of his wives. Even though they have no contemporary evidence of it. But they then have to admit that maybe Brigham wasn't doing the same thing Joseph was doing and that creates all sorts of succession issues etc. So they prefer to impose Brighams views onto Joseph since Brigham never actually spoke with God and Joseph did.

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  3. AnonymousFebruary 10, 2018 at 9:55 PM

    Full agreement - We all know that Joseph had procrastinated this one law for some time and was threatened by God to began this at once. Joseph was sealing himself to not just women but to other people. I would trust Joseph do what he had to do to fulfill his part of the law in whatever way that was to be dealt with, consummation or not. That's the point - are we willing to trust Joseph - possibly the most important prophet of all time and we are going to reflect our own weaknesses onto Joseph.

    Monogamy, from all I can tell, is more of a Greek - Roman Catholic thing more to do with a pagan culture as opposed to Jewish culture where it appears Jesus was married to more than one women not to mention centuries of polygamy amongst the Hebrew Kings however they may have abused the law. I have never heard anything about the Jews policy was on plural marriages. We know that most the Jews did not have the higher law - Melchizedek Priesthood in which plural marriage was apart.

    I think polygamy is a hard law to follow in this World, where selfishness is the rule. This is a level of sacrifice that transcends our perspective. I look at the women who cannot find a worthy man to marry - we all see them in our wards. Oh... they can find someone in the Millennium just doesn't cut it. There are simply more women than men who will make the grade who deserve more than having to live out eternity single. Some point we are going to have to deal with this issue.

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