This is an archived copy of a post written by Conflict Of Justice (conflictofjustice.com). Used with permission: Conflict Of Justice may not agree with any alterations made.
“D&C 132 is unequivocal on the point that polygamy is permitted only “to multiply and replenish the earth” and “bear the souls of men.”… Again, looking at how polygamy was actually practiced by Joseph Smith… Joseph married 11 women who were already married.”
(CES Letter)
False
Joseph Smith did not marry women already married. Why was Joseph Smith sealed to women who were already married? Because civil marriage and sealings were totally different things. One could be sealed “for eternity” to one person and married “for time” to another, because a sealing for eternal cohabitation in the afterlife did not involve sexual or earthly relations. The “new and everlasting covenant” of eternal marriage would nullify civil marriage in the afterlife. Women were to strictly have only one husband:
“But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery.”(D&C 132:63)
If the marriage was an “eternal sealing” that did not include a civil union “for time,” then that means it did not involve physical relations. It was literally a matter of Joseph Smith and the woman speaking some words in a ceremony and then rarely seeing each other again. That is not polyandry by any stretch of the definition. Two totally different institutions.
Reproduction Not The Only Purpose
This argument lies about polygamy’s purpose. Obviously, marriage for “eternity only” does not help with reproduction. But multiplying and replenishing the earth was just one of the stated purposes of the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. There are four reasons given in D&C 132:
- Restitution of all things through priesthood keys (v.40,45)
- Fulfill promises and demand the sacrifices of Abraham (v.32, 51)
- Multiply and replenish the earth to prepare for exaltation (v.62)
- Give every woman the opportunity to bear souls and enter exaltation (v. 16, 17, 63)
Due to the circumstances of the Mormons at that time in history–the violent persecution and rapid rate of conversion–there were many unmarried women. Due to lack of resources, they needed husbands. This principle of polygamy served to establish societal conditions and family arrangements which were helpful for survival on the western frontier. Polygamy served as both a sacrifice and as a means for families to be established and legacies to be handed down.
Joseph Smith made a bold move in order to institute polygamy. It was a difficult and controversial principle. He set an example by being sealed to multiple women, even if he wasn’t bearing souls with any of them. We know that Joseph Smith did not procreate with any of his plural “wives,” and probably did not have physical relations with any of them. He set an example and served the other three purposes of the covenant.
Marriage Allowed For Widows & Divorcees
CES Letter complains that the women Joseph Smith was sealed to were not virgins if they were already married: “These women were obviously not virgins, which violated D&C 132:61.” The truth is, there was no commandment that a plural wife must be a virgin. It never says only virgins may marry. Divorcees and widows were remarrying all the time despite not being virgins. Clearly, the issue here was to marry a woman who was not currently married or living an unchaste life. Joseph Smith’s eternity-only sealings did not violate this policy.
CES Letter references verse 41 of D&C 132 which it claims says “the new wife must be a virgin before the marriage,” but verse 41 says no such thing. It makes no mention of virginity, only that the woman can’t currently have a husband.
Polygamy Banned Today
- Polygamy is banned in the Mormon church today, though chastity and eternal marriage are still an eternal principle. It is quite manipulative for CES Letter to use present-tense grammar when discussing this: “polygamy is permitted…”
It was permitted. Not is permitted. Past tense! Additional D&C scripture superseded this polygamy policy, and now it is not permitted in any case, though the general doctrine of eternal sealing for the afterlife is very much alive. We are talking about a policy from two centuries ago.
Emma Knew About It
D&C 132 says Joseph Smith had “trespasses” against his wife Emma. Perhaps Joseph Smith was afraid to tell Emma at first about the commandment to be polygamous and he started the sealings in secret? Who knows, and who could blame him if he did? This would be a very hard thing to break to her. But the fact is, we don’t know what this scripture was referring to. Some of the polygamous wives said Emma knew about the sealings and even facilitated some of them. But we can’t know for sure how much Emma knew and when she knew it. She almost certainly was on board with some of them, and it is dishonest to say for sure one way or the other.
CES Letter says Joseph Smith was “lying to Emma and everyone else about it,” but this is totally baseless and false.
Polygamy Was Always Performed Under Priesthood Authority
Joseph Smith instituted polygamy under divine priesthood authority. But Anti-Mormons claim that he started polygamy before the divine priesthood authority had been given, that Joseph Smith’s ceremony with Fanny Alger occurred prior to Elijah’s appearance on April 13, 1836.
“Richard Bushman, states: ‘There is evidence that Joseph was a polygamist by 1835’… The “sealing” power was not restored until April 3, 1836 when Elijah appeared to Joseph in the Kirtland Temple and conferred the sealing keys upon him. So, Joseph’s marriage to Fanny Alger in 1833 was illegal under both the laws of the land and under any theory of divine authority; it was adultery.”
(CES Letter)
The sealing to Fanny Alger is not dated, probably to keep it under wraps due to the controversy of the time, so we do not know for sure when it happened. But there is no evidence that Joseph Smith was polygamous prior to 1836. CES Letter presents zero evidence.
The only evidence I could find to indicate a date of 1835 is a quote by Benjamin F. Johnson, that in 1835 “it was whispered even then that Joseph loved her.” This is a very unreliable third-hand quote, however, dating to a 1976 publication about a letter supposedly written in 1903, 68 years after all this happened. I have not seen this letter and there is no explanation why we didn’t hear about it before 1976. So this quote is not to be trusted–and even if it were true, an elderly man recalling gossip from his youth about Joseph Smith liking a neighbor lady is hardly evidence of polygamy.
When God sealed Adam and Even in the world’s first marriage ceremony, He commanded them to “multiply and replenish the earth.” This is a very important commandment that we continue to follow today. Romantic relationships bless us with loving intimacy between a man and woman, and give us the joy of partnership. It is unfortunate that sexual shame is used to wedge men and women away from each other, and prevent us from receiving the joy of marriage. This Anti-Mormon narrative convince us that marriage is actually restrictive and human attraction is something to be ashamed of. It leads to sexual vices and addictions, which lead to personal misery and society’s degradation.
Mormonism is a liberating gospel and empowering for all classes, races, and sexes of people. We must not allow these slanderous lies to split men and women in the church. The principle of eternal marriage is a great blessing to each of us, and it strengthens family and society. We can avoid the pitfalls and perils that plague modern western society if we hold true to these covenants and standards.
CES Letter Logical Fallacies
| Falsehood | It is not correct to call this polyandry, as Joseph Smith did not have sex with women who were married. The “new and everlasting covenant,” or eternal sealing was different than civil marriage and did not involve physical relations. Marriage for time and sealing for eternity were separate. Plural marriages were not always “rooted in the notion of sealing for both time and eternity.” This is a flat-out lie by CES Letter. Joseph Smith was not sealed to anyone prior to Elijah’s coming in 1836. Bearing the souls of men, or multiplying and replenishing the earth, was not the only reason polygamy was permitted. The entire premise of this argument is false. Joseph Smith’s sealing to Fanny Alger, if it actually happened, did not violate any laws of the land. |
| Circular Logic | CES Letter claimed Joseph Smith committed “polyandry.” Then, CES Letter repeated this lie and explained why this was true: “Multiple husbands = Polyandry,” an incorrect generalization of Mormon marriage. Then, CES Letter dismissed the truth nature of Mormon sealings: “Plural marriages are rooted in the notion of ‘sealing’ for both time and eternity.” They are essentially saying, we know Joseph Smith was polyandrous because sealings were for both time and eternity, and we know sealings were for both time and eternity because Joseph Smith was polyandrous. |
| Argument From Ignorance | CES Letter equates all sealings with civil marriage and mischaracterizes Mormon belief and practice of polygamy, both today and historically. They also falsely claim virgins were excluded. |
| Non-Sequitur | Even if Joseph Smith had been polygamous prior to receiving sealing authority in 1836, how would this be evidence that polygamy’s purpose was only for reproduction? |
| Shifting Goalposts | CES Letter (falsely) claimed D&C 132 “does not say that the man must get a specific revelation from the living prophet” regarding polygamy, yet now they (falsely) claim Joseph Smith’s alleged sealing was “illegal” because he hadn’t yet been given permission by the prophet Elijah. CES Letter (falsely) claimed “the only prerequisite that is mentioned for the man is that he must desire another wife,” but now they claim polygamy was banned “except in the case where God commands it to ‘raise up seed.'” So it turns out another prerequisite was to be willing to reproduce? |
| Repetition | Within this argument, CES Letter repeats the false premise that polygamy’s only purpose was to multiply and replenish, rather than give evidence to back up this claim. They repeat the lie that Emma did not know about the sealings. They repeat the lie that Joseph Smith married women already married, a lie that they repeat throughout CES Letter. CES Letter repeats the lie that Joseph Smith lied to Emma four times in CES Letter. CES Letter repeats the false claim that Joseph Smith “married” Zina Hunnington to “bear the souls of men.” |
| Shotgun Tactic | The entire CES Letter PDF is a shotgun tactic–many arguments against the church thrown out with little explanation with the hope that one of them sticks. With so many arguments thrown so quickly it is hard to defend against them all. In this argument, CES Letter repeats a bunch of earlier arguments to make it seem more complex and solid. |
| Etymological Fallacy | The LDS semantics are unusual, and it is easy for CES Letter to just lump everything together as “marriage.” |
| Ad Hominem | This entire argument is an attack on Joseph Smith’s character. |
Slipping In The Lie – Anti-Mormons are quite brilliant about how they repeat their sordid accusations against Joseph Smith.
CES Letter repeats the premise of each claim several times, compare Joseph Smith to Warren Jeffs a couple times, and then they repeat the sordid accusations over again in a tidy list. In the midst of all of this repetition, they slip in the lie: “Plural marriages are rooted in the notion of ‘sealing’ for both time and eternity.” This is justification for the very first lie that they started out with, that Joseph Smith married women already married. We thus come full circle in a grand chain of circular logic.
Authoritarian Mindset – Anti-Mormons instigate class competition between the sexes by portraying some kind of unfair discrepancy or disadvantage that men had–hundreds of years ago. This argument serves to divide the Mormon community and fuel class hatred. It is interesting that CES Letter is incorrectly claiming that D&C 132 gave men so much power with no prophetic oversight. This is an interesting claim, because not only is this totally incorrect, it also gives us a look into CES Letter‘s ideology: strict control over the people and strict control over their personal relationships. This is the authoritarian mindset that Anti-Mormons have.
For all their talk of “equality” and “freedom to marry,” it is Anti-Mormons who banned 19th century Mormon polygamy, the freedom for Mormons to consensually marry whoever they wanted. It is these same anti-Mormons with the same authoritarian mindset today who push the federal government to further intrude on the definition of marriage and further control personal relationships, under the guise of “equality.”
Why is CES Letter complaining that there are not enough prerequisites? Why is CES Letter complaining that there is not enough modern-day control by the church over marriage? Think about it. Anti-Mormons typically want a more vague scope of how marriage is defined, but they want the prerequisites to be more constricted and the oversight of an authoritarian power to be more oppressive. They typically want to tell you who you can or can’t love, just like they did with Mormons in the 19th century and using the same arguments as they did in the 19th century, and they want to do it in the interest of an “equal” Socialist society.
Appeal To Emotion – CES Letter uses an emotional argument for polygamy, whereas they used intellectual arguments against the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham. In each case, they set a rigid binary standard for right or wrong based on modern, popular sensibilities and apply that to Joseph Smith’s history, as if this is real history.
We saw their modus operandi at work as they stuck with modern Egyptologist’s translations of the facsimiles and acts like this contradicts Joseph Smith’s interpretations for the Book of Abraham. This is how CES Letter works. They give a few bits of incorrect leading evidence in a constrained context; the reader connects to dots in their mind; and CES Letter pushes it to a sweeping generalization.
Anti-Mormon Hypocrisy – In this argument, CES Letter approaches marriage from our modern society’s definition, ignore all historical context, and perpetuate the big lie that eternal sealings in the temple were the same as a civil marriage with a physical relationship. If Joseph Smith was a prophet, why did he violate women’s rights? Well, he didn’t! But people are much more likely to believe CES Letter‘s narrative because they connected the dots out on their own, subconsciously. They are also more likely to believe the evidences for that deduction, which in this case are falsehoods.
Why do so many “pro-equality” activists, good progressives who say people should be free to marry whoever they love, condemn Mormons for their history with polygamy? The same Anti-Mormons who attack us for the old history of polygamy also endorse “progressive” ideas about marriage and love. Shouldn’t polygamy be on their list of marriages that deserve equality? Well yes, it should, and this is why Anti-Mormons spin polygamy as something that coerces and manipulates women into subjugation. Lately, this narrative has become even easier as there really are crazy cults that actually do victimize women and force people to marry, criminals like Warren Jeffs. Interestingly, we only seem to hear about splinter groups in Utah, however.
This is why this argument’s narrative about women being victimized is so important. Opponents in the media have trumpeted this narrative since the beginning. In the 1800’s, American newspapers were putting out story after story about how women in Utah were treated as “slaves.” It led to the federal government for the first time registering all marriages, controlling the definition of marriage, and jailing Mormons who did not fit that definition. Still today, Mormons are persecuted as some kind of oppressive patriarchy that victimized women. This narrative gives opponents justification for attacking Mormons while claiming to be “pro-equality.”
Attack On Family – The key component is the claim that men are victimizing women. This frame of ‘predator versus victim’ leads us to a Marxist ideology. Marxism is all about protecting victims from the predators. Marxists think the biggest miracle about mankind is that we evolved to the top of the food chain without ever becoming predators of other animals. Economically, Marxists protect working classes from a predator class. Marxism is all about protecting the vulnerable from those seeking unequal advantage–and all about keeping people weak in order to keep them reliant on a benevolent dictator for safety.
A major part of Marxism is the deconstruction of masculinity. The narrative that women are coerced into marriage because of Christianity comes straight from Karl Marx, and it is nothing but an attack on the traditional family. CES Letter‘s appeal to emotion is not only about attacking the church. It is about replacing the testimony of a gospel. Marxists believe females are oppressed by men in a giant class struggle that hinders their economic output. Polygamy in the Mormon church was problem for Marxists because the higher law of eternal marriage is the perfect example of “inequality” that Marxists hate.
Big Lie – CES Letter uses the same big lie tactic that they used against the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham. They start of with the big lie that marriage for time and for eternity were the same. This compounds and leads to other lies to attack Joseph Smith’s character, such as this ridiculous lie that Joseph Smith was victimizing women. One lie leads to another. Each time, they hammer home the big lie: that Joseph Smith violated people’s right to consent.
This lie is easier for the reader to accept after all those earlier arguments that attached the same kind of narrative about the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham. If Joseph Smith made up all these books of scripture haphazardly, isn’t it reasonable that he made up revelations about marriage?
CES Letter can get away with this Big Lie because it is the consensus among so many fake scholars that Joseph Smith had carnal relations with girls, and because it takes so long to actually investigate the evidence. People are too lazy to actually look through all the historical documents. Even mainstream church apologists are beaten down by all of the accusations and have give way to the big lie. They are too tired defending against it. They let CESLetter get away with the lie. Even if you don’t believe the allegations, just this association frames Joseph Smith as a creep.
For the Book of Abraham, the big lie was that the book was “translated” from a recovered fragment of papyrus that we now know is the Book of Breathing. They repeat it over and over. With polygamy, the big lie likewise will be used by CES Letter to make all sorts of implications to attack Joseph Smith’s character.
| See also: | CES Letter Contradiction Strategy |
Contradiction Strategy – CES Letter gives a few bits of incorrect leading evidence; the reader connects to dots in their mind; and CES Letter pushes it to a sweeping generalization. People are much more likely to believe CES Letter‘s narrative because they connected the dots out on their own, subconsciously, even if they don’t agree with it at first. They are also more likely to believe the evidences for that deduction, which in this case are falsehoods.
We could see the intellectual tricks and sophistry CES Letter used to portray Joseph Smith as a fraud in their arguments about the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham. Well, even if that were all true and he were a fraud, so what? Aren’t Mormons still nice people who make the world a better place? The powerful thing with these polygamy arguments is that CES Letter tells you why Mormonism is still evil: it victimizes women. This is easy rhetoric for them to push, as the internet is filled with all kinds of false rumors about Mormon polygamy and because the fake news media labels modern-day polygamist cultists as “Mormon”. It is easy to just repeat claims over and over, not give any evidence, and make the issue personal through manipulative repetition.
Total Hypocrisy From Anti-Mormons – This argument appeals to a woman’s desire to be “free.” It appeals to a man’s desire to protect women from harm, a very strong instinct in men. Men are highly protective of women and easily shamed for letting women down. Men with weak testimonies tend to be insecure sexually and eager to be empowering. The truth is eternal marriage is the most empowering thing there is for men and women. The arguments are contradictory–CES Letter incorrectly complained that Joseph Smith was marrying other men’s wives, but now suggests that only men and not women were allowed to by polygamous. But the narrative doesn’t need to make sense, because it is a purely emotional appeal.
Meanwhile, the “marriage equality” crowd pushes children to make ‘choices’ about their gender and applauds drag parties for 10 year old boys. The narrative completely flies out the window when it comes to influences pushed onto children in the name of Socialist “equality.”
CES Letter says he was led to believe something different about Joseph Smith. “This is not the Joseph Smith I grew up learning about in the Church and having a testimony of.” This shows how dependent and weak CES Letter was, demanding the church to hand them all the answers instead of researching things for themselves. It also suggests that the definition of “testimony” was shallow. If a testimony is indeed crushed by new information, it wasn’t much of a testimony to begin with, because truth doesn’t change. Truth changes for Marxists and worldly Socialists, and they believe whatever narrative they need to in the moment for their ideology and universal salvation and dictatorial control, but real truth is never altered by “new” information, only solidified.
Family is most important, and it is under heavy assault from progressive secularists. With Mormons, this assault began long ago, when consensual, adult relationships were banned by the government and new laws were passed to regulate all personal relationships in the country. It continues today, as mainstream media propagate salacious tales of polygamy that happened two centuries ago, and Anti-Mormons tell lies to tear down Mormon men and shame Mormon women. As marriages and birth rates in America fall, it seems like all of this is designed to prevent men and women in the church from joining in healthy romantic relationships. Women are shamed if they choose to stay home and spend time to raise their children, and men are shamed if they “desire” romance with a woman. But it is possible to be part of a healthy traditional family. I promise, it is possible this day and age to love a partner and have joy in your posterity as a mother or father. The doctrine of eternal marriage seals us together and brings joy in our lives and peace to our society, so that we can enjoy eternal life with those we love.Complete answers to CES Letter questions about Mormons: