https://www.quora.com/What-do-Protestants-and-Catholics-think-of-Mormons/answer/James-Hough-1

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Fauken said:
Presumably, you wouldn’t call your honey-on-the-side your husband/wife.
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That’s what we are discussing.

Did Joseph Smith refer to those women as his wives at the time or was that doctrine of spirit wives (not sure the terminology) created later to protect his image?
 
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SunshineGrandma said:
Did Joseph Smith refer to those women as his wives at the time
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Indeed he did. Fair Mormon even has a list of all his wives:

https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Joseph_Smith/Polygamy#Plural_wives_of_Joseph_Smith.2C_Jr

It doesn’t include the dates he was married to them, but I found on a Wikipedia article that he was secretly married to Louisa Beaman in April 1841, but the page on FairMormon says that Louisa Beaman was Joseph Smith’s second plural wife, which means that he married his first one (Fanny Alger) sometime before that.

(Here’s the Wikipedia article:)

 
lokisuperfan said:
Polygamy is when you have more than one wife. Extramarital affairs are romantic or sexual relationships outside of marriage, but have not been officially wed.
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Right, but if it was called polygamy years later, then it was actually extramarital affairs at the time.
 
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It’s getting confusing now.

That was my original question to @RebeccaJ.

Was polygamy created AFTER to support/explain/protect his actions?
 
Not sure. It says that D&C 132 (plural marriage bit) was written in 1843 but “evidence suggests he had revelation as early as 1831.” (he married his first plural wife in 1833)

Currently looking into that.
 
SunshineGrandma said:
But, wasn’t this just their public teaching on polygamy when in reality the LDS church still privately taught and believed in the institution of polygamy?
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Most likely what happened is that the news was spreading about polygamy in the Mormon church to places like England and it was damaging the work, so they added this “revelation” to show the people in England that they did not believe in, nor practice polygamy.

More bait and switch . . .
 
I was told by devout Mormons that the Church Jesus founded and the Gospel He preached ended shortly after the death of the last apostle. it became apostate. there was no true Christian religion on earth until Joseph Smith re-established the Lord’s Church.

I asked them after hearing that, why should I believe in a gospel, even if restored, that was a complete failure?

sadly, my question ended our discussion. my question was never answered.

i concluded, after this encounter, that being Mormon required putting one’s faith in joseph smith instead of Jesus to be saved; and, it is only because of joseph smith that the true faith is available to people who are alive now. joseph smith, to Mormons is the true savior of mankind. Jesus failed to keep His Gospel available to all who came after Him. maybe this is why the Mormons have a ritual of baptizing the dead, to make up for the failures of Jesus Christ.

i do not call someone who teaches that Jesus Christ failed a Christian.
 
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The conundrum that Mormons have with Joseph Smith and polygamy is that it’s a double edge sword. You can’t say that Joseph Smith didn’t practice polygamy because of the evidence that he did. Even the Mormon church officially admits to at least 34 wives. On the other hand, polygamy was never legal anywhere that Joseph Smith lived, so he wasn’t “legally and lawfully” married to multiple women. So he wasn’t a polygamist . . . or was he???
 
lokisuperfan said:
Not sure. It says that D&C 132 (plural marriage bit) was written in 1843 but “evidence suggests he had revelation as early as 1831.” (he married his first plural wife in 1833)
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But they kept D&C 101:4 in the church canon until at least 1876.
 
Quick question, and a little off topic, but I’m curious.

Was Joseph Smith a prophet because of his heritage, or was it a reward from God for being faithful?
 
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lokisuperfan said:
Polygamy is when you have more than one wife. Extramarital affairs are romantic or sexual relationships outside of marriage, but have not been officially wed.
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Polygamy is when you have more than one SPOUSE. More than one wife is polygyny. More than one husband is polyandry. Joseph Smith practiced both. He had multiple wives, some who were married to other men and some who were not.

Gotta hand it to him . . . he had his way with the ladies.
 
Lemuel said:
Gotta hand it to him . . . he had his way with the ladies.
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Or they had a horrible fear of dying by a flaming sword.

It’s all very interesting when you think about it.
 
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Years ago, a friend was invited to play church basketball at an LDS ward house. I think they were attempting to get him interested in the LDS faith.

During the game, or at halftime, or whatever, the men gathered in a circle to pray. One of the men was holding a large portrait of Joseph Smith.

That was it for my friend. He couldn’t understand it. He said he was expecting it to be a picture of Jesus not Joseph Smith.
 
We know that Joe did more for mankind than even Jesus did. In his own words:

I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet.
 
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