Funny how they say he was bedding girls since 1831, even without God's "permission":
"The revelation on plural marriage was not written down until 1843, but its early verses suggest that part of it emerged from Joseph Smith’s study of the Old Testament in 1831," the essay says."
Right. The essay intentionally leaves out the dates of the Alger affair, because the next section reveals that there was no sealing power when that all went down. They know it couldn't have been anything more than what Cowdery said it was.
"The revelation on plural marriage was not written down until 1843, but its early verses suggest that part of it emerged from Joseph Smith’s study of Fanny's fanny in 1831..."
Interesting how the Deseret News reported on the essay. They provide links to the essay, but the article contains zero content from the essay. That way, TBMs reading the Deseret News will not have their minds polluted with information potentially damaging to their testimonies, like polyandry or teen brides.
According to the article, the Church is "publishing academically rich essays at LDS.org about its history and doctrine. ... Church leaders are providing the essays to help members study the topics with the best information available." It is also insinuated that sources other than lds.org have "a tendency to become "sensationalized" attacks on the church's history or doctrine"
"Best information available" means avoiding the really damaging stuff, like the coersion tactics used by Joseph to get women to marry him, or the way he impugned the reputation of women who rebuffed his advances with lies and slander.
The Deseret News is truly a bastion of objective journalism.
Are there any ex mormons out there who are/were journalists or who work in editorial departments or press rooms? Surely there is someone who has access to or contacts in the independent media in USA, UK or wherever who could submit an article about these incriminating essays and get them published in the national media! This needs the oxygen of mass publicity. Anyone with media clout out there?
The church is getting a pass on these two essays as far as national media attention goes. The UK Daily Mail regularly publishes Mormon related articles including the recent church video of the temple garments. Nothing yet on these two essays. I am sure tabloid journalists would have a field day with them.
Non-mormons who are aware of mormons already know about Smith's polygamy and most would probably be amazed to discover that TSCC had never addressed the issue until now.
Tom in Paris
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/2014 09:21AM by Soft Machine.
I contacted my go-to journo (the one who got the dead-dunking issue all the way to Dutch parliament) but he's on holiday. He thought it was interesting, though, and put it on his to do list for Monday. He seemed particularly interested in the fact that the church always denied this stuff, so if you have any good source material for that, I can feed it to him.
greensymthe, I think your quote is one that should make the Hall of Fame.
and I quote, "The revelation on plural marriage was not written down until 1843, but its early verses suggest that part of it emerged from Joseph Smith's study of Fanny's fanny in 1831..."
LOL. Perhaps, the church-cult could be notified of this very important info they failed to include in their so very 'honest and forthright' essay.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2014 05:07PM by presleynfactsrock.
The L.A. Times finally got into the act. There's a brief summary in today's paper based on the AP story. So, not a huge deal here in SoCal.
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Church refers to founder's wives
The Mormon church acknowledged in a new essay that founder Joseph Smith had a teenage bride and was married to other men's wives during the faith's early polygamous days, a recognition of an unflattering part of its roots that historians have chronicled for years.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said most of Smith's wives were between 20 and 40 years old. One of them, however, was a 14-year-old girl who was the daughter of Smith's close friends.
The essay posted this week on the church's website marked the first time the Salt Lake City-based religion has officially acknowledged those facts, though it also has not denied them.
The article is part of a recent push by the church to open up about sensitive issues within the faith.