Posted by:
josephsmyth
(
)
Date: February 17, 2012 05:42PM
Here's the facts we can all agree upon, hopefully, which are damning enough,
#1. Smith married Zina Huntington Jacobs, who was at the time married to Henry Jacobs. That's a matter of historical record. Calling it a "sealing or celestial marriage" doesn't erase the fact that she was already married to Henry when Joseph took her as HIS own wife, when she was 7months pregnant with Henry's child.
#2. Marrying other men's wives clearly violates,
A. The law of the land
B. The sacred vow of marriage between a man and his wife before God.
C. The 10 commandments, which specifically says "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife." and "Thou shalt not commit adultery".
D. Common human decency
E. The Mormons own 'law of the priesthood' which Smith claimed to have recieved directly from Gods lips, which is still contained in D&C 132:61, and clearly states, "if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, (violation #1, he didn't get Emma's consent for polyandrous affairs) and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, (violation #2, married women are obviously not virgins) and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified;(Violation #3, since 11 of his 'wives' were vowed to other men, he was not justified) he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him; (Violation #4, he did commit adultery, since they were not given to him.) for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else." (Violation #6, he did commit adultery, since they didn't belong to him, they belonged to their husbands. Women were considered property back then, kind of like livestock)
I have seen zero evidence that Henry divorced Zina prior to Brigham Young taking her as his own and siring children with Henry's wife and I've seen a lot of records.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zina_D._H._Young#Marriages_and_childrenHenry Jacob's Wife, Zina
Prescindia's twenty-year-old sister Zina was living in the Joseph Smith home when Elder Henry B. Jacobs married her in March 1841. According to family records, when Zina and Henry asked Joseph Smith why he had not honored them by performing their marriage, Smith replied that "the Lord had made it known to him that [Zina] was to be his Celestial wife." Believing that "whatever the Prophet did was right, without making the wisdom of God's authorities bend to the reasoning of any man," the devout Elder Jacobs consented for six-months-pregnant Zina to be sealed to Joseph Smith 27 October 1841. Some have suggested that the Jacobs's marriage was "unhappy" and that the couple had separated before her sealing to Joseph Smith. But, though sealed to Joseph Smith for eternity, Zina continued her connubial relationship with her husband Henry Jacobs. On 2 February 1846, pregnant with Henry's second son, Zina was re-sealed by proxy to the murdered Joseph Smith and in that same session was “sealed for time" to Brigham Young. Faithful Henry B. Jacobs stood by as an official witness to both ceremonies.
("History of Henry Bailey Jacobs." By Ora J. Cannon, page 5-7. also see "Recollections of Zina D. Young" by Mary Brown Firmage)
Zina and Henry lived together as husband and wife until the Mormon pioneers reached Mt. Pisgah, Iowa. At this temporary stop on the pioneer trail, Brigham Young announced that "it was time for men who were walking in other men's shoes to step out of them. Brother Jacobs, the woman you claim for a wife does not belong to you. She is the spiritual wife of brother Joseph, sealed up to him. I am his proxy, and she, in this behalf, with her children, are my property. You can go where you please, and get another, but be sure to get one of your own kindred spirit" (Hall 1853, 43-44). President Young then called Jacobs on a mission to England. Witnesses to his departure commented that he was so emotionally ill they had to "put him on a blanket and carry him to the boat to get him on his way".
("Short Sketch of the Life of Henry B. Jacobs" By Ora J. Cannon)
Henry returned from his mission and settled in California. But he was still in love with his wife Zina, now a plural wife of Brigham Young. Henry's letters to his wife Zina were heartrending. On 2 September 1852 he wrote: "O how happy I should be if I only could see you and the little children, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh." "I am unhappy," Henry lamented, "there is no peace for poor me, my pleasure is you, my comfort has vanished.... O Zina, can I ever, will I ever get you again, answer the question please." In an undated Valentine he added:
Zina my mind never will change from Worlds without Ends, no never, the same affection is there and never can be moved I do not murmur nor complain of the handlings of God no verily, no but I feel alone and no one to speak to, to call my own. I feel like a lamb without a mother, I do not blame any person or persons, no--May the Lord our Father bless Brother Brigham and all purtains unto him forever. Tell him for me I have no feelings against him nor never had, all is right according to the Law of the Celestial Kingdom of our god Joseph [Smith]." ("Short Sketch of the Life of Henry B. Jacobs" By Ora J. Cannon)