Posted by:
flackerman
(
)
Date: December 15, 2010 04:45PM
In his revelation on polygamy, Joseph Smith claimed that God specified three requirements for when plural marriage was justified so that it would not be considered adultery. They are listed in section 132, verse 61, as:
1) The first wife must give her consent, and
2) The new wife must be a virgin, and
3) The new wife cannot be vowed to another man.
ALL of these requirements must be met otherwise the man is committing adultery. When we look at the historical record at how Joseph practiced the principle, we find that Emma did not know about the majority of his plural wives, and came to oppose the ones that she did find out about, like the Partridge sisters. We also find that Joseph married eleven women who were currently married, and some who had children with their husbands.
By failing to get Emma’s permission and by marrying non-Virgins who were already married, Joseph was not a polygamists, but was engaged in serial adultery. He started his affairs in 1833, with his affair with Fanny Alger, and continued to have them until just a few months before his death.
Mormon Doctrine is pretty clear about what happens to a man’s priesthood authority and connection with heaven when he commits a great sin like adultery.
“The rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. … when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.” (D&C 121: 35-37)
“You shall not commit adultery and he that commits, and repents not, shall be cast out. But he that has committed adultery and repents with all his heart, and forsakes it, and does it no more, you shall forgive; but if he does it again, he shall not be forgiven, but shall be cast out.” (D&C 42:25-26)
If Joseph did have some kind of connection with the divine or some priesthood authority originally, his practice of serial adultery means that he lost the right to that authority, he lost the right to speak for God, and that he should have been kicked out of the church. So any revelations or religious insights that the church claimed he received after 1833 cannot be of a divine source.
I have made a video about this idea in more detail, with the help of a couple of fantastic women from the Post Mormon forum, which I think you might enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBHo76tEb5c