Is it true that Joseph Smith married a 14-year-old woman?
Anonymous,
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One Response to “Is it true that Joseph Smith married a 14-year-old woman?”
Daniel Paz
2007-11-16 01:52:41
As usual, anti-Mormons take events from Mormon history out of context and try to portray them in the worst possible light. Studying Mormon history is very important, and I encourage it, but if you're getting your history from anti-Mormons, you're not getting an accurate picture. The following sites are far more reliable:
Regarding your specific "question," here's the real story. Mormons believe in two kinds of marriages: 1) "marriage for time" is the traditional "until death do us part," and 2) "marriage for eternity," or "sealing," is a union between a man and a woman in the NEXT life. In modern Mormonism, temporal marriage ("marriage") and eternal marriage ("sealing") go hand in hand. When a modern couple is sealed in the temple, a secular marriage license is always issued. The idea that one could be sealed to a woman without being married to her is completely foreign to the experience of modern Mormons. Surprisingly, this cultural practice was not well-established in 19th-century Mormonism. Many women, for example, chose to be sealed to Joseph Smith as "spiritual wives" for years after his death, even though they had never been married to him in life.
Understanding that sealings and temporal marriage did not always go hand-in-hand in 19th century Mormonism is critical. It is true that Joseph Smith was sealed to some teenagers. There is no evidence, however, that Joseph Smith was married for time to any of these women, and there is no evidence that there was any sexual intimacy involved.
Truth be told, there is little evidence that any of Joseph Smith's plural marriages involved much sexual intimacy. Most of his marriages were likely asexual (probably only sealings, not actual marriages). Interestingly, there is no convincing evidence that any of his plural marriages ever produced a child, despite the fact that after his death many of his "spiritual wives" did bear multiple children after marrying other men "for time." Genetic testing has revealed that several individuals who have claimed to be descendants of Joseph Smith through his plural wives are in fact not related to Joseph.
I for one am grateful that Mormon culture has evolved the way it has. There's something very romantic about being married to the person with whom you've been sealed. Where's the fun in spending eternity with someone you hardly knew in this life?
Other interesting facts (though not necessarily pertinent, given that there is no evidence of sexual intimacy between Joseph and any teenage woman):
1) In the early 18th century, roughly a third of women in the United States married in their teens. Marriage at 15 or 14even temporal marriagewould be uncommon, but definitely not unheard of.
2) The "age of consent" in the early 19th century was not 18 as it is today, but 10. (Boy am I ever happy I live in the 21st century...)
An interesting site that addresses this very question can be found at en.fairmormon.org.
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://en.fairmormon.org/Main_Page
http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/index.html
Regarding your specific "question," here's the real story. Mormons believe in two kinds of marriages: 1) "marriage for time" is the traditional "until death do us part," and 2) "marriage for eternity," or "sealing," is a union between a man and a woman in the NEXT life. In modern Mormonism, temporal marriage ("marriage") and eternal marriage ("sealing") go hand in hand. When a modern couple is sealed in the temple, a secular marriage license is always issued. The idea that one could be sealed to a woman without being married to her is completely foreign to the experience of modern Mormons. Surprisingly, this cultural practice was not well-established in 19th-century Mormonism. Many women, for example, chose to be sealed to Joseph Smith as "spiritual wives" for years after his death, even though they had never been married to him in life.
Understanding that sealings and temporal marriage did not always go hand-in-hand in 19th century Mormonism is critical. It is true that Joseph Smith was sealed to some teenagers. There is no evidence, however, that Joseph Smith was married for time to any of these women, and there is no evidence that there was any sexual intimacy involved.
Truth be told, there is little evidence that any of Joseph Smith's plural marriages involved much sexual intimacy. Most of his marriages were likely asexual (probably only sealings, not actual marriages). Interestingly, there is no convincing evidence that any of his plural marriages ever produced a child, despite the fact that after his death many of his "spiritual wives" did bear multiple children after marrying other men "for time." Genetic testing has revealed that several individuals who have claimed to be descendants of Joseph Smith through his plural wives are in fact not related to Joseph.
I for one am grateful that Mormon culture has evolved the way it has. There's something very romantic about being married to the person with whom you've been sealed. Where's the fun in spending eternity with someone you hardly knew in this life?
Other interesting facts (though not necessarily pertinent, given that there is no evidence of sexual intimacy between Joseph and any teenage woman):
1) In the early 18th century, roughly a third of women in the United States married in their teens. Marriage at 15 or 14even temporal marriagewould be uncommon, but definitely not unheard of.
2) The "age of consent" in the early 19th century was not 18 as it is today, but 10. (Boy am I ever happy I live in the 21st century...)
An interesting site that addresses this very question can be found at en.fairmormon.org.