I was raised in the Church and have recently been questioning many things about the history of the church. I know Joseph Smith had multiple wives, but were any of them married to other men at the same time? Please tell me this is a mistake!
One Response to “I was raised in the Church and have recently been questionin…”
Mario Rios
2007-11-10 07:55:17
Thanks for your question. I enjoy receiving sincere questions of this type from faithful members. 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. In modern Mormonism, temporal marriage and eternal marriage go hand in hand. When a modern couple is sealed ("married for eternity") in the temple, a secular, temporal marriage license is always issued at the same time. The idea that one could be sealed to one women and married to another is completely foreign to our experience. 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 11 women who were themselves already married, mostly to other faithful Mormon men. 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. In fact, many (all?) of the temporal husbands gave permission for the sealing, and the wives continued to live with their "original" husbands afterwards.
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 "wives" did bear multiple children after remarrying. Genetic testing has revealed that several individuals who 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.
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. In modern Mormonism, temporal marriage and eternal marriage go hand in hand. When a modern couple is sealed ("married for eternity") in the temple, a secular, temporal marriage license is always issued at the same time. The idea that one could be sealed to one women and married to another is completely foreign to our experience. 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 11 women who were themselves already married, mostly to other faithful Mormon men. 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. In fact, many (all?) of the temporal husbands gave permission for the sealing, and the wives continued to live with their "original" husbands afterwards.
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 "wives" did bear multiple children after remarrying. Genetic testing has revealed that several individuals who 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.