Mormon Leader Admits Joseph Smith had ~40 Wives

[Mike]

The institution finally has officially admitted what everyone who bothered to learn about Mormonism already knew. Its founder had roughly 40 wives as young as 14, some of whom were already married when he added them to his collection.

http://news.yahoo.com/mormon-founder-joseph-smith-had-many-40-wives-212016652.html

This will do nothing to cause its millions and millions of members to question the character of the man or the trustworthiness of his testimony. They've been empowered with responses to this and many other extremely questionable practices & beliefs for a very long time. It seems this cult can withstand anything put upon it, defend any inconsistency, and not see a slow down in growth.

Ephesians 4
"11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— "

 

[Doulos Iesou]

The institution finally has officially admitted what everyone who bothered to learn about Mormonism already knew. Its founder had roughly 40 wives as young as 14, some of whom were already married when he added them to his collection.

http://news.yahoo.com/mormon-founder-joseph-smith-had-many-40-wives-212016652.html

This will do nothing to cause its millions and millions of members to question the character of the man or the trustworthiness of his testimony. They've been empowered with responses to this and many other extremely questionable practices & beliefs for a very long time. It seems this cult can withstand anything put upon it, defend any inconsistency, and not see a slow down in growth.

Ephesians 4
"11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— "

Being a Former Mormon I can say that for the truly devout Mormons, this will not cause much of a stir, as they don't based much of their testimony on the character of Joesph Smith, but rather on their Spiritual Experience which they believed testified the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon to them.

From what I have seen, there are some that are a bit upset about this and I think some might jump ship, but this wouldn't be any huge exodus. Now.. if they recognize the Journal of Discources as reliable historical documents and the statements of the Early Prophet's sermons were made public... that would be almost worse.

 

[Mike]

Doulos Iesou all glory and praise goes to the Lord for revealing His truth to you. That is amazing! What is also very amazing is the strength you had to have had to accept that what you had once known to be true was in fact untrue. I was brought up Catholic, and in my mid -20's, my wife and I left the Catholic church. This change was small compared to what you went through, and it was still very hard to make my parents and sibs understand. And that made it rough on me. I don't know if your family was and is Mormon, but no doubt you had people in your life that your decision impacted greatly. Surely, you had people try to persuade you out of your decision.

This, I assume, is a big reason many people remain Mormon. Besides having their belief system affirmed constantly by the church, pressure from family and friends has to be great. That said, I will never understand how such a massive institution began and continues to grow all on the testimony of such a flawed story by such a suspect man. I know some of the LDS prophets since then have spoken over his original "revelation", but the origins of the church are still Joseph Smith. They can't change that. All Mormon roads lead back to him. If someone comes to distrust the man, it must follow that all of the unique teachings that were created by him must be deemed untrustworthy.

Personally, if all I had was my "spiritual experience" to confirm my faith, I wouldn't have the conviction I do. Such an experience in and of itself can be created in the mind if there is nothing else to go on. In my opinion, there has got to be a perceivable evidence to back up what I feel. We have scripture, archaeology, and extra biblical literature to support what we experience. The Mormon faith is riddled with inconsistencies, errors, and flawed morality.

Thanks for your insight.

 

[tim-from-pa]

40 wives? Oh Good Lord! Yes, the number 40 is the biblical number of testing and severe trial. Probably getting finished off like he did was a blessing in disguise.

 

[Free]

Being a Former Mormon I can say that for the truly devout Mormons, this will not cause much of a stir, as they don't based much of their testimony on the character of Joesph Smith, but rather on their Spiritual Experience which they believed testified the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon to them.

From what I have seen, there are some that are a bit upset about this and I think some might jump ship, but this wouldn't be any huge exodus. Now.. if they recognize the Journal of Discources as reliable historical documents and the statements of the Early Prophet's sermons were made public... that would be almost worse.

Some light was shed earlier this year (at least the first I had heard about it) regarding the significant errors with the translation of the papyri for the Book of Abraham. If that wasn't enough, I'm not sure what would be.

 

[Doulos Iesou]

Some light was shed earlier this year (at least the first I had heard about it) regarding the significant errors with the translation of the papyri for the Book of Abraham. If that wasn't enough, I'm not sure what would be.

This has been known for sometime, though perhaps even more information has been revealed, but basically the translations don't line up AT ALL.

 

[Boyce]

I'm kinda stuck here. Do I agree with the Mormon Church? No!! Would I be here if it weren't for the Mormon church? No... Kinda sucks but oh well. I was raised Mormon and baptized in the church but quit going, fell into drugs then Jesus saved me not to long ago and revealed to me that the Mormon church is false. It sucks cause my moms whole side is Mormon, my grandma has already passed away and I think my grandpa is about to go as well. I need to go help him and every time I go up there it reminds me where he's headed and where my grandma already is...

 

[r3alink]

Cults are always resistant to criticism, especially when any criticism is viewed by the members as some form of spiritual deception.

 

[Boyce]

Cults are always resistant to criticism, especially when any criticism is viewed by the members as some form of spiritual deception.

Hey now "No foul language is to come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear." Telling someone they're in a cult isn't going to build them up.
Mormons are just decieved. And satan disguised himself as an angel of light to decieved Joseph. (And Muhammed )

The lord would speak to Moses FACE TO FACE. As one speaks to a friend. The bible also says we were created in the image of God. Jesus also claimed that the only perfect one is the father, enen though Jesus was God in flesh... Now as Christians we can look deeper into these things and understand what they mean, but someone on the outside just looks at them as contradictions. oh ya the bible also mentions 3 different heavens as well, and outer darkness. 2 corinthiana 12:2 "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago-- whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows-- such a man was caught up to the third heaven." But wait... doesnt john 1:13 say no man has gone to heaven and back except Jesus?? I hope you see where Im coming from. They've been decieved and have reasons for that.

 

[r3alink]

Hey now "No foul language is to come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear." Telling someone they're in a cult isn't going to build them up.
Mormons are just decieved. And satan disguised himself as an angel of light to decieved Joseph. (And Muhammed )

The lord would speak to Moses FACE TO FACE. As one speaks to a friend. The bible also says we were created in the image of God. Jesus also claimed that the only perfect one is the father, enen though Jesus was God in flesh... Now as Christians we can look deeper into these things and understand what they mean, but someone on the outside just looks at them as contradictions. oh ya the bible also mentions 3 different heavens as well, and outer darkness. 2 corinthiana 12:2 "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago-- whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows-- such a man was caught up to the third heaven." But wait... doesnt john 1:13 say no man has gone to heaven and back except Jesus?? I hope you see where Im coming from. They've been decieved and have reasons for that.

Although, the mormons would believe everyone outside their group as the ones being decieved.
(That's one belief all cults share)

 

[Barbarian]

I need to go help him and every time I go up there it reminds me where he's headed and where my grandma already is...

Don't assume that they are going to Hell for following God to the best of their understanding. God isn't some kind of cosmic teacher who gives you a theology test to go to heaven. God judges on hearts, not theology.

 

[Karl]

Don't assume that they are going to Hell for following God to the best of their understanding. God isn't some kind of cosmic teacher who gives you a theology test to go to heaven. God judges on hearts, not theology.

Yep, but there is a test, God judges on whether there is blood in the basin at the foot of the door, on the lintel and on the two sides, that is what protected the first born in the house from being killed by the Destroying Angel on the first passover which is a type of the cleansing power of the blood on a redeemed child of God, here's the test, ...only those that God can see the blood of His Son Jesus Christ on will pass the test and be admitted into Heaven. 1 Cor 5:7

 

[Karl]

@ Boyce,

Pray brother, pray that the strong man in you grandfather's life and the rest of your family be bound.

My mother was raised in a cult all of her life of 65 years, she died in a convalescent hospital while I was on vacation, when I returned and learned the news I went to make the arrangements and pick up her personal belongings, they gave me a small box and as I was walking out a nurse met me and gave me a picture of my daughter, she said she had to pry it out of her dead hands. I didn't think much about it other than wonder how mom, being bedridden, could of been holding it, that meant some one had to have given it to her.

That was in '76, fast forward to '87, I was now a born again child of God, my grandmother, who had been in the same cult as my mother, was also in a convalescent hospital, body riddled with cancer, they called me and told me to come and visit because she would probably not live through the night, my pastor and I went and as we approached the front door we heard someone screaming in mortal pain, when we arrived at her room it was her, there were three nurses with her, they walked out and we walked in, the presence of the Holy Spirit filled the room, my grandmother stopped screaming, sat up in bed and calmly called me by name, something she hadn't done in 10 years, we talked with her and gave her the Gospel, which sadly she rejected, the moment she rejected Jesus as God, the presence of the Holy Spirit left and she shriveled up and started screaming in pain again, we walked out and the nurses came back in. I drove home considering what I had just witnessed, 20 minutes after I was home they called and told me she had passed on, ...she had never heard the true gospel in all of her life and the Father gave her one last chance, ...she died 3 months short of 100 years old.

The Lord used that so show me He had sent one of His children into my mothers room and she had accepted Jesus as her Lord and is with the Lord waiting for me, so don't give up brother, pray, bind the strong man, ...a fervent prayer of a righteous man is very effectual!

 

[TOG]

Mormon Leader Admits Joseph Smith had ~40 Wives

His successor, Brigham Young, had even more. Young is said to have had up to 55 wives. I say "up to", because the number is uncertain, since the definition of "wife" among Mormons of that time isn't entirely clear. There was even a contemporary song that mentioned it. The song Sweet Betsy From Pike has a verse that goes:

They stopped at Salt Lake to inquire of the way,
When Brigham declared that Sweet Betsy should stay.
Betsy got frightened and ran like a deer,
While Brigham stood pawing the ground like a steer.​

The TOG​

 

[Mike]

Boyce, i understand your point about putting up walls between us and them by referring to the LDS as a cult. We should always be ready to give the reason for our hope with gentleness and respect. That said, it bares some of the hallmark signs of a cult.

Mormonism is based off of the testimony of one singular man, and the institution has levels of secrecy that its own members aren't privy to until they reach a certain point at which they are prepared to be absorb the information. In my estimation, this is the most glaring and dangerous attributes of a cult. Anyone should have access to all of a church's teachings and doctrine. Nothing should be hidden from view under the guise that they need to be prepared for the information.

We're on a Christian forum discussing a non-Christian institution. It's not the same as getting on their website and flaming their boards with it. In this context, I don't believe there's anything wrong with calling a cult a cult. Just my opinion.