Plural marriage/Did early Church leaders speak of plural marriage difficulties

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Early Church leaders' comments about the difficulties of plural marriage

Summary: It is claimed that early Church leaders "admitted" that there were many difficulties with plural marriage that caused "problems" and "great sorrow."

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• Gospel Topics: "It is therefore difficult to accurately generalize about the experience of all plural marriages"
• Question: Did early Church leaders "admit" that there were many difficulties with plural marriage that caused "problems" and "great sorrow"?

Gospel Topics: "It is therefore difficult to accurately generalize about the experience of all plural marriages"

"Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah," Gospel Topics on LDS.org (2013):

The passage of time shaped the experience of life within plural marriage. Virtually all of those practicing it in the earliest years had to overcome their own prejudice against plural marriage and adjust to life in polygamous families. The task of pioneering a semiarid land during the middle decades of the 19th century added to the challenges of families who were learning to practice the principle of plural marriage. Where the family lived—whether in Salt Lake City, with its multiple social and cultural opportunities, or the rural hinterlands, where such opportunities were fewer in number—made a difference in how plural marriage was experienced. It is therefore difficult to accurately generalize about the experience of all plural marriages.

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Articles about plural marriage

Doctrinal foundation of plural marriage	Purpose of plural marriage Plural marriage as a requirement for exaltation Plural marriage in early Christianity Plural marriage in the Book of Mormon Plural marriage and the Bible
Introduction of plural marriage	Initiation of the practice of plural marriage 1835 Doctrine and Covenants denies polygamy Fanny Alger was Joseph Smith's first plural wife Joseph Smith hid polygamy from the general Church membership Divine manifestions to plural wives and families Plural marriage and the law
Questions about Joseph Smith and plural marriage	Joseph Smith's marriage to young women Did Joseph Smith coerce women to marry him? Mormon women refusing offers of plural marriage Joseph Smith and children through plural marriage Joseph Smith was sealed to other men's wives Joseph Smith hiding plural marriages from his first wife, Emma Emma Smith's reaction to Joseph Smith's plural marriages Did Joseph have lustful motives for practicing polygamy? Did Joseph Smith send men on missions in order to steal their wives? Did Joseph Smith practice polygamy for the purpose of monetary gain?
Notable plural wives of Joseph Smith	Fanny Alger Prescindia Lathrop Huntington Buell Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Helen Mar Kimball
Plural marriage in Utah	Difficulties with plural marriage Brigham Young's statements regarding plural marriage John Taylor's statements regarding polygamy Latter-day Saints and divorce in the nineteenth century Prevalence of plural marriage in Utah
End of plural marriage	The First Manifesto Plural marriage practiced after the First Manifesto The Church of Jesus Christ and plural marriage today

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Source(s) of the criticism

Critical sources

Richard Abanes, One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003), 582 ( Index of claims ) (Source: Exact copy of the Tanners' quote without attribution) Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 226.( Index of claims )

Notes