Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Critics' claimed motivations for Joseph's implementation of plural marriage

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Critics' claimed motivations for Joseph's implementation of plural marriage

Critics' claimed motivations for Joseph's implementation of plural marriage

Did Joseph have "lustful motives" for practicing polygamy?

Summary: Neutral observers have long understood that this attack is probably the weakest of them all. One might reasonably hold the opinion that Joseph was wrong, but in the face of the documentary evidence it is wrong to argue that he and his associates were insincere or that they were practicing their religion only for power and to satisfy carnal desires. Those who insist that “sex is the answer” probably reveal more about their own limited perspective than they do of the minds of the early Saints.

Did Joseph Smith have a long history of "womanizing" before practicing plural marriage?

Summary: Critics charge that Joseph Smith had a long history of "womanizing" before practicing plural marriage. This chapter includes Eliza Winters and Marinda Nancy Johnson.

Did Joseph Smith send men on missions in order to "steal" their wives while they were gone?

Summary: Beginning with LDS dissident John C. Bennett, some have charged that Joseph would send men on missions in order to marry their wives. Does this claim match the historical evidence?

Claimed mismanagement of the Lawrence estate

Summary: Joseph Smith was appointed the guardian of two daughters, Maria and Sarah Lawrence, and their inheritance. He later married them in plural marriage. The evidence shows that Joseph Smith faithfully discharged his legal duties, despite the claims made by some nineteeth-century and modern critics.