Did Joseph have lustful motives for practicing polygamy?

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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 manifestations to plural wives and families Plural marriage and the law
Questions about Joseph Smith and plural marriage	Initiation of the practice of plural marriage Fanny Alger was Joseph Smith's first plural wife Joseph Smith hid polygamy from the general Church membership Joseph Smith's marriages to young women Did Joseph Smith coerce women to marry him? Mormon women refusing offers of plural marriage Polyandry Joseph Smith and children through plural marriage Marrying other men's wives? Joseph Smith hiding plural marriages from his first wife, Emma Emma Smith's reaction to Joseph Smith's plural marriages Emma Smith in Doctrine and Covenants 132 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?
John C. Bennett and Nauvoo polygamy	Bennett before Nauvoo Bennett and Prostitution Brothel at Nauvoo Rise and Fall of Bennett Sarah Pratt Nancy Rigdon Sidney Rigdon
Plural wives of Joseph Smith	Divine manifestations to plural wives and families Emma Smith Fanny Alger Louisa Beaman Prescindia Lathrop Huntington Buell Sarah Kingsley Howe Cleveland Agnes Moulton Coolbrith Elizabeth Davis Goldsmith Brackenbury Durfee Esther Dutcher Hannah S. Ells Olive Grey Frost Desdemona Catlin Wadsworth Fulmmer Lucinda Pendleton Morgan Harris Clarissa Reed Hancock Elvira Annie Cowles Holmes Sarah Maryetta Kingsley Howe Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde Vienna Jacques Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Almera Johnson Helen Mar Kimball Maria Lawrence Sarah Lawrence Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner Malissa Lott Sylvia Sessions Lyon Martha McBride Eliza Partridge Emily Partridge Rhoda Richards Ruth Vose Sayers Patty Bartlett Sessions Delcena Diadamia Johnson Sherman "Miss Smith" Mary Heron Snider Eliza R. Snow Lucy Walker Sarah Ann Whitney Nancy Maria Winchester Flora Ann Woodworth Fanny Young
Plural marriage in Utah	Difficulties with plural marriage Brigham Young's statements regarding plural marriage John Taylor's 1886 revelation Latter-day Saints and divorce in the nineteenth century Prevalence of plural marriage in Utah
End of plural marriage	The First Manifesto Official Declaration Number 1 Plural marriage practiced after the First Manifesto The Church of Jesus Christ and plural marriage today

Did Joseph have lustful motives for practicing polygamy?

The Prophet said...that it [plural marriage] would damn more than it would have because \so many/ unprincipled men would take advantage of it, but that did not prove that it was not a pure principle. If Joseph had had any impure desires he could have gratified them in the style of the world with less danger of his life or his character, than to do as he did. The Lord commanded him to teach & to practice that principle.

—Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Letter to Mary Bond, n.d., 3-9 quoted in Brian Hales, Joseph Smith's Polygamy: History, Vol. 1, 26-27. off-site

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Now nothing can be more idle, nothing more frivolous, than to imagine that this polygamy had anything to do with personal licentiousness. If Joseph Smith had proposed to the Latter-day Saints that they should live licentious lives, they would have rushed on him and probably anticipated their pious neighbors who presently shot him.

—George Bernard Shaw, The Future of Political Science in America; an Address by Mr. Bernard Shaw to the Academy of Political Science, at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, on the 11th. April, 1933

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Did Joseph have lustful motives for practicing polygamy?

Jump to details:

• Question: Did Joseph Smith institute polygamy because he had a "voracious sexual appetite"?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith have a youthful struggle with unchastity?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith have a long history of "womanizing" before practicing plural marriage?
• Stephen H. Webb: "Evidence That Demands Our Amazement... Joseph Smith was a remarkable person"

Did Joseph have lustful motives for practicing polygamy?

Jump to details:

• Question: Did Joseph Smith institute polygamy because he had a "voracious sexual appetite"?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith have a youthful struggle with unchastity?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith have a long history of "womanizing" before practicing plural marriage?
• Stephen H. Webb: "Evidence That Demands Our Amazement... Joseph Smith was a remarkable person"

Did Joseph have lustful motives for practicing polygamy?

Jump to details:

• Question: Did Joseph Smith institute polygamy because he had a "voracious sexual appetite"?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith have a youthful struggle with unchastity?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith have a long history of "womanizing" before practicing plural marriage?
• Stephen H. Webb: "Evidence That Demands Our Amazement... Joseph Smith was a remarkable person"

Did Joseph have lustful motives for practicing polygamy?

Jump to details:

• Question: Did Joseph Smith institute polygamy because he had a "voracious sexual appetite"?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith have a youthful struggle with unchastity?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith have a long history of "womanizing" before practicing plural marriage?
• Stephen H. Webb: "Evidence That Demands Our Amazement... Joseph Smith was a remarkable person"

Did Joseph have lustful motives for practicing polygamy?

Jump to details:

• Question: Did Joseph Smith institute polygamy because he had a "voracious sexual appetite"?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith have a youthful struggle with unchastity?
• Question: Did Joseph Smith have a long history of "womanizing" before practicing plural marriage?
• Stephen H. Webb: "Evidence That Demands Our Amazement... Joseph Smith was a remarkable person"

See also Brian Hales' discussion

Joseph Smith’s Personal Polygamy

Many are quick to declare that Joseph's polygamy sprang from religious extremism and/or sexual desire. This article explores the difficulties that Joseph had with plural marriage, and evidence for what truly motivated his acts.

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Source(s) of the criticism

Critical sources

Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), Chapter 24. ( Index of claims ) Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson, Mormonism 101. Examining the Religion of the Latter-day Saints (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2000), Chapter 17. ( Index of claims ) MormonThink.com website (as of 28 April 2012). Page: http://mormonthink.com/joseph-smith-polygamy.htm George D. Smith, Nauvoo Polygamy: "...but we called it celestial marriage" (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2008), x, xii, 1, 21-22, 31, 44, 49, 54, 116, , 198, 227, 237. ( Index of claims , (Detailed book review)) Search for the Truth DVD (2007) Resources Watchman Fellowship, The Watchman Expositor (Page 3)

Notes