This is the key question because it goes to the heart of the validity of Joseph Smith's status as
a prophet and therefore is relevant to the validity of the Mormon church itself.
On occasions when I've had this discussion with Mormons some have attempted to downplay
it's significance or point out that it officially ended a century ago, so why make a big deal about it? When that argument
fails to deter me, they might argue that I am simply sensationalizing by insisting on discussing Mormon polygamy
when they view it as "been-there; done-that. Now let's move on." It's amazing to me how these things can go sometimes and
how passionate some Latter-day Saints can be about defending their prophet no matter what the record shows him
doing or preaching in the name of God! Joseph Smith, in fact, gets away with all kinds of things that most modern
Latter-day Saints would find reprehensible if done by anyone outside the church!
In the "mother of all ironies," instead of condemning or even denying the behavior of their founding
prophet (although the RLDS church does deny it and as such condemns it) or attempting to find some sort of rational explanation
for it (other than simple human lust)*, they instead turn the tables by condemning those who dare to question the modern
Mormon Church about it's polygamous past!
I focus on the question of polygamy for one reason: It clearly demonstrates that Joseph Smith was
not a prophet of the God of the Bible.
Here's the problem (and it's a huge problem) in a nutshell... polygamy,
as practiced by nineteenth century Latter-day Saints, simply had to have been commanded
by God. If Joseph Smith acted on his own and was not commanded by God to begin the practice of polygamy, then the only
conclusion to be reached is that Joseph Smith was a false prophet.
The main reason is that Smith claimed to have only begun the practice at the inexplicable insistence
of God. Those closest to Smith have taught that he struggled with the doctrine of plural marriage and was very reluctant to
put it into practice. In fact he only did so after God threatened to take away his status as a prophet and his powers
of revelation unless he took plural wives! In fact, on more than one occasion Smith actually claimed that an angel had stood
before him and threatened to kill him, unless the current potential bride-to-be consented to marry the prophet. What else
was the poor prophet to do? Surely, he couldn't disobey God! What else was the poor woman to do? Surely she could not disobey
the prophet!
This set of circumstances sets up a situation in which Joseph Smith is either telling the truth and,
for some reason never adequately explained, God commanded Mormon polygamy and then, just as inexplicably, commanded
it to end 50 years later (remarkably coinciding with U.S. consideration of Utah statehood); or Joseph Smith
is guilty of ascribing to God things that God never commanded.
In my view, a thorough study of the history of Mormon polygamy is bound to eventually lead to the
latter conclusion and that is precisely why Latter-day Saints go out of their way to avoid discussion of the subject.
In Mormonism's Greatest Problems I take a long hard look at the history of polygamy and
a fascinating look at how deeply and tragically it affected the lives of faithful Latter-day Saints.
*There are those who attempt to explain polygamy in
logical terms. For example one possible reason could be that polygamy was commanded in order for widows and orphans to be
cared for in the rugged conditions that existed in the Utah territory in the 1800's. However, the proposers of such attempts
to rationalize polygamy are often themselves well aware of the inadequacies of their own theories. For example, in
frontier communities men always outnumbered women. Therefore widows would be better off marrying single males rather than
joining an already overly large polygamous family.
Those who attempt to find rational
explanations for Mormon polygamy nearly always eventually fall back on the simple concept that "we don't know why God commanded
it... he just did."
