Joseph Smith/Polygamy/Entering into plural marriage

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Entering into plural marriage

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• Joseph Smith's marriages to young women
• Fanny Alger was Joseph Smith's first plural wife

Joseph Smith's marriages to young women

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• Question: Why was Joseph Smith sealed to young women?
• Question: Was Joseph Smith a "serial practitioner of statutory rape?"

The fallibility of prophets

Summary: Are prophets considered infallible? Critics sometimes impose absolutist assumptions on the Church and hold inerrantist beliefs about scriptures or prophets. Critics therefore insist that any statement by any LDS Church leader represents LDS doctrine and is thus something that is secretly believed, or that should be believed, by Latter-day Saints.

Jump to details:

• Question: Do Mormons consider their prophets to be infallible?
• Question: Can a prophet make mistakes?
• Question: How is it possible for a Church leader or prophet to have been influenced by racism, yet be consistent with the Lord not allowing prophets to lead the Church astray?
• Neil L. Andersen (2012): "A few question their faith when they find a statement made by a Church leader decades ago that seems incongruent with our doctrine"
• "Approaching Mormon Doctrine," LDS Newsroom (May 2007): "Not every statement made by a Church leader, past or present, necessarily constitutes doctrine"
• Charles W. Penrose (1912): "Do you believe that the President of the Church, when speaking to the Church in his official capacity is infallible?"
• Question: How are Church members protected against error by leaders?
• Question: Should Church members simply have "blind trust" in their leaders?
• Question: Were Biblical prophets infallible?
• Question: How do Biblical prophets compare to modern prophets?
• Question: When, if ever, is it okay to disagree with Church leaders?
• Question: How does official teaching of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints view those that receive revelation that contradicts that of the Prophet?

Women locked in a room

Summary: Were women locked in a room while Joseph attempted to persuade them?

Did Joseph Smith coerce women to marry him?

Summary: Some have claimed that Joseph applied significant pressure on women to be married to him.

Did women turn Joseph down?

Summary: Some have claimed that significant pressure was put on women to practice plural marriage in Nauvoo. Did any of these women resist or refuse? What were the consequences of doing so?

Does the fact that Joseph Smith did not "multiply and replenish the earth" through his plural wives contradict a commandment given in Doctrine and Covenants 132:63?

Summary: Joseph Smith does not appear to have produced any children by his plural wives, except for Emma, yet, Doctrine and Covenants 132:63 states, "But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men." Why did Joseph practice polygamy, if it was not for the purpose of multiplying and replenishing the earth?