Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Becoming Gods/Chapter 9

Chapter 8

A FAIR Analysis of: Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism A work by author: Richard Abanes

Chapter 10

Claims made in "Chapter 9: More Than One Wife"

Page	Claim	Response	Author's sources
225	In Mormon theology, "creating" includes not only making a world, but peopling it through procreating, through sexual union with one's spouse.	"Celestial sex"	Melodie Moench Charles, "The Need for a New Mormon Heaven," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 21 no. 3 (Fall 1988), 77-78. The reference to "sexual union" comes from Melodie Moench Charles, who is not representative of orthodox LDS teaching.
226	The statement in the 1835 D&C condemning polygamy was "perhaps in an attempt to conceal Smith's affair."	1835 Doctrine and Covenants denies polygamy	D&C CI:4 (1835 edition), p. 251.
233, 422n47	Mormons believed that plural marriage was necessary for deification in the Celestial Kingdom.	Polygamy a requirement for exaltation	J.W. Musser, "The New And Everlasting Covenant Of Marriage: An Interpretation Of Celestial Marriage, Plural Marriage, Polygamy."
233, 422n48-49	Brigham Young said, "The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy."	The only men who become gods are those that practice polygamy?	Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 11:268-269
237	"Although wives continued to live with their husbands, they would receive conjugal visits from Smith whenever the need arose."	The author's claim is false: The sources quoted in the endnotes do not say anything about "conjugal visits" to women to whom Joseph was sealed who already had husbands for time. Joseph Smith and polygamy	Richard S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), 62. Jedediah Grant, Journal of Discourses 2:14.
237, 424n71	Zina Huntington married Brigham Young while still married to Henry Jacobs, and Henry stood as a witness.	Full details: Wyatt, "Zina and Her Men."	Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997), 20, 48-49. ( Index of claims )
237, 425n73-75	"Wife swapping" was "wholly acceptable."	The author's claim is false This claim is also made in One Nation Under Gods: p. 295, 582n81-82 (HB) 580n81-82 (PB) Grant's quote (see right) is about consecrating everything to God's service: money, wives, etc. It does not sanction "wife swapping." See: One Nation Under Gods/Use of sources/Wife swapping	Jedediah Grant, Journal of Discourses 2:14. Lee, Confessions of John D. Lee, p. 165 C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 1, p. 73.
237	The Bible does not sanction or command polygamy. "Most Israelites were monogamous." Abraham's polygamy "portrays his acceptance of plural marriage as a mark of disobedience to, and a lack of faith in, God."	See p. 244 Polygamy not Biblical	Author's interpretation.
239, n. 80-83	"Early Mormon leaders" believed that Jesus and his apostles were polygamists.	Was Jesus a polygamist	Jedediah M. Grant, Journal of Discourses 1:346.. Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses 2:210.. Orson Pratt, "Celestial Marriage," The Seer, vol. 1, no. 11, p. 172.
240	The Book of Mormon "seems to condemn polygamy," but Latter-day Saints "deny that this is the case."	Book of Mormon condemns polygamy	Jacob 1꞉15 Jacob 2꞉24-27 Jacob 3꞉5 The author does not mention Jacob 2꞉30, which states "For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things" as the reason that Latter-day Saints "deny that this is the case."
241	How could Jesus have been a god before he was born, before he had a physical body?	Jesus: premortal deification	No source given
241	How could the Holy Ghost be a god, since he does not have a physical body?	Holy Ghost: premortal deification	No source given
244	"...nowhere in the Old Testament is polygamy linked with any mandates to practice it."	The author's claim is false: levirate marriage was mandated by the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 25:5-6). Even if true, this claim is immaterial. God did not condemn the practice of plural marriage in the Bible. If it was everywhere and always forbidden, God could and would have done so. Early Christian authors understood this. Polygamy_not_Biblical No biblical mandate for plural marriage?	No source given.
245, n97	Plural marriages were performed after the 1890 Manifesto.	Polygamy after the Manifesto	1911 telegram to Reed Smoot from Joseph F. Smith, Apr. 1, 1911.