Criticism of Mormonism/Books/One Nation Under Gods/Chapter 13


A FAIR Analysis of:
Criticism of Mormonism/Books
A work by author: Richard Abanes

Claims made in "Chapter 13: Unholy Matrimony"

Page Claim Response Author's sources

282, 572n8 (PB)

"Another subterfuge Joseph used to protect himself was to have his women feign marriage to other men. Historian George D. Smith related how Joseph related how Joseph resorted to this tactic during his marriage to seventeen-year-old Sarah Ann Whitney..."
  • George D. Smith, An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton (1995), 27.
  • "History of Joseph Kingsbury, Written by His Own Hand, 1846, 1849, 1850," Stanley Snow Ivins Collection, vol. 15, 74-76, Utah State Historical Society.

282, 572n8 (PB)

"Three weeks later, while in hiding, Joseph Smith wrote a revealing letter which he addressed to [Sarah Ann Whitney's] parents...inviting them to bring their daughter to visit him."
  • George D. Smith, An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton (1995), 27.
  • Joseph Smith, letter to Whitney family, Aug. 18, 1842, photocopy, George Albert Smith papers, Special Collections, Maarriott Library.

283, 572n10 (PB)

Sarah Pratt "had been propositioned by Joseph, which partly led to her rejection of Mormonism."
  • W. Wyl, Mormon Portraits, 62.

283, 572n11 (PB)

Joseph publicly denied polygamy, stating "What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one."
  • History of the Church, vol. 6, 410-411.

284 (PB)

"Many of these women actually were teenaged girls acquired by Smith when he was well into his thirties."
  • No source provided.

285, 573n21

"Coexisting with these two deities was a limitless amount of cosmic spirit matter known as "intelligence," out of which Elohim and Heavenly Mother made countelss spirit babies via celestial sex."
  • McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 387
  • Brigham Young, June 18, 1865, Journal of Discourses, vol. 11, 122.
  • Orson Pratt, "The Pre-Existence of Man," The Seer, March 1853, vol. 1, no. 3, 38

285, 574n25 (PB)

"Earth, by the way, in this Mormon scenario, was fashioned as part of a joint creative project supervised by the most faithful of Heavenly Father's spiritual progeny (e.g., Jesus, Joseph Smith, Noah, Adam, John the Baptist, etc.). Elohim's other spirit children included: Lucifer, who would become the Devil (a.k.a. Satan); Napoleon; George Washington; Joseph Smith; Louis Armstrong, Donny and Marie Osmond, Senator Orrin Hatch, U.S. President George W. Bush, and everyone else who has ever lived on this planet."
  • McConkie, 169.

286, 574n26 (PB)

Elohim is a "polygamous god."
  • Orson Pratt, "Celestial Marriage," The Seer, November 1853, vol. 1, no. 11, 172.
  • John J. Stewart, Brigham Young and His Wives and The True Story of Plural Marriage, 41.

286 (PB)

Elohim is "the god of this planet."
  • No source provided.

286, 575n29 (PB)

"We humans are enduring the same kind of circumstances Elohim went through on his route to deification.
  • McConkie, 64.

287 (PB)

"More spirit children means more power, which in turn pushes a Mormon male further up the hierarchical ladder of gods in our universe."
  • No source provided.

289, 578n51 (HB)

"According to the late BYU scholar Eugene England, Mormon women literally are to become 'birth machines' so Mormon males can continue creating and populating various worlds without end."
  • Jessie L. Embry, "Burden or Pleasure?: A Profile of LDS Polygamous Husbands," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Winter 1987), vol. 20, no. 4, 148.

Further reading

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{{To learn more box:responses to: 8: The Mormon Proposition}} To learn more box:responses to: 8: The Mormon Proposition edit
{{To learn more box:''Under the Banner of Heaven''}} To learn more about responses to: Under the Banner of Heaven edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: Ashamed of Joseph}} To learn more about responses to: Ashamed of Joseph edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: Benjamin Park}} To learn more about responses to: Benjamin Park edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Bible versus Joseph Smith}} To learn more about responses to: Bible versus Joseph Smith edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Bible versus Book of Mormon}} To learn more about responses to: Bible versus Book of Mormon edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: Christopher Nemelka}} To learn more about responses to: Christopher Nemelka edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Colby Townshed}} To learn more about responses to: Colby Townshed edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: Jerald and Sandra Tanner}} To learn more about responses to: Jerald and Sandra Tanner edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Jesus Christ-Joseph Smith or Search for the Truth DVD}} To learn more about responses to: Jesus Christ-Joseph Smith or Search for the Truth DVD edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: John Dehlin}} To learn more about responses to: John Dehlin edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Jonathan Neville}} To learn more about responses to: Jonathan Neville edit
{{To learn more box:responses to: Kurt Van Gorden}} To learn more about responses to: Kurt Van Gorden edit
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{{To learn more box:responses to: Will Bagley}} To learn more about responses to: Will Bagley edit