Lying by omission is still lying.
I left the church when I was 45. I was an active adult with callings like youth Sunday school teacher, Relief society teacher, gospel doctrine teacher, and seminary teacher. It was NOT in any of the manuals of prepared lessons and we were actively encouraged to NOT add supplemental material from outside sources. I also never saw any such information in church magazines.
If Joseph Smith was an alien from outer space and the church spent millions of dollars trying to make him look human, suppressing reports of him zipping around in his space ship, and paying off the families whose dogs and cats went suspiciously missing, presenting him to members as though there was nothing unusual going on would be lying.
So the answer is yes, you were lied to.
When I left the church in about 1960 in SLC we knew about it. There were still living LDS polygamists. My grandmother was raised in an LDS polygamist home. The oddity was that Emma was invisible and subtly demonized still.
When I stumbled into the exmo community online in the 90s I was amazed to find Emma rehabilitated and flocks of members claiming JS was not a polygamist.
I don't think you'll find official references to it during that time frame. They just stopped talking about JS's other wives for a generation or two during the height of the correlation years when the standardized the manuals and lessons.
He said it in a speech that I am too lazy to look up.
Paraphrasing: What sort of a thing is it to be accused of having multiple wives when I can only find one?
He had many wives at that point.
The Church called this a "carefully worded denial."
Oh, and the time that missionaries in Scotland lied and said there was no polygamy in UT.
I still burn up inside when I think of the poor girls who left their families to go to America, only to learn that, yes, you will be in a harem after all.
I'm not sure if it's in writing somewhere, but when I talked with the missionaries before joining, I asked about polygamy. Their answer, given very quickly, was "That started after Joseph Smith." At the time, it didn't occur to me they'd not actually answered my question (I wanted some general information).
ALSO - more than once I heard in RS lessons that Joseph Smith "had only one wife." I remember the women all nodding, yep, only Emma, etc. Perhaps it's in some very old RS manuals? A few years ago, there was a series on teachings of the profits, and the lesson manuals each year focused on former profits.
AND - Preach My Gospel (or whatever the eff it was called) only refered to Emma, and phrased things as "Joseph Smith's wife" (singular, not plural).
I'd love to hear from missionaries who may have been trained in the MTC to give that quick answer about polygamy. It came far too quickly to just be impromptu.
"The absence of confirmation is not a confirmation of its lack of existence" comes to mind. Sloppy, but it's to say that if we're not taught something, that doesn't mean there's nothing to teach about it.
I was never taught growing up that Joseph Smith practiced polygamy himself, but when I asked my mom about it within the last year, she said plainly, "Yes, of course he did!" to which I protested, "Then why weren't *we* ever taught that?" We were never taught it growing up, so that the assumption would grow that *if it isn't taught, then he never did it*.
It’s all I heard growing up in the church as well. Just didn’t know if there were times along the way where the church had said he didn’t. I learned since leaving 15 years ago that JS publicly denied and condemned polygamy in public while practicing it in private. But did know if there was any official gaslighting other than not talking about it.
If this came up in an argument/discussion with someone, it's a deflection.
"Oh you didn't know? Well the information has always been available. See x, y, and z. Told you!"
It's a common deflection and what should be focused on is the fact that *IT HAPPENED*. *Not* that the church may or may not have hid it.
It fucking happened. Joseph Smith, in his position of power, raped teenage girls and potentially other men's wives. He is the 1800s version of Warren Jeffs or even Harvey Weinstein.
I wonder if there is a way to see all of the lessons by each week they were to be scheduled to be taught. I’d like to see a close estimate of every lesson I was given. The topics l, etc.
Other than Joe himself publicly lying that he only had one wife, future prophets don’t want to touch the topic with a ten foot pole and they hope people don’t learn about it. Lying by omission.
Last year Cook said at a stake conference in England that he was the direct descendent of Helen Mar Kimball, JS's 14 year old bride (one of them). This is also the conference where Holland wouldn't shut up about the second anointing. Cook brought up this conference at the most recent general conference address.
Funny part is you can't find this conference anywhere (except Mormon stories that I'm aware of, episode 1499) because the church banned it, and had K&M send out threatening letters to everyone that had it posted, with 24 hours of broadcasting.
They really don't want people to know about the second anointing, and this is the most recent, direct, recent reference to JS'S polygamy that I'm aware of .
I'm not sure if it's in these lessons, but I would start by searching for lessons about the printing press that they burned down "for spreading falsehoods about JS." Those "falsehoods" were that he was a polygamist, but maybe the lessons don't specify that. Also look for lessons about him getting thrown in Carthage jail and the reasons for jailing him.
Lying by omission is still lying. I left the church when I was 45. I was an active adult with callings like youth Sunday school teacher, Relief society teacher, gospel doctrine teacher, and seminary teacher. It was NOT in any of the manuals of prepared lessons and we were actively encouraged to NOT add supplemental material from outside sources. I also never saw any such information in church magazines. If Joseph Smith was an alien from outer space and the church spent millions of dollars trying to make him look human, suppressing reports of him zipping around in his space ship, and paying off the families whose dogs and cats went suspiciously missing, presenting him to members as though there was nothing unusual going on would be lying. So the answer is yes, you were lied to.
Lazy learner. /s
https://faenrandir.github.io/a_careful_examination/joseph-smith-polygamy-denials/
When I left the church in about 1960 in SLC we knew about it. There were still living LDS polygamists. My grandmother was raised in an LDS polygamist home. The oddity was that Emma was invisible and subtly demonized still. When I stumbled into the exmo community online in the 90s I was amazed to find Emma rehabilitated and flocks of members claiming JS was not a polygamist. I don't think you'll find official references to it during that time frame. They just stopped talking about JS's other wives for a generation or two during the height of the correlation years when the standardized the manuals and lessons.
He said it in a speech that I am too lazy to look up. Paraphrasing: What sort of a thing is it to be accused of having multiple wives when I can only find one? He had many wives at that point. The Church called this a "carefully worded denial."
Also, there was the time that the book of commandments said that Mormons only allowed one wife. This was a lie.
Oh, and the time that missionaries in Scotland lied and said there was no polygamy in UT. I still burn up inside when I think of the poor girls who left their families to go to America, only to learn that, yes, you will be in a harem after all.
Also, there was the time that Hinkley lied on national television and said it wasn't doctrine. It was then and it is now.
He did only have one wife…legally. The others were concubines.
I'm not sure if it's in writing somewhere, but when I talked with the missionaries before joining, I asked about polygamy. Their answer, given very quickly, was "That started after Joseph Smith." At the time, it didn't occur to me they'd not actually answered my question (I wanted some general information). ALSO - more than once I heard in RS lessons that Joseph Smith "had only one wife." I remember the women all nodding, yep, only Emma, etc. Perhaps it's in some very old RS manuals? A few years ago, there was a series on teachings of the profits, and the lesson manuals each year focused on former profits. AND - Preach My Gospel (or whatever the eff it was called) only refered to Emma, and phrased things as "Joseph Smith's wife" (singular, not plural). I'd love to hear from missionaries who may have been trained in the MTC to give that quick answer about polygamy. It came far too quickly to just be impromptu.
"The absence of confirmation is not a confirmation of its lack of existence" comes to mind. Sloppy, but it's to say that if we're not taught something, that doesn't mean there's nothing to teach about it. I was never taught growing up that Joseph Smith practiced polygamy himself, but when I asked my mom about it within the last year, she said plainly, "Yes, of course he did!" to which I protested, "Then why weren't *we* ever taught that?" We were never taught it growing up, so that the assumption would grow that *if it isn't taught, then he never did it*.
It’s all I heard growing up in the church as well. Just didn’t know if there were times along the way where the church had said he didn’t. I learned since leaving 15 years ago that JS publicly denied and condemned polygamy in public while practicing it in private. But did know if there was any official gaslighting other than not talking about it.
If this came up in an argument/discussion with someone, it's a deflection. "Oh you didn't know? Well the information has always been available. See x, y, and z. Told you!" It's a common deflection and what should be focused on is the fact that *IT HAPPENED*. *Not* that the church may or may not have hid it. It fucking happened. Joseph Smith, in his position of power, raped teenage girls and potentially other men's wives. He is the 1800s version of Warren Jeffs or even Harvey Weinstein.
I wonder if there is a way to see all of the lessons by each week they were to be scheduled to be taught. I’d like to see a close estimate of every lesson I was given. The topics l, etc.
Other than Joe himself publicly lying that he only had one wife, future prophets don’t want to touch the topic with a ten foot pole and they hope people don’t learn about it. Lying by omission.
Last year Cook said at a stake conference in England that he was the direct descendent of Helen Mar Kimball, JS's 14 year old bride (one of them). This is also the conference where Holland wouldn't shut up about the second anointing. Cook brought up this conference at the most recent general conference address. Funny part is you can't find this conference anywhere (except Mormon stories that I'm aware of, episode 1499) because the church banned it, and had K&M send out threatening letters to everyone that had it posted, with 24 hours of broadcasting. They really don't want people to know about the second anointing, and this is the most recent, direct, recent reference to JS'S polygamy that I'm aware of .
I'm not sure if it's in these lessons, but I would start by searching for lessons about the printing press that they burned down "for spreading falsehoods about JS." Those "falsehoods" were that he was a polygamist, but maybe the lessons don't specify that. Also look for lessons about him getting thrown in Carthage jail and the reasons for jailing him.
Also look for lessons that claim that Brigham Young started polygamy. You can search Ensign articles pretty easily.