The founding of Mormonism, more or less summarized. The early years were INSANE. I’m convinced it’s why Mormons are so into genealogy–to cover that shit up.
I hadn’t known this, and find it hilarious.
Joseph Smith alone married a mother-daughter pair, among many other exploits, and that’s just ol’ Joe himself. One of the first major rifts came when (I believe) they were still in Illinois–a good bit before heading to Utah, when one of Joe’s apostles learned of Joe’s interest in the apostle’s own teenage daughter.
Joe and his brother’s ultimate imprisonment and death/murder came after Joey ordered the destruction of the printing press of the Nauvoo Expositor, which was unveiling his dirty secrets–the first and I’m pretty sure only issue of the paper is available online. Once others, including his wife, caught on, Joe had to come up with something, so he had a new revelation. And somehow that shit fucking worked.
I need this to be a mini-series on Showtime.
There are several good books about that stuff, in particular, including No Man Knows My History by Fawn Brodie, which so rocked the Mormons in the 1940s that it remains relevant and one of the pinnacle books on Joe’s wives and exploits.
There’s a new show called American Primeval that gets stomach-clenchingly close to some of the material I thought I might have a unique take/angle on. But I’ve not yet brought myself to watch it. The Mormon church’s loud, angry backlash suggests it’s probably pretty good/accurate, though.
“knowing better” on YouTube/Nebula has an entire series of feature length videos on the history of mormons/other american cults!
super interesting!
Mormons will deny that was ever part of their religion. It absolutely was, but they lie now.
(Exmormon here!)
It’s not they deny it happened, they claim that it was commanded of God and was necessary. For the past 10 years they have been started teaching that it was a “test of God”. And in all cases they deny that they currently practice it and insist anyone who practices it isn’t Mormon.
BUT they still practice it.
And i don’t mean the FLDS church, i mean Mormons aka “church of Jesus christ of latter day saints” still practice polygamy. They only got rid of polygamy on earth, but when Mormons marry in the temple they are married for eternity thanks to what they call a “sealing”. What happens if you get divorced? The church doesn’t recognize a civil divorce. The still believe you and your ex are sealed for eternity.
Where this gets interesting, and where the polygamy comes in, is that women can’t remarry (sealed) unless they get permission from church leadership AND their exhusband. Men on the other hand don’t need permission from church leadership or their exwife, meaning they can continue to have as many eternal sealings as they want as long as they have a civil divorce between each.
Yeah, sounds crazy, because it is. They don’t talk about this either, and it isn’t well understood by most Mormons until it happens to them. But it’s a pretty glaring example of inequality in the church.
Yes, but it is very uncommon and this is what i was referring to when i said a woman needs to get the church leadership and her exhusbands approval. And i don’t mean local leadership. It might start with local leadership but interviews will continue until (if) you eventually land with the first presidency (the prophet and his #1 and #2).
They don’t make it easy and it’s considered an exception to the rule more than anything. And if you don’t get your ex husband’s permission then it’ll be that much harder. Growing up there was a woman locally whose exhusband was inactive and refused to give permission. 40 years later she is in her 70s and still cannot remarry in the church. I know she tried again 10 years ago but it never went anywhere.
And from my own personal experience as a man, when i had a civil divorce i had numerous meetings with my church leadership trying to determine what this meant for my eternal salvation and also my ex’s. Not one person ever mentioned unsealing. I was encouraged to marry again and they told me not to worry about her. They told me i would have no problem marrying in the temple again but never discussed her options.
@nimble wow, incredible! I never got quite that far before I bailed, so it’s super interesting to learn about this stuff.
Haha consider yourself lucky then
That was great. You did forget the part where they have celestial sex and women get to be eternally pregnant. Fun fact, there are only 365 “temple names” and they are based on the date you got your endowments out. I imagine that would create a lot of confusion in the afterlife when husbands call their wife’s name (if they choose to).
I’m struggling to understand who the hell wants that. It’s not just that pregnancy is unpleasant, it’s not like it’s fun for the partner either. Like that sounds like a cruel punishment a fertility goddess would damn the majority opinion holders in the overturning of Roe to, not a reward
Yes, their mythology is pretty wild. My wife was raised Mormon and her dad was a bishop for several years which is almost unheard of. I had studied the LDS church for a number of years before I had met her out of curiosity with no intent on joining.
She was not aware of some of their more outlandish beliefs and we would often have discussions about it. One day I explained to her that heavenly Father created Mary through celestial sex with heavenly mother. He came to her in physical form and had sex with his daughter to produce Jesus.
At this point she kind of freaked out and told me that was not true. I told her I am not trying to argue with her and to go ask her parents about it. Her mother told her it was beautiful and her father also confirmed this fact. She cried a lot and I did feel bad for telling her, but it is just the way it is. She eventually got over it and we never joined the Church.
