Elder Jensen Quote

Elder Jense on Polyandry

 Church Historian Elder Marlin K. Jensen and unofficial apologists like FairMormon do not dispute the polyandry.


CES Letter, Page 52

The CES Letter provides a link to a short audio quote of Elder Jensen acknowledging that Joseph Smith was sealed to legally married women and therefore practiced "polyandry." What it doesn't do is explore what that really means.

It appears that The CES Letter is not interested in learning the truth about these sealings, but instead seeks a sensational soundbite and then allows the listener to draw conclusions that are not supportable from a documentary standpoint.

The women had each experienced two marriage ceremonies and from a ceremonial standpoint, they had two husbands. However, there is no credible evidence supporting that they ever had two husbands practically or sexually.

Joseph Smith taught that marriages for “time and eternity” were part of the “new and everlasting covenant” (D&C 132:4) and that the new and everlasting covenant causes “all old covenants” to be “done away” (D&C 22:1).

A marriage in the new and everlasting covenant would have caused a civil marriage (the “old marriage covenant”) to have been “done away” creating the equivalence of a Church divorce. 

No woman could simultaneously have a legal husband and a different sealed husband at the same time in Joseph's teachings. Nor is there any evidence that this ever occurred.

Most of the sealings were "eternity only," meaning only after death. Technically speaking, the women sealed for eternity-only were not his wives during mortality.

A few women were sealed for "time and eternity," or for this life and the next, but there is no evidence they experienced conjugal relations with their husbands after the sealing. Apparently the women chose Joseph as their husband over their legal spouse. While strange, it is unexplainable without additional documentation, which is absent.

A review of the historical documents from Nauvoo demonstrates that none of the women complained, reported, or defended sexual polyandry. None of the husbands, none of the officiators, none of the family members, and even none of the anti-Mormons mentioned it in any way. Historical records from Nauvoo polygamists read as if sexual polyandry did not exist in any way.


See:

Joseph Smith and Polyandry

FairMormon: Joseph Smith and Polyandry

Occam’s Razor and Joseph Smith’s Alleged Sexual Polyandry

Joseph Smith’s Sexual Polyandry and the Emperor’s New Clothes: On Closer Inspection, What Do We Find? By Brian C. Hales

“The Joseph Smith – Sylvia Sessions Plural Sealings: Polyandry or Polygyny,” Mormon Historical Studies vol. 9, no. 1, Spring 2008, 19-28.

 “Joseph Smith’s Personal Polygamy,” Journal of Mormon History, vol. 38 (Spring 2012) no. 2, pp. 163-228.

Additional Resources:

12 Myths Regarding Joseph Smith’s Polygamy

“Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” LDS.org Essay

“Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo” LDS.org Essay

“Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah” LDS.org Essay

“The Manifesto and the End of Plural Marriage” LDS.org Essay

Like Two Crazy Aunts in the Attic: Latter-day Saints and Popular Polygamy Stereotypes” (2010 FAIR Conference) by Craig L. Foster

“Mercy Thompson and the Revelation on Marriage: D&C 132″ by Jed Woodworth

“Joseph Smith’s Plural Wives after the Martyrdom,” Mormon Historical Studies, vol. 13, no. 2. Fall 2012, 255-69.

“A Subject That Can Bear Investigation”: Anguish, Faith, and Joseph Smith’s Youngest Plural Wife” by J. Spencer Fluhman

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Plural Marriage* (*but were afraid to ask)” (2009 FAIR Conference) by Gregory L. Smith

Joseph Smith DNA Revealed: New Clues from the Prophet’s Genes” (2008 FAIR Conference) by Ugo Perego

A Reconciliation of Polygamy by Valerie Hudson

Joseph Smith’s Sexual Polyandry and the Emperor’s New Clothes: On Closer Inspection, What Do We Find?” (2012 FAIR Conference) by Brian C. Hales

“O that my voice could reach the ears of those uninformed and misinformed” by Suzanne Armitage

“‘Mormon” Women’s Protest: An Appeal for Freedom, Justice and Equal Rights,” The Ladies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints protest against the tyranny and indecency of Federal Officials in Utah, and against their own disfranchisement without cause. Full Account of Proceedings at the Great Mass Meeting, held in the Theatre, SALT LAKE CITY UTAH. Saturday, March 6, 1886

Ask the Apologist: Contradiction between Jacob and DC 132

Polygamy, Prophets, and Prevarication: Frequently and Rarely Asked Questions about the Initiation, Practice, and Cessation of Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” by Gregory L. Smith

The Fallacy of Fundamentalist Assumptions” (2005 FAIR Conference) by Blake T. Ostler

Zina and Her Men: An Examination of the Changing Marital State of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young” (2006 FAIR Conference) by Allen Wyatt

A Response to Grant Palmer’s ‘Sexual Allegations against Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Polygamy in Nauvoo’” by Brian C. Hales and Gregory L. Smith

Separated but not Divorced: The LDS Church’s Uncomfortable Relationship with its Polygamous Past” byCraig L. Foster

Hagar in LDS Scripture and Thought” by Andrew C. Smith

Stretching to Find the Negative: Gary Bergera’s Review of Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: History and Theology” byBrian C. Hales  

Does God Have a Wife? –  by Alyson Skabelund Von Feldt

Plural Marriage and the Half-Empty-Glass School of Historiography –  by Allen L. Wyatt

Prologue to the Study of Joseph Smith’s Marital Theology –  by Danel W. Bachman

The Prophet Joseph Smith and His Plural Wives –  by Richard Lloyd Anderson, Scott H. Faulring

Articles of Faith 3: Craig L. Foster on Polygamy and its relationship to the LDS Church, Craig L Foster, 0:33:04

Best of Fair 12: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Plural Marriage* (*but were afraid to ask), Dr. Greg Smith, 1:02:38

Articles of Faith 1: Brian C. Hales Interview – Articles of Faith Show, Brian C Hales, 0:25:27

FairMormon Frameworks 4: Brian Hales Polygamy, Brian Hales, 1:08:58

Mormon FAIR-Cast 85: Foundations of fundamentalist polygamy, Martin Tanner, 0:19:55

Mormon FAIR-Cast 187: Polygamy Roundtable, Gregory L. Smith, 1:25:20

RiseUp Podcast: Polygamy and Joseph Smith, Dr. Greg L. Smith, 0:21:42

Polygamy and Joseph Smith with Greg Smith

FAIR Examination 9: Polygamy as an Abrahamic Sacrifice–Dr. Valerie Hudson, Dr. Valerie Hudson, 1:00:07

Polygamy and its relationship to the LDS Church- Craig Foster

Mormon FAIR-Cast 85: Foundations of fundamentalist polygamy

Joseph Smith’s Polygamy –Dr. Brian Hales– Fair Mormon Podcast

Polygamy as an Abrahamic Sacrifice–Dr. Valerie Hudson– Fair Mormon Podcast

Plural Marriage and Maintaining Faith- Dr. Gregory Smith- Fair Mormon Podcast

The Naturalistic vs. Faithful View of Joseph Smith’s Polygamy by Brian Hales

12 Myths Regarding Joseph Smith’s Polygamy by Brian Hales 

pt 1 “Zina and her Men” 2006 FAIR conference address by Allen Wyatt

pt 2 “Zina and her men” 2006 FAIR Conference address by Allen Wyatt

pt 3 “Zina and her men” 2006 FAIR Conference address by Allen Wyatt

pt 4 “Zina and her men” 2006 FAIR Conference address by Allen Wyatt

pt 5 “Zina and her men” 2006 FAIR Conference address by Allen Wyatt

Pt 1, “Joseph Smith’s DNA Revealed: New Clues from the Prophets Genes” by Ugo Perego

Pt 2, “Joseph Smith’s DNA Revealed: New Clues from the Prophets Genes

Pt 3, “Joseph Smith’s DNA Revealed: New Clues from the Prophets Genes

Pt 4, “Joseph Smith’s DNA Revealed: New Clues from the Prophets Genes

Pt 5, “”Joseph Smith’s DNA Revealed: New Clues from the Prophets Genes

Pt 6, Joseph Smith’s DNA Revealed: New Clues from the Prophets Genes

Reconciling Belief with Polygamy” by Brian Hales

Testimony of Early Polygamous Wives: Mary Elizabeth Rollins

Testimony of Early LDS Polygamous Wives: Margaret Cooper West

Testimony of Early LDS Polygamous Wives: Elizabeth Whitney

Testimony of Early LDS Polygamous Wives: Phoebe Carter Woodruff

Testimony of Early LDS Polygamous Wives: Vilate Kimball

The Wives of Joseph Smith and Their Testimony- Zina Huntington

The Wives of Joseph Smith and Their Testimony–Lucy Walker

Did Joseph Smith Marry Young Women? Fair Mormon Answers

LDS and Popular Polygamy Stereotypes by Craig Foster

Are Mormons Polygamists

Zina and Her Men: An Examination of the Changing Marital Status of Zina Huntington

Joseph Smith’s DNA revealed: New Clues to the Prophet’s Genes” by Dr. Ugo Perego

Controversies of Joseph Smith’s Polygamy” by Brian Hales

Joseph Smith DNA Revealed: New Clues from the Prophet’s Genes

A Refutation of Grant Palmer’s Treatment of Sexual Allegations Against Joseph Smith” by Brian Hales