Sealings, Evidence & Moral Questions
Plural Marriage
A careful account of Nauvoo plural marriage that distinguishes kinds of sealings, weighs testimony, and faces age, consent, secrecy, and sexuality directly.
Completed responses
3 claims
Open the claim as it is normally framed, use the short answer when time is tight, and move into the full case when the conversation deserves it.
Joseph Smith's Polygamy Proves False Prophet
Joseph Smith's plural marriages are difficult history, but they were not all the same. Evidence supports sexual relations in some time-and-eternity marriages, not in every sealing. No child by a plural wife has been confirmed. Helen Mar Kimball was sealed to Joseph at fourteen; she later described the sealing as "for eternity alone," and there is no documentation that it was consummated.
Doctrine and Covenants 132 Is Coercive and Contradictory
Doctrine and Covenants 132 teaches eternal marriage, sealing authority, and plural marriage in the same revelation. The new and everlasting covenant is broader than polygamy, and the Church does not teach that plural marriage is presently required. The hard language to Emma and the rules for plural unions still deserve direct, verse-by-verse treatment.
Fanny Alger Was an Affair, Not a Plural Marriage
The evidence for Joseph Smith's relationship with Fanny Alger is late, fragmentary, and uncomfortable. Faithful sources identify it as an early plural marriage, while critics call it an affair. The record does not let us reconstruct every conversation with Fanny, her parents, or Emma, so a responsible defense should state what is known and leave disputed details disputed.