Feta

I did not read "Rough Stone Rolling", but I read "Know Man Knows My History", and "By his Own Hand Upon Papyrus". By this time I had decided that Joseph Smith probably was not what he claimed to be. If he's not a prophet, then the church is not true. I started wondering if there was a god at all. I read "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. I realized almost everything I've seen in my life can be more easily explained without mentioning god. Sure, I can attribute a lot of things to god, but there's no need - everything makes more sense without him. I've realized I've never had an answer to a prayer. I've realized that I've felt "the spirit" while enjoying incredible music, books, and movies that are not up to church standards. Rarely did I feel that at church, and never in the temple. I'm getting excited about atheism! There's no need to do mental gymnastics trying to explain and rationalize things. I'm sorry, I know it doesn't make much sense to talk about this on an LDS forum.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I appreciate the time you've put into it. Just thought I'd let you know that in the last few days since I originally posted I've been obsessively researching and gathering information. One bit of information has led to another, and I've learned more in the last few days about the church than I ever learned the my previous years. Josephs polygamy was just the tip of the iceberg. I've done a large amount of reading, thinking and praying, and I've decided that I can't belong to this church anymore. I've come to the conclusion that it is very man made, and it's leaders are not and have never been prophets of God. I plan on resigning my membership soon. I feel sick, like the world has been flipped upside down, but I feel that I am right and the sickness will pass. I'm strangely comforted and excited to finally feel like I have logical answers to all my questions. I wish everyone well in their search for truth!

Why is it not OK to practice polygamy now? It's still scripture. Its was revelation from God. It seems like we should still be practicing it. How and why has the church distanced itself so far from polygamy?

I get it, I need to study more. Do you have anything useful to say about my concerns and questions? I hate to say it, but just researching this on the internet is not making Joseph look like a good person, let alone a prophet of God. I think it would be useful for me to read a biography on Joseph Smith. It looks like the two big ones are "Rough Stone Rolling" and "No Man Knows My History". You guys have recommended the first one already, has anyone read the second? Is it good too? I ask because my library has "No Man Knows My History" , but not "Rough Stone Rolling".

I admit I'm not an avid scripture reader and I don't actively try to learn more about church history. I've never read D&C cover to cover and I honestly didn't know about section 132. I basically have learned what I know from what was taught in church. I knew about polygamy, but didn't realize that it was actually something that came as revelation and was practiced by church leaders and prophets. I kind of dismissed it and assumed it was just something that a few non important church members did. I just read D&C 132 for the first time. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around this. It says it's OK for a man to espouse additional virgins, but 11 of his wives were not virgins (I assume, since they were already married). Could "virgin" be interpreted as "unmarried woman", or maybe "unsealed woman"? What could the possible reason be for him marrying women that are already married to mormon men?

I new about polygamy in the early church. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he too had several wives. I even had a year of seminary devoted to D&C, but Joseph's polygamy never came up. I'm finding my self a bit bothered and I don't know how to explain why it would be good or acceptable for him to have teenage wives, or wives that are already married? Does anyone have any insight on this?

Hi everyone! I'm a long time lurker on this forum but I've never posted anything. Anyway, I learned something today that totally shocked me and I feel like I need to talk about it and for some reason I don't want to talk about it with anyone I know personally. So, earlier today a coworker of mine asked me how many wives Joseph Smith had. I said "One, Emma." He then told me that Joseph Smith had 34 WIVES!!! I didn't believe him because I'm sure I would have known that after going to church my whole life. I was curious though and I went and looked it up. I was shocked to find out that everywhere I looked on the internet confirmed what my coworker said! And not only that, but 7 of his wives were under 18 and 11 were already married to other men! I am seriously surprised by this. Is this common knowledge? Am I the only one who didn't know this? How have I spent over two decades going to church and not learned this!?