❌ The Polygamy Puzzle — What Really Happened?
❌ The Polygamy Puzzle — What Really Happened?
Was Joseph Smith a polygamist?
Or was that story carefully pinned on him after his death by those who needed it to be true?
I’ve asked myself that question over and over.
And I’ve run it every way I possibly could.
I’ve studied the testimonies.
I’ve traced the timelines.
I’ve looked at who said what, and when—and what they had to gain by saying it.
Here’s where the truth has led me.
📜 David Whitmer and the Echo of Regret
David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, never denied that witness—not once in over 50 years.
But late in his life, he published An Address to All Believers in Christ (1887), where he claimed Joseph Smith had introduced polygamy, then repented of it just before his death.
Sounds compelling… until you see where he got that story.
He didn’t witness any of it himself.
He said he heard it years later from William Marks, a church leader in Nauvoo.
🧩 William Marks – The Quiet Link
William Marks, the Nauvoo Stake President, claimed that about three weeks before Joseph’s death, Joseph confessed to him that he’d been deceived by polygamy—and that he was planning to publicly renounce it.
But let’s be real:
Marks never said he saw Joseph practice it.
His claim came nearly a decade later, with no corroborating witnesses.
And he only began talking about it after aligning with the RLDS Church (which denied polygamy altogether).
So David Whitmer believed Joseph practiced polygamy based on William Marks...
And Marks said Joseph admitted it in private…
And no one else confirms it.
That’s two layers of hearsay. And no firsthand proof.
👀 So Who Said Joseph Did Practice It?
Almost every testimony that Joseph Smith was a polygamist came after his death—and it came from:
People who followed Brigham Young
People who benefited by tying their authority to Joseph
People who needed to justify polygamy
These were people like:
Eliza R. Snow
Helen Mar Kimball
William Clayton
John Taylor
Brigham Young
But these testimonies:
Came out years later
Often under oath or public pressure
Always in a post-Joseph environment where polygamy was already public
Meanwhile, those closest to Joseph at the time of his death—people like Emma Smith, Joseph Smith III, and James Whitehead—all denied it.
They said the polygamy claim was a lie pinned on Joseph after he was gone.
And when you look at the records…
They’re right.
🧱 Let’s Talk About D&C 132
Not published until 1852, eight years after Joseph’s death
Not included in the original Doctrine and Covenants
Claimed to be “dictated” by Joseph, but only shared secretly
Used to justify doctrines Joseph never taught publicly
If it really came from God—where was it in Joseph’s lifetime?
Why the secrecy? Why the edits? Why the contradictions?
This wasn’t eternal doctrine.
It was retroactive justification.
💬 Emma Smith — The One Who Knew
Emma, Joseph’s wife, denied to her dying day that Joseph practiced polygamy.
“No such thing ever occurred… He was innocent.”
She had no motive to lie.
She stood by him in life and death.
She had nothing to gain by denying it—except to defend the truth about her husband.
🤯 What If It Was Brigham?
What if Brigham Young and others introduced polygamy—and needed Joseph’s name to legitimize it?
What if they said:
“Joseph started it. We’re just continuing what he revealed.”
Even though:
Joseph never preached it publicly
D&C 132 wasn’t published until after he died
His closest family and friends denied it
And scripture itself condemns it
📖 What the Book of Mormon Says
“There shall not any man among you have save it be one wife...”
—Jacob 2:27
“I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me.”
—Jacob 2:28
“If I will raise up seed unto me, I will command my people…”
—Jacob 2:30
So unless God explicitly commands it—and there is no record that He did—it’s condemned.
Joseph never claimed this command publicly.
And the Book of Mormon never backs up the Utah version of polygamy.
In fact, it warns directly against it.
🪶 What the Nemenhah Records Reveal
The Nemenhah, a remnant people of the House of Israel, wrote that polygamy would arise among those claiming to follow the Peacemaker—but it would be a corruption introduced after the holy men were gone.
They warned that:
Men would use the name of the Seer to justify abominations.
Secret combinations would infiltrate the priesthood.
And a people would arise claiming they held true authority—but their hearts would be far from God.
The Nemenhah are clear:
Polygamy was a sign of apostasy, not obedience.
It was Babylon wearing a robe—not Zion rising in purity.
🔥 Final Verdict
I’ve looked at this every way I know how.
And I believe:
Joseph Smith did not teach or practice polygamy publicly.
He may have been pressured.
He may have been surrounded.
But he never stood at the pulpit and said: “Thus saith the Lord.”
Others did that after he was gone—and pinned it on him to carry the weight.
And I believe it’s time to lay that burden down.
🕊️ What Matters Most
The real gospel is still what Joseph first restored:
Faith in Christ
Repentance
Baptism by water and fire
Receiving the Holy Ghost
Hearing His voice for ourselves
That’s it.
Not polygamy.
Not priesthood hierarchies.
Not secret doctrines or manipulated revelations.
Just Christ.
And if we return to Him—fully, humbly, and personally—He’ll teach us all things.
Even the hard things.
Even the truth.
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