Feb. 17, 2025

Why I Left: The Dark Truth About Joseph Smith That Led Me to Abandon Mormonism

Join Megan Conner on a deeply personal journey in this eye-opening episode of "The Midlife Revolution" where she shares her transformative decision to leave the LDS Church. Explore the historical controversies of Joseph Smith's polygamous marriages, including his unions with teenagers, and delve into how these revelations sparked a profound crisis of faith. Discover the ethical dilemmas posed by these practices, the church's own acknowledgment in its publications, and the critical historical analyses that shaped Megan's path out of Mormonism. Whether you're grappling with your own faith, curious about religious history, or seeking understanding of one of Mormonism's most debated topics, this episode promises to challenge your perceptions and inspire reflection.


Transcript

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this entire time.



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All of that stuff just has



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really disturbed me over



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the last couple of days.



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And I've kind of been in this rabbit hole.



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I would really like to have



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your opinion because I am



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I'm really having a hard time with this.



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And I'm really upset about



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just the entire dynamic of



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Like it feels like the



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church leaders have been



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lying to us all along and



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that they've covered it up



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this entire time.



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All of that stuff just has



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really disturbed me over



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the last couple of days and



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I've kind of been in this rabbit hole.



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I would really like to have



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your opinion because I am,



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I'm really having a hard



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time with this



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welcome to the midlife



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revolution thanks for being



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here everybody and thank



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you for your patience while



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i got everything settled



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outside of the closet



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um i think last wednesday we



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left off the episode about



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my faith crisis a little



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sooner than i wanted to



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because of my technical



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difficulties and so i



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wanted to finish um the



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video that i started out



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with i posted on tick tock



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a shortened version of my



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meltdown in the car where i



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was at a point where i had gotten



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so much information about



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some of the truth claims of



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the church that i didn't



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really know what to do and



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then i as i continued



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digging i found some



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information that disturbed



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me well here's what's



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interesting about it these



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are it's information that i



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knew for a long time this



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was nothing new to me



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um the difference is that



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when you are in the church



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and you are trying so hard



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to uh just live your life



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according to the teachings



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of the church lots of times



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when problems come up you



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sort of explain them away



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and what the saying in the



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church was that you're



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supposed to just put them



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on the shelf there was a



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famous talk that one of the



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women leaders gave when i was a teenager



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that said that just if



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there's something you don't



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understand or something



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that you are wrestling with



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or struggling with,



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and it's a question that



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can't be answered,



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just put it on the shelf.



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And then someday we'll know



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everything we need to know.



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You can ask God when you see



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him or God will reveal it



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to the prophets and you'll be fine.



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So that's why a lot of times



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when Mormons leave the church,



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they say my shelf broke



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because there were so many



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things on the shelf.



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I kept putting things on the



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shelf over and over and



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finally my shelf broke.



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And this is what happened to me as well.



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I had a lot of things on my



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shelf and the meltdown in



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the car was me taking



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things off the shelf and



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examining them and looking



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at them for the first time



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from the perspective of,



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critical thinking rather



00:03:24.084 --> 00:03:26.584


than magical thinking and



00:03:26.925 --> 00:03:31.706


trying to bring in facts



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where before there had just



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been feelings.



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And people will often



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comment when I talk about



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leaving the church that they will say,



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don't forget the feelings



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that you have because the



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church teaches us to,



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when we feel that burning sensation of,



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when we feel that burning in



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our heart that warm feeling



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that's supposed to be the



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holy ghost telling us that



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what we're hearing is true



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and so we rely on those



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feelings rather than on



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facts because the story of



00:04:03.447 --> 00:04:05.048


joseph smith is frankly



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unbelievable that god and



00:04:07.469 --> 00:04:08.650


jesus christ appeared to



00:04:08.690 --> 00:04:10.171


him and told him that he



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was going to be a prophet um so



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If you think about that



00:04:20.590 --> 00:04:23.791


story just from a factual standpoint,



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it doesn't make a lot of sense, right?



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You have to make a lot of



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room for conjecture.



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And what I have come to find



00:04:32.516 --> 00:04:35.378


is that the solution that



00:04:35.438 --> 00:04:36.739


requires the least amount



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of conjecture is likely the



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truest explanation for something.



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When I was in the church,



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I was told to just be faithful,



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just pray harder,



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just get a better witness, you know,



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just keep believing.



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No matter what you do,



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just keep believing.



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And that allowed me to look



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beyond a lot of facts and a



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lot of logical explanations



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because I was trying to be



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faithful and come at it



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from a faithful perspective.



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so i knew all about polygamy



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um or at least i thought i



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did growing up in the



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church i knew that polygamy



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was a practice in the



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church what i was told is



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that it was something we



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did a long time ago the



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church officially disavowed



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it it was a temporary thing



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and then you know when the



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church denounced it we



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completely moved away from



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polygamy and we'll never have to



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do it again in this life,



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and then God will explain



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why he did that later.



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That's what I was taught as



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a child and as a youth growing up.



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As a young adult,



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I came to understand that a



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lot of people believed that



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it was Brigham Young who



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instituted the practice of



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polygamy after the saints



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went to the Utah Territory.



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Then facts started to come



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out that said that actually



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Joseph Smith did institute polygamy.



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Then we were told he had a few wives,



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but it was after the revelation,



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section one,



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thirty two of the Doctrine



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and Covenants came out,



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which we're going to go



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over a whole timeline.



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And then that Emma knew



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about it and that she was



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fine with the revelation



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because it was explained to



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her from a faithful standpoint.



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then so much information



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came out about joseph smith



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being the one who actually



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instituted polygamy that



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the church started having



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to make some concessions



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for the historical accuracy



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of those accounts and there



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was a woman named sandra



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tanner who did a lot of



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research on not just



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polygamy but church history



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in general the book of



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mormon and she really was



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the pioneer is the pioneer



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of so much of this research,



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compiling the research,



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and she and her husband put



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out several books, pamphlets, essays,



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things like that,



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to help people have a true



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historical frame for Mormonism.



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So during this time of research,



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I had always known polygamy



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was a problem for me,



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it was an issue for me,



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and the idea that we don't



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practice it anymore really isn't true.



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Because when you get married in the temple,



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man and a woman get married,



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let's say the wife dies.



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Well,



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the man can be eternally sealed to



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another woman.



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Let's say a man and woman



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get married and the man dies.



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The woman cannot be



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eternally sealed to another man.



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So at this current time,



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there are two leaders of



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the church who are sealed



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to multiple women.



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That's basically polygamy,



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except for the fact that



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their wives did pass away,



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but then they married another woman.



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They were sealed to them eternally.



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So what they believe,



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the top two leaders of the church,



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Russell Nelson and Dallin Oaks,



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what they believe is that



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they will have both of



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those women as wives in the afterlife.



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So to say that we don't



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practice polygamy anymore



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and it's not part of our



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faith is not really accurate.



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So during this time of



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questioning everything and



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taking everything off my shelf, I finally,



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after this car meltdown,



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decided that I was going to



00:08:55.856 --> 00:08:58.759


attack polygamy from the



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standpoint of like,



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I just have ignored and all



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of this stuff.



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And I've been told so many



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different things.



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I don't know what's true anymore.



00:09:04.443 --> 00:09:05.824


So I'm going to go find out the truth.



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And I came across a lecture



00:09:09.023 --> 00:09:11.367


that Sandra Tanner was



00:09:11.427 --> 00:09:14.070


giving to a group of other



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Christian leaders.



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It was talking about why



00:09:19.257 --> 00:09:20.239


Mormons leave the church.



00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:23.984


And I would like to share it with you.



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How do you rationalize



00:09:27.043 --> 00:09:28.524


Joseph Smith approaching



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teenage girls and women



00:09:30.304 --> 00:09:31.124


that are married and have



00:09:31.184 --> 00:09:33.325


living husbands and telling



00:09:33.345 --> 00:09:35.466


them they have to go into polygamy?



00:09:35.726 --> 00:09:36.186


And by the way,



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be sure you don't mention



00:09:37.046 --> 00:09:37.906


this to my wife.



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And the Mormon scholars all know this.



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This is not a historical



00:09:42.628 --> 00:09:44.408


thing that they challenge.



00:09:45.369 --> 00:09:46.449


They just have to, well,



00:09:46.489 --> 00:09:48.209


this fellow I had dinner with,



00:09:49.490 --> 00:09:50.210


I said to him,



00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:52.683


How do you avoid the



00:09:52.723 --> 00:09:53.969


conclusion that Joseph



00:09:54.009 --> 00:09:55.475


Smith was a sexual predator?



00:09:56.611 --> 00:09:58.292


And he says, whoa, that's pretty strong.



00:09:58.392 --> 00:09:58.693


And I said,



00:09:58.733 --> 00:10:00.294


but how do you avoid that conclusion?



00:10:00.334 --> 00:10:01.615


If you look at the story,



00:10:02.696 --> 00:10:03.497


it seems obvious that



00:10:03.517 --> 00:10:04.437


that's what you have.



00:10:05.058 --> 00:10:05.898


And he says, well,



00:10:05.999 --> 00:10:07.520


I believe he was sincere.



00:10:07.820 --> 00:10:08.961


He thought he was following



00:10:09.001 --> 00:10:09.581


God kind of thing.



00:10:09.601 --> 00:10:10.102


And I said, well,



00:10:10.422 --> 00:10:12.484


David Koresh was probably sincere.



00:10:12.504 --> 00:10:15.186


And you could name all the



00:10:15.226 --> 00:10:16.307


polygamists are sincere.



00:10:16.347 --> 00:10:17.127


There's all kinds of people



00:10:17.187 --> 00:10:18.268


out there that are sincere.



00:10:19.049 --> 00:10:19.769


But that doesn't mean they



00:10:19.809 --> 00:10:20.830


may not be promoting



00:10:20.870 --> 00:10:21.591


something that's very,



00:10:21.631 --> 00:10:22.544


very wrong



00:10:23.131 --> 00:10:25.132


So when I heard Sandra



00:10:25.172 --> 00:10:26.853


Tanner refer to Joseph



00:10:26.893 --> 00:10:28.575


Smith as a sexual predator,



00:10:30.116 --> 00:10:30.996


it really caught my



00:10:31.036 --> 00:10:34.859


attention because I am a



00:10:34.899 --> 00:10:39.982


survivor of multiple types



00:10:40.122 --> 00:10:41.263


of assaults and abuse.



00:10:42.243 --> 00:10:45.045


And it was the first time



00:10:45.085 --> 00:10:46.106


that the cognitive



00:10:46.146 --> 00:10:47.967


dissonance of my survivor



00:10:48.007 --> 00:10:50.509


brain and my Mormon brain



00:10:51.374 --> 00:10:52.555


started fighting with each



00:10:52.595 --> 00:10:55.316


other because during my



00:10:55.696 --> 00:10:56.677


trauma healing and my



00:10:56.737 --> 00:10:59.618


recovery i finally learned



00:11:00.078 --> 00:11:01.759


the words that i needed to



00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:03.159


describe what happened to



00:11:03.199 --> 00:11:04.600


me i learned what a



00:11:04.660 --> 00:11:06.161


predator was i learned what



00:11:06.221 --> 00:11:09.082


grooming was i learned how



00:11:09.262 --> 00:11:10.643


manipulation and control



00:11:10.703 --> 00:11:14.585


happens and to hear sandra



00:11:14.625 --> 00:11:16.025


tanner refer to joseph



00:11:16.045 --> 00:11:19.247


smith as a predator blew my mind



00:11:21.294 --> 00:11:23.857


Because I didn't think that



00:11:23.897 --> 00:11:25.078


that was the case.



00:11:25.559 --> 00:11:27.701


I thought that all of his wives...



00:11:29.010 --> 00:11:30.851


had given consent and I



00:11:30.871 --> 00:11:32.052


thought that they had all



00:11:32.692 --> 00:11:33.713


agreed to do this.



00:11:33.753 --> 00:11:35.854


And I knew the apologetic



00:11:35.954 --> 00:11:37.975


argument that some of his



00:11:38.015 --> 00:11:39.676


wives were just spiritual wives.



00:11:39.696 --> 00:11:40.416


They were not,



00:11:42.057 --> 00:11:44.498


they were ceilings for eternity only,



00:11:44.658 --> 00:11:46.339


that he didn't live with any of them,



00:11:46.859 --> 00:11:48.460


that there was no offspring



00:11:48.500 --> 00:11:49.661


produced from any of these.



00:11:49.761 --> 00:11:51.942


And so all of these like



00:11:51.982 --> 00:11:54.063


conflicting ideas were just



00:11:54.103 --> 00:11:55.364


swimming around in my head



00:11:55.404 --> 00:11:56.745


and I was trying to make sense of them.



00:11:57.645 --> 00:12:00.007


so i decided to go look at



00:12:00.107 --> 00:12:01.608


some source documents and



00:12:01.628 --> 00:12:04.310


what i really wanted was



00:12:04.831 --> 00:12:06.512


the first-hand accounts of



00:12:06.552 --> 00:12:10.215


these women now i am not



00:12:10.795 --> 00:12:12.857


prepared to give a



00:12:12.937 --> 00:12:15.399


comprehensive explanation



00:12:15.619 --> 00:12:18.561


of polygamy so this is not



00:12:19.442 --> 00:12:24.005


intended to be a a just a definitive um



00:12:25.139 --> 00:12:27.380


the last word on polygamy, comprehensive,



00:12:27.940 --> 00:12:29.500


it would take such a long



00:12:29.540 --> 00:12:31.201


time to dig into all of that,



00:12:31.881 --> 00:12:33.242


that I really just wanted



00:12:33.282 --> 00:12:35.783


to give sort of an overview



00:12:35.923 --> 00:12:37.303


of the things that I think



00:12:37.343 --> 00:12:38.664


people misunderstand the



00:12:38.724 --> 00:12:40.804


most and the things that I didn't know,



00:12:41.484 --> 00:12:42.945


which when I discovered them,



00:12:43.345 --> 00:12:45.786


finally became the last straw for me.



00:12:47.201 --> 00:12:49.062


So after hearing just this



00:12:49.102 --> 00:12:50.703


snippet from Sandra Tanner,



00:12:50.743 --> 00:12:51.784


I didn't even listen to the



00:12:51.824 --> 00:12:52.905


rest of the lecture because



00:12:52.945 --> 00:12:53.985


my mind was so blown.



00:12:54.105 --> 00:12:54.486


I was like,



00:12:54.646 --> 00:12:55.906


I am immediately going down a



00:12:55.946 --> 00:12:58.308


rabbit hole to look for source documents.



00:12:58.728 --> 00:12:59.629


So that's what I did.



00:13:00.569 --> 00:13:03.231


And I think it would be



00:13:03.271 --> 00:13:04.392


helpful to just for you



00:13:04.412 --> 00:13:06.013


guys to go over just a



00:13:06.093 --> 00:13:10.315


brief timeline of polygamy



00:13:10.435 --> 00:13:12.217


in Joseph Smith's era.



00:13:12.273 --> 00:13:12.943


so the church



00:13:13.203 --> 00:13:18.125


was founded in uh so this



00:13:18.425 --> 00:13:19.946


is the timeline of how this



00:13:20.006 --> 00:13:21.967


all happened okay um



00:13:23.123 --> 00:13:24.864


In eighteen twenty was the



00:13:24.904 --> 00:13:25.784


first time that Joseph



00:13:25.804 --> 00:13:27.305


Smith wrote down about



00:13:27.365 --> 00:13:29.026


having a vision of God and Jesus Christ.



00:13:29.066 --> 00:13:30.707


But this all comes after that.



00:13:31.267 --> 00:13:32.728


So in eighteen twenty three,



00:13:32.948 --> 00:13:34.509


that's when and I'm going



00:13:34.529 --> 00:13:35.670


to put all this in quotes



00:13:35.890 --> 00:13:38.691


because this is what the claim is.



00:13:38.852 --> 00:13:39.112


Right.



00:13:39.272 --> 00:13:41.053


I'm not I'm not presenting this as fact.



00:13:41.821 --> 00:13:42.982


Moroni appears to Joseph



00:13:43.002 --> 00:13:44.704


Smith and quotes prophecies



00:13:44.804 --> 00:13:46.426


about restoring the sealing



00:13:46.466 --> 00:13:47.848


keys as part of the priesthood.



00:13:48.509 --> 00:13:49.710


In eighteen twenty seven,



00:13:49.770 --> 00:13:51.112


he marries Emma Hale,



00:13:51.832 --> 00:13:53.414


his first and only legal wife.



00:13:54.375 --> 00:13:55.396


In eighteen twenty nine,



00:13:55.416 --> 00:13:56.918


he translates the Book of Mormon



00:13:57.879 --> 00:13:58.940


in the book of jacob in the



00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:00.021


book of mormon there's some



00:14:00.101 --> 00:14:01.763


allusions to like when



00:14:01.783 --> 00:14:02.944


polygamy is authorized by



00:14:02.984 --> 00:14:04.486


god i'm not gonna dig into



00:14:04.566 --> 00:14:05.507


all of that right now



00:14:06.087 --> 00:14:07.248


that's for that's a rabbit



00:14:07.268 --> 00:14:09.370


hole for another time and



00:14:09.410 --> 00:14:12.493


then in june is when the



00:14:12.513 --> 00:14:14.275


church was restored and



00:14:14.315 --> 00:14:15.496


that was when joseph smith



00:14:15.696 --> 00:14:17.638


started revising the bible



00:14:18.649 --> 00:14:20.651


um and and the reason why



00:14:21.051 --> 00:14:22.132


these things are important



00:14:22.172 --> 00:14:25.075


to note is because this to



00:14:25.155 --> 00:14:27.037


me shows that it was a very



00:14:27.097 --> 00:14:29.158


methodical planned out



00:14:29.319 --> 00:14:31.360


strategy by joseph smith to



00:14:31.601 --> 00:14:33.683


little by little introduce



00:14:33.723 --> 00:14:37.266


the idea of multiple wives and polygamy



00:14:39.025 --> 00:14:41.327


If we look at it from the standpoint of,



00:14:41.668 --> 00:14:42.008


I think,



00:14:42.489 --> 00:14:45.492


all of these predatory situations,



00:14:45.972 --> 00:14:47.914


people who lead high



00:14:47.954 --> 00:14:49.836


control groups are in it



00:14:49.876 --> 00:14:50.777


for three things.



00:14:51.057 --> 00:14:52.839


And I learned this during my



00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:53.980


cousin Lori's trial.



00:14:54.561 --> 00:14:56.363


It really sums up so much of



00:14:56.403 --> 00:14:58.225


why people do anything.



00:14:58.785 --> 00:15:00.687


Money, power, and sex.



00:15:01.488 --> 00:15:02.449


And if you think about it,



00:15:02.869 --> 00:15:04.110


Joseph Smith already had



00:15:04.150 --> 00:15:05.571


the power because he had



00:15:05.611 --> 00:15:07.072


lots of followers at this point.



00:15:07.493 --> 00:15:08.613


He was starting to get a lot



00:15:08.633 --> 00:15:10.135


of money because people



00:15:10.195 --> 00:15:12.296


were making sure that he



00:15:12.336 --> 00:15:15.118


and his family were well cared for.



00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:17.280


His home in Nauvoo,



00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:18.941


Illinois was referred to as



00:15:19.021 --> 00:15:19.962


the mansion house.



00:15:20.042 --> 00:15:22.123


It was a very big house for the time.



00:15:22.204 --> 00:15:23.364


And if you've ever been to



00:15:23.404 --> 00:15:24.425


Nauvoo and seen like the



00:15:24.485 --> 00:15:25.406


other little houses,



00:15:25.846 --> 00:15:27.067


Joseph Smith was much bigger.



00:15:27.127 --> 00:15:27.968


He had plenty.



00:15:29.069 --> 00:15:30.790


And so this was kind of the third house



00:15:31.949 --> 00:15:33.790


rung to that stool right



00:15:33.810 --> 00:15:35.652


that that he wanted to find



00:15:35.732 --> 00:15:37.173


a way to have access to



00:15:37.193 --> 00:15:41.596


women so this timeline i



00:15:41.616 --> 00:15:43.117


think shows a very



00:15:43.177 --> 00:15:46.339


methodical lead up to being



00:15:46.419 --> 00:15:47.680


able to introduce that



00:15:47.880 --> 00:15:49.161


legitimate legitimately



00:15:49.181 --> 00:15:50.022


because he could have done



00:15:50.082 --> 00:15:51.063


it secretly but i think



00:15:51.083 --> 00:15:52.163


what he really wanted was



00:15:52.203 --> 00:15:53.364


for everyone to be on board



00:15:53.384 --> 00:15:55.106


with it and for him to be



00:15:55.166 --> 00:15:58.568


able to get exactly what he wanted so in



00:16:01.787 --> 00:16:02.988


Joseph Smith receives a



00:16:03.048 --> 00:16:04.608


revelation affirming that



00:16:04.648 --> 00:16:05.888


marriage is ordained of God,



00:16:07.189 --> 00:16:08.749


and then starts talking



00:16:08.789 --> 00:16:10.890


about the idea of plural marriage.



00:16:12.350 --> 00:16:13.611


In July of that year,



00:16:13.691 --> 00:16:15.031


he reportedly receives a



00:16:15.071 --> 00:16:17.532


revelation informing a group of elders,



00:16:17.752 --> 00:16:18.752


these are basically just



00:16:18.792 --> 00:16:20.313


leaders of the church in Missouri,



00:16:20.333 --> 00:16:21.053


that they should take



00:16:21.093 --> 00:16:23.134


plural wives among the Native Americans.



00:16:24.107 --> 00:16:26.029


that's again a rabbit hole



00:16:26.049 --> 00:16:27.269


for another time a very



00:16:27.350 --> 00:16:29.451


problematic part of mormon



00:16:29.491 --> 00:16:31.493


history is that they



00:16:31.513 --> 00:16:32.854


believed that they needed



00:16:32.894 --> 00:16:35.616


to help to tame the natives



00:16:35.936 --> 00:16:37.037


quote unquote these are



00:16:37.057 --> 00:16:39.179


their words and to



00:16:41.309 --> 00:16:43.370


turn them into a fair and



00:16:43.390 --> 00:16:44.391


delightsome people.



00:16:44.551 --> 00:16:45.471


There are parts of the Book



00:16:45.491 --> 00:16:46.632


of Mormon that talk about



00:16:47.492 --> 00:16:48.813


white skin being white and



00:16:48.853 --> 00:16:51.674


delightsome and black skin being a curse.



00:16:52.214 --> 00:16:53.755


And the Mormons believed at



00:16:53.775 --> 00:16:56.116


that time that if they took



00:16:56.477 --> 00:16:58.217


Indian women to wife and



00:16:58.277 --> 00:16:59.258


had children with them,



00:16:59.618 --> 00:17:00.459


that the children would



00:17:00.619 --> 00:17:02.640


gradually become whiter and whiter,



00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:03.960


and that would make them



00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:04.981


more and more righteous.



00:17:05.601 --> 00:17:07.042


If you've never heard this before,



00:17:07.222 --> 00:17:08.302


it is very shocking,



00:17:08.402 --> 00:17:11.383


horrible part of Mormon history that,



00:17:11.463 --> 00:17:11.824


again,



00:17:11.984 --> 00:17:13.864


not a lot of LDS people like to



00:17:13.904 --> 00:17:14.965


think about or talk about,



00:17:15.625 --> 00:17:16.785


but it's there.



00:17:16.866 --> 00:17:17.326


And again,



00:17:17.426 --> 00:17:18.666


it's a rabbit hole for another



00:17:18.706 --> 00:17:20.047


time that we will dig into.



00:17:20.087 --> 00:17:21.047


So that was kind of the



00:17:21.087 --> 00:17:22.488


first mention of polygamy



00:17:23.088 --> 00:17:25.189


was having elders or



00:17:25.249 --> 00:17:27.450


leaders in the church take



00:17:28.290 --> 00:17:30.431


Native Americans as wives.



00:17:32.728 --> 00:17:34.369


Then in eighteen thirty-two,



00:17:34.589 --> 00:17:35.669


Joseph Smith and Sidney



00:17:35.709 --> 00:17:36.910


Rigdon were tarred and



00:17:36.950 --> 00:17:39.711


feathered by a mob in Hiram, Ohio.



00:17:40.311 --> 00:17:41.131


Fifty years later,



00:17:41.171 --> 00:17:42.552


a source alleges that it



00:17:42.572 --> 00:17:43.932


was in retaliation for an



00:17:44.092 --> 00:17:45.113


intimate relationship



00:17:45.153 --> 00:17:46.153


Joseph had with a young



00:17:46.173 --> 00:17:48.694


woman and his future plural



00:17:49.034 --> 00:17:51.395


wife named Marinda Nancy Johnson.



00:17:51.915 --> 00:17:53.976


Now, as a child and a young adult,



00:17:54.156 --> 00:17:55.237


I was always taught that



00:17:55.277 --> 00:17:57.638


the reason why Joseph and



00:17:57.718 --> 00:17:59.058


Sidney suffered this



00:17:59.118 --> 00:18:00.699


horrible tar and feathering



00:18:01.699 --> 00:18:03.680


was because people didn't



00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:05.501


like Mormons and people



00:18:05.521 --> 00:18:06.421


didn't like the fact that



00:18:06.461 --> 00:18:07.822


Joseph Smith talked about



00:18:07.862 --> 00:18:10.363


seeing God in Jesus Christ.



00:18:10.383 --> 00:18:13.185


That's what I was taught as a child.



00:18:14.085 --> 00:18:15.586


Digging into the history,



00:18:16.166 --> 00:18:18.767


we find out that there was among the mob,



00:18:18.947 --> 00:18:21.408


a physician who they had brought along,



00:18:22.189 --> 00:18:23.369


the mob had brought along



00:18:23.669 --> 00:18:25.230


because they had asked him



00:18:25.290 --> 00:18:26.791


to castrate Joseph Smith.



00:18:28.541 --> 00:18:29.784


because the reason they were



00:18:29.824 --> 00:18:31.407


attacking him was because



00:18:31.447 --> 00:18:33.230


of this terrible affair



00:18:33.270 --> 00:18:34.653


that he had had with a young woman.



00:18:36.033 --> 00:18:36.893


That's the part of the



00:18:36.913 --> 00:18:38.754


history that I never got taught.



00:18:39.274 --> 00:18:40.774


Now, lucky for Joseph,



00:18:40.814 --> 00:18:42.415


the doctor decided at the



00:18:42.455 --> 00:18:44.335


last minute not to go through with it,



00:18:44.375 --> 00:18:45.556


that he couldn't stomach it.



00:18:46.256 --> 00:18:47.516


But just knowing that he was



00:18:47.556 --> 00:18:48.416


there and the reason for



00:18:48.476 --> 00:18:49.237


him being there



00:18:49.537 --> 00:18:51.197


corroborates this idea that



00:18:51.237 --> 00:18:52.618


he was being tarred and feathered,



00:18:53.098 --> 00:18:54.278


not because he was being



00:18:54.338 --> 00:18:55.578


persecuted for his faith,



00:18:55.618 --> 00:18:57.379


but because he had been



00:18:57.439 --> 00:18:58.779


caught doing inappropriate



00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:03.161


things with young women.



00:19:03.221 --> 00:19:04.801


So back to the timeline.



00:19:06.451 --> 00:19:08.211


according to mary elizabeth



00:19:08.251 --> 00:19:10.212


rollins leitner who had a



00:19:10.272 --> 00:19:12.452


lot of journal writings



00:19:12.492 --> 00:19:15.093


about this time period and



00:19:15.173 --> 00:19:16.273


others an angel with a



00:19:16.313 --> 00:19:17.554


drawn sword appears to



00:19:17.594 --> 00:19:18.634


joseph smith for the first



00:19:18.694 --> 00:19:19.834


of three times between



00:19:19.934 --> 00:19:21.015


eighteen thirty four and



00:19:21.095 --> 00:19:21.855


eighteen forty two



00:19:21.895 --> 00:19:23.695


commanding him to practice



00:19:23.735 --> 00:19:25.456


plural marriage isn't that



00:19:25.496 --> 00:19:28.156


convenient that an angel



00:19:28.196 --> 00:19:29.677


threatens him with death if



00:19:29.717 --> 00:19:35.158


he doesn't start marrying plural wives um



00:19:36.451 --> 00:19:38.472


So Joseph's first plural



00:19:38.512 --> 00:19:40.073


wife was Fanny Alger



00:19:42.014 --> 00:19:43.174


sometime between eighteen



00:19:43.214 --> 00:19:45.035


thirty three and eighteen thirty five.



00:19:47.296 --> 00:19:50.077


I want to go quickly to a



00:19:50.117 --> 00:19:53.079


biography of Fanny Alger.



00:19:53.551 --> 00:19:54.351


So this,



00:19:54.812 --> 00:19:56.172


and I also want to share with you



00:19:56.212 --> 00:19:57.953


the sources that I'm using here.



00:19:58.633 --> 00:20:00.454


This website is called



00:20:00.494 --> 00:20:02.615


josephsmithspolygamy.org,



00:20:02.795 --> 00:20:05.156


and it is a faithful website.



00:20:05.216 --> 00:20:07.477


This website was created and



00:20:07.497 --> 00:20:11.659


maintained by a couple who are



00:20:12.797 --> 00:20:16.161


very well-versed in church history.



00:20:17.042 --> 00:20:19.484


And they wanted to create a



00:20:19.524 --> 00:20:20.585


website that would help



00:20:20.625 --> 00:20:21.927


people frame polygamy in



00:20:21.947 --> 00:20:23.048


the right way so that you



00:20:23.088 --> 00:20:24.429


could understand the truth



00:20:24.569 --> 00:20:26.431


of the history of polygamy,



00:20:26.832 --> 00:20:27.913


but remain faithful.



00:20:31.482 --> 00:20:32.662


um so everything that they



00:20:32.682 --> 00:20:35.084


have posted here is done so



00:20:35.164 --> 00:20:36.484


under fair use because they



00:20:36.544 --> 00:20:38.406


don't make any money from



00:20:38.466 --> 00:20:40.146


running this website i



00:20:40.166 --> 00:20:41.347


highly recommend you going



00:20:41.387 --> 00:20:44.869


to it because i think that



00:20:45.629 --> 00:20:47.591


if you objectively look at



00:20:47.691 --> 00:20:51.893


all of the facts um that



00:20:52.093 --> 00:20:53.394


you even though they're



00:20:53.414 --> 00:20:55.495


writing this from a faithful perspective



00:20:56.988 --> 00:21:00.152


I think the conclusions that I came to,



00:21:00.232 --> 00:21:02.194


the conclusions that one would come to,



00:21:02.995 --> 00:21:04.637


even reading the faithful



00:21:04.697 --> 00:21:05.859


perspective of it,



00:21:06.920 --> 00:21:08.221


makes it really impossible



00:21:08.261 --> 00:21:09.483


to ignore that the way that



00:21:09.523 --> 00:21:10.704


this was done was very



00:21:10.764 --> 00:21:11.926


predatory in nature.



00:21:15.500 --> 00:21:17.640


I will also say that I get a



00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:20.621


ton of comments like this one.



00:21:21.241 --> 00:21:22.301


Thomas, one, two, three.



00:21:22.802 --> 00:21:23.782


Thanks for being here.



00:21:24.022 --> 00:21:24.502


Not sad.



00:21:24.542 --> 00:21:24.782


Why?



00:21:24.982 --> 00:21:25.822


Or sorry, not sad.



00:21:25.982 --> 00:21:28.023


Not sure why you would want



00:21:28.063 --> 00:21:29.263


to listen to someone talk



00:21:29.283 --> 00:21:30.203


about why they left the



00:21:30.243 --> 00:21:33.804


church if you are unhappy about it.



00:21:34.484 --> 00:21:35.304


But I get this.



00:21:35.564 --> 00:21:36.964


It's so sad that you traded



00:21:36.984 --> 00:21:38.545


your exaltation for leaving.



00:21:39.625 --> 00:21:40.345


Well, obviously,



00:21:40.385 --> 00:21:41.845


that's not the way that I see it.



00:21:42.205 --> 00:21:44.406


The way that I see it is that I...



00:21:45.813 --> 00:21:47.755


stopped listening to



00:21:47.855 --> 00:21:49.697


apologetics and started



00:21:51.058 --> 00:21:54.642


researching facts and so



00:21:54.702 --> 00:21:55.903


the way that i see it is



00:21:55.943 --> 00:21:57.264


that i traded magical



00:21:57.304 --> 00:21:58.385


thinking for critical



00:21:58.425 --> 00:22:00.608


thinking and i would rather



00:22:00.648 --> 00:22:01.248


know the truth



00:22:03.544 --> 00:22:05.346


um some people do not want



00:22:05.366 --> 00:22:06.686


to know the truth and



00:22:06.706 --> 00:22:08.728


that's okay some people



00:22:09.228 --> 00:22:12.030


want to remain in mormonism



00:22:12.070 --> 00:22:13.431


blissfully ignorant and



00:22:13.471 --> 00:22:15.173


that is okay i think



00:22:15.233 --> 00:22:16.994


religion is necessary for a



00:22:17.034 --> 00:22:18.895


lot of people and i'm not



00:22:18.995 --> 00:22:21.017


ever trying to cause anyone



00:22:21.097 --> 00:22:22.238


else to leave the church



00:22:23.299 --> 00:22:25.220


what i like to do is make



00:22:25.260 --> 00:22:26.321


sure that people have



00:22:26.521 --> 00:22:28.382


informed consent so if



00:22:28.422 --> 00:22:30.124


people do want to know the truth



00:22:31.283 --> 00:22:32.284


they learn the truth and



00:22:32.304 --> 00:22:33.925


then continue to stay that



00:22:33.986 --> 00:22:38.930


is perfectly fine it i my



00:22:38.970 --> 00:22:40.011


faith crisis was the



00:22:40.031 --> 00:22:40.892


hardest thing i've ever



00:22:40.932 --> 00:22:41.672


been through and



00:22:41.732 --> 00:22:42.813


considering what i've been



00:22:42.853 --> 00:22:44.074


through that is saying a



00:22:44.114 --> 00:22:47.838


lot um i would not wish



00:22:47.878 --> 00:22:49.539


that on my worst enemy i



00:22:49.559 --> 00:22:50.580


wouldn't want anybody to



00:22:50.620 --> 00:22:51.541


have to go through a faith



00:22:51.561 --> 00:22:54.884


crisis but being a truth teller



00:22:56.490 --> 00:22:58.031


I do not want to stay silent



00:22:58.071 --> 00:22:59.532


about my experiences and



00:22:59.552 --> 00:23:00.673


this is my experience.



00:23:01.293 --> 00:23:05.696


So I do get a lot of people telling me,



00:23:05.896 --> 00:23:06.156


you know,



00:23:06.196 --> 00:23:09.058


how sad it is to see where I am



00:23:09.098 --> 00:23:10.379


and how sad it is that I



00:23:10.419 --> 00:23:12.180


chose to be led astray and



00:23:12.220 --> 00:23:12.840


things like that.



00:23:14.001 --> 00:23:14.982


Those comments don't really



00:23:15.022 --> 00:23:18.804


bother me because they're not about me.



00:23:18.824 --> 00:23:19.664


They're about the person



00:23:19.685 --> 00:23:20.365


making the comment.



00:23:21.751 --> 00:23:23.031


The hard thing is when



00:23:23.071 --> 00:23:24.212


people leave the church,



00:23:24.492 --> 00:23:29.333


they become a mirror for people who stay.



00:23:29.353 --> 00:23:31.473


When someone sees a person



00:23:31.533 --> 00:23:32.274


leave the church,



00:23:32.574 --> 00:23:34.014


it forces them to examine



00:23:34.054 --> 00:23:35.694


their own shelf items and



00:23:35.714 --> 00:23:37.335


their own cognitive dissonance.



00:23:39.735 --> 00:23:41.996


And it makes us feel shame



00:23:43.696 --> 00:23:47.137


that if the person speaking is correct,



00:23:47.477 --> 00:23:48.698


it means that what I have



00:23:48.738 --> 00:23:50.618


believed for a long time is false.



00:23:52.110 --> 00:23:55.051


and it's it means



00:23:55.091 --> 00:23:55.932


confronting some really



00:23:55.972 --> 00:23:57.872


difficult truths so i



00:23:57.892 --> 00:24:00.413


appreciate anybody who's



00:24:00.453 --> 00:24:01.234


here whether you're



00:24:01.294 --> 00:24:04.975


faithful mormon or not um



00:24:05.075 --> 00:24:06.355


if you're here listening i



00:24:06.376 --> 00:24:07.536


appreciate you being here



00:24:08.476 --> 00:24:10.077


and if you hear something



00:24:10.117 --> 00:24:12.518


that offends you ask



00:24:12.558 --> 00:24:13.898


yourself why it offends you



00:24:14.479 --> 00:24:16.019


does it offend you because



00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:18.020


you think it's a lie or



00:24:18.060 --> 00:24:20.401


does it offend you because if it's true



00:24:21.777 --> 00:24:28.204


It means that threatens your worldview.



00:24:28.604 --> 00:24:29.165


It was really,



00:24:29.225 --> 00:24:32.428


really hard for me to admit



00:24:32.849 --> 00:24:35.211


that I had been duped and lied to.



00:24:39.775 --> 00:24:41.116


that was the hardest part of



00:24:41.176 --> 00:24:42.137


it for me because I



00:24:42.177 --> 00:24:43.658


considered myself to be an



00:24:43.718 --> 00:24:44.899


intelligent human being.



00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:47.881


And not only was I duped and lied to,



00:24:48.041 --> 00:24:50.343


but then I perpetuated it



00:24:50.643 --> 00:24:52.624


by teaching it to my children.



00:24:55.907 --> 00:24:56.988


And that was really hard for



00:24:57.008 --> 00:24:59.328


me to wrestle with as well.



00:24:59.328 --> 00:24:59.393


today.



00:24:59.413 --> 00:25:03.256


This is an interesting comment.



00:25:03.856 --> 00:25:04.757


At the time of the Bible,



00:25:04.797 --> 00:25:06.057


multiple wives was common.



00:25:06.238 --> 00:25:11.641


It wasn't common, but it was done.



00:25:13.765 --> 00:25:15.206


mostly in the bible they



00:25:15.266 --> 00:25:17.708


refer to it as concubines



00:25:18.809 --> 00:25:20.851


um and things like that so



00:25:20.991 --> 00:25:22.092


it's again it's a rabbit



00:25:22.112 --> 00:25:23.013


hole for another time i'm



00:25:23.053 --> 00:25:23.974


not prepared to have that



00:25:23.994 --> 00:25:25.495


discussion today but it's



00:25:25.595 --> 00:25:27.277


one that i commonly get and



00:25:27.437 --> 00:25:28.357


and it's one that's worth



00:25:28.397 --> 00:25:29.639


talking about so thank you



00:25:29.659 --> 00:25:31.640


for making that that comment



00:25:31.712 --> 00:25:34.154


So I want to go back to the



00:25:34.294 --> 00:25:36.776


josephsmithspolygamy.org.



00:25:36.936 --> 00:25:40.559


It's a very comprehensive site.



00:25:40.619 --> 00:25:43.201


It covers polygamy very well.



00:25:44.241 --> 00:25:45.102


There are some things I



00:25:45.162 --> 00:25:46.363


disagree with on the site.



00:25:48.305 --> 00:25:49.166


What I love is that they



00:25:49.206 --> 00:25:51.009


have biographies of all of



00:25:51.049 --> 00:25:52.170


Joseph's plural wives,



00:25:52.250 --> 00:25:53.452


and they very extensively



00:25:53.492 --> 00:25:55.094


cover the feelings of the wives,



00:25:55.134 --> 00:25:56.777


which is why I really like this.



00:25:58.179 --> 00:25:59.320


It's very comprehensive.



00:25:59.360 --> 00:26:00.762


So Fanny Alger was Joseph



00:26:00.782 --> 00:26:02.184


Smith's first plural wife.



00:26:03.149 --> 00:26:05.151


um and so benjamin f johnson



00:26:05.191 --> 00:26:06.132


a close friend of joseph



00:26:06.152 --> 00:26:07.373


smith beginning in the



00:26:07.413 --> 00:26:08.554


kirtland period recalled



00:26:08.595 --> 00:26:11.017


the circumstances in so



00:26:11.037 --> 00:26:12.078


they're clarifying that



00:26:12.118 --> 00:26:13.639


benjamin f johnson said



00:26:13.679 --> 00:26:17.023


this in regarding that time



00:26:17.203 --> 00:26:18.124


and this is what we call a



00:26:18.324 --> 00:26:21.707


late account meaning in he



00:26:21.747 --> 00:26:22.808


didn't immediately write it



00:26:22.848 --> 00:26:24.330


down this is him looking back on it



00:26:26.282 --> 00:26:27.844


So he says, now, as to your question,



00:26:27.884 --> 00:26:28.905


how early did the prophet



00:26:28.925 --> 00:26:30.226


Joseph practice polygamy?



00:26:30.706 --> 00:26:32.328


In eighteen thirty five at Kirtland,



00:26:32.488 --> 00:26:33.909


I learned from my sister's husband,



00:26:33.929 --> 00:26:34.790


Lyman R. Sherman,



00:26:34.930 --> 00:26:35.691


who was close to the



00:26:35.731 --> 00:26:36.692


prophet and received it



00:26:36.732 --> 00:26:38.353


from him that the ancient



00:26:38.433 --> 00:26:39.514


order of plural marriage



00:26:39.534 --> 00:26:41.216


was again to be practiced by the church.



00:26:41.676 --> 00:26:42.677


This at the time did not



00:26:42.757 --> 00:26:43.938


impress my mind deeply,



00:26:44.339 --> 00:26:46.701


although there lived then with his family,



00:26:46.741 --> 00:26:47.642


the prophet's family,



00:26:48.262 --> 00:26:49.904


a neighbor's daughter, Fanny Alger.



00:26:50.384 --> 00:26:52.006


so fanny was living in the



00:26:52.046 --> 00:26:53.708


home of the prophet and i



00:26:53.748 --> 00:26:56.691


believe she was helping emma keep house



00:26:58.142 --> 00:26:59.763


He says a very nice and



00:26:59.803 --> 00:27:02.043


comely young woman about my age,



00:27:02.103 --> 00:27:03.084


about my own age,



00:27:03.584 --> 00:27:05.244


toward whom not only myself,



00:27:05.284 --> 00:27:07.305


but everyone seemed partial



00:27:07.705 --> 00:27:09.786


for the amiability of her character.



00:27:09.926 --> 00:27:11.166


And it was whispered even



00:27:11.206 --> 00:27:12.847


then that Joseph loved her.



00:27:13.607 --> 00:27:15.008


The reason I think it's



00:27:15.048 --> 00:27:16.488


important to talk about



00:27:16.608 --> 00:27:19.009


this particular account is



00:27:19.049 --> 00:27:19.468


because



00:27:19.835 --> 00:27:21.115


If we frame it that way,



00:27:22.896 --> 00:27:25.737


And if we look at it from



00:27:25.777 --> 00:27:26.958


the perspective that Sandra



00:27:26.998 --> 00:27:28.098


Tanner just gave us,



00:27:28.858 --> 00:27:29.939


that he was a predator,



00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:31.980


it makes a lot of sense



00:27:32.180 --> 00:27:34.021


that someone who has



00:27:34.101 --> 00:27:35.621


narcissistic tendencies and



00:27:35.661 --> 00:27:37.642


who wants power and control



00:27:39.223 --> 00:27:41.504


would choose someone that



00:27:41.644 --> 00:27:45.945


everyone else wanted as his first wife.



00:27:46.866 --> 00:27:48.726


Because then that means if Joseph has her,



00:27:48.747 --> 00:27:49.607


then no one else can.



00:27:51.364 --> 00:27:53.525


Just my two cents on that



00:27:53.565 --> 00:27:55.007


particular topic.



00:27:59.471 --> 00:28:00.992


According to Mosiah Hancock,



00:28:01.032 --> 00:28:02.273


writing in eighteen ninety six,



00:28:02.313 --> 00:28:04.355


Joseph did not approach Fanny directly.



00:28:04.495 --> 00:28:06.357


Rather, he enlisted Levi Hancock,



00:28:06.777 --> 00:28:09.500


the brother in law of Fanny's father.



00:28:10.981 --> 00:28:11.582


So this would have been



00:28:11.622 --> 00:28:15.245


Fanny's uncle to serve as intermediary.



00:28:17.450 --> 00:28:19.250


Levi first approached Samuel Alger,



00:28:19.430 --> 00:28:20.191


Fanny's father.



00:28:20.291 --> 00:28:20.691


Samuel,



00:28:20.791 --> 00:28:22.371


the prophet Joseph loves your daughter,



00:28:22.391 --> 00:28:24.312


Fanny, and wishes her for a wife.



00:28:24.352 --> 00:28:25.012


What say you?



00:28:26.292 --> 00:28:26.932


Uncle Sam says,



00:28:26.972 --> 00:28:28.232


go and talk to the old woman,



00:28:28.412 --> 00:28:30.553


Levi's sister, Fanny's mother, about it.



00:28:30.573 --> 00:28:31.693


It will be as she says.



00:28:32.833 --> 00:28:34.374


Father goes to his sister and says,



00:28:34.434 --> 00:28:35.894


Clarice, brother Joseph,



00:28:35.914 --> 00:28:37.595


the prophet of the most high God,



00:28:37.655 --> 00:28:39.615


loves Fanny and wishes her for a wife.



00:28:39.635 --> 00:28:40.315


What say you?



00:28:40.975 --> 00:28:42.716


Said she, go and talk to Fanny.



00:28:42.896 --> 00:28:43.836


It'll be all right with me.



00:28:45.772 --> 00:28:46.833


So this is sort of a



00:28:46.873 --> 00:28:48.773


roundabout way for Joseph



00:28:48.793 --> 00:28:51.115


to get permission from Fanny's family.



00:29:17.595 --> 00:29:18.576


skipping on down a little it



00:29:18.596 --> 00:29:19.657


says things didn't go well



00:29:19.677 --> 00:29:21.818


for joseph and fanny in a



00:29:21.858 --> 00:29:23.079


letter from william



00:29:23.219 --> 00:29:24.500


mcclellan to joseph smith



00:29:24.741 --> 00:29:26.462


iii mcclellan recalls



00:29:26.502 --> 00:29:28.704


details of an conversation



00:29:28.724 --> 00:29:29.924


with emma smith where emma



00:29:29.985 --> 00:29:31.526


acknowledged that in the



00:29:31.566 --> 00:29:34.528


spring of she missed joseph



00:29:34.588 --> 00:29:35.829


and fanny alger meaning she



00:29:35.849 --> 00:29:36.910


didn't know where they were



00:29:37.670 --> 00:29:38.811


she went to the barn and



00:29:38.871 --> 00:29:40.352


saw him and fanny in the



00:29:40.372 --> 00:29:42.674


barn together alone which



00:29:42.734 --> 00:29:44.255


would have been very very



00:29:44.415 --> 00:29:45.857


unusual for this day



00:29:46.864 --> 00:29:47.905


She looked through a crack



00:29:48.005 --> 00:29:49.185


and saw the transaction.



00:29:49.866 --> 00:29:51.527


She told me this story, too,



00:29:51.707 --> 00:29:52.667


was verily true.



00:29:53.688 --> 00:29:55.729


What Emma witnessed is not specified.



00:29:56.169 --> 00:29:57.250


Whether it was the plural



00:29:57.270 --> 00:29:58.150


marriage ceremony,



00:29:58.270 --> 00:29:59.491


an exchange of affection,



00:29:59.631 --> 00:30:01.692


or even sexual relations,



00:30:01.772 --> 00:30:02.733


we are not told.



00:30:02.813 --> 00:30:03.413


Regardless,



00:30:03.953 --> 00:30:05.254


it is obvious Emma did not



00:30:05.294 --> 00:30:06.294


believe the ceremony was



00:30:06.335 --> 00:30:07.475


valid and concluded the



00:30:07.515 --> 00:30:08.836


relationship was adulterous.



00:30:10.729 --> 00:30:11.690


Oliver Cowdery,



00:30:11.850 --> 00:30:12.871


who Joseph summoned to



00:30:12.911 --> 00:30:15.132


diffuse the situation, sided with Emma,



00:30:15.312 --> 00:30:16.733


discounting the validity of



00:30:16.773 --> 00:30:17.974


the polygamous marriage and



00:30:18.014 --> 00:30:20.876


later referring to it as a, quote, dirty,



00:30:21.057 --> 00:30:22.798


nasty, filthy scrape.



00:30:24.619 --> 00:30:24.799


Now,



00:30:24.999 --> 00:30:27.901


if you go and you look up what the



00:30:27.942 --> 00:30:31.344


word scrape meant in that time, it was,



00:30:32.145 --> 00:30:34.066


quote, unquote, a low word.



00:30:35.067 --> 00:30:35.227


So,



00:30:36.204 --> 00:30:37.084


there are a lot of



00:30:37.324 --> 00:30:40.525


apologists who say well we



00:30:40.565 --> 00:30:42.785


don't have any proof that



00:30:43.365 --> 00:30:44.265


joseph did anything



00:30:44.305 --> 00:30:45.426


inappropriate with fanny



00:30:46.566 --> 00:30:49.206


and later oliver cowdrey



00:30:49.226 --> 00:30:51.887


was excommunicated so he



00:30:51.927 --> 00:30:53.247


wasn't faithful so we can't



00:30:53.287 --> 00:30:54.547


trust anything that he said



00:30:55.347 --> 00:30:56.748


well why do you think he



00:30:56.768 --> 00:30:59.548


was excommunicated one of



00:30:59.588 --> 00:31:00.848


the reasons listed for his



00:31:00.988 --> 00:31:02.049


excommunication was



00:31:02.109 --> 00:31:03.769


disloyalty to the prophet



00:31:05.937 --> 00:31:08.218


so it could be that oliver



00:31:08.378 --> 00:31:10.199


was talking about this



00:31:10.239 --> 00:31:12.060


affair with fanny alger and



00:31:12.100 --> 00:31:13.220


the prophet did not want



00:31:13.281 --> 00:31:14.661


him talking about it so he



00:31:14.801 --> 00:31:15.942


excommunicated him because



00:31:15.962 --> 00:31:17.743


in the mormon church s



00:31:17.783 --> 00:31:20.344


communication immediately



00:31:20.384 --> 00:31:21.704


means a loss of credibility



00:31:22.725 --> 00:31:24.666


and and even now people who



00:31:24.706 --> 00:31:27.107


leave the church have no



00:31:27.147 --> 00:31:28.588


credibility with people who



00:31:28.628 --> 00:31:31.149


are in the church because



00:31:33.351 --> 00:31:33.972


we've left.



00:31:34.032 --> 00:31:35.373


So we're not loyal anymore.



00:31:35.593 --> 00:31:36.433


We're not listening.



00:31:37.254 --> 00:31:39.536


And people will say, oh,



00:31:40.176 --> 00:31:42.998


if you have apostatized,



00:31:43.018 --> 00:31:44.439


meaning like you've left the church,



00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:44.880


right?



00:31:44.920 --> 00:31:46.061


You're speaking out against



00:31:46.101 --> 00:31:47.382


the church and its leaders,



00:31:48.002 --> 00:31:49.083


then you've lost the Holy



00:31:49.123 --> 00:31:50.844


Ghost and you've lost the



00:31:50.884 --> 00:31:53.126


ability to have truth



00:31:53.927 --> 00:31:55.047


spoken to you by God.



00:31:55.948 --> 00:31:58.410


So nothing you say counts.



00:31:58.610 --> 00:31:59.591


Nothing you say can be true.



00:31:59.764 --> 00:32:00.324


So anyway,



00:32:00.544 --> 00:32:05.365


I wanted to just get back to this idea.



00:32:11.387 --> 00:32:12.988


Oliver's vitriol may have



00:32:13.028 --> 00:32:14.970


been intensified due to his



00:32:15.010 --> 00:32:16.751


frustrations from recent



00:32:16.811 --> 00:32:17.952


leadership changes that



00:32:17.992 --> 00:32:20.034


diminished his overall importance.



00:32:20.754 --> 00:32:23.837


And I believe that his



00:32:23.877 --> 00:32:25.017


importance was diminished



00:32:25.058 --> 00:32:26.999


because he was threatening



00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:28.981


to expose the truth about



00:32:29.021 --> 00:32:29.881


Joseph's polygamy.



00:32:30.382 --> 00:32:33.964


So as a consequence of this, you know,



00:32:34.064 --> 00:32:35.866


Emma coming in and finding Joseph and



00:32:35.941 --> 00:32:37.222


Fanny, together.



00:32:38.362 --> 00:32:39.543


Emma immediately turned



00:32:39.603 --> 00:32:41.864


Fanny out of the house.



00:32:41.904 --> 00:32:42.504


Subsequently,



00:32:42.544 --> 00:32:43.585


both women were severely



00:32:43.625 --> 00:32:45.786


traumatized and Oliver Cowdery alienated.



00:32:45.946 --> 00:32:46.466


In addition,



00:32:46.567 --> 00:32:47.867


rumors of adultery quietly



00:32:47.907 --> 00:32:48.788


spread among the saints,



00:32:48.888 --> 00:32:49.628


although they were never



00:32:49.728 --> 00:32:51.509


loud enough to reach the local media.



00:32:51.989 --> 00:32:53.450


The first mention of the



00:32:53.470 --> 00:32:54.511


relationship in any known



00:32:54.551 --> 00:32:55.972


manuscript occurred in January of



00:33:05.518 --> 00:33:05.778


Anyway,



00:33:06.479 --> 00:33:08.020


so this was Joseph's first



00:33:08.780 --> 00:33:11.602


experience with having a plural wife.



00:33:12.843 --> 00:33:14.764


I want to go back to the



00:33:15.184 --> 00:33:16.645


timeline here for a second.



00:33:17.186 --> 00:33:19.507


So that was between eighteen thirty three,



00:33:19.527 --> 00:33:20.228


eighteen thirty five.



00:33:20.268 --> 00:33:21.829


We don't have the exact dates.



00:33:22.289 --> 00:33:23.810


And then summer of eighteen thirty five,



00:33:23.870 --> 00:33:24.811


the first edition of the



00:33:24.851 --> 00:33:26.472


Doctrine and Covenants is published.



00:33:26.492 --> 00:33:27.593


And for those of you who are



00:33:27.633 --> 00:33:29.294


not familiar with it,



00:33:30.014 --> 00:33:31.275


the Doctrine and Covenants



00:33:31.335 --> 00:33:33.056


is a book of scripture that



00:33:33.116 --> 00:33:35.158


was published as.



00:33:36.498 --> 00:33:40.019


a collection of Joseph



00:33:40.039 --> 00:33:41.179


Smith's revelations.



00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:43.900


And what's interesting to me



00:33:44.080 --> 00:33:46.601


looking at it now is that,



00:33:47.661 --> 00:33:48.821


especially in the beginning



00:33:48.861 --> 00:33:49.961


of the Doctrine and Covenants,



00:33:50.081 --> 00:33:53.262


it appears that Joseph is



00:33:54.703 --> 00:33:56.483


using this connection with



00:33:56.563 --> 00:33:59.424


God to pray to God about



00:33:59.464 --> 00:34:00.864


very specific things and



00:34:00.884 --> 00:34:01.964


then get very specific



00:34:02.084 --> 00:34:03.625


answers about what other



00:34:03.645 --> 00:34:04.965


people are supposed to be doing.



00:34:06.124 --> 00:34:07.925


And from time to time,



00:34:07.985 --> 00:34:08.786


there are things that



00:34:08.846 --> 00:34:10.087


Joseph is supposed to be doing,



00:34:10.127 --> 00:34:11.228


but there also are



00:34:11.268 --> 00:34:12.449


instructions to his wife



00:34:12.529 --> 00:34:13.450


and to the other people



00:34:13.470 --> 00:34:14.631


that Joseph has appointed



00:34:14.671 --> 00:34:15.791


as leaders of the church.



00:34:16.772 --> 00:34:18.533


So it would be very easy for



00:34:18.594 --> 00:34:20.435


someone who is just



00:34:20.535 --> 00:34:23.637


manipulating people to say, okay,



00:34:23.737 --> 00:34:24.818


I'm going to take this to God.



00:34:24.838 --> 00:34:26.099


I'm going to pray to God about it.



00:34:26.760 --> 00:34:32.084


And then God is going to tell me something,



00:34:32.124 --> 00:34:33.044


but it's obviously going to



00:34:33.064 --> 00:34:34.886


be whatever I want that thing to be.



00:34:35.447 --> 00:34:36.789


This is why I think the idea



00:34:37.009 --> 00:34:38.751


of I speak directly to God



00:34:38.851 --> 00:34:40.834


is really dangerous because



00:34:41.194 --> 00:34:43.116


people who are unscrupulous



00:34:43.557 --> 00:34:45.299


can very easily use that to



00:34:45.339 --> 00:34:46.240


manipulate people.



00:34:46.461 --> 00:34:48.403


This is also called spiritual abuse.



00:34:49.164 --> 00:34:50.966


I'm telling you that God told me,



00:34:52.136 --> 00:34:53.376


that you're supposed to do this thing.



00:34:53.396 --> 00:34:54.397


And if you don't do it,



00:34:54.417 --> 00:34:56.798


there are gonna be consequences for you.



00:34:57.418 --> 00:34:59.338


Not only right now in the



00:34:59.378 --> 00:35:00.519


here and now of you're not



00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:01.739


gonna get to retain your



00:35:01.759 --> 00:35:02.659


leadership position,



00:35:02.719 --> 00:35:05.841


but also in the future, in the afterlife,



00:35:06.301 --> 00:35:08.101


eternal consequences for your soul.



00:35:08.181 --> 00:35:09.802


And if you sincerely believe



00:35:10.402 --> 00:35:12.163


that this person is a prophet of God,



00:35:12.203 --> 00:35:13.364


then you do sincerely



00:35:13.404 --> 00:35:14.565


believe that your eternal



00:35:14.605 --> 00:35:15.866


salvation is in danger if



00:35:15.886 --> 00:35:16.967


you don't do what they say,



00:35:17.027 --> 00:35:17.967


which is why I have a



00:35:18.027 --> 00:35:19.068


problem with Joseph



00:35:19.649 --> 00:35:21.650


approaching young women and telling them,



00:35:21.730 --> 00:35:22.751


God told me that you're



00:35:22.771 --> 00:35:23.792


supposed to be my wife.



00:35:28.555 --> 00:35:29.416


I really just want to put



00:35:29.456 --> 00:35:30.576


that out there for people



00:35:30.596 --> 00:35:32.658


to understand that that's



00:35:33.238 --> 00:35:34.939


what Joseph did.



00:35:34.979 --> 00:35:39.863


So going back to the timeline,



00:35:42.974 --> 00:35:44.336


So the first edition of the



00:35:44.356 --> 00:35:45.698


Doctrine and Covenants was published.



00:35:45.718 --> 00:35:47.982


This includes the section one thirty two,



00:35:48.142 --> 00:35:50.526


which is the section that



00:35:50.586 --> 00:35:51.928


talks about plural marriage.



00:35:53.266 --> 00:35:54.868


then in eighteen thirty six



00:35:55.208 --> 00:35:56.910


elijah the prophet from the



00:35:56.950 --> 00:35:57.951


bible appears in the



00:35:57.991 --> 00:35:59.553


kirtland temple and bestows



00:35:59.573 --> 00:36:01.695


sealing keys upon joseph



00:36:01.715 --> 00:36:02.856


smith and and oliver



00:36:02.876 --> 00:36:05.419


cowdrey which going back to



00:36:05.479 --> 00:36:06.940


a comment that someone made



00:36:07.541 --> 00:36:08.762


i wonder if they were



00:36:08.802 --> 00:36:10.064


dabbling in psychedelics



00:36:10.104 --> 00:36:11.045


because that's what i



00:36:11.085 --> 00:36:11.966


always think like when



00:36:11.986 --> 00:36:13.107


there was a second person



00:36:13.167 --> 00:36:14.348


involved in some of these



00:36:14.368 --> 00:36:15.489


visions and things like that



00:36:16.090 --> 00:36:17.630


It makes me wonder how



00:36:17.690 --> 00:36:19.711


Joseph accomplished getting



00:36:19.751 --> 00:36:20.911


someone else on board with that.



00:36:21.011 --> 00:36:22.191


Although in some instances,



00:36:22.251 --> 00:36:24.092


we know that the other



00:36:24.252 --> 00:36:25.392


quote unquote witness was



00:36:25.512 --> 00:36:26.872


either not in the same room



00:36:26.932 --> 00:36:27.592


or not in the same



00:36:27.612 --> 00:36:30.633


proximity or that they saw, for example,



00:36:30.673 --> 00:36:31.493


the golden plates



00:36:31.633 --> 00:36:32.594


underneath a sheet and



00:36:32.634 --> 00:36:34.474


didn't actually see the



00:36:34.514 --> 00:36:35.354


plates themselves.



00:36:35.774 --> 00:36:36.794


So there's a lot of



00:36:37.655 --> 00:36:38.975


strangeness around



00:36:39.095 --> 00:36:41.876


witnesses that saw and



00:36:41.936 --> 00:36:43.616


experienced the same things as Joseph.



00:36:44.515 --> 00:36:46.476


um in eighteen forty joseph



00:36:46.496 --> 00:36:47.976


started teaching others



00:36:48.016 --> 00:36:49.016


about plural marriage in



00:36:49.056 --> 00:36:50.977


private and made vague



00:36:51.037 --> 00:36:52.397


public hints at it



00:36:52.497 --> 00:36:53.558


eventually becoming a



00:36:53.598 --> 00:36:55.138


practice so i see this as



00:36:55.178 --> 00:36:57.379


him really laying down the



00:36:57.419 --> 00:36:58.219


the groundwork and the



00:36:58.299 --> 00:36:59.480


foundation for this over



00:36:59.520 --> 00:37:00.880


the course of several years



00:37:01.740 --> 00:37:03.821


and just so that the whole



00:37:04.241 --> 00:37:05.821


community would be on board



00:37:05.841 --> 00:37:07.942


with it um i also just want



00:37:07.962 --> 00:37:09.142


to mention this site is



00:37:09.182 --> 00:37:12.203


called warmandr.org i don't



00:37:12.243 --> 00:37:13.624


have time to go into



00:37:15.060 --> 00:37:16.100


everything about this site



00:37:16.140 --> 00:37:17.541


but i i believe it to be a



00:37:17.581 --> 00:37:19.822


reliable resource if anyone



00:37:19.862 --> 00:37:21.203


knows differently i would



00:37:21.443 --> 00:37:22.523


i'd love to be informed of



00:37:22.543 --> 00:37:24.224


that um but i wanted to



00:37:24.264 --> 00:37:25.564


just make sure that i share



00:37:25.664 --> 00:37:26.865


the sources that i'm using



00:37:26.905 --> 00:37:29.266


here so in eighteen forty



00:37:29.386 --> 00:37:30.606


one then joseph smith is



00:37:30.666 --> 00:37:33.888


sealed to louisa beeman um



00:37:33.968 --> 00:37:36.029


this is the first wife in nauvoo



00:37:38.381 --> 00:37:40.902


And then later, a couple months later,



00:37:40.962 --> 00:37:41.962


he starts introducing



00:37:42.002 --> 00:37:43.142


plural marriage to the



00:37:43.182 --> 00:37:44.463


members of the Quorum of the Twelve.



00:37:44.483 --> 00:37:45.563


This is the greater



00:37:45.623 --> 00:37:46.603


leadership of the church,



00:37:46.703 --> 00:37:49.504


including Brigham Young, John Taylor,



00:37:49.864 --> 00:37:50.964


and Heber C. Kimball.



00:37:51.444 --> 00:37:52.184


Brigham Young and John



00:37:52.224 --> 00:37:53.405


Taylor would later become



00:37:53.485 --> 00:37:54.605


presidents of the church.



00:37:56.926 --> 00:37:58.346


And then in eighteen forty one,



00:37:58.506 --> 00:38:00.927


Joseph is sealed to Zina Huntington,



00:38:01.267 --> 00:38:02.607


the first of about a dozen



00:38:02.647 --> 00:38:03.887


women who had legal



00:38:03.927 --> 00:38:05.468


husbands at the time of



00:38:05.488 --> 00:38:07.068


their sealing to Joseph.



00:38:09.096 --> 00:38:10.797


So just so that you know,



00:38:11.338 --> 00:38:13.879


Joseph was sealed to women



00:38:13.919 --> 00:38:15.080


who are already married.



00:38:15.621 --> 00:38:21.245


Joseph was sealed to other young women.



00:38:21.505 --> 00:38:23.166


He was sealed to old women.



00:38:23.246 --> 00:38:24.107


He was, you know,



00:38:24.147 --> 00:38:26.188


he had over thirty wives by



00:38:26.208 --> 00:38:28.170


the time that we get through with it.



00:38:28.182 --> 00:38:29.505


I think it's really



00:38:29.865 --> 00:38:32.066


interesting to go to Wikipedia,



00:38:32.106 --> 00:38:32.907


although I know it's not



00:38:33.007 --> 00:38:35.748


always the most reliable source.



00:38:37.970 --> 00:38:39.791


They do have an interesting



00:38:40.071 --> 00:38:41.572


layout of Joseph Smith's



00:38:41.652 --> 00:38:43.213


wives and their ages.



00:38:44.246 --> 00:38:45.806


And it's pretty comprehensive,



00:38:45.866 --> 00:38:47.407


so I want to show it to you.



00:38:48.400 --> 00:38:49.331


So they have this.



00:38:49.631 --> 00:38:50.792


They have a chart here on



00:38:50.812 --> 00:38:52.652


this site and let me share it with you.



00:38:54.217 --> 00:38:55.078


that I think is really



00:38:55.118 --> 00:38:56.419


interesting to look at



00:38:57.199 --> 00:39:01.562


because I'm a visual person.



00:39:01.622 --> 00:39:03.043


And so this really puts it



00:39:03.143 --> 00:39:04.304


into perspective for me.



00:39:04.725 --> 00:39:05.145


By the way,



00:39:05.365 --> 00:39:07.066


I do give to Wikipedia because



00:39:07.126 --> 00:39:08.247


I do use them from time to



00:39:08.307 --> 00:39:08.827


time for things.



00:39:08.847 --> 00:39:10.188


But I always try to check



00:39:10.609 --> 00:39:12.670


what's on Wikipedia with another source.



00:39:12.750 --> 00:39:14.251


And I look at the footnotes



00:39:14.291 --> 00:39:15.772


very carefully when I'm



00:39:15.792 --> 00:39:17.334


doing this kind of digging.



00:39:18.474 --> 00:39:19.795


So this chart,



00:39:19.812 --> 00:39:22.464


this tells you women



00:39:22.544 --> 00:39:24.085


who were also married to



00:39:24.125 --> 00:39:28.226


another man are in a red square or red.



00:39:28.286 --> 00:39:29.946


They're designated with the color red.



00:39:31.707 --> 00:39:33.527


Blue means they were previously married.



00:39:33.647 --> 00:39:35.548


Green means they were single at the time.



00:39:37.209 --> 00:39:38.289


A circle means the marriage



00:39:38.309 --> 00:39:39.789


date is known and a diamond



00:39:39.809 --> 00:39:41.770


means the marriage date is estimated.



00:39:44.501 --> 00:39:46.082


Um, on the right side over here,



00:39:46.162 --> 00:39:47.383


it shows the age gap



00:39:47.443 --> 00:39:49.385


between Joseph and the



00:39:49.425 --> 00:39:50.686


woman that he was marrying.



00:39:52.587 --> 00:39:54.328


And then the age of the



00:39:54.348 --> 00:39:57.371


women at the time of marrying Joseph.



00:39:58.071 --> 00:39:59.973


So the oldest woman was



00:40:00.073 --> 00:40:02.034


around sixty and the



00:40:02.074 --> 00:40:04.956


youngest was fourteen.



00:40:06.778 --> 00:40:08.559


At the time that he married



00:40:09.159 --> 00:40:10.420


this fourteen-year-old girl,



00:40:10.941 --> 00:40:12.402


he was thirty-seven years old.



00:40:15.210 --> 00:40:15.870


And we're going to talk



00:40:15.890 --> 00:40:17.131


about her in just a second.



00:40:18.671 --> 00:40:20.352


So this to me really puts a



00:40:20.392 --> 00:40:22.013


visual perspective on it.



00:40:24.054 --> 00:40:25.754


The fact that he had so many



00:40:25.794 --> 00:40:26.955


women that were already



00:40:26.995 --> 00:40:27.895


married to other men.



00:40:28.055 --> 00:40:29.576


And I believe two of them



00:40:29.716 --> 00:40:30.736


who were pregnant at the



00:40:30.776 --> 00:40:33.866


time that he married them.



00:40:33.866 --> 00:40:35.750


so zina



00:40:35.770 --> 00:40:37.391


huntington is the first of



00:40:37.431 --> 00:40:39.091


a dozen women who had legal



00:40:39.111 --> 00:40:39.872


husbands at the time of



00:40:39.892 --> 00:40:40.752


their ceiling that was in then



00:40:46.372 --> 00:40:47.694


Joseph receives a revelation



00:40:47.734 --> 00:40:49.215


from Miranda Nancy Hyde



00:40:49.535 --> 00:40:51.277


that may contain veiled



00:40:51.337 --> 00:40:52.418


instruction for her to



00:40:52.478 --> 00:40:53.539


accept plural marriage.



00:40:53.579 --> 00:40:53.779


Guys,



00:40:54.200 --> 00:40:56.482


go in here and look through all these



00:40:56.502 --> 00:40:56.902


footnotes.



00:40:57.062 --> 00:40:58.563


It is really fascinating.



00:40:59.682 --> 00:41:00.963


dig into it it said the



00:41:01.003 --> 00:41:02.423


revelation said this let my



00:41:02.463 --> 00:41:03.764


handmaid nancy miranda hide



00:41:03.824 --> 00:41:04.844


hearken to the counsel of



00:41:04.884 --> 00:41:06.605


my servant joseph in all



00:41:06.685 --> 00:41:08.825


things whatsoever he shall



00:41:08.865 --> 00:41:10.866


teach unto her and it shall



00:41:10.886 --> 00:41:12.287


be a blessing upon her and



00:41:12.327 --> 00:41:13.967


upon her children after her



00:41:14.528 --> 00:41:15.728


mirinda recalled that this



00:41:15.908 --> 00:41:17.369


revelation was given to her



00:41:17.429 --> 00:41:19.369


specifically in the context



00:41:19.409 --> 00:41:20.450


of joseph smith teaching



00:41:20.510 --> 00:41:23.011


her about plural marriage late in



00:41:27.801 --> 00:41:28.902


Joseph Smith purportedly



00:41:28.942 --> 00:41:29.862


writes a letter later



00:41:29.902 --> 00:41:30.583


referred to as the



00:41:30.623 --> 00:41:32.424


happiness letter to Nancy Rigdon,



00:41:32.944 --> 00:41:34.205


which reads as an argument



00:41:34.225 --> 00:41:36.246


for justifying plural marriage.



00:41:36.846 --> 00:41:37.086


Now,



00:41:37.667 --> 00:41:44.111


I want to point out that church



00:41:44.171 --> 00:41:46.352


leadership has quoted this



00:41:46.852 --> 00:41:47.693


happiness letter



00:41:48.825 --> 00:41:50.525


to basically say that the



00:41:51.046 --> 00:41:51.986


whole design of our



00:41:52.146 --> 00:41:53.606


existence is happiness.



00:41:54.166 --> 00:41:55.327


They quoted this letter for



00:41:55.367 --> 00:41:57.627


a long time while they were



00:41:57.667 --> 00:41:59.188


still denying that Joseph



00:41:59.208 --> 00:42:01.048


had practiced this type of polygamy,



00:42:01.388 --> 00:42:04.149


especially during the Nauvoo period.



00:42:04.189 --> 00:42:05.250


But let's go back and look



00:42:05.550 --> 00:42:07.670


at what the letter says,



00:42:07.710 --> 00:42:08.730


or at least part of it anyway.



00:42:12.858 --> 00:42:14.238


the the text of this letter



00:42:14.278 --> 00:42:15.779


first appeared in the



00:42:16.139 --> 00:42:17.779


sangamo journal as per as



00:42:17.799 --> 00:42:18.640


purported copy of the



00:42:18.680 --> 00:42:20.120


original forwarded by john



00:42:20.160 --> 00:42:21.420


c bennett who was joseph



00:42:21.440 --> 00:42:23.341


smith's right hand man for



00:42:23.361 --> 00:42:26.102


a very long time until he



00:42:26.202 --> 00:42:27.742


crossed joseph and then he



00:42:27.782 --> 00:42:29.063


got excommunicated are you



00:42:29.103 --> 00:42:29.943


seeing a pattern



00:42:31.743 --> 00:42:33.785


When anybody disagrees with Joseph Smith,



00:42:33.805 --> 00:42:34.867


they get excommunicated.



00:42:35.587 --> 00:42:36.428


It essentially says that



00:42:36.468 --> 00:42:37.850


whatever God commands is right,



00:42:37.910 --> 00:42:38.911


regardless of whether it



00:42:38.951 --> 00:42:40.633


appears logical or right to



00:42:40.653 --> 00:42:42.375


those who receive the commandments.



00:42:42.797 --> 00:42:43.176


hi there



00:42:43.256 --> 00:42:44.696


letter daily digest good to



00:42:44.736 --> 00:42:46.637


see you as well um thank



00:42:46.677 --> 00:42:48.878


you so much i really want



00:42:48.898 --> 00:42:49.938


to go watch that episode



00:42:49.958 --> 00:42:51.118


that you have with peter i



00:42:51.158 --> 00:42:52.279


enjoyed his commentary



00:42:52.319 --> 00:42:53.079


during nemo's



00:42:54.219 --> 00:42:55.700


excommunication episodes and



00:42:55.780 --> 00:42:57.040


i love nemo i think he's



00:42:57.060 --> 00:42:59.422


amazing um i love it okay



00:42:59.762 --> 00:43:01.303


so let's go back to the



00:43:01.363 --> 00:43:03.944


happiness letter some scholars



00:43:05.576 --> 00:43:06.836


question the authenticity of



00:43:06.856 --> 00:43:07.716


the letter because of the



00:43:07.776 --> 00:43:08.877


uncertain provenance of



00:43:08.917 --> 00:43:10.037


Bennett's reproduced



00:43:10.097 --> 00:43:11.037


version of the letter,



00:43:11.217 --> 00:43:12.037


as well as Bennett's



00:43:12.117 --> 00:43:13.417


unreliable allegations on



00:43:13.537 --> 00:43:15.518


other matters related to Joseph Smith.



00:43:16.018 --> 00:43:17.378


If the letter is authentic,



00:43:17.458 --> 00:43:18.318


then it could provide



00:43:18.378 --> 00:43:19.398


insight into Joseph's



00:43:19.438 --> 00:43:20.479


rationale for the moral



00:43:20.519 --> 00:43:21.679


basis of plural marriage,



00:43:21.739 --> 00:43:22.819


although plural marriage is



00:43:22.879 --> 00:43:26.580


never explicitly mentioned in the text.



00:43:27.282 --> 00:43:29.061


The actual happiness letter,



00:43:29.543 --> 00:43:30.404


Okay, here it is.



00:43:30.624 --> 00:43:32.085


Happiness is the object and



00:43:32.125 --> 00:43:34.587


design of our existence and



00:43:34.627 --> 00:43:36.068


will be the end thereof if



00:43:36.108 --> 00:43:38.449


we pursue the path that leads to it.



00:43:39.230 --> 00:43:41.272


And this path is virtue, uprightness,



00:43:41.292 --> 00:43:42.412


faithfulness, holiness,



00:43:42.452 --> 00:43:44.494


and keeping all the commandments of God.



00:43:45.074 --> 00:43:46.956


so that's the part that the



00:43:46.996 --> 00:43:47.957


church leaders like to



00:43:47.997 --> 00:43:50.759


quote all the time b.h



00:43:50.799 --> 00:43:52.061


roberts as editor of



00:43:52.121 --> 00:43:52.962


history of the church



00:43:53.042 --> 00:43:54.703


included the letter in the



00:43:54.803 --> 00:43:56.645


in the compilation with the



00:43:56.665 --> 00:43:57.866


following note it is not



00:43:57.906 --> 00:43:59.428


positively known what it



00:43:59.488 --> 00:44:00.389


what occasioned the writing



00:44:00.429 --> 00:44:01.930


of this essay but when it



00:44:01.970 --> 00:44:02.991


is born in mind that at



00:44:03.031 --> 00:44:04.332


this time the new law of



00:44:04.392 --> 00:44:05.253


marriage for the church



00:44:05.293 --> 00:44:06.314


marriage for eternity



00:44:06.414 --> 00:44:07.655


including plurality of



00:44:07.695 --> 00:44:09.217


wives under some circumstances



00:44:09.637 --> 00:44:11.098


was being introduced by the prophet,



00:44:11.158 --> 00:44:12.958


it's very likely that the



00:44:13.038 --> 00:44:14.159


article was written with a



00:44:14.219 --> 00:44:16.220


view of applying the principles here,



00:44:16.980 --> 00:44:18.221


expounded to the conditions



00:44:18.281 --> 00:44:20.201


created by introducing said



00:44:20.762 --> 00:44:22.104


marriage system.



00:44:22.104 --> 00:44:24.497


I would encourage you to look up,



00:44:24.517 --> 00:44:25.877


and I'll put in the show notes later,



00:44:26.078 --> 00:44:27.198


and read the happiness



00:44:27.218 --> 00:44:29.599


letter in its entirety, because



00:44:30.579 --> 00:44:32.622


I like to think of it in the



00:44:32.682 --> 00:44:34.744


context that the person



00:44:34.804 --> 00:44:36.886


receiving it would have received it.



00:44:37.040 --> 00:44:37.921


I think it's important



00:44:38.121 --> 00:44:39.442


always for us to consider,



00:44:39.462 --> 00:44:40.403


and that's the whole reason



00:44:40.483 --> 00:44:42.746


I started this perspective,



00:44:43.467 --> 00:44:46.190


is because I wanted to hear



00:44:46.250 --> 00:44:48.313


it from the perspective of the women



00:44:49.464 --> 00:44:51.766


Did they feel like they were preyed upon?



00:44:52.426 --> 00:44:54.028


And what were the



00:44:54.468 --> 00:44:56.169


circumstances surrounding



00:44:56.290 --> 00:44:57.771


the alleged proposals and



00:44:57.831 --> 00:44:58.752


all of those things?



00:45:00.033 --> 00:45:01.434


So B.H.



00:45:01.474 --> 00:45:04.016


Roberts is considered to be



00:45:04.636 --> 00:45:06.998


a faithful Mormon historian.



00:45:07.799 --> 00:45:09.040


He was appointed by the



00:45:09.060 --> 00:45:10.781


leadership of the church to



00:45:10.821 --> 00:45:12.162


be a historian.



00:45:12.743 --> 00:45:14.464


He did come across a lot of



00:45:14.584 --> 00:45:16.186


problems with the Book of Mormon,



00:45:16.386 --> 00:45:18.608


and he presented that to the church.



00:45:19.473 --> 00:45:21.073


And they sent him on a mission.



00:45:21.133 --> 00:45:22.249


So all right.



00:45:22.589 --> 00:45:24.661


I want to go back to the



00:45:24.701 --> 00:45:26.134


timeline real quick.



00:45:26.141 --> 00:45:26.321


Okay.



00:45:26.541 --> 00:45:28.482


Happiness letter, eighteen forty two.



00:45:29.068 --> 00:45:29.648


In May.



00:45:29.808 --> 00:45:30.289


Well, actually,



00:45:30.309 --> 00:45:31.209


we should back up a little bit.



00:45:31.349 --> 00:45:32.850


In March of eighteen forty two,



00:45:32.890 --> 00:45:35.352


Joseph Smith became a Freemason.



00:45:36.413 --> 00:45:37.774


He joined the



00:45:39.615 --> 00:45:40.756


group of the masons that



00:45:40.796 --> 00:45:41.917


were in the area at the



00:45:41.957 --> 00:45:43.558


time where he would have



00:45:43.618 --> 00:45:45.079


learned a lot of masonic



00:45:45.260 --> 00:45:46.961


ceremonies and then two



00:45:47.001 --> 00:45:48.542


months later he introduces



00:45:48.582 --> 00:45:49.683


the endowment ceremony for



00:45:49.723 --> 00:45:52.205


the first time which can



00:45:52.245 --> 00:45:54.527


anyone guess very closely



00:45:54.587 --> 00:45:56.428


resembles the masonic



00:45:56.468 --> 00:46:00.463


ceremonies so there's that



00:46:00.483 --> 00:46:01.744


um come to your own conclusion there



00:46:02.697 --> 00:46:04.117


we'll talk about the temple



00:46:04.177 --> 00:46:05.378


ceremony in a in a



00:46:05.398 --> 00:46:06.318


different video it is



00:46:06.358 --> 00:46:07.378


definitely a rabbit hole



00:46:07.398 --> 00:46:09.438


for another time um then in



00:46:09.638 --> 00:46:11.579


in at the end of well just



00:46:11.599 --> 00:46:12.879


a couple weeks later church



00:46:12.939 --> 00:46:14.639


leader and navu mayor john



00:46:14.679 --> 00:46:16.219


c bennett is excommunicated



00:46:16.259 --> 00:46:19.040


for adultery um with a



00:46:19.060 --> 00:46:22.301


footnote it was publicly



00:46:22.341 --> 00:46:23.321


announced in the times and



00:46:23.361 --> 00:46:25.281


seasons because i believe



00:46:26.001 --> 00:46:27.522


joseph wanted everybody to



00:46:27.582 --> 00:46:29.020


know what was happening



00:46:29.020 --> 00:46:31.007


The accusations of his



00:46:31.127 --> 00:46:33.548


adultery were chronicled by



00:46:34.068 --> 00:46:34.729


Andrew F. Smith,



00:46:34.749 --> 00:46:36.569


who did a biography on John C. Bennett.



00:46:37.450 --> 00:46:39.311


And it's a fascinating thing



00:46:39.351 --> 00:46:40.631


to dig into as well.



00:46:41.992 --> 00:46:46.414


If you look at it from the lens of, again,



00:46:46.494 --> 00:46:47.534


everything that I started



00:46:47.594 --> 00:46:48.755


researching at this point,



00:46:48.875 --> 00:46:51.636


I wanted to look at it from



00:46:51.676 --> 00:46:55.138


the lens of what conclusion



00:46:55.198 --> 00:46:56.718


requires the least amount



00:46:56.738 --> 00:46:57.779


of conjecture from me.



00:46:58.510 --> 00:46:59.931


It's the sort of principle



00:47:00.171 --> 00:47:02.173


of does it make more sense



00:47:02.233 --> 00:47:05.935


that X or does it make more



00:47:05.995 --> 00:47:08.177


sense that if Y then



00:47:08.257 --> 00:47:11.219


possibly Z and maybe a third option.



00:47:11.760 --> 00:47:14.203


The more I have to do what



00:47:14.243 --> 00:47:15.003


they call the mental



00:47:15.043 --> 00:47:16.424


gymnastics to make those



00:47:16.484 --> 00:47:18.846


square pegs fit into those round holes,



00:47:19.951 --> 00:47:21.052


the less likely it is for



00:47:21.092 --> 00:47:22.332


that thing to be the



00:47:22.372 --> 00:47:24.733


correct true explanation of that thing.



00:47:25.513 --> 00:47:27.573


Also going through trauma



00:47:27.613 --> 00:47:29.454


therapy and learning how to



00:47:29.494 --> 00:47:30.834


defend myself against



00:47:31.435 --> 00:47:33.175


manipulators and predators



00:47:33.475 --> 00:47:36.059


and liars helped me to



00:47:36.119 --> 00:47:37.320


frame all of this



00:47:37.360 --> 00:47:38.780


information in a much



00:47:38.820 --> 00:47:39.900


different light and look at



00:47:39.940 --> 00:47:41.141


it from a much different lens.



00:47:42.285 --> 00:47:44.627


once you know that you've



00:47:44.667 --> 00:47:45.847


been manipulated and lied



00:47:45.887 --> 00:47:47.849


to and you want to protect



00:47:47.869 --> 00:47:48.729


yourself from it,



00:47:48.889 --> 00:47:49.990


it's very difficult to



00:47:50.050 --> 00:47:51.191


remove that lens from your



00:47:51.311 --> 00:47:53.032


eyes and give people a pass



00:47:53.072 --> 00:47:54.833


for something.



00:47:55.133 --> 00:47:57.155


And what's interesting is as



00:47:57.175 --> 00:47:58.756


a mother and as a teacher,



00:48:01.510 --> 00:48:04.852


I was very able to put that



00:48:04.892 --> 00:48:06.733


frame of mind on when I was



00:48:06.793 --> 00:48:09.035


hearing stories from my



00:48:09.095 --> 00:48:12.037


students about why they didn't do X, Y,



00:48:12.057 --> 00:48:13.217


Z or why they missed this



00:48:13.257 --> 00:48:14.859


assignment or whatever.



00:48:17.080 --> 00:48:19.081


It was very easy for me to



00:48:19.141 --> 00:48:20.142


think critically in those



00:48:20.162 --> 00:48:21.003


situations and go,



00:48:21.063 --> 00:48:22.644


that's just not likely to be true.



00:48:24.303 --> 00:48:25.544


And to do the investigation



00:48:25.564 --> 00:48:27.766


that it takes to prospect



00:48:27.806 --> 00:48:29.367


verify when it came to my



00:48:29.427 --> 00:48:32.249


students I had a wild story



00:48:32.469 --> 00:48:33.590


once my very first year



00:48:33.610 --> 00:48:34.630


teaching in the classroom



00:48:35.251 --> 00:48:37.372


where It was a requirement.



00:48:37.452 --> 00:48:38.873


I required my students to go



00:48:38.893 --> 00:48:39.433


to the concert.



00:48:39.474 --> 00:48:40.394


That was a grade for them



00:48:40.414 --> 00:48:41.515


They had to perform that



00:48:41.535 --> 00:48:42.295


was part of what they're



00:48:42.335 --> 00:48:43.216


supposed to be learning.



00:48:43.636 --> 00:48:45.558


I was a choir teacher and I



00:48:46.474 --> 00:48:47.495


they knew that if they



00:48:47.555 --> 00:48:48.756


missed the concert and they



00:48:48.796 --> 00:48:50.797


didn't have some kind of an



00:48:50.857 --> 00:48:52.759


emergency or an excuse of



00:48:52.779 --> 00:48:54.960


that kind that they were



00:48:54.980 --> 00:48:56.321


going to get a failing



00:48:56.341 --> 00:48:58.803


grade and so they would of



00:48:58.843 --> 00:48:59.864


course sometimes come up



00:48:59.884 --> 00:49:01.425


with silly explanations of



00:49:01.445 --> 00:49:03.526


why they weren't there my



00:49:03.566 --> 00:49:05.007


very first year teaching my



00:49:05.027 --> 00:49:07.009


very first concert this



00:49:07.029 --> 00:49:07.910


girl did not come to the



00:49:07.970 --> 00:49:10.371


concert and then she didn't



00:49:10.411 --> 00:49:13.354


come to class for several days and



00:49:14.620 --> 00:49:15.801


when she did finally come to



00:49:15.841 --> 00:49:17.162


the club to come to class



00:49:17.942 --> 00:49:20.904


um i said to her why did



00:49:20.944 --> 00:49:22.064


you not come to the concert



00:49:22.084 --> 00:49:24.746


and she said oh my dad died



00:49:24.786 --> 00:49:25.867


just very matter of fact



00:49:25.907 --> 00:49:28.008


like that and while i



00:49:28.148 --> 00:49:29.669


understand that different



00:49:29.709 --> 00:49:30.889


people grieve in different



00:49:30.909 --> 00:49:33.011


ways of course i was very



00:49:33.051 --> 00:49:35.212


suspicious of that and i



00:49:35.252 --> 00:49:37.413


said i'm very sorry to hear



00:49:37.453 --> 00:49:39.214


that and i just went on



00:49:39.675 --> 00:49:40.915


with class and finished



00:49:40.935 --> 00:49:41.636


class and everything



00:49:42.654 --> 00:49:44.317


When I got to my conference period,



00:49:44.597 --> 00:49:46.380


I called her mother and I said,



00:49:46.520 --> 00:49:48.943


I'm so sorry to hear about your loss.



00:49:49.524 --> 00:49:50.706


And the mother said, what loss?



00:49:52.689 --> 00:49:53.230


And I said, well,



00:49:53.290 --> 00:49:55.233


your daughter told me that



00:49:55.333 --> 00:49:56.515


her father passed away.



00:49:58.252 --> 00:50:00.593


And the mom was exasperated,



00:50:00.893 --> 00:50:01.633


to say the least.



00:50:03.494 --> 00:50:05.495


So it seems pretty obvious



00:50:05.535 --> 00:50:08.116


to most people that that would be a lie,



00:50:08.136 --> 00:50:08.816


although it's kind of a



00:50:08.936 --> 00:50:10.676


wild lie to make up just to



00:50:10.977 --> 00:50:13.117


not get a bad grade on a choir concert.



00:50:13.778 --> 00:50:14.998


But that's how I feel when I



00:50:15.018 --> 00:50:16.178


look now at some of these



00:50:16.238 --> 00:50:16.979


apologetics and



00:50:17.039 --> 00:50:19.319


explanations for polygamy in Mormonism.



00:50:19.380 --> 00:50:21.080


It's like we've been asked



00:50:21.120 --> 00:50:23.021


to explain away the most logical thing.



00:50:23.985 --> 00:50:25.747


because we don't want to



00:50:25.767 --> 00:50:27.528


believe that Joseph Smith



00:50:27.788 --> 00:50:28.649


had poor character.



00:50:29.790 --> 00:50:31.431


So I'm sorry for the digression.



00:50:32.032 --> 00:50:34.734


I just wanted to explain my



00:50:34.774 --> 00:50:35.935


frame of mind as I was



00:50:35.975 --> 00:50:36.976


going through these things.



00:50:37.156 --> 00:50:39.418


Having been a faithful member for,



00:50:40.679 --> 00:50:42.120


you know, forty five-ish years,



00:50:43.382 --> 00:50:44.302


I think I mentioned that I



00:50:44.382 --> 00:50:45.583


started to be disaffected



00:50:45.603 --> 00:50:46.985


with the church in twenty fifteen,



00:50:47.905 --> 00:50:49.567


but I was still very, very faithful.



00:50:51.101 --> 00:50:53.143


all the way up until just



00:50:53.183 --> 00:50:56.586


prior to my divorce is when



00:50:56.726 --> 00:50:59.008


I stopped going to church



00:50:59.088 --> 00:51:00.549


every single Sunday and



00:51:00.569 --> 00:51:01.751


doing every single thing I



00:51:01.791 --> 00:51:02.451


was supposed to.



00:51:03.012 --> 00:51:03.892


And oddly enough,



00:51:04.193 --> 00:51:05.073


I didn't stop paying



00:51:05.094 --> 00:51:07.416


tithing until after the



00:51:07.436 --> 00:51:08.517


pandemic was over.



00:51:09.057 --> 00:51:11.619


So I considered myself to be



00:51:11.960 --> 00:51:14.502


a very faithful temple recommend holding



00:51:16.193 --> 00:51:18.375


mormon my recommend expired



00:51:18.415 --> 00:51:19.597


in twenty eighteen but i



00:51:19.617 --> 00:51:20.577


was still worthy of a



00:51:20.678 --> 00:51:22.499


recommend for a very long



00:51:22.539 --> 00:51:23.420


time after that i would



00:51:23.440 --> 00:51:24.361


have passed the interview



00:51:24.421 --> 00:51:25.462


except for the fact that i



00:51:25.482 --> 00:51:27.304


was questioning leaders so



00:51:27.324 --> 00:51:28.425


there was that that's i



00:51:28.465 --> 00:51:29.046


probably wouldn't have



00:51:29.146 --> 00:51:30.387


gotten a recommend at that



00:51:30.407 --> 00:51:32.129


point anyway i digress



00:51:32.169 --> 00:51:33.971


again back to the timeline



00:51:35.112 --> 00:51:37.895


i'm trying to stay on track um



00:51:39.273 --> 00:51:41.274


So in July,



00:51:41.654 --> 00:51:43.074


Joseph Smith is sealed to Sarah



00:51:43.114 --> 00:51:44.474


Whitney in the presence of



00:51:44.534 --> 00:51:45.795


her parents with her father,



00:51:46.315 --> 00:51:46.995


Newell K. Whitney,



00:51:47.015 --> 00:51:48.576


who also later was a polygamist,



00:51:49.016 --> 00:51:49.976


performing the ceremony



00:51:50.056 --> 00:51:51.136


using words that were given



00:51:51.176 --> 00:51:53.584


to him in a revelation from Joseph.



00:51:53.604 --> 00:51:56.225


Joseph Smith in handwrites a



00:51:56.265 --> 00:51:57.185


letter to Elizabeth and



00:51:57.225 --> 00:51:58.425


Newell K. Whitney and their daughter,



00:51:58.465 --> 00:51:59.086


Sarah Ann,



00:51:59.106 --> 00:52:00.546


who was recently sealed to Joseph,



00:52:00.686 --> 00:52:01.746


asking them to visit him



00:52:01.786 --> 00:52:03.347


while he's in hiding from



00:52:03.407 --> 00:52:04.207


Missouri lawmen.



00:52:05.665 --> 00:52:07.186


So by the end of August,



00:52:07.246 --> 00:52:08.007


eighteen forty two,



00:52:08.047 --> 00:52:09.168


Joseph is sealed to about a



00:52:09.228 --> 00:52:11.489


dozen plural wives and then



00:52:11.589 --> 00:52:12.510


no additional plural



00:52:12.550 --> 00:52:13.491


marriages were performed



00:52:13.531 --> 00:52:15.361


for about the next six months.



00:52:15.506 --> 00:52:16.406


In October,



00:52:16.626 --> 00:52:18.207


The Times and Seasons published



00:52:18.247 --> 00:52:19.188


an official statement from



00:52:19.208 --> 00:52:20.349


the Nauvoo Relief Society



00:52:20.389 --> 00:52:21.810


condemning John C. Bennett



00:52:21.870 --> 00:52:23.271


and denying the existence



00:52:23.331 --> 00:52:26.593


of the secret wife system.



00:52:26.654 --> 00:52:28.535


So at this time,



00:52:30.180 --> 00:52:30.480


I just,



00:52:30.640 --> 00:52:32.041


we're going to have to skip over



00:52:32.081 --> 00:52:33.061


some of this stuff because



00:52:33.101 --> 00:52:34.701


there's just so much information.



00:52:34.741 --> 00:52:36.742


There are a couple of things



00:52:36.762 --> 00:52:37.762


that were particularly



00:52:37.822 --> 00:52:39.403


important to my personal



00:52:40.563 --> 00:52:43.664


experience digging into polygamy,



00:52:43.764 --> 00:52:44.504


and those are the things



00:52:44.524 --> 00:52:45.464


that I want to touch on.



00:52:46.185 --> 00:52:47.745


In May of eighteen forty three,



00:52:47.945 --> 00:52:49.406


Joseph Smith was sealed to



00:52:49.466 --> 00:52:50.346


his youngest wife,



00:52:50.486 --> 00:52:52.727


fourteen year old Helen Mar Kimball.



00:52:53.807 --> 00:52:57.228


And I want to go now to talk about



00:52:59.468 --> 00:53:02.931


Helen's own experiences from her own words,



00:53:03.951 --> 00:53:06.013


because this really,



00:53:07.074 --> 00:53:09.356


really struck me when I



00:53:09.416 --> 00:53:11.157


realized how young she was



00:53:11.417 --> 00:53:14.105


and I thought about her experience.



00:53:14.135 --> 00:53:15.859


So Helen's parents,



00:53:17.359 --> 00:53:21.962


joined the church and Helen's father,



00:53:22.002 --> 00:53:23.583


Heber C. Kimball was called



00:53:23.623 --> 00:53:24.444


as a member of the Quorum



00:53:24.484 --> 00:53:25.305


of the Twelve Apostles.



00:53:25.325 --> 00:53:26.486


So he was very high up and



00:53:26.526 --> 00:53:27.826


well-respected in the church.



00:53:28.747 --> 00:53:30.488


She was baptized at age eight.



00:53:31.230 --> 00:53:34.193


And then she was introduced



00:53:34.213 --> 00:53:35.634


to the idea of polygamy at



00:53:35.694 --> 00:53:36.735


first by her father.



00:53:37.416 --> 00:53:38.216


I think what's really



00:53:38.296 --> 00:53:41.158


important to pay attention to is



00:53:42.358 --> 00:53:45.948


her very first reaction to this concept.



00:53:46.414 --> 00:53:48.096


So this is her own words,



00:53:48.136 --> 00:53:48.876


with all the false



00:53:48.916 --> 00:53:49.957


traditions in which we were



00:53:49.998 --> 00:53:51.179


born and in consequence of



00:53:51.199 --> 00:53:52.640


the degenerate tide with



00:53:52.680 --> 00:53:53.661


which the human family has



00:53:53.681 --> 00:53:55.303


been drifting for generations past,



00:53:55.723 --> 00:53:56.684


and as the Lord had no



00:53:56.764 --> 00:53:58.165


organized priesthood on the earth,



00:53:58.606 --> 00:53:59.927


it is not to be wondered at



00:53:59.967 --> 00:54:01.669


that in our ignorance of his ways,



00:54:01.729 --> 00:54:02.950


the feelings of our nature



00:54:02.970 --> 00:54:04.051


should rebel against the



00:54:04.111 --> 00:54:06.373


doctrine of a plurality of wives.



00:54:07.114 --> 00:54:08.355


I remember how I felt,



00:54:08.976 --> 00:54:09.996


but which would be a



00:54:10.036 --> 00:54:11.498


difficult matter to describe,



00:54:11.538 --> 00:54:12.799


the various thoughts, fears,



00:54:12.859 --> 00:54:13.699


and temptations that



00:54:13.740 --> 00:54:14.780


flashed through my mind



00:54:14.800 --> 00:54:15.681


when the principal was



00:54:15.721 --> 00:54:17.643


first introduced to me by my father,



00:54:18.423 --> 00:54:19.564


who one morning the summer



00:54:19.584 --> 00:54:20.405


of eighteen forty three



00:54:20.445 --> 00:54:21.826


without any preliminaries



00:54:22.006 --> 00:54:23.167


asked me if I would believe



00:54:23.207 --> 00:54:24.949


him if he told me that it



00:54:24.989 --> 00:54:26.310


was right for married men



00:54:26.350 --> 00:54:27.611


to take other wives.



00:54:28.199 --> 00:54:29.500


Suffice it to say that the



00:54:29.560 --> 00:54:32.321


first impulse was anger,



00:54:32.382 --> 00:54:33.622


for I thought he had only



00:54:33.702 --> 00:54:35.143


said it to test my virtue.



00:54:35.844 --> 00:54:38.285


My sensibilities were painfully touched.



00:54:38.865 --> 00:54:41.247


I felt such a sense of personal energy,



00:54:41.447 --> 00:54:43.128


injury, and displeasure,



00:54:43.768 --> 00:54:45.369


for to mention such a thing to me,



00:54:45.529 --> 00:54:46.550


I thought altogether



00:54:46.650 --> 00:54:47.931


unworthy of my father.



00:54:48.591 --> 00:54:49.792


And as quick as he spoke,



00:54:49.892 --> 00:54:51.913


I replied to him shortly and emphatically,



00:54:52.073 --> 00:54:53.034


no, I wouldn't.



00:54:54.504 --> 00:54:55.745


I had always been taught to



00:54:55.765 --> 00:54:57.126


believe in a heinous crime,



00:54:57.686 --> 00:54:59.128


improper and unnatural,



00:54:59.628 --> 00:55:02.457


and I indignantly resented it.



00:55:02.457 --> 00:55:03.967


she goes on to talk about



00:55:04.067 --> 00:55:06.849


how her father was pleased



00:55:06.889 --> 00:55:08.811


with her reaction, but then also



00:55:10.900 --> 00:55:13.361


related to her that this had



00:55:13.401 --> 00:55:14.641


been told to him by the



00:55:14.701 --> 00:55:17.422


prophet of god and that it



00:55:17.462 --> 00:55:19.162


does seem shocking but it



00:55:19.222 --> 00:55:22.003


really it's okay again a



00:55:22.043 --> 00:55:23.323


fourteen year old girl



00:55:24.364 --> 00:55:25.504


we're talking about a



00:55:25.564 --> 00:55:26.664


freshman in high school



00:55:27.704 --> 00:55:29.245


sometimes as you know



00:55:29.825 --> 00:55:30.905


eighth graders are fourteen



00:55:31.385 --> 00:55:33.386


years old somebody who



00:55:35.149 --> 00:55:36.049


has had very little



00:55:36.129 --> 00:55:37.850


experience in relationships



00:55:37.890 --> 00:55:40.251


with anyone outside of her



00:55:40.371 --> 00:55:42.611


own family and her own small community.



00:55:43.932 --> 00:55:46.643


And at a time when young



00:55:46.683 --> 00:55:48.584


people at this point relied



00:55:48.684 --> 00:55:50.625


so heavily on their parents



00:55:50.645 --> 00:55:51.965


and believed their parents



00:55:52.425 --> 00:55:54.106


so heavily that to go



00:55:54.166 --> 00:55:55.486


against your parents in



00:55:55.526 --> 00:55:56.526


this time of history,



00:55:56.546 --> 00:55:57.507


in this period of history



00:55:57.567 --> 00:55:58.827


at that age would



00:55:58.867 --> 00:55:59.988


definitely have been



00:56:00.248 --> 00:56:01.308


outside of the normal.



00:56:01.832 --> 00:56:04.604


um then the next day the



00:56:04.644 --> 00:56:05.885


prophet called at our house



00:56:06.485 --> 00:56:07.626


and i sat with my father



00:56:07.666 --> 00:56:08.646


and mother and heard him



00:56:08.686 --> 00:56:09.727


teach the principle and



00:56:09.767 --> 00:56:11.587


explain it more fully and i



00:56:11.627 --> 00:56:12.988


believed it but i had no



00:56:13.028 --> 00:56:15.449


proofs only his and my



00:56:15.509 --> 00:56:17.390


father's testimony i



00:56:17.430 --> 00:56:18.551


thought that sufficient and



00:56:18.591 --> 00:56:20.152


i didn't deem it necessary



00:56:20.232 --> 00:56:20.952


and did not deem it



00:56:20.992 --> 00:56:22.853


necessary to seek for any further



00:56:23.282 --> 00:56:24.942


Richard Anderson, who's a historian,



00:56:25.042 --> 00:56:25.482


observed,



00:56:26.503 --> 00:56:27.704


Helen says several times that



00:56:27.744 --> 00:56:28.464


her father took the



00:56:28.504 --> 00:56:29.565


initiative to arrange the



00:56:29.605 --> 00:56:31.047


marriage and very possibly



00:56:31.087 --> 00:56:32.668


he did so with a view to



00:56:32.708 --> 00:56:33.508


committing her to the



00:56:33.549 --> 00:56:35.370


prophet before her budding



00:56:35.450 --> 00:56:36.651


social life produced a



00:56:36.711 --> 00:56:40.077


choice or a proposal from someone else.



00:56:40.077 --> 00:56:42.354


This made me really sick to



00:56:42.394 --> 00:56:43.896


my stomach when I read this



00:56:43.936 --> 00:56:45.677


the first time and when I



00:56:45.857 --> 00:56:47.999


absorbed this idea for the first time.



00:56:48.513 --> 00:56:51.216


because i i will elaborate



00:56:51.236 --> 00:56:52.317


on this a little bit more



00:56:52.837 --> 00:56:54.078


but looking at it from this



00:56:54.158 --> 00:56:55.919


perspective and this is



00:56:55.959 --> 00:56:57.360


what it always bothers me



00:56:57.400 --> 00:56:59.422


when apologists will say



00:57:00.342 --> 00:57:01.543


but there was no sexual



00:57:01.583 --> 00:57:03.144


relationship between joseph



00:57:03.164 --> 00:57:04.986


and these young women this



00:57:05.026 --> 00:57:06.367


was a spiritual ceiling



00:57:07.507 --> 00:57:08.368


which first of all,



00:57:08.868 --> 00:57:10.749


it's pretty wild to claim



00:57:11.010 --> 00:57:12.871


that Joseph Smith taking on



00:57:12.911 --> 00:57:14.152


multiple wives had nothing



00:57:14.192 --> 00:57:16.654


to do with sex because part



00:57:16.694 --> 00:57:17.815


of the revelation talks



00:57:17.835 --> 00:57:18.875


about multiplying and



00:57:18.915 --> 00:57:20.036


replenishing the earth.



00:57:20.416 --> 00:57:20.737


Okay.



00:57:21.277 --> 00:57:22.238


And y'all,



00:57:22.438 --> 00:57:23.879


we can't do that without the



00:57:24.099 --> 00:57:24.820


sacred powers of



00:57:24.880 --> 00:57:26.441


procreation being involved.



00:57:26.761 --> 00:57:27.021


Okay.



00:57:27.982 --> 00:57:29.383


So please don't try to tell



00:57:29.403 --> 00:57:31.645


me that there was no sex



00:57:31.685 --> 00:57:32.605


involved whatsoever.



00:57:33.526 --> 00:57:34.627


Then to try and say,



00:57:36.047 --> 00:57:39.408


And I honestly don't know which is worse.



00:57:40.068 --> 00:57:41.308


As a victim and a survivor,



00:57:41.408 --> 00:57:42.568


I don't know which is worse.



00:57:43.228 --> 00:57:48.330


Is it worse that Joseph



00:57:48.350 --> 00:57:49.390


violated a young woman?



00:57:50.630 --> 00:57:54.231


Or is it worse that he took their lives?



00:57:56.031 --> 00:57:56.711


When I say that,



00:57:56.851 --> 00:57:57.851


I mean he took their



00:57:57.911 --> 00:58:00.772


ability to have a normal life.



00:58:02.727 --> 00:58:04.028


Heber C. Kimball teaching



00:58:04.088 --> 00:58:05.989


his daughter the practice



00:58:06.129 --> 00:58:07.970


of plural marriage at a



00:58:08.050 --> 00:58:10.652


young age before she had



00:58:10.692 --> 00:58:11.972


the chance to form an



00:58:12.012 --> 00:58:13.733


attachment with another



00:58:13.753 --> 00:58:16.675


young man that she might



00:58:16.695 --> 00:58:17.776


have fallen in love with



00:58:18.256 --> 00:58:19.237


before she had another



00:58:19.277 --> 00:58:20.237


prospect or another



00:58:20.297 --> 00:58:22.940


proposal is disgusting to me.



00:58:24.129 --> 00:58:27.092


He took their lives.



00:58:27.752 --> 00:58:29.073


Every single one of those



00:58:29.133 --> 00:58:31.015


young women had their lives



00:58:31.335 --> 00:58:34.418


severely altered because



00:58:34.438 --> 00:58:36.139


they would have been doing other things.



00:58:36.680 --> 00:58:37.240


They would have been



00:58:37.320 --> 00:58:39.983


enjoying normal life as young women.



00:58:40.563 --> 00:58:41.104


They would have been



00:58:41.144 --> 00:58:44.146


marrying men who had only



00:58:44.186 --> 00:58:47.233


them to devote their time and energy to.



00:58:47.333 --> 00:58:48.474


I want to read it to you



00:58:48.494 --> 00:58:49.675


from Helen's own words.



00:58:50.483 --> 00:58:52.044


She writes this beautiful poem,



00:58:53.225 --> 00:58:55.107


which I think you should go and read,



00:58:55.928 --> 00:58:57.669


but I'm not going to read



00:58:57.710 --> 00:58:59.211


it here for the sake of time.



00:59:00.364 --> 00:59:01.685


one year after writing this



00:59:01.725 --> 00:59:02.945


poem above where she talks



00:59:02.985 --> 00:59:04.366


about her distress and the



00:59:04.426 --> 00:59:06.346


feelings that she had it



00:59:06.446 --> 00:59:07.867


obviously poetry can be



00:59:08.227 --> 00:59:09.248


interpreted in different



00:59:09.268 --> 00:59:10.148


ways which is why i would



00:59:10.188 --> 00:59:10.948


like you to read it for



00:59:10.968 --> 00:59:11.929


yourself and come to your



00:59:11.989 --> 00:59:14.069


own conclusions one year



00:59:14.129 --> 00:59:16.010


after writing this poem she



00:59:16.070 --> 00:59:17.411


elaborates during the



00:59:17.431 --> 00:59:19.772


winter of there were plenty



00:59:19.812 --> 00:59:21.672


of parties and balls some



00:59:21.712 --> 00:59:22.853


of the young gentlemen got



00:59:22.893 --> 00:59:23.933


up a series of dancing



00:59:23.973 --> 00:59:25.174


parties to be held at the



00:59:25.214 --> 00:59:26.194


mansion once a week the



00:59:26.234 --> 00:59:27.715


mansion was joseph smith's home



00:59:28.795 --> 00:59:29.896


I had to stay home,



00:59:30.556 --> 00:59:31.537


as my father had been



00:59:31.577 --> 00:59:33.238


warned by the prophet to



00:59:33.258 --> 00:59:34.918


keep his daughter away from there,



00:59:35.579 --> 00:59:36.719


because of the black legs



00:59:36.759 --> 00:59:37.500


and certain ones of



00:59:37.540 --> 00:59:38.640


questionable character who



00:59:38.701 --> 00:59:39.261


attended there.



00:59:40.318 --> 00:59:41.979


i felt quite sore over it



00:59:42.179 --> 00:59:43.139


and thought it a very



00:59:43.239 --> 00:59:45.540


unkind act in father to



00:59:45.580 --> 00:59:47.000


allow my brother to go and



00:59:47.040 --> 00:59:47.821


enjoy the dance



00:59:47.901 --> 00:59:49.201


unrestrained with others of



00:59:49.241 --> 00:59:50.702


my companions and fetter me



00:59:50.742 --> 00:59:52.822


down for no girl loved



00:59:52.902 --> 00:59:54.343


dancing better than i did



00:59:54.863 --> 00:59:56.044


and i really felt that it



00:59:56.064 --> 00:59:58.084


was too much to bear it



00:59:58.144 --> 01:00:00.005


made the dull school still



01:00:00.225 --> 01:00:02.066


more dull and like a wild



01:00:02.106 --> 01:00:03.446


bird i longed for the



01:00:03.486 --> 01:00:05.427


freedom that was denied me



01:00:06.207 --> 01:00:08.428


and thought myself a much abused child



01:00:10.485 --> 01:00:11.746


and that it was pardonable



01:00:11.846 --> 01:00:12.827


if I did murmur.



01:00:14.952 --> 01:00:16.213


I'm not going to apologize



01:00:17.554 --> 01:00:22.963


for being emotional because it's a crime.



01:00:22.983 --> 01:00:23.803


This young girl,



01:00:24.364 --> 01:00:26.466


all she wanted was to have a normal,



01:00:26.746 --> 01:00:27.407


happy life.



01:00:28.459 --> 01:00:29.680


She wanted to go to dances.



01:00:29.720 --> 01:00:31.282


She wanted to hang out with her friends.



01:00:31.963 --> 01:00:34.566


Can you imagine a freshman



01:00:34.586 --> 01:00:37.529


in high school being denied



01:00:39.592 --> 01:00:41.754


the opportunity to



01:00:41.814 --> 01:00:43.116


socialize with her friends



01:00:43.576 --> 01:00:45.719


because secretly she's



01:00:45.779 --> 01:00:49.143


married to a thirty seven year old man?



01:00:50.598 --> 01:00:51.959


And people like to say, oh,



01:00:51.999 --> 01:00:53.439


it was common back then for



01:00:53.819 --> 01:00:55.060


people to get married young



01:00:55.120 --> 01:00:56.100


and young women married



01:00:56.140 --> 01:00:57.081


young men all the time.



01:00:57.381 --> 01:00:58.982


No, it was not common.



01:00:59.542 --> 01:01:01.002


It did happen from time to time,



01:01:01.022 --> 01:01:02.203


but it was not common.



01:01:03.063 --> 01:01:05.684


According to the eighteen thirty census,



01:01:06.445 --> 01:01:08.025


which the eighteen forty



01:01:08.065 --> 01:01:09.066


data would not have been



01:01:09.106 --> 01:01:10.526


available yet at this time,



01:01:11.567 --> 01:01:13.488


according to the eighteen thirty census,



01:01:14.588 --> 01:01:18.830


the average age for women to marry



01:01:19.725 --> 01:01:22.326


was nineteen and when they



01:01:22.426 --> 01:01:24.267


did get married at nineteen



01:01:24.747 --> 01:01:25.967


they were marrying other



01:01:26.287 --> 01:01:28.128


nineteen twenty twenty one



01:01:28.168 --> 01:01:30.309


twenty two year olds not



01:01:30.689 --> 01:01:32.089


thirty seven year old men



01:01:33.990 --> 01:01:35.611


and yes i'm sure we all



01:01:35.631 --> 01:01:37.752


have an anecdotal instance



01:01:38.392 --> 01:01:40.012


of someone in our lives of



01:01:40.072 --> 01:01:41.313


some relative in the past



01:01:41.353 --> 01:01:42.373


who married young married



01:01:42.393 --> 01:01:45.034


another person young that



01:01:45.054 --> 01:01:46.075


doesn't mean it was common



01:01:46.135 --> 01:01:47.035


it was not common



01:01:48.584 --> 01:01:49.245


And also,



01:01:49.645 --> 01:01:51.007


Joseph Smith was the only one



01:01:51.047 --> 01:01:51.908


running around marrying



01:01:51.948 --> 01:01:54.130


multiple people at this time in history,



01:01:54.731 --> 01:01:55.011


right?



01:01:55.532 --> 01:01:57.814


And trying to justify it by



01:01:57.874 --> 01:02:00.018


saying that God told him



01:02:00.058 --> 01:02:02.584


that this is what was meant for them.



01:02:04.816 --> 01:02:05.857


After leaving the church,



01:02:06.137 --> 01:02:07.439


dissenter Catherine Lewis



01:02:07.499 --> 01:02:08.960


reported Helen as saying,



01:02:09.641 --> 01:02:10.722


I would never have been



01:02:10.802 --> 01:02:12.183


sealed to Joseph had I



01:02:12.223 --> 01:02:13.685


known it was anything more



01:02:13.725 --> 01:02:14.686


than a ceremony.



01:02:15.956 --> 01:02:17.498


Assuming this statement was accurate,



01:02:17.518 --> 01:02:18.379


which is not certain,



01:02:18.419 --> 01:02:19.420


the question arises



01:02:19.500 --> 01:02:20.581


regarding her meaning of



01:02:20.641 --> 01:02:21.642


more than a ceremony.



01:02:22.659 --> 01:02:24.740


While sexuality is a possibility,



01:02:24.840 --> 01:02:25.500


a more likely



01:02:25.540 --> 01:02:26.760


interpretation is that the



01:02:26.800 --> 01:02:28.260


ceremony prevented her from



01:02:28.360 --> 01:02:29.461


associating with her



01:02:29.501 --> 01:02:31.601


friends as an unmarried teenager,



01:02:32.181 --> 01:02:33.782


causing her dramatic



01:02:34.082 --> 01:02:37.457


distress after the sealing.



01:02:37.497 --> 01:02:42.138


This is what needed to sink in for me.



01:02:42.258 --> 01:02:44.359


Is that even if



01:02:46.184 --> 01:02:47.645


Joseph Smith was a prophet



01:02:47.685 --> 01:02:49.125


who was called of God.



01:02:49.899 --> 01:02:52.200


Doing this kind of thing to young women,



01:02:52.660 --> 01:02:54.601


it's not something that God



01:02:54.621 --> 01:02:57.062


that I believed in would



01:02:57.082 --> 01:02:57.883


have been okay with.



01:02:58.794 --> 01:03:01.795


This was a pretty big straw for me.



01:03:04.013 --> 01:03:04.433


Um, and,



01:03:04.674 --> 01:03:06.574


and there was one more account



01:03:06.995 --> 01:03:08.796


that I alluded to earlier



01:03:08.836 --> 01:03:11.318


that I would like to share with you.



01:03:11.358 --> 01:03:14.559


But when my parents and I



01:03:14.599 --> 01:03:16.100


had a conversation about me



01:03:16.160 --> 01:03:17.301


leaving the church and some



01:03:17.341 --> 01:03:19.234


of the reasons why, um,



01:03:19.254 --> 01:03:20.434


this was one of the things



01:03:20.454 --> 01:03:21.995


that I talked to them about



01:03:22.335 --> 01:03:23.256


because my daughter,



01:03:23.276 --> 01:03:24.576


my youngest daughter right now is.



01:03:25.537 --> 01:03:27.438


At the time we had this conversation.



01:03:28.679 --> 01:03:31.121


She was thirteen.



01:03:31.201 --> 01:03:32.342


And I said to my dad,



01:03:32.862 --> 01:03:34.663


what if it was my daughter?



01:03:35.064 --> 01:03:36.905


He used her name.



01:03:36.945 --> 01:03:39.046


What if the leader of some



01:03:39.587 --> 01:03:41.548


group came to her and said,



01:03:41.728 --> 01:03:42.569


God has told me



01:03:44.223 --> 01:03:46.825


xyz um what if it was the



01:03:46.865 --> 01:03:48.746


bishop of my ward that said



01:03:49.146 --> 01:03:50.787


god has told me that



01:03:51.767 --> 01:03:52.708


polygamy is going to be



01:03:52.908 --> 01:03:54.669


reinstituted the prophet



01:03:54.709 --> 01:03:55.790


has already said it's going



01:03:55.810 --> 01:03:58.191


to happen and he's told all



01:03:58.211 --> 01:03:59.412


of the bishops to go choose



01:03:59.452 --> 01:04:02.854


a wife and i choose you



01:04:02.895 --> 01:04:03.635


what would you say to



01:04:03.675 --> 01:04:07.077


felicia my daughter in in that case



01:04:08.372 --> 01:04:10.493


and you know oh wow that's



01:04:10.633 --> 01:04:11.533


you know it's a different



01:04:11.553 --> 01:04:12.233


thing it's not going to



01:04:12.273 --> 01:04:14.294


happen like all of the



01:04:14.334 --> 01:04:16.035


apologetic answers and i'm



01:04:16.095 --> 01:04:17.715


sorry but if you can't put



01:04:17.735 --> 01:04:19.676


yourself in those shoes and



01:04:19.756 --> 01:04:20.836


say what would i do in this



01:04:20.876 --> 01:04:22.217


situation if it was my own



01:04:22.257 --> 01:04:24.537


child if it was my own



01:04:24.577 --> 01:04:25.638


granddaughter if it was my



01:04:25.698 --> 01:04:28.039


niece any of those things



01:04:29.919 --> 01:04:31.860


this is the way that predators operate



01:04:33.192 --> 01:04:34.352


And I'm going to go back to



01:04:34.433 --> 01:04:35.673


Sandra Tanner for a moment



01:04:35.713 --> 01:04:37.194


because I did finally go



01:04:37.234 --> 01:04:38.314


back and listen to the rest



01:04:38.374 --> 01:04:39.655


of her lecture after I went



01:04:39.695 --> 01:04:40.975


down this little rabbit hole.



01:04:42.916 --> 01:04:45.097


And I want to share with you



01:04:45.537 --> 01:04:47.298


what finally solidified it



01:04:47.418 --> 01:04:50.322


in my mind to put these two



01:04:50.362 --> 01:04:53.583


things together and to make



01:04:53.643 --> 01:04:54.924


it pretty absolute for me.



01:04:56.045 --> 01:04:57.131


more on the dinner I had



01:04:57.151 --> 01:04:58.418


with this Mormon historian,



01:05:00.837 --> 01:05:01.818


one of the things that I



01:05:01.938 --> 01:05:06.120


asked him in our long conversation was,



01:05:07.160 --> 01:05:07.920


well, I have to tell you,



01:05:07.960 --> 01:05:09.041


this was when I was working



01:05:09.121 --> 01:05:12.182


on the newsletter that we just put out,



01:05:12.742 --> 01:05:14.583


Sacred Marriage or Secret Affair.



01:05:14.663 --> 01:05:15.964


And I'd just been working on



01:05:16.044 --> 01:05:17.084


all of that and going



01:05:17.104 --> 01:05:17.785


through all the stories of



01:05:17.805 --> 01:05:19.025


Joseph Smith's wives and



01:05:19.065 --> 01:05:20.686


was fairly appalled by the whole thing.



01:05:21.326 --> 01:05:22.667


And so I'm having dinner



01:05:22.687 --> 01:05:23.907


with this guy and I said,



01:05:24.828 --> 01:05:25.808


how can you avoid the



01:05:25.828 --> 01:05:27.409


conclusion that Joseph



01:05:27.429 --> 01:05:29.530


Smith was a sexual predator?



01:05:30.933 --> 01:05:32.017


And he said, well, you know,



01:05:32.057 --> 01:05:34.787


that's... He was sincere.



01:05:35.209 --> 01:05:35.410


But...



01:05:38.230 --> 01:05:39.391


I said, no,



01:05:39.511 --> 01:05:41.191


I don't think that's the way you get it.



01:05:41.252 --> 01:05:44.173


Because, for instance, in the newsletter,



01:05:44.733 --> 01:05:46.694


I tell about the case of Lucy Walker.



01:05:47.415 --> 01:05:47.555


Now,



01:05:47.595 --> 01:05:49.576


here's a young girl where she's in a



01:05:49.616 --> 01:05:51.637


family of ten children.



01:05:52.897 --> 01:05:54.958


The family converts to Mormonism.



01:05:54.978 --> 01:05:56.819


They end up moving to Nauvoo.



01:05:57.439 --> 01:05:59.661


But the mother gets malaria



01:05:59.761 --> 01:06:00.821


in Nauvoo and dies.



01:06:00.941 --> 01:06:02.562


And then one of the children dies.



01:06:02.742 --> 01:06:04.123


So now we're down to nine kids.



01:06:05.067 --> 01:06:07.248


And Joseph Smith's solution



01:06:07.268 --> 01:06:09.489


to this family's situation



01:06:09.569 --> 01:06:10.789


is to send the father on a



01:06:10.849 --> 01:06:13.390


two-year mission to the East Coast,



01:06:13.930 --> 01:06:15.831


divide up the children into



01:06:15.871 --> 01:06:17.452


different homes and take



01:06:17.492 --> 01:06:19.352


the teenagers into his home.



01:06:20.173 --> 01:06:21.293


So now he has this



01:06:21.353 --> 01:06:22.513


sixteen-year-old girl



01:06:22.774 --> 01:06:23.754


living in the home with her



01:06:23.814 --> 01:06:25.274


brother that's a year or so



01:06:25.374 --> 01:06:25.955


older than her.



01:06:26.995 --> 01:06:28.816


He starts privately going to



01:06:28.856 --> 01:06:29.656


the sister to try to



01:06:29.696 --> 01:06:31.837


convince her to become his plural wife.



01:06:32.849 --> 01:06:36.212


and um she's praying about



01:06:36.252 --> 01:06:36.852


the whole thing she don't



01:06:36.872 --> 01:06:37.673


know what to make out of it



01:06:37.773 --> 01:06:39.254


well then it turns out that



01:06:39.715 --> 01:06:41.976


joseph's wife emma and the



01:06:41.996 --> 01:06:43.458


brother go on a shopping



01:06:43.498 --> 01:06:45.139


trip to st louis and while



01:06:45.159 --> 01:06:47.120


they're gone joseph gets



01:06:47.160 --> 01:06:49.502


the girl to marry him and



01:06:49.542 --> 01:06:51.584


she's just that date the



01:06:51.604 --> 01:06:53.245


day before turn seventeen



01:06:53.746 --> 01:06:54.826


when she marries him in



01:06:54.907 --> 01:06:56.568


polygamy behind emma's back



01:06:57.439 --> 01:06:59.060


She later wrote in her own



01:06:59.121 --> 01:07:00.222


story of her life.



01:07:00.382 --> 01:07:01.703


What a devastating thing and



01:07:01.763 --> 01:07:02.864


how hard this was for her



01:07:02.904 --> 01:07:04.746


to do She said here I was



01:07:04.766 --> 01:07:06.007


without mother our father



01:07:06.047 --> 01:07:08.269


to consult no one around to



01:07:08.309 --> 01:07:10.531


go to to talk to And yet



01:07:10.551 --> 01:07:11.692


being presented with this



01:07:11.772 --> 01:07:13.934


great issue And of course



01:07:13.954 --> 01:07:15.235


she prays and finally feels



01:07:15.295 --> 01:07:16.196


god spoke to her and told



01:07:16.216 --> 01:07:17.457


her to do this and she goes



01:07:17.517 --> 01:07:19.399


into this plural marriage but



01:07:20.059 --> 01:07:22.000


So I'm talking to this historian.



01:07:23.881 --> 01:07:25.341


This shows a deliberate



01:07:25.781 --> 01:07:27.702


effort of isolating this



01:07:27.802 --> 01:07:29.903


girl from her family,



01:07:30.063 --> 01:07:31.304


from everyone around her,



01:07:31.344 --> 01:07:33.125


from any support system in



01:07:33.165 --> 01:07:35.546


a time of grief and loneliness.



01:07:35.886 --> 01:07:37.146


To put that kind of pressure



01:07:37.186 --> 01:07:40.368


on her is signs of a spiritual predator.



01:07:40.808 --> 01:07:41.848


I don't see how we can



01:07:41.908 --> 01:07:44.609


excuse this kind of behavior and say,



01:07:44.689 --> 01:07:45.530


well, he was sincere.



01:07:46.523 --> 01:07:47.923


You wouldn't give that kind



01:07:48.043 --> 01:07:49.404


of leeway to someone that



01:07:49.424 --> 01:07:50.804


approached your sixteen



01:07:50.824 --> 01:07:51.544


year old daughter.



01:07:52.365 --> 01:07:54.185


If your pastor came to you



01:07:54.725 --> 01:07:55.726


to your sixteen year old



01:07:55.766 --> 01:07:57.666


daughter behind your back



01:07:58.506 --> 01:08:00.247


and proposed something like



01:08:00.307 --> 01:08:02.847


that to her and you found out about it,



01:08:02.867 --> 01:08:04.428


you'd be so mad to try to kill a guy.



01:08:06.672 --> 01:08:08.753


So why does Joseph get a



01:08:08.793 --> 01:08:10.093


pass on these things?



01:08:10.433 --> 01:08:12.274


I don't understand how they



01:08:12.314 --> 01:08:14.435


keep saying it's okay.



01:08:15.095 --> 01:08:16.995


And if you read the story of



01:08:17.035 --> 01:08:18.056


the different wives,



01:08:18.196 --> 01:08:19.336


they all are horrible.



01:08:20.557 --> 01:08:22.797


Going to young teenage girls and saying,



01:08:22.857 --> 01:08:24.498


God sent an angel with a



01:08:24.538 --> 01:08:25.718


drawn sword that was going



01:08:25.738 --> 01:08:27.419


to kill Joseph Smith if he



01:08:27.459 --> 01:08:28.799


didn't go into polygamy.



01:08:28.839 --> 01:08:29.799


If she didn't marry him,



01:08:29.859 --> 01:08:30.920


God was going to kill him.



01:08:31.870 --> 01:08:35.191


And the struggle,



01:08:35.351 --> 01:08:35.991


the weight of



01:08:36.031 --> 01:08:37.272


responsibility this would



01:08:37.312 --> 01:08:38.632


put on a teenage girl,



01:08:38.652 --> 01:08:40.573


how can I be responsible



01:08:40.613 --> 01:08:41.713


for the prophet's death?



01:08:42.753 --> 01:08:43.754


Then he would also put the



01:08:43.814 --> 01:08:45.154


responsibility on these



01:08:45.194 --> 01:08:48.075


young girls that if you consent to this,



01:08:48.175 --> 01:08:49.235


it will ensure your



01:08:49.295 --> 01:08:51.536


parents' eternal salvation.



01:08:51.936 --> 01:08:54.337


They will have exaltation.



01:08:54.397 --> 01:08:56.117


How can a girl say, no,



01:08:56.177 --> 01:08:56.857


I'm not going to help my



01:08:56.917 --> 01:08:58.438


parents have eternal life?



01:08:59.390 --> 01:09:01.613


And so she finally submits to this.



01:09:02.534 --> 01:09:03.355


But to me,



01:09:03.415 --> 01:09:05.437


it clearly is the pattern of a



01:09:05.517 --> 01:09:06.358


sexual predator.



01:09:07.739 --> 01:09:09.581


But this fellow feels the



01:09:09.722 --> 01:09:11.564


Mormon church does more good than harm,



01:09:11.624 --> 01:09:15.428


and we're here now,



01:09:15.548 --> 01:09:18.972


and that's where his family's at, and,



01:09:19.492 --> 01:09:19.893


you know...



01:09:21.114 --> 01:09:22.415


Of course, he's not living in Utah,



01:09:22.475 --> 01:09:24.456


so it's much he's got a lot



01:09:24.496 --> 01:09:25.616


of non-Mormons around him.



01:09:26.036 --> 01:09:27.537


And so he doesn't feel the



01:09:27.557 --> 01:09:28.637


same pressure as you would



01:09:28.677 --> 01:09:29.858


if you were here locally.



01:09:31.599 --> 01:09:32.619


But we see this more and



01:09:32.639 --> 01:09:35.160


more with the scholars of this.



01:09:39.951 --> 01:09:41.492


Moving away from any truth



01:09:41.532 --> 01:09:42.892


claims and everything



01:09:42.932 --> 01:09:44.813


becomes relative Doesn't



01:09:44.853 --> 01:09:46.274


work for you if it's



01:09:46.314 --> 01:09:47.655


working for you stay there



01:09:47.675 --> 01:09:48.515


if it's not working then



01:09:48.535 --> 01:09:51.116


look for something else and



01:09:51.156 --> 01:09:55.318


so Our heart is that they



01:09:55.358 --> 01:09:56.359


come to see truth is



01:09:56.399 --> 01:09:57.839


important what we do with



01:09:57.879 --> 01:09:59.080


our lives is important and



01:10:00.619 --> 01:10:03.244


The lies of Joseph Smith do affect people.



01:10:03.926 --> 01:10:05.749


They aren't just innocent



01:10:05.769 --> 01:10:08.034


things that don't touch other people.



01:10:08.655 --> 01:10:10.438


Because of Joseph Smith's polygamy,



01:10:10.899 --> 01:10:12.362


we have all the polygamists today.



01:10:14.487 --> 01:10:15.288


Mormons will say to me,



01:10:15.328 --> 01:10:16.588


but look at the fruits of Mormonism.



01:10:16.868 --> 01:10:17.249


I say, yeah,



01:10:17.269 --> 01:10:18.950


the fruits of Mormonism are



01:10:19.010 --> 01:10:20.070


sixty thousand people



01:10:20.110 --> 01:10:21.892


living in polygamy today.



01:10:21.912 --> 01:10:23.633


That's the fruit of Joseph Smith.



01:10:24.333 --> 01:10:25.254


Those people wouldn't be in



01:10:25.294 --> 01:10:27.055


those situations had it not



01:10:27.115 --> 01:10:28.636


been for him privately



01:10:28.676 --> 01:10:30.457


going to teenage girls and



01:10:30.497 --> 01:10:32.678


coercing them into plural marriage.



01:10:33.944 --> 01:10:35.025


So I don't think it gets a



01:10:35.065 --> 01:10:37.527


whole lot more clear than that,



01:10:38.207 --> 01:10:40.429


putting that into that perspective.



01:10:40.909 --> 01:10:43.491


And for those of you who are



01:10:43.632 --> 01:10:45.493


still having a hard time



01:10:46.854 --> 01:10:48.395


putting yourself in the



01:10:48.435 --> 01:10:52.618


position of this particular situation,



01:10:53.819 --> 01:10:55.501


take it away from religion for a second.



01:10:56.562 --> 01:11:00.925


Let's say that you are a middle-aged man.



01:11:02.172 --> 01:11:03.593


and you have a wife and



01:11:03.613 --> 01:11:06.796


family and you get a job at



01:11:07.157 --> 01:11:08.939


a corporation that is



01:11:09.099 --> 01:11:10.760


growing really fast and



01:11:10.780 --> 01:11:11.981


let's say that the ceo of



01:11:12.001 --> 01:11:13.803


this corporation is is



01:11:14.103 --> 01:11:16.005


really young successful guy



01:11:16.806 --> 01:11:19.709


and let's say tragically



01:11:19.749 --> 01:11:23.172


your wife dies and the ceo



01:11:23.532 --> 01:11:25.194


of the corporation comes to you and says



01:11:27.172 --> 01:11:29.094


know what you really need is



01:11:29.134 --> 01:11:30.957


a change of scenery if you



01:11:31.037 --> 01:11:34.841


stay here you know near the



01:11:34.861 --> 01:11:36.904


corporation you're going to



01:11:36.924 --> 01:11:38.485


just get so depressed that



01:11:38.505 --> 01:11:39.146


i think it's going to be



01:11:39.186 --> 01:11:40.127


terrible for your mental



01:11:40.167 --> 01:11:41.329


health and i really think



01:11:42.249 --> 01:11:44.671


that you should relocate to



01:11:44.852 --> 01:11:45.812


a different area.



01:11:47.574 --> 01:11:48.915


I'm going to give you a job



01:11:49.156 --> 01:11:51.878


in our office that's five



01:11:51.898 --> 01:11:53.299


or six hundred miles away from here.



01:11:54.000 --> 01:11:54.741


And I'll tell you what,



01:11:54.901 --> 01:11:56.262


because I think you need



01:11:56.322 --> 01:11:59.886


time to grieve and time to



01:12:02.010 --> 01:12:04.411


get, you know, into a better health,



01:12:04.931 --> 01:12:06.232


mental health place.



01:12:06.452 --> 01:12:07.773


I think you should go alone



01:12:08.393 --> 01:12:10.214


to that other location.



01:12:11.034 --> 01:12:12.195


And what I will do for you



01:12:13.035 --> 01:12:15.336


is I will take in your oldest children,



01:12:16.457 --> 01:12:17.998


your oldest sons and daughters,



01:12:18.478 --> 01:12:19.998


and I will call them my own.



01:12:20.038 --> 01:12:21.679


I'll treat them just like my own kids.



01:12:22.640 --> 01:12:23.840


I'll give them a place to live.



01:12:23.880 --> 01:12:25.361


They'll have everything that they need.



01:12:25.661 --> 01:12:27.722


You won't have to worry about them at all.



01:12:28.462 --> 01:12:29.503


You just go and heal.



01:12:30.238 --> 01:12:33.920


So middle-aged man accepts the position,



01:12:34.020 --> 01:12:35.121


goes away on the transfer.



01:12:35.681 --> 01:12:38.903


His oldest kids go and live with the CEO.



01:12:38.923 --> 01:12:39.684


Then one day,



01:12:40.741 --> 01:12:42.922


the CEO's wife takes the



01:12:43.022 --> 01:12:45.483


oldest son of this man out



01:12:45.523 --> 01:12:47.624


of town on a trip.



01:12:48.545 --> 01:12:49.285


And while they're gone,



01:12:50.206 --> 01:12:52.307


the CEO goes and



01:12:52.347 --> 01:12:54.988


propositions the oldest of the daughters,



01:12:55.048 --> 01:12:55.809


who's seventeen.



01:12:56.635 --> 01:12:57.936


How would you feel as that



01:12:57.996 --> 01:13:00.078


middle-aged man when you



01:13:00.118 --> 01:13:02.100


come back from your



01:13:03.281 --> 01:13:04.622


assignment at another



01:13:04.642 --> 01:13:06.283


location working for this



01:13:06.323 --> 01:13:08.445


corporation and you find



01:13:08.485 --> 01:13:10.407


out that the CEO has been



01:13:10.447 --> 01:13:11.227


messing around with your



01:13:11.508 --> 01:13:12.228


teenage daughter?



01:13:12.910 --> 01:13:14.332


Would it matter the reason



01:13:14.372 --> 01:13:15.613


that he claimed to do it?



01:13:16.406 --> 01:13:17.906


because that seems to be



01:13:17.946 --> 01:13:19.487


what a lot of the mormon



01:13:19.507 --> 01:13:22.088


apologists say is that they



01:13:22.168 --> 01:13:23.868


excuse this behavior of



01:13:23.908 --> 01:13:25.989


joseph smith because they



01:13:26.049 --> 01:13:27.769


say that the revelation



01:13:27.809 --> 01:13:28.929


came from god that he was



01:13:28.949 --> 01:13:31.690


supposed to do it the



01:13:31.750 --> 01:13:33.011


reason wouldn't matter to



01:13:33.051 --> 01:13:36.331


me it wouldn't and you do



01:13:36.391 --> 01:13:37.532


sort of have to remove



01:13:37.552 --> 01:13:39.672


yourself for a moment from



01:13:39.712 --> 01:13:40.913


the religious perspective



01:13:41.013 --> 01:13:42.533


in order to really put this



01:13:42.633 --> 01:13:45.634


in the right place in your mind because



01:13:47.371 --> 01:13:49.532


when we believe that someone



01:13:49.872 --> 01:13:52.232


speaks for god we do excuse



01:13:52.412 --> 01:13:53.693


all of their behavior we



01:13:53.733 --> 01:13:54.473


say well there must have



01:13:54.493 --> 01:13:56.713


been a reason for it you



01:13:56.733 --> 01:13:58.734


know the god that i



01:13:58.774 --> 01:13:59.954


believed in would never



01:13:59.994 --> 01:14:01.434


have been speaking to a man



01:14:01.554 --> 01:14:03.477


like joseph smith and the



01:14:03.517 --> 01:14:07.038


apologetics of oh you know



01:14:07.078 --> 01:14:08.999


they would never let the



01:14:09.039 --> 01:14:10.639


prophet lead the church astray



01:14:11.562 --> 01:14:12.663


it's just something that we



01:14:12.723 --> 01:14:14.183


tell ourselves because we



01:14:14.223 --> 01:14:15.964


can't believe their



01:14:15.984 --> 01:14:18.706


behavior was so terrible



01:14:19.707 --> 01:14:21.007


and so we we explain it



01:14:21.027 --> 01:14:22.068


away by saying there must



01:14:22.088 --> 01:14:22.888


be some other kind of



01:14:22.948 --> 01:14:23.969


explanation that god is



01:14:24.009 --> 01:14:26.028


good with so again we're



01:14:26.309 --> 01:14:27.529


we're adding conjecture



01:14:27.589 --> 01:14:28.650


upon conjecture upon



01:14:28.690 --> 01:14:30.931


conjecture to excuse



01:14:31.371 --> 01:14:32.872


terribly bad behavior



01:14:33.792 --> 01:14:35.193


because we want to believe



01:14:36.496 --> 01:14:37.737


that it really was God



01:14:37.977 --> 01:14:39.058


speaking to Joseph Smith



01:14:39.078 --> 01:14:40.398


and not just that he wasn't



01:14:40.519 --> 01:14:42.740


a narcissist who decided to



01:14:42.780 --> 01:14:44.661


form his own religion so



01:14:44.681 --> 01:14:46.082


that he could have power



01:14:46.242 --> 01:14:48.524


and money and access to young women.



01:14:49.664 --> 01:14:52.857


This is how predators behave.



01:14:52.877 --> 01:14:54.538


They isolate their victims.



01:14:56.139 --> 01:14:58.160


They gather trust in the community.



01:14:59.601 --> 01:15:01.422


They appear one way in



01:15:01.583 --> 01:15:03.564


public and another way in private.



01:15:05.147 --> 01:15:06.267


so that people don't



01:15:06.307 --> 01:15:09.248


question their authority, their judgment,



01:15:09.288 --> 01:15:10.129


their character.



01:15:10.689 --> 01:15:12.089


So that when people do start



01:15:12.109 --> 01:15:13.190


to make allegations,



01:15:13.350 --> 01:15:15.511


everybody questions the victim instead.



01:15:16.411 --> 01:15:18.872


Because we all say things like, oh,



01:15:18.932 --> 01:15:19.832


not Bill Cosby.



01:15:20.312 --> 01:15:21.913


He has such a great reputation.



01:15:23.753 --> 01:15:25.054


Oh, not Larry Nassar.



01:15:25.294 --> 01:15:26.074


He's a doctor.



01:15:26.454 --> 01:15:27.595


He would never abuse women.



01:15:29.255 --> 01:15:31.176


Not this person who has such



01:15:31.196 --> 01:15:32.956


a great reputation in the community.



01:15:33.417 --> 01:15:34.317


That's why it takes



01:15:35.653 --> 01:15:37.415


two and three and seven and



01:15:37.535 --> 01:15:38.736


eight and twelve and twenty



01:15:38.776 --> 01:15:40.578


five reports before someone



01:15:40.638 --> 01:15:42.079


finally listens to the



01:15:42.139 --> 01:15:44.942


victims instead of



01:15:45.002 --> 01:15:46.384


listening to the predator



01:15:47.114 --> 01:15:48.855


we see this over and over



01:15:48.915 --> 01:15:50.037


and over again in our



01:15:50.077 --> 01:15:52.679


society victims get blamed



01:15:52.859 --> 01:15:54.221


and shamed when they're the



01:15:54.341 --> 01:15:56.283


ones who call out the predator



01:15:57.265 --> 01:15:58.866


And I hear this all the time too.



01:15:58.986 --> 01:16:00.987


Oh, there's false reports all the time.



01:16:01.368 --> 01:16:02.588


Women always make false



01:16:02.628 --> 01:16:03.729


reports trying to ruin the



01:16:03.749 --> 01:16:04.750


reputation of a man.



01:16:05.370 --> 01:16:08.132


That is not true.



01:16:08.152 --> 01:16:10.993


The statistic that is correct,



01:16:11.274 --> 01:16:13.715


which is put out by an



01:16:13.815 --> 01:16:15.636


organization who researches



01:16:15.696 --> 01:16:18.258


these reports says that



01:16:18.298 --> 01:16:21.861


between six and ten percent of reports



01:16:22.917 --> 01:16:24.678


of sexual abuse or sexual



01:16:24.718 --> 01:16:26.520


assault between six and ten



01:16:26.560 --> 01:16:27.941


percent turn out to be



01:16:28.001 --> 01:16:30.903


false claims when law



01:16:30.983 --> 01:16:32.464


enforcement is involved and



01:16:32.504 --> 01:16:33.705


the woman is reporting it



01:16:33.805 --> 01:16:35.086


or the man is reporting it



01:16:35.146 --> 01:16:36.567


to law enforcement that



01:16:36.647 --> 01:16:38.368


number drops to three



01:16:38.388 --> 01:16:41.699


percent so my challenge to



01:16:41.739 --> 01:16:43.721


you is to believe ninety



01:16:43.781 --> 01:16:44.781


seven percent of the



01:16:44.821 --> 01:16:48.324


victims believe the victims



01:16:49.347 --> 01:16:51.128


And this is why I go off on



01:16:51.168 --> 01:16:52.808


a tangent because in my case,



01:16:54.589 --> 01:16:56.009


my personal experience,



01:16:58.210 --> 01:16:59.670


one of my predators passed



01:16:59.710 --> 01:17:02.231


away before I even had the



01:17:02.291 --> 01:17:03.591


opportunity to think about



01:17:03.831 --> 01:17:05.792


filing a police report.



01:17:05.932 --> 01:17:09.173


It took me nearly



01:17:09.213 --> 01:17:11.014


thirty-five years before I



01:17:11.054 --> 01:17:12.754


felt like I deserved to



01:17:12.814 --> 01:17:14.655


speak up against this predator.



01:17:15.774 --> 01:17:17.415


Because of teachings in the



01:17:17.435 --> 01:17:20.096


church that teach us that



01:17:21.139 --> 01:17:22.780


if we put ourselves in a bad position,



01:17:22.820 --> 01:17:24.681


then what happens to us is our fault.



01:17:26.842 --> 01:17:28.223


One of my other predators,



01:17:28.883 --> 01:17:29.923


I will never be able to



01:17:29.943 --> 01:17:32.845


make a police report about.



01:17:32.865 --> 01:17:33.865


For various reasons,



01:17:34.045 --> 01:17:35.586


I won't get into the specifics.



01:17:36.715 --> 01:17:40.037


But just knowing the



01:17:40.077 --> 01:17:42.098


circumstances of what happened,



01:17:42.798 --> 01:17:44.919


and who that person is and who I am.



01:17:45.780 --> 01:17:48.101


And knowing now having been



01:17:48.121 --> 01:17:49.802


through the process of making reports,



01:17:50.343 --> 01:17:51.283


I will never be able to



01:17:51.323 --> 01:17:51.943


hold that person



01:17:51.983 --> 01:17:55.006


accountable for what they did to me.



01:17:55.086 --> 01:17:57.608


So it is not too far of a



01:17:57.648 --> 01:17:58.928


reach to say that Joseph



01:17:58.948 --> 01:18:01.670


Smith was a predator.



01:18:01.830 --> 01:18:04.712


And if that is true, which I believe it is,



01:18:04.952 --> 01:18:05.913


I believe the evidence



01:18:05.953 --> 01:18:07.954


clearly shows that he



01:18:07.994 --> 01:18:09.535


deliberately isolated



01:18:10.709 --> 01:18:13.511


his victims in order to get



01:18:13.571 --> 01:18:15.876


what he wanted from them.



01:18:15.996 --> 01:18:17.217


And that he kept it secret,



01:18:17.277 --> 01:18:18.558


he kept it private only



01:18:18.618 --> 01:18:20.059


between the people that he really,



01:18:20.099 --> 01:18:22.581


really trusted for a very long time.



01:18:23.502 --> 01:18:24.823


And as you can see,



01:18:25.343 --> 01:18:26.404


he was successful at it.



01:18:26.624 --> 01:18:27.705


For a very long time,



01:18:28.125 --> 01:18:29.086


nobody talked about the



01:18:29.106 --> 01:18:30.067


fact that Joseph Smith



01:18:30.087 --> 01:18:30.987


practiced polygamy.



01:18:31.127 --> 01:18:33.275


It was all blamed on Brigham Young.



01:18:33.335 --> 01:18:34.515


So if you believe



01:18:35.583 --> 01:18:36.643


if you can frame it in the



01:18:36.663 --> 01:18:38.304


way that Joseph Smith was a predator.



01:18:39.245 --> 01:18:41.326


Do you believe that he



01:18:41.346 --> 01:18:42.246


really spoke to God?



01:18:42.506 --> 01:18:43.426


Do you believe that God



01:18:43.466 --> 01:18:44.587


continued to speak to him



01:18:44.667 --> 01:18:45.467


after this happened?



01:18:47.308 --> 01:18:48.268


I was taught as a young



01:18:48.288 --> 01:18:49.669


woman that Joseph Smith was



01:18:49.689 --> 01:18:51.089


carted off to jail on



01:18:51.149 --> 01:18:52.690


trumped up charges and that



01:18:53.270 --> 01:18:54.451


he was martyred.



01:18:55.011 --> 01:18:55.451


In other words,



01:18:55.491 --> 01:18:56.852


he died for what he believed in.



01:18:57.529 --> 01:18:58.810


It wasn't until later that I



01:18:58.850 --> 01:19:00.110


found out that the reason



01:19:00.150 --> 01:19:01.751


he was in jail is because



01:19:03.249 --> 01:19:04.550


the Nauvoo Expositor,



01:19:05.130 --> 01:19:06.550


which was a newspaper that



01:19:06.570 --> 01:19:07.911


was printed specifically



01:19:07.951 --> 01:19:08.991


for the purpose of



01:19:09.071 --> 01:19:10.392


reporting on Joseph Smith's



01:19:10.772 --> 01:19:12.393


illicit activities with young women.



01:19:13.733 --> 01:19:14.433


And Joseph Smith,



01:19:14.453 --> 01:19:15.974


who was the mayor of the town at the time,



01:19:16.114 --> 01:19:17.595


ordered the printing press



01:19:17.635 --> 01:19:19.936


that printed that paper to be destroyed.



01:19:20.736 --> 01:19:23.738


And so he was sent to prison for that.



01:19:25.184 --> 01:19:25.384


So



01:19:26.637 --> 01:19:28.058


It was the only thing that



01:19:28.158 --> 01:19:31.780


pulled me out of my Mormon



01:19:31.820 --> 01:19:34.082


delusion was listening to



01:19:34.202 --> 01:19:36.603


Sandra Tanner frame



01:19:36.823 --> 01:19:39.785


Joseph's behavior as predatory.



01:19:41.146 --> 01:19:42.447


And having been through that



01:19:42.527 --> 01:19:43.647


as a victim myself,



01:19:45.048 --> 01:19:46.509


it finally woke me up.



01:19:47.492 --> 01:19:49.973


was literally the snap that



01:19:50.674 --> 01:19:51.995


that brought me out of that



01:19:52.035 --> 01:19:54.196


delusion and allowed me to



01:19:54.256 --> 01:19:55.496


start framing everything



01:19:55.636 --> 01:19:56.797


else that i knew about the



01:19:56.837 --> 01:19:58.018


church and church history



01:19:58.859 --> 01:20:00.720


in the correct way in the



01:20:00.760 --> 01:20:02.100


right light to stop making



01:20:02.160 --> 01:20:03.741


excuses and conjecture for



01:20:03.801 --> 01:20:05.922


people and to start looking



01:20:05.982 --> 01:20:08.844


at the truth and the facts and



01:20:10.066 --> 01:20:11.126


think it's pretty obvious



01:20:11.167 --> 01:20:12.547


the reason why i continue



01:20:12.587 --> 01:20:14.008


to talk about it because i



01:20:14.048 --> 01:20:15.428


believe in informed consent



01:20:15.548 --> 01:20:18.149


i believe in people knowing



01:20:18.169 --> 01:20:19.130


what they're getting into



01:20:19.730 --> 01:20:20.910


and i know as i've



01:20:20.950 --> 01:20:21.891


discussed on my channel



01:20:21.911 --> 01:20:22.691


before that the



01:20:22.731 --> 01:20:24.152


missionaries will not tell



01:20:24.172 --> 01:20:25.672


you these things when



01:20:25.692 --> 01:20:26.513


you're investigating



01:20:26.553 --> 01:20:29.794


mormonism and your seminary



01:20:29.834 --> 01:20:30.994


teacher will not tell you



01:20:31.034 --> 01:20:32.355


these things and your



01:20:32.375 --> 01:20:33.375


sunday school teacher will



01:20:33.415 --> 01:20:34.296


not tell you these things



01:20:34.316 --> 01:20:35.456


your bishop will not your



01:20:35.496 --> 01:20:37.257


relief society president will not



01:20:38.591 --> 01:20:39.992


I just think it's important



01:20:40.432 --> 01:20:41.512


to speak the truth.



01:20:41.652 --> 01:20:43.033


For anybody who is



01:20:43.153 --> 01:20:44.213


investigating the Mormon



01:20:44.253 --> 01:20:45.614


church or for anybody who's



01:20:45.634 --> 01:20:47.255


in the middle of a faith crisis,



01:20:47.915 --> 01:20:48.975


when you go to your bishop



01:20:49.015 --> 01:20:50.976


and say that you're having a faith crisis,



01:20:51.336 --> 01:20:52.717


he doesn't start pointing



01:20:52.757 --> 01:20:54.898


you to the gospel topic essays.



01:20:55.238 --> 01:20:57.139


He tells you to rely on the



01:20:57.199 --> 01:20:59.100


spiritual experiences that you've had



01:20:59.640 --> 01:21:00.801


to have greater faith,



01:21:00.841 --> 01:21:02.463


to fast and to pray and to



01:21:02.523 --> 01:21:03.403


read your scriptures and to



01:21:03.463 --> 01:21:04.584


come to church every Sunday



01:21:04.624 --> 01:21:06.706


and just keep doing the faithful things.



01:21:07.147 --> 01:21:08.788


And eventually these doubts



01:21:08.828 --> 01:21:10.849


and these questions will go away.



01:21:10.869 --> 01:21:12.270


So I came to the conclusion



01:21:13.211 --> 01:21:14.792


after all of this research,



01:21:15.053 --> 01:21:16.434


I think I went down this



01:21:16.494 --> 01:21:19.276


rabbit hole of reading the



01:21:19.336 --> 01:21:21.098


firsthand accounts of these women and



01:21:22.324 --> 01:21:25.307


And I think what did it for



01:21:25.347 --> 01:21:27.808


me too was that as a young woman,



01:21:28.449 --> 01:21:31.430


when I was,



01:21:31.490 --> 01:21:33.091


I think I had just turned nineteen,



01:21:33.952 --> 01:21:34.772


and I got into a



01:21:34.792 --> 01:21:35.833


relationship with a much



01:21:35.973 --> 01:21:38.114


older man who told me that



01:21:38.174 --> 01:21:39.435


he was a much younger man.



01:21:40.416 --> 01:21:41.797


And I believed everything that he said.



01:21:43.097 --> 01:21:44.638


And if you read my diaries



01:21:45.399 --> 01:21:46.259


at the time that this



01:21:46.299 --> 01:21:47.460


relationship was occurring,



01:21:48.540 --> 01:21:50.381


It's just so clear that I



01:21:50.441 --> 01:21:52.162


wanted to believe everything he said.



01:21:52.242 --> 01:21:53.623


And so if you read it,



01:21:53.643 --> 01:21:54.724


you would think that's a



01:21:54.764 --> 01:21:56.005


consensual relationship



01:21:56.045 --> 01:21:57.325


between two adults.



01:21:57.405 --> 01:21:58.566


I was, you know, nineteen,



01:21:58.606 --> 01:22:00.287


so I was over the age of majority.



01:22:02.008 --> 01:22:04.509


But ladies and gentlemen,



01:22:04.569 --> 01:22:07.231


children cannot give consent.



01:22:07.251 --> 01:22:08.252


Children under the age of



01:22:08.312 --> 01:22:10.613


eighteen cannot give consent.



01:22:11.849 --> 01:22:12.969


And if their parents gave



01:22:13.009 --> 01:22:15.490


consent on behalf of the child,



01:22:15.810 --> 01:22:19.486


then they are complicit in their abuse.



01:22:19.686 --> 01:22:22.367


I hope that what I have said



01:22:22.407 --> 01:22:24.488


tonight has helped you look



01:22:24.528 --> 01:22:26.008


at some things in a new light,



01:22:26.208 --> 01:22:27.048


at the very least.



01:22:28.889 --> 01:22:29.889


Trafficking is real.



01:22:30.289 --> 01:22:31.209


It really does happen.



01:22:34.379 --> 01:22:36.440


I started speaking out the



01:22:36.480 --> 01:22:38.620


very first time that I



01:22:38.681 --> 01:22:39.941


started talking about my



01:22:40.001 --> 01:22:43.022


experiences as a survivor



01:22:43.062 --> 01:22:45.103


of trafficking was right



01:22:45.143 --> 01:22:47.344


around the time that I



01:22:47.404 --> 01:22:49.285


published my book about a



01:22:49.325 --> 01:22:51.265


year and a half-ish ago or so.



01:22:52.105 --> 01:22:53.006


Coincidentally,



01:22:53.386 --> 01:22:55.146


my book was released on the



01:22:55.207 --> 01:22:56.727


same day that the Sound of



01:22:56.767 --> 01:22:58.187


Freedom movie was released.



01:23:00.328 --> 01:23:00.868


At the time,



01:23:01.228 --> 01:23:03.109


I already knew who Tim Ballard was,



01:23:03.229 --> 01:23:04.930


and I knew a lot of the



01:23:04.970 --> 01:23:06.251


allegations against him



01:23:06.391 --> 01:23:07.792


that you're just seeing now



01:23:07.832 --> 01:23:08.792


come out in the news.



01:23:11.014 --> 01:23:12.415


With multiple women filing



01:23:12.455 --> 01:23:13.375


lawsuits against him,



01:23:13.415 --> 01:23:14.276


claiming that he is a



01:23:14.316 --> 01:23:15.496


predator and claiming that



01:23:15.556 --> 01:23:18.858


he has abused and assaulted them.



01:23:18.878 --> 01:23:19.919


The pattern fits.



01:23:22.193 --> 01:23:22.353


Now,



01:23:22.434 --> 01:23:24.914


he has not been charged with a crime



01:23:25.054 --> 01:23:25.835


in a court of law.



01:23:25.915 --> 01:23:27.035


He's not been convicted.



01:23:27.715 --> 01:23:28.976


These lawsuits are pending.



01:23:29.876 --> 01:23:33.338


He has denied any wrongdoing, of course,



01:23:33.778 --> 01:23:36.839


but the pattern fits.



01:23:36.919 --> 01:23:37.900


And where did he learn it?



01:23:37.920 --> 01:23:40.293


He's been a Mormon his whole



01:23:40.313 --> 01:23:42.874


life until he was very publicly executed.



01:23:43.914 --> 01:23:45.256


Excommunicated, sorry.



01:23:46.077 --> 01:23:48.880


Or the crime of allying



01:23:48.920 --> 01:23:50.482


himself with one of the



01:23:50.522 --> 01:23:51.463


leaders of the church and



01:23:51.504 --> 01:23:52.565


making the church look bad.



01:23:53.506 --> 01:23:54.147


It's a pattern.



01:23:54.946 --> 01:23:55.787


It's a pattern that was



01:23:55.827 --> 01:23:56.828


taught by Joseph Smith.



01:23:58.053 --> 01:24:00.535


And I think I said this on



01:24:01.435 --> 01:24:04.017


my episode last Wednesday as well,



01:24:04.677 --> 01:24:05.978


is that the church leaders



01:24:06.038 --> 01:24:07.559


always told us to stay in the boat,



01:24:07.779 --> 01:24:08.560


just stay in the boat.



01:24:08.600 --> 01:24:09.961


I know you have doubts, but it's okay.



01:24:10.241 --> 01:24:11.402


We're all in the boat together.



01:24:11.442 --> 01:24:13.143


We're all sailing to the promised land.



01:24:13.623 --> 01:24:14.724


If you just stay in the boat,



01:24:14.744 --> 01:24:15.745


you'll get there with us.



01:24:16.185 --> 01:24:17.205


And then all of this is



01:24:17.245 --> 01:24:18.987


going to be resolved and



01:24:19.007 --> 01:24:22.123


you'll be happy and it'll be fine.



01:24:22.163 --> 01:24:24.345


But what I found was that



01:24:25.349 --> 01:24:26.830


boat was not in an ocean it



01:24:26.850 --> 01:24:28.412


was just stuck on the same



01:24:28.472 --> 01:24:29.352


rock that it's been on



01:24:29.432 --> 01:24:31.194


since and when i climbed



01:24:31.274 --> 01:24:32.635


out of the boat i found not



01:24:33.115 --> 01:24:34.577


a deep and scary ocean full



01:24:34.617 --> 01:24:36.678


of monsters but a wonderful



01:24:36.878 --> 01:24:38.780


wide world full of all



01:24:38.820 --> 01:24:40.161


kinds of possibilities



01:24:41.022 --> 01:24:41.963


where i could start to



01:24:42.003 --> 01:24:43.384


consider the thoughts and



01:24:43.524 --> 01:24:45.046


feelings and ideas of



01:24:45.266 --> 01:24:47.027


non-mormon people as valid



01:24:48.188 --> 01:24:49.309


rather than dismissing it



01:24:49.389 --> 01:24:50.310


and saying all that you



01:24:50.330 --> 01:24:52.973


just don't know the truth it's a pattern



01:24:54.040 --> 01:24:55.801


Joseph Smith established a pattern.



01:24:57.582 --> 01:25:00.604


And when Sandra Tanner said



01:25:01.125 --> 01:25:03.406


that the Mormon historian,



01:25:03.987 --> 01:25:06.748


his response to her



01:25:07.069 --> 01:25:08.349


assertion that Joseph Smith



01:25:08.369 --> 01:25:09.090


was a predator,



01:25:11.091 --> 01:25:13.012


he didn't refute that



01:25:13.032 --> 01:25:14.393


Joseph Smith was a predator.



01:25:15.454 --> 01:25:17.475


The first thing out of his mouth was, no,



01:25:17.515 --> 01:25:18.936


Joseph Smith was not a predator.



01:25:20.277 --> 01:25:22.539


What he said was Joseph Smith was sincere.



01:25:23.534 --> 01:25:24.434


meaning Joseph Smith



01:25:24.494 --> 01:25:26.636


sincerely believed that he



01:25:26.676 --> 01:25:27.696


was going to these young



01:25:27.736 --> 01:25:31.399


women on an errand from God.



01:25:31.419 --> 01:25:32.880


When that's your answer,



01:25:33.100 --> 01:25:34.080


rather than saying, no,



01:25:34.140 --> 01:25:37.402


he wasn't a predator, then you know,



01:25:38.102 --> 01:25:39.783


you know you can't make that claim.



01:25:40.343 --> 01:25:41.484


You know he was,



01:25:42.204 --> 01:25:43.805


because otherwise you would say that.



01:25:44.859 --> 01:25:46.700


look at the fruits look at



01:25:46.720 --> 01:25:48.740


what he's done yes exactly



01:25:48.800 --> 01:25:49.880


as sandra tanner says the



01:25:49.920 --> 01:25:51.381


fruits of his labor are



01:25:51.441 --> 01:25:53.041


sixty thousand people stuck



01:25:53.121 --> 01:25:55.782


in polygamy being abused



01:25:56.182 --> 01:25:57.682


and having their lives



01:25:57.722 --> 01:26:00.274


stolen from them and when



01:26:00.294 --> 01:26:01.014


you have the current



01:26:01.034 --> 01:26:03.015


leadership of the church



01:26:03.055 --> 01:26:03.755


breaking the law



01:26:04.696 --> 01:26:06.096


objectively that's the truth



01:26:07.514 --> 01:26:09.535


they broke the law they were



01:26:09.575 --> 01:26:10.696


fined by the securities and



01:26:10.756 --> 01:26:12.317


exchange commission because



01:26:12.357 --> 01:26:14.418


they didn't believe that



01:26:14.458 --> 01:26:16.499


they had to fill out those



01:26:16.539 --> 01:26:18.320


forms correctly they didn't



01:26:18.340 --> 01:26:19.280


believe they had to answer



01:26:19.320 --> 01:26:20.421


those questions correctly



01:26:21.221 --> 01:26:22.402


when asked how much they



01:26:22.442 --> 01:26:23.643


had in their fund they said



01:26:23.663 --> 01:26:24.583


a million dollars when they



01:26:24.623 --> 01:26:25.604


clearly knew that wasn't



01:26:25.644 --> 01:26:27.965


the case that's a lie it's a flat-out lie



01:26:29.137 --> 01:26:30.738


When I read about BH Roberts



01:26:30.798 --> 01:26:32.419


presenting to the entirety



01:26:32.439 --> 01:26:33.480


of the church leadership,



01:26:33.520 --> 01:26:34.501


a hundred and forty one



01:26:34.561 --> 01:26:35.681


typed pages with the



01:26:35.741 --> 01:26:37.643


problems with the



01:26:37.723 --> 01:26:38.824


historicity of the Book of



01:26:38.864 --> 01:26:41.005


Mormon and the anachronisms, for example,



01:26:41.085 --> 01:26:43.046


having horses and steel and



01:26:43.126 --> 01:26:43.927


silk and things that



01:26:43.987 --> 01:26:45.548


wouldn't have been here at that time.



01:26:46.389 --> 01:26:47.629


Their response was not to



01:26:47.689 --> 01:26:50.151


refute the claims of BH Roberts.



01:26:50.671 --> 01:26:52.032


Their response was to stand



01:26:52.072 --> 01:26:54.134


up and bear their testimony and to say,



01:26:54.514 --> 01:26:55.495


well, I know it's true.



01:26:55.775 --> 01:26:56.996


I've had a personal witness.



01:26:57.536 --> 01:26:58.937


so whatever these problems



01:26:59.057 --> 01:27:00.777


are they'll just go away



01:27:00.937 --> 01:27:03.298


because i know it's true



01:27:04.298 --> 01:27:05.739


when you want to spot a



01:27:05.799 --> 01:27:07.479


liar or a manipulator one



01:27:07.499 --> 01:27:08.460


of the best things that you



01:27:08.480 --> 01:27:09.940


can do is just listen to



01:27:09.980 --> 01:27:11.221


their response to your



01:27:11.301 --> 01:27:12.741


accusation or your



01:27:12.821 --> 01:27:14.863


allegation if they don't



01:27:14.963 --> 01:27:16.863


immediately refute what



01:27:16.903 --> 01:27:18.444


you're saying chances are



01:27:19.344 --> 01:27:21.285


that your accusation is accurate



01:27:23.530 --> 01:27:27.355


when somebody says you know



01:27:28.456 --> 01:27:29.698


if i were to ask someone



01:27:30.319 --> 01:27:31.640


when was the last time you



01:27:31.660 --> 01:27:34.464


watched pornography and



01:27:34.504 --> 01:27:35.745


their response was to say



01:27:36.466 --> 01:27:37.708


that's an odd question why



01:27:37.728 --> 01:27:40.431


would you ask me that then



01:27:40.451 --> 01:27:41.933


you know that they have right



01:27:43.461 --> 01:27:44.862


but for them to come back later and say,



01:27:44.942 --> 01:27:45.803


I never have, well,



01:27:45.823 --> 01:27:47.184


that wasn't your first response.



01:27:47.204 --> 01:27:48.305


So why would that have not



01:27:48.345 --> 01:27:49.406


been your first response?



01:27:49.486 --> 01:27:51.388


It's just interesting to listen,



01:27:51.968 --> 01:27:54.190


to listen to people with



01:27:54.550 --> 01:27:57.853


that filter that allows you



01:27:57.893 --> 01:28:01.116


to be clear headed and



01:28:01.156 --> 01:28:05.282


logical about what makes the most sense.



01:28:05.382 --> 01:28:05.522


So



01:28:07.145 --> 01:28:08.225


want to come back around to



01:28:08.245 --> 01:28:09.101


a couple of things



01:28:09.179 --> 01:28:10.659


um i noticed that there was



01:28:10.679 --> 01:28:13.060


someone in the chat named



01:28:13.180 --> 01:28:14.720


lee here and i don't know



01:28:14.740 --> 01:28:16.221


if you're still here but



01:28:16.261 --> 01:28:19.001


there was some um pushback



01:28:19.061 --> 01:28:20.122


on this comment that lee



01:28:20.142 --> 01:28:21.442


here made i believe



01:28:22.321 --> 01:28:23.881


that what i from what i read



01:28:24.101 --> 01:28:25.642


lee here was supporting the



01:28:25.662 --> 01:28:26.882


things that i was saying or



01:28:27.022 --> 01:28:29.123


at least early on um and



01:28:29.163 --> 01:28:31.043


this comment i guess caused



01:28:31.083 --> 01:28:32.304


some consternation he says



01:28:32.504 --> 01:28:33.944


lds was a step up for women



01:28:34.524 --> 01:28:35.684


as the bible taught how to



01:28:35.724 --> 01:28:37.485


take women as slaves and



01:28:37.525 --> 01:28:38.505


how to pay the father of



01:28:38.545 --> 01:28:40.706


someone you are and then



01:28:40.746 --> 01:28:41.786


take them as your wife as a



01:28:41.846 --> 01:28:42.946


solution for their loss of



01:28:42.986 --> 01:28:45.407


virginity objectively this is true



01:28:46.639 --> 01:28:49.160


bible did teach this right



01:28:49.741 --> 01:28:52.162


and so lds was a step up



01:28:52.202 --> 01:28:54.003


for for women from this



01:28:54.063 --> 01:28:56.864


perspective saying that you



01:28:56.904 --> 01:28:58.425


know oh we're going to



01:28:58.765 --> 01:29:00.085


honor women and we're going



01:29:00.125 --> 01:29:01.126


to give them a relief



01:29:01.166 --> 01:29:03.127


society where they can do



01:29:03.167 --> 01:29:04.187


things that are valuable



01:29:04.207 --> 01:29:05.428


make valuable contribute



01:29:05.468 --> 01:29:06.428


contributions to the



01:29:06.448 --> 01:29:08.389


community so i don't think



01:29:09.470 --> 01:29:11.271


that lee was intending to



01:29:13.134 --> 01:29:16.556


be disparaging of women and say, oh,



01:29:16.576 --> 01:29:17.536


you should be grateful this



01:29:17.576 --> 01:29:18.596


was a step up for you.



01:29:19.157 --> 01:29:20.637


I think this is the way that



01:29:20.677 --> 01:29:22.138


the church leadership saw it,



01:29:22.518 --> 01:29:24.639


that Mormonism was a step up for women.



01:29:25.019 --> 01:29:26.780


If I'm incorrect about that,



01:29:26.820 --> 01:29:28.100


I'm happy to be corrected.



01:29:28.260 --> 01:29:29.141


I just wanted to,



01:29:29.941 --> 01:29:30.762


I know that some people



01:29:30.802 --> 01:29:32.922


were upset by this particular comment,



01:29:32.942 --> 01:29:33.963


but when I went back and



01:29:34.003 --> 01:29:35.123


read some of the other



01:29:35.143 --> 01:29:36.784


comments while Sandra Tanner was talking,



01:29:37.464 --> 01:29:39.025


it looked as though Lee



01:29:39.065 --> 01:29:41.306


here is in support of the position that



01:29:42.443 --> 01:29:44.284


this was wrong of Joseph Smith to do this.



01:29:44.784 --> 01:29:48.587


So I just wanted to clarify that.



01:29:49.632 --> 01:29:51.233


And yes, I believe this is true as well.



01:29:51.273 --> 01:29:52.353


Women were trafficked by the



01:29:52.393 --> 01:29:53.654


early missionaries from Europe.



01:29:53.694 --> 01:29:54.715


Missionaries were sent to



01:29:54.795 --> 01:29:55.935


Europe and they were



01:29:55.976 --> 01:29:57.596


specifically explicitly



01:29:57.636 --> 01:29:58.857


told by Brigham Young to



01:29:58.877 --> 01:30:00.178


bring back the pretty ones



01:30:00.218 --> 01:30:01.118


and not keep all the pretty



01:30:01.178 --> 01:30:02.019


ones for themselves.



01:30:03.096 --> 01:30:04.537


They were to be brought back



01:30:04.757 --> 01:30:08.918


into Mormonism in the Utah territory,



01:30:08.978 --> 01:30:11.559


not knowing that polygamy



01:30:11.599 --> 01:30:12.599


was being practiced.



01:30:13.319 --> 01:30:14.619


And then once they got here,



01:30:14.659 --> 01:30:16.400


they didn't have a way to get back.



01:30:16.940 --> 01:30:18.421


They couldn't afford to go back.



01:30:19.401 --> 01:30:21.081


And so, yes,



01:30:21.221 --> 01:30:22.302


there is a very interesting



01:30:22.342 --> 01:30:23.562


episode on Mormon Stories



01:30:24.082 --> 01:30:25.723


about the trafficking of



01:30:25.763 --> 01:30:27.563


women with lots of evidence, receipts,



01:30:27.603 --> 01:30:28.003


and proof.



01:30:28.143 --> 01:30:29.204


And I would encourage you to



01:30:29.244 --> 01:30:30.224


look at that as well.



01:30:30.821 --> 01:30:33.365


um so i i just want to



01:30:33.445 --> 01:30:34.866


finally at the very end



01:30:34.906 --> 01:30:36.167


address this last comment



01:30:36.207 --> 01:30:37.308


by kelly kells that i



01:30:37.348 --> 01:30:38.289


promised i would get back



01:30:38.309 --> 01:30:41.211


to do you believe anything



01:30:41.271 --> 01:30:42.893


now i was raised christian



01:30:42.973 --> 01:30:43.913


and not really sure if i



01:30:43.953 --> 01:30:45.174


believe in all what the



01:30:45.194 --> 01:30:46.575


bible says because it was



01:30:46.615 --> 01:30:48.357


written by a man i still



01:30:48.397 --> 01:30:49.818


have an unwavering belief in god



01:30:51.262 --> 01:30:54.004


in my gut um i just wanted



01:30:54.044 --> 01:30:56.125


to i wanted to address this



01:30:56.165 --> 01:31:00.047


comment because i have i



01:31:00.267 --> 01:31:01.428


i've addressed this before



01:31:02.368 --> 01:31:04.389


but i just want to give you



01:31:04.409 --> 01:31:05.850


some perspective the short



01:31:05.930 --> 01:31:07.411


answer to this question is



01:31:08.031 --> 01:31:10.733


i don't know i don't know



01:31:10.773 --> 01:31:12.514


anything for sure and i



01:31:12.614 --> 01:31:14.495


actually really love that space



01:31:16.285 --> 01:31:18.466


because it allows me to explore,



01:31:18.826 --> 01:31:20.227


it allows me to wonder,



01:31:20.827 --> 01:31:22.408


it allows me to look at all



01:31:22.448 --> 01:31:23.849


kinds of different ideas



01:31:24.429 --> 01:31:25.609


and weigh them against my



01:31:25.689 --> 01:31:27.931


own experiences and against



01:31:28.031 --> 01:31:29.971


science and against all of



01:31:30.011 --> 01:31:31.372


the other things that are



01:31:31.472 --> 01:31:34.467


out there that it's possible to believe.



01:31:34.527 --> 01:31:36.648


But after this faith crisis,



01:31:38.009 --> 01:31:39.889


I think that I was able to



01:31:39.929 --> 01:31:42.851


really quickly deconstruct because



01:31:44.722 --> 01:31:46.004


I had already deconstructed



01:31:46.084 --> 01:31:47.326


so many things in my life



01:31:47.426 --> 01:31:48.568


by the time I got to this



01:31:48.628 --> 01:31:49.830


point in Mormonism.



01:31:49.870 --> 01:31:50.551


And this, by the way,



01:31:50.671 --> 01:31:54.417


was just in January of last year.



01:31:54.978 --> 01:31:56.480


So it hasn't yet been two



01:31:56.540 --> 01:31:58.904


years since I resigned from the church.



01:31:59.853 --> 01:32:00.954


And up until that point,



01:32:01.014 --> 01:32:05.016


I think I've shared that I was,



01:32:06.776 --> 01:32:08.957


I was just in flux of,



01:32:09.117 --> 01:32:10.138


and I had gotten to this



01:32:10.218 --> 01:32:14.280


place where I just believed



01:32:14.340 --> 01:32:15.781


that Mormonism was true and



01:32:15.921 --> 01:32:16.921


I didn't fit in it.



01:32:18.182 --> 01:32:19.903


And the God that I believed



01:32:19.963 --> 01:32:23.124


in knew that I was faithful



01:32:23.164 --> 01:32:25.405


to him and knew how much



01:32:25.565 --> 01:32:28.707


work I had done for him faithfully.



01:32:29.910 --> 01:32:32.651


And knew my heart and knew



01:32:32.691 --> 01:32:34.052


that I wanted my life to be



01:32:34.112 --> 01:32:35.212


acceptable to him.



01:32:36.227 --> 01:32:38.408


And knowing that and knowing



01:32:38.428 --> 01:32:40.229


that or believing that he



01:32:40.289 --> 01:32:42.370


loved me for who I was and



01:32:42.450 --> 01:32:45.532


not the version of me that



01:32:45.612 --> 01:32:46.892


fits in Mormonism.



01:32:47.993 --> 01:32:48.733


I had just come to the



01:32:48.773 --> 01:32:49.774


conclusion that Mormonism



01:32:49.794 --> 01:32:50.814


didn't work to me for me.



01:32:50.854 --> 01:32:51.615


And there's more than one,



01:32:51.995 --> 01:32:52.775


one path to God.



01:32:52.835 --> 01:32:55.176


And, and I don't know,



01:32:55.816 --> 01:32:56.857


I guess I'll figure it out.



01:32:57.814 --> 01:33:00.495


But having this crisis and



01:33:00.535 --> 01:33:02.196


being able to put away the



01:33:02.236 --> 01:33:03.277


possibility that Joseph



01:33:03.317 --> 01:33:04.137


Smith was actually a



01:33:04.197 --> 01:33:06.198


prophet of God opened my



01:33:06.238 --> 01:33:07.919


mind to so many possibilities.



01:33:08.479 --> 01:33:09.379


And the first thing that I



01:33:09.419 --> 01:33:11.961


did was I zoomed out and I



01:33:12.021 --> 01:33:14.002


looked at the area of the



01:33:14.042 --> 01:33:17.604


world in which the Bible was written.



01:33:17.704 --> 01:33:19.345


And I looked at what a tiny,



01:33:19.405 --> 01:33:21.406


small population of people



01:33:21.446 --> 01:33:23.927


that is in comparison to the whole world.



01:33:24.917 --> 01:33:27.239


and i thought well the bible



01:33:27.279 --> 01:33:29.200


survived because there were



01:33:29.240 --> 01:33:31.742


people to pay to have it



01:33:31.782 --> 01:33:33.003


transcribed and to have it



01:33:33.043 --> 01:33:33.784


survive and to have



01:33:33.824 --> 01:33:35.025


versions of it continue to



01:33:35.065 --> 01:33:37.274


be passed down um and when



01:33:37.375 --> 01:33:39.276


i think of that i think of



01:33:39.356 --> 01:33:40.177


all the other faith



01:33:40.217 --> 01:33:41.678


traditions in the world



01:33:43.423 --> 01:33:45.325


that didn't have a written



01:33:45.385 --> 01:33:46.746


record of what they believed.



01:33:46.806 --> 01:33:49.168


It was passed down by oral tradition.



01:33:50.349 --> 01:33:51.490


And then I started to think



01:33:51.510 --> 01:33:54.053


about the tradition of



01:33:54.113 --> 01:33:55.054


religion in general.



01:33:56.139 --> 01:33:58.060


and the idea that i think



01:33:58.200 --> 01:33:59.741


the native american idea of



01:33:59.781 --> 01:34:02.423


the great spirit and the



01:34:02.503 --> 01:34:05.524


idea of the buddha and all



01:34:05.585 --> 01:34:08.546


of these other ideas about



01:34:09.387 --> 01:34:11.768


what or who god is and so



01:34:11.808 --> 01:34:13.469


many religious traditions



01:34:13.509 --> 01:34:14.830


have more than one god and



01:34:14.870 --> 01:34:15.730


so many religious



01:34:15.750 --> 01:34:17.271


traditions have a very



01:34:17.311 --> 01:34:18.372


different version of god



01:34:18.812 --> 01:34:19.913


than what's in the bible



01:34:21.230 --> 01:34:22.871


And I came to the conclusion



01:34:23.251 --> 01:34:25.871


that from the beginning of time,



01:34:26.151 --> 01:34:28.392


from the beginning of human existence,



01:34:29.472 --> 01:34:32.053


we human beings have had to



01:34:32.113 --> 01:34:35.355


create God to explain the



01:34:35.395 --> 01:34:37.142


things that we can't explain.



01:34:37.202 --> 01:34:37.882


For example,



01:34:38.562 --> 01:34:40.443


imagine as an early human



01:34:40.483 --> 01:34:42.583


being having an entire



01:34:42.623 --> 01:34:44.604


village wiped out by a tsunami.



01:34:45.901 --> 01:34:47.442


do you explain that well



01:34:47.462 --> 01:34:48.563


there must be somebody in



01:34:48.603 --> 01:34:49.983


the sky who controls the



01:34:50.023 --> 01:34:52.285


waves and so i'm going to



01:34:52.305 --> 01:34:53.646


give offerings to that



01:34:54.646 --> 01:34:56.427


being in the sky so that



01:34:56.467 --> 01:34:58.588


the waves won't consume my



01:34:58.628 --> 01:35:01.098


village and then if you



01:35:01.118 --> 01:35:02.539


fast forward that through



01:35:02.739 --> 01:35:04.700


through time my conclusion



01:35:04.740 --> 01:35:07.042


was that we human beings



01:35:07.082 --> 01:35:09.243


can never really know



01:35:10.814 --> 01:35:12.055


whether there is a god or



01:35:12.155 --> 01:35:13.676


what god is even like



01:35:13.877 --> 01:35:16.659


because we are humans we



01:35:16.699 --> 01:35:19.401


have a limited minds we



01:35:19.461 --> 01:35:22.224


cannot comprehend deity



01:35:23.124 --> 01:35:25.046


really so we have to do the



01:35:25.066 --> 01:35:26.627


best that we can if we want



01:35:26.647 --> 01:35:27.968


to use that as a tool for



01:35:28.008 --> 01:35:29.189


facing our existential



01:35:29.229 --> 01:35:31.471


fears of meaninglessness



01:35:31.491 --> 01:35:33.453


and of death and of the unknown



01:35:34.405 --> 01:35:36.226


And my conjecture is that



01:35:36.326 --> 01:35:38.328


any time human beings get



01:35:38.388 --> 01:35:39.588


involved with trying to



01:35:39.688 --> 01:35:41.149


explain the unexplainable,



01:35:41.870 --> 01:35:42.910


specifically deity,



01:35:43.150 --> 01:35:44.251


they're going to get it wrong.



01:35:45.272 --> 01:35:46.533


Because we're fallible human



01:35:46.573 --> 01:35:48.274


beings and everything that



01:35:48.314 --> 01:35:51.676


we produce has our footprint on it.



01:35:52.843 --> 01:35:53.704


We can't help it.



01:35:54.284 --> 01:35:55.405


Everything that I produce



01:35:55.425 --> 01:35:57.406


comes through the lens of my experiences.



01:35:58.386 --> 01:36:00.527


And so if I were to, you know,



01:36:00.547 --> 01:36:02.689


write some kind of an idea



01:36:02.729 --> 01:36:04.050


of what I believe that God is,



01:36:04.150 --> 01:36:06.751


it's going to be flawed by



01:36:06.811 --> 01:36:08.292


my experiences and it's not



01:36:08.312 --> 01:36:09.152


going to work for every



01:36:09.212 --> 01:36:12.074


person on the planet.



01:36:12.094 --> 01:36:13.495


When I think of the idea,



01:36:14.175 --> 01:36:15.656


the arrogance of Mormonism



01:36:15.696 --> 01:36:17.777


to think that their way is



01:36:17.877 --> 01:36:19.518


the only way that you can



01:36:19.639 --> 01:36:21.099


possibly get to God and be



01:36:21.159 --> 01:36:21.880


saved in heaven.



01:36:23.233 --> 01:36:26.035


so arrogant because look at



01:36:26.255 --> 01:36:27.235


all of the different



01:36:27.315 --> 01:36:28.656


experiences that people



01:36:28.716 --> 01:36:32.178


have and the uniqueness of



01:36:32.318 --> 01:36:33.759


everyone's journey on this



01:36:33.799 --> 01:36:35.720


planet there's no way that



01:36:35.740 --> 01:36:36.960


there's just one solution



01:36:37.464 --> 01:36:39.337


and also just the idea



01:36:39.477 --> 01:36:41.839


that i think almost all the



01:36:41.879 --> 01:36:42.999


religions that have ever



01:36:43.059 --> 01:36:44.320


existed have been created



01:36:44.360 --> 01:36:46.161


by men or at least the tradition has



01:36:47.256 --> 01:36:48.356


There are a couple of



01:36:48.376 --> 01:36:49.397


religions that are based on



01:36:49.437 --> 01:36:51.538


women as gods and women as



01:36:51.938 --> 01:36:53.378


the storytellers and the



01:36:53.418 --> 01:36:54.439


keeper of the sacred



01:36:54.699 --> 01:36:55.839


traditions and things like that.



01:36:55.859 --> 01:36:57.460


But whether it's men or



01:36:57.480 --> 01:36:58.980


women is immaterial to me.



01:36:59.020 --> 01:36:59.820


It's human beings,



01:37:00.081 --> 01:37:02.021


human beings putting a very



01:37:02.101 --> 01:37:04.622


limited worldview onto



01:37:04.662 --> 01:37:05.622


something that is supposed



01:37:05.662 --> 01:37:06.943


to be expansive and eternal.



01:37:07.003 --> 01:37:07.903


I just don't think it's ever



01:37:07.943 --> 01:37:09.564


going to work.



01:37:09.604 --> 01:37:09.784


So.



01:37:10.871 --> 01:37:11.832


thing that i love and



01:37:11.872 --> 01:37:14.113


appreciate now is that i



01:37:14.153 --> 01:37:15.174


can explore lots of



01:37:15.214 --> 01:37:16.534


different ideas and i can



01:37:16.575 --> 01:37:18.316


become educated by lots of



01:37:18.796 --> 01:37:20.017


different people's ideas



01:37:20.057 --> 01:37:22.438


about god and religion and



01:37:22.518 --> 01:37:23.659


there is something within



01:37:23.699 --> 01:37:24.760


me that wants to believe



01:37:24.780 --> 01:37:27.521


there's a god there is and



01:37:27.601 --> 01:37:28.822


i think that's a very human



01:37:28.862 --> 01:37:31.002


thing um but am i ever



01:37:31.022 --> 01:37:33.984


gonna know like i used to



01:37:34.024 --> 01:37:35.745


say as a mormon that i know



01:37:36.325 --> 01:37:37.006


absolutely not



01:37:38.950 --> 01:37:39.590


don't think i'm ever going



01:37:39.610 --> 01:37:41.691


to know the other thing is



01:37:41.971 --> 01:37:44.512


that when i look at the god



01:37:44.792 --> 01:37:46.053


of the old testament and



01:37:46.093 --> 01:37:46.753


the god of the new



01:37:46.793 --> 01:37:50.254


testament um i don't really



01:37:50.354 --> 01:37:52.395


like him if that's really



01:37:52.435 --> 01:37:53.735


what god is like is that a



01:37:53.775 --> 01:37:55.136


being that i would want to worship



01:37:57.209 --> 01:37:58.231


I guess the beginning of my



01:37:58.251 --> 01:38:00.194


faith crisis started in two



01:38:00.234 --> 01:38:01.356


thousand and eight because



01:38:01.556 --> 01:38:03.199


I was struggling as a young



01:38:03.239 --> 01:38:05.022


parent to find good



01:38:05.082 --> 01:38:06.785


examples of good parenting.



01:38:08.995 --> 01:38:11.998


And I decided that I was



01:38:12.038 --> 01:38:13.859


going to look at the Bible



01:38:14.159 --> 01:38:16.201


and I started a blog called



01:38:16.241 --> 01:38:17.863


God is the only perfect parent.



01:38:18.423 --> 01:38:19.484


And I wanted to look at the



01:38:19.504 --> 01:38:21.646


way God treats his children



01:38:22.527 --> 01:38:24.369


and and then maybe model my



01:38:24.409 --> 01:38:25.470


parenting after that,



01:38:25.510 --> 01:38:26.391


because I didn't really



01:38:26.451 --> 01:38:27.332


have a good example of



01:38:27.352 --> 01:38:28.693


healthy parenting as a child.



01:38:29.798 --> 01:38:31.559


And I think I wrote two blog



01:38:31.619 --> 01:38:34.399


entries and then almost had



01:38:34.439 --> 01:38:35.480


a faith crisis right then



01:38:35.500 --> 01:38:36.380


and there because I was like,



01:38:37.040 --> 01:38:38.881


this God is not a good parent.



01:38:39.861 --> 01:38:41.962


He's not loving towards his children.



01:38:42.182 --> 01:38:44.883


Like even in the New Testament, he's not.



01:38:45.003 --> 01:38:47.243


It's like either worship me



01:38:47.544 --> 01:38:48.724


or you're damned forever.



01:38:50.638 --> 01:38:51.839


I would prefer to believe in



01:38:51.879 --> 01:38:53.860


a God that gives room for



01:38:53.900 --> 01:38:54.961


the fact that people are



01:38:55.001 --> 01:38:56.522


going to have different experiences.



01:38:56.542 --> 01:38:57.382


And there might be a very



01:38:57.422 --> 01:38:59.863


good reason why they don't



01:38:59.984 --> 01:39:02.305


know you or don't want to worship you.



01:39:02.725 --> 01:39:04.466


And I think about my own parenting too.



01:39:04.486 --> 01:39:05.447


There was a time when one of



01:39:05.507 --> 01:39:07.128


my kids needed space from me.



01:39:08.528 --> 01:39:09.629


I think the God of the old



01:39:09.669 --> 01:39:10.330


Testament would have



01:39:10.370 --> 01:39:12.191


probably struck them dead at that point.



01:39:12.871 --> 01:39:13.131


Right?



01:39:13.251 --> 01:39:13.431


Like,



01:39:13.511 --> 01:39:14.992


I don't want to be near you right now.



01:39:15.212 --> 01:39:15.713


Oh, okay.



01:39:15.773 --> 01:39:17.053


Well, that's it.



01:39:17.093 --> 01:39:17.534


You're cooked.



01:39:18.552 --> 01:39:21.734


So having to reexamine the concept of God,



01:39:23.335 --> 01:39:24.315


if there is a God,



01:39:24.475 --> 01:39:26.116


I hope that he is the type



01:39:26.156 --> 01:39:28.097


of God who is a loving parent,



01:39:28.758 --> 01:39:30.278


who does make room for the



01:39:30.318 --> 01:39:32.560


individual experiences of his children,



01:39:33.080 --> 01:39:35.441


who does care about suffering,



01:39:36.362 --> 01:39:40.204


who does care about trying



01:39:40.244 --> 01:39:41.905


to make the world a better place.



01:39:42.972 --> 01:39:43.312


You know,



01:39:43.552 --> 01:39:46.674


if the president of the



01:39:46.694 --> 01:39:47.634


Corporation of the Church



01:39:47.654 --> 01:39:48.335


of Jesus Christ of



01:39:48.375 --> 01:39:50.395


Latter-day Saints is actually a prophet,



01:39:51.376 --> 01:39:53.017


where was he on September eleventh?



01:39:53.437 --> 01:39:54.698


Where was he for all of



01:39:54.738 --> 01:39:56.038


these school shootings?



01:39:56.218 --> 01:39:57.959


Why are their children in



01:39:57.979 --> 01:39:59.620


their own church with food



01:39:59.660 --> 01:40:00.920


insecurity suffering?



01:40:02.741 --> 01:40:07.063


And that's the whirlpool



01:40:07.083 --> 01:40:08.324


that I get swirled down



01:40:08.424 --> 01:40:10.465


into because I can't



01:40:11.755 --> 01:40:14.397


fathom a divine being who



01:40:14.877 --> 01:40:17.238


wouldn't try to spare his



01:40:17.298 --> 01:40:21.761


children from unnecessary suffering.



01:40:21.781 --> 01:40:23.122


I think that sometimes our



01:40:23.162 --> 01:40:25.303


suffering can be a lesson for us.



01:40:25.463 --> 01:40:27.004


And I think that is part of



01:40:27.084 --> 01:40:29.466


our purpose in life is to



01:40:29.566 --> 01:40:30.887


experience suffering and



01:40:30.947 --> 01:40:32.528


yet be able to find joy in



01:40:32.548 --> 01:40:33.508


the ways that we live.



01:40:34.569 --> 01:40:37.271


If I do have a religion, that's it.



01:40:38.760 --> 01:40:41.041


it's to realize that joy



01:40:41.081 --> 01:40:42.322


comes in these tiny little



01:40:42.362 --> 01:40:43.303


moments that we have to



01:40:43.343 --> 01:40:45.705


learn to savor i think



01:40:45.745 --> 01:40:47.226


it's hard to it's hard to



01:40:47.266 --> 01:40:48.627


think about a god that



01:40:48.687 --> 01:40:50.808


would allow their children



01:40:50.868 --> 01:40:52.329


to suffer needlessly



01:40:53.049 --> 01:40:55.151


because kids don't need to



01:40:55.171 --> 01:40:57.372


be hungry in order for them



01:40:57.412 --> 01:40:58.312


to learn the lessons of



01:40:58.372 --> 01:41:00.694


life kids don't need to be



01:41:00.754 --> 01:41:02.955


senselessly killed in order for them to



01:41:03.664 --> 01:41:05.225


learn to be a good person or



01:41:05.725 --> 01:41:06.786


learn how to live in this



01:41:06.906 --> 01:41:09.941


earth it's just that's the



01:41:10.021 --> 01:41:11.241


ongoing question for me



01:41:12.342 --> 01:41:15.584


what i love is engaging in



01:41:15.644 --> 01:41:16.884


discussions about different



01:41:16.924 --> 01:41:18.685


versions of spirituality



01:41:19.225 --> 01:41:21.086


for people and for me my



01:41:21.146 --> 01:41:24.048


spirituality is in nature i



01:41:24.088 --> 01:41:27.350


have such a strong connection to um



01:41:28.756 --> 01:41:29.877


to the natural world.



01:41:30.037 --> 01:41:33.520


And water is something that I'm drawn to.



01:41:33.720 --> 01:41:36.142


I feel a sense of awe when I



01:41:36.883 --> 01:41:39.104


think about the power of water.



01:41:39.905 --> 01:41:42.223


And when I'm in nature,



01:41:42.303 --> 01:41:44.625


I'm the most able to savor



01:41:44.685 --> 01:41:46.487


beautiful moments and beautiful things.



01:41:47.828 --> 01:41:48.989


I love the colors and the



01:41:49.049 --> 01:41:50.410


sounds and the smells and



01:41:50.490 --> 01:41:51.410


everything about it.



01:41:51.931 --> 01:41:53.332


So for me, for right now,



01:41:53.372 --> 01:41:54.153


that's my church.



01:41:55.075 --> 01:41:55.716


is in nature.



01:41:56.256 --> 01:41:58.478


I feel a sense of wonder and



01:41:58.679 --> 01:42:00.741


awe there more than I ever



01:42:00.781 --> 01:42:03.403


did sitting in a Mormon church building.



01:42:05.621 --> 01:42:07.241


I have rambled on for a very



01:42:07.281 --> 01:42:08.322


long time this evening.



01:42:08.362 --> 01:42:09.643


It was much longer than I



01:42:09.703 --> 01:42:11.644


expected it to be or wanted it to be.



01:42:12.224 --> 01:42:13.485


But I love being here with



01:42:13.505 --> 01:42:14.765


you beautiful human beings.



01:42:14.865 --> 01:42:15.526


And I hope that you've



01:42:15.546 --> 01:42:16.826


gotten something positive



01:42:16.986 --> 01:42:18.687


out of this episode.



01:42:19.468 --> 01:42:22.729


And if you have, please like the episode.



01:42:23.150 --> 01:42:24.850


Please share it with someone



01:42:25.351 --> 01:42:27.652


who needs to hear what you heard.



01:42:28.512 --> 01:42:29.593


And if you're able...



01:42:30.496 --> 01:42:31.677


please subscribe.



01:42:32.098 --> 01:42:33.139


And if you have the means,



01:42:33.199 --> 01:42:34.400


please become a member.



01:42:35.862 --> 01:42:36.762


I had a lovely,



01:42:37.063 --> 01:42:39.045


wonderful group coaching



01:42:39.085 --> 01:42:40.426


session this morning with



01:42:40.466 --> 01:42:41.507


some of the beautiful



01:42:41.547 --> 01:42:43.649


humans who come and visit my channel.



01:42:44.390 --> 01:42:45.371


It was a free session.



01:42:46.332 --> 01:42:47.333


because group coaching is a



01:42:47.393 --> 01:42:48.494


new thing that i'm starting



01:42:49.055 --> 01:42:49.936


i would love to have you



01:42:49.976 --> 01:42:51.297


join us for a free group



01:42:51.337 --> 01:42:52.978


coaching session it was so



01:42:53.018 --> 01:42:54.700


wonderful to connect with



01:42:54.780 --> 01:42:55.701


other beautiful human



01:42:55.741 --> 01:42:57.102


beings and just talk about



01:42:57.583 --> 01:42:59.204


some of our experiences and



01:42:59.264 --> 01:43:00.526


talk about the way that we



01:43:00.566 --> 01:43:02.227


think about things and



01:43:02.928 --> 01:43:05.230


engage in the idea of just



01:43:05.250 --> 01:43:06.651


changing one small thing



01:43:06.691 --> 01:43:07.652


that can make our lives a



01:43:07.672 --> 01:43:08.313


little bit better



01:43:09.756 --> 01:43:11.277


If you are so inclined,



01:43:11.417 --> 01:43:12.437


I also do one-on-one



01:43:12.477 --> 01:43:14.218


coaching and you can go to my website,



01:43:14.298 --> 01:43:16.279


third-verse.com and sign up



01:43:16.299 --> 01:43:18.240


for a free consultation



01:43:18.760 --> 01:43:19.921


where we meet one-on-one



01:43:19.961 --> 01:43:21.301


virtually and just see if



01:43:21.341 --> 01:43:22.822


we're a good fit to work together.



01:43:25.363 --> 01:43:26.484


One of the things that I



01:43:26.524 --> 01:43:28.425


love the most is connecting



01:43:28.485 --> 01:43:29.725


with other beautiful human



01:43:29.745 --> 01:43:30.646


beings and hearing your



01:43:30.686 --> 01:43:33.247


stories and finding ways



01:43:33.447 --> 01:43:35.468


that my experiences can



01:43:35.528 --> 01:43:37.709


help you to make your life better.



01:43:39.105 --> 01:43:40.486


I'm so grateful for the



01:43:40.506 --> 01:43:41.547


conversation that has



01:43:41.567 --> 01:43:42.708


happened here tonight,



01:43:43.789 --> 01:43:46.010


and I'm grateful for you for being here.



01:43:46.190 --> 01:43:47.952


Thank you for listening to



01:43:47.992 --> 01:43:51.254


me talk about my experience



01:43:51.854 --> 01:43:53.175


in journeying away from the



01:43:53.215 --> 01:43:53.916


Mormon Church.



01:43:54.957 --> 01:43:56.158


It has been very hard,



01:43:57.098 --> 01:43:58.499


and it will continue to be hard,



01:43:59.500 --> 01:44:02.042


but I am happier now than I



01:44:02.122 --> 01:44:02.843


ever have been.



01:44:04.784 --> 01:44:07.606


I am living a shame-free life.



01:44:08.454 --> 01:44:10.655


meaningful life.



01:44:10.855 --> 01:44:12.776


And I think I'm probably



01:44:12.836 --> 01:44:14.317


doing more to help people



01:44:14.377 --> 01:44:16.978


now than I ever did when I



01:44:16.998 --> 01:44:18.438


was serving in the Mormon church.



01:44:21.780 --> 01:44:23.000


I have so much beauty in my



01:44:23.040 --> 01:44:23.661


life right now.



01:44:23.681 --> 01:44:25.682


And so if you're going



01:44:25.722 --> 01:44:27.222


through any kind of a faith



01:44:27.262 --> 01:44:28.223


transition or you're



01:44:28.263 --> 01:44:29.383


struggling with your faith,



01:44:29.423 --> 01:44:31.004


I want to reassure you that number one,



01:44:31.084 --> 01:44:32.545


it's one hundred percent normal.



01:44:33.565 --> 01:44:35.726


It is totally normal for human beings



01:44:36.559 --> 01:44:37.620


to have faith crisis.



01:44:37.821 --> 01:44:39.263


It happens all the time, every day.



01:44:40.505 --> 01:44:41.687


And I just want to encourage



01:44:41.707 --> 01:44:42.489


you that it gets better.



01:44:43.851 --> 01:44:46.235


It gets better and you'll be happy again.



01:44:46.255 --> 01:44:47.216


You'll find peace again.



01:44:48.750 --> 01:44:50.311


and you have all of these



01:44:50.351 --> 01:44:51.531


beautiful humans to connect



01:44:51.571 --> 01:44:53.072


with this channel can be a



01:44:53.132 --> 01:44:54.593


resource for you please



01:44:54.633 --> 01:44:55.533


reach out i would love to



01:44:55.573 --> 01:44:56.414


plug you into other



01:44:56.454 --> 01:44:58.255


resources and coming up



01:44:58.335 --> 01:44:59.135


over the next couple of



01:44:59.175 --> 01:45:00.396


weeks will be episodes with



01:45:00.476 --> 01:45:01.476


other beautiful human



01:45:01.496 --> 01:45:02.817


beings who have



01:45:02.877 --> 01:45:03.977


transitioned away from the



01:45:04.017 --> 01:45:05.998


mormon church and talking



01:45:06.038 --> 01:45:07.399


about their reconstruction



01:45:07.419 --> 01:45:08.760


their faith journey now



01:45:09.680 --> 01:45:11.141


what their lives look like now.



01:45:11.501 --> 01:45:13.302


And I'm so excited to share



01:45:13.322 --> 01:45:14.342


those stories with you.



01:45:14.462 --> 01:45:15.603


I hope that you will join us.



01:45:16.243 --> 01:45:19.905


Be good to each other, but most of all,



01:45:20.045 --> 01:45:22.914


be good to yourself.