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We look at the totality of teachings on marriage in the revelations of the restoration and learn the history of the Doctrine and Covenants, including the original section 101.

Links

History of the D&C
Link 1 | Link 2

Original Section 101

Meeting to accept the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants

Trial of Your Faith by Elder Anderson, October 2012

Summary

In this episode, Michelle Stone explores the history and evolution of the Doctrine & Covenants, particularly regarding marriage and polygamy. She examines how official church doctrine on marriage changed over time, highlighting key editions of the Doctrine & Covenants and the removal of Section 101, which explicitly denounced polygamy. The discussion raises serious questions about the origins and legitimacy of D&C 132 and polygamy as a divinely inspired commandment.

Key Themes:

  1. The Ever-Changing Nature of the Doctrine & Covenants
    • Many assume that LDS scriptures have always existed in their current form, but Stone explains that the Doctrine & Covenants has gone through major revisions.
    • The first official Doctrine & Covenants was published in 1835, compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams.
    • The 1844 edition included additional revelations from Joseph Smith, but polygamy was still not mentioned.
    • Section 132 (which justifies polygamy) was not added until 1876, under Brigham Young’s leadership.
  2. The Removal of Section 101: The Original LDS Teaching on Marriage
    • The 1835 and 1844 editions of the Doctrine & Covenants included Section 101, which explicitly stated that the church did not practice polygamy.
    • Section 101 read:
      • “We declare that we believe that one man should have one wife, and one woman but one husband, except in case of death.”
    • This section was removed in 1876, the same year that D&C 132 (the polygamy revelation) was added.
    • Stone calls this a clear doctrinal contradiction, raising doubts about whether polygamy was truly part of the original Restoration teachings.
  3. Did Joseph Smith Approve Section 101?
    • Some church sources claim that Oliver Cowdery wrote Section 101 without Joseph Smith’s approval.
    • However, historical records show that the 1835 Doctrine & Covenants was unanimously approved in a special church-wide conference, with Joseph Smith presiding over the meeting.
    • Every church leader and member present—including the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve—voted in favor of the book.
    • Stone argues that there is no evidence that Joseph Smith objected to Section 101—meaning the church officially denounced polygamy during his lifetime.
  4. Brigham Young’s Contradictory Claims About Joseph Smith
    • Brigham Young claimed that Joseph Smith secretly taught polygamy, but this contradicts Joseph’s recorded public statements.
    • Stone highlights that many of Brigham Young’s claims about Joseph Smith were made decades after Joseph’s death, when no one could verify or refute them.
    • She notes that Brigham Young had a pattern of making negative claims about former church leaders (including Emma Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and William Law) to justify his own leadership.
  5. Joseph Smith’s Personal Statements on Marriage
    • Stone points out that every recorded statement from Joseph Smith himself denied practicing or teaching polygamy.
    • In Liberty Jail (1839), Joseph wrote of his love for Emma and referred to her as his “one wife,” showing his commitment to monogamy.
    • In the 1836 Kirtland Temple dedication prayer (received by revelation), Joseph prayed for “his wife and children,” once again affirming monogamy.
    • Stone argues that if Joseph was secretly practicing polygamy, why would he continue to publicly affirm monogamy in revelation and personal letters?
  6. Is D&C 132 an Outlier in LDS Scripture?
    • Stone compares Doctrine & Covenants 132 to other LDS scriptures and finds that it contradicts:
      • The Bible: Genesis, Exodus, and the Ten Commandments emphasize monogamy.
      • The Book of Mormon: Jacob 2:27-30 condemns polygamy, stating that God’s standard is one wife, unless otherwise commanded for raising up seed.
      • Other sections of the Doctrine & Covenants: Multiple verses command monogamy, including D&C 42:22, D&C 49:16-17, and D&C 74.
  7. The Bigger Picture: What This Means for LDS Members Today
    • Stone urges listeners to reevaluate long-held assumptions about polygamy and to consider how much church doctrine has changed over time.
    • She suggests that polygamy was a later doctrinal development, rather than a core part of the Restoration.
    • The episode concludes by setting the stage for a deep dive into D&C 132, where she will explore its contradictions, historical context, and doctrinal implications.

Transcript

[00:00:04] Welcome to 132 Problems revisiting Mormon polygamy, where we explore the scriptural and theological case for plural marriage. Please remember to listen to these episodes in order, starting with number 1 and continuing on from there. My name is Michelle Stone, and this is episode 5, Doctrine and Covenants, where we’ll look at the totality of God’s teachings on marriage and the revelations of the Restoration. Studying out polygamy and doctrine and covenants has actually been a very interesting journey. I am I have learned a lot, so I want to share a little bit of that with you first, um, I think it’s really easy to assume since we’re born and from birth we have this set of scriptures, right? And, and so we just kind of assume that the scriptures have always been and will always be this nice set that we have. So it was interesting to me to learn about the Bible and what a messy and evolving process it was to come up with. what we now consider the the canonized Bible. And um it wasn’t until I started really studying polygamy that I learned that there was a similar sort of a messy process in coming up with the doctrine and covenants. Nothing like the Bible because it was a much more compact period of time and a smaller group of people, but still, there have been changes, additions, subtractions, and all kinds of All kinds of an ongoing evolutionary process that was very eye-opening to me to learn about. It’s interesting. I don’t, I imagine that most of us don’t know this because I have been a member of my, of the, of the church my entire life. I always attended primary and young women and seminary. I Went to BYU and took all of the religion classes there and still I hadn’t learned any of this. So, um, so this might be new information for some of you as well. So, OK, we’re just gonna go over some of the high points. So the first time the doctrine of Covenants was officially. published under that name was in 1835. Before that, there was, I think the Book of Commandments, and there were compilations, revelations were printed in the newspaper and um and copied down and but it was the first time that they had an actual publication called The Doctrine of Covenant. So in, I want to say September of 1834, um, a committee was organized, headed by Joseph Smith. It had Oliver Cowdry. I’ll get to the rest. Oliver Cowdry, Sydney Rigdon, and I want to say Fred Frederick G. Williams were the committee that were assigned to compile and prepare the um the doctrine and covenants. So that they spent almost 11 months on it and then in 1835 they had a meeting where it was all approved. And published. So that was the first doctrine and covenants. Then it was, there were different publications in England and, you know, some other things happening, but the next official publication in the church was in 1844, which again was headed up by Joseph Smith, and it was prepared for publication before his death. The publication was announced. Before his death, but with the martyrdom and um John Taylor was involved in that as well. So it took a few extra months because there were massive changes that happened. So,

[00:03:30] so we’re going to talk about the 1835 edition, then the 1844 edition, which had all of the revelations added to it that Joseph Smith had received in the interim. And then after 1844, it wasn’t um revised again until 1876. So remember the church, the saints came to Utah starting in 1847, and they, so they had been here almost 30 years before a new version of the doctrine and covenants was um. Was printed so so I just wanted to go over that history. So, OK, now, now that we’ve got that understood, we’re gonna look at our current doctrine and covenants and one of the things I really appreciate so much that the church does for us is make the scriptures so readily available. I love going online and you can use the search tool so you can search the scriptures for any word which. It’s such a huge advantage to us. It just makes all of us have the opportunity to be to be scriptorians. I feel like what’s accessible to me might have taken other people a lifetime to be able to find. And so, um, so it’s really a gift. It’s really a blessing to us. So what I wanted to do in the doctrine and Covenants, which I have done before, but um I did it specifically just. You know, spelled it out for this episode is to look at wife, W I F E and the doctrine of Covenants and wives. You have to put it in quotation marks, otherwise it will combine them. But um wife, the and I, and I’m what I’m wanting to do is look at all of the teachings in the doctrine and covenants, what the doctrine and covenants as a whole teaches. I know what most of 132 teaches, so just for now I’m going to set that aside to look at the rest of the doctrine and covenants and We’re just gonna touch on parts of 132 today, but we will get there and get there and, and go in depth on that. It’s just that there’s a lot of other stuff to cover and, and I think it’s important to just kind of have a groundwork. So, OK, wife singular is used 16 times in the doctrine and covenants. Wives plural is used 6 times. So interestingly, OK, so we’re gonna look first at the 6 times of the plural of wives used in the doctrine of covenants. So 2 of them are not at all relevant to polygamy because they’re talking about multiple husbands. Multiple wives from multiple husbands, they’re both found in 123 when it’s talking about the the responsibility they have to report the persecutions and to seek redress. So verse 7 says it is an imperative duty that we owe to God to angels with whom we shall be brought to stand, and also to ourselves and to our wives and children. That’s one case of wives. The other is just 2 verses later in 9. Therefore, it is an imperative duty that we owe not only to our wives and children but to the widows and fatherless. So this kind of reminds me of Captain Moroni’s title of liberty and memory of our God, our religion and freedom, our um our wives and our children and so it’s, it’s. Talking about wives, but why all of their wives collectively, right? It also goes on in this verse to talk about the widows and the orphans. So, um, so we’re just going to set those aside because they are not relevant to polygamy at all. So that leaves 4 cases of the word wives and the Doctrine of Covenants and interestingly, all 4 of them are found in section 132. There’s no case of wives being used. Um, or any reference to a plurality of wives anywhere than in section 132 and also interestingly, the doctrine of Covenant has four uses of the word concubines which are also found in section 132. So wives and concubines are both talked about 4 times each in section 132 and nowhere else.

[00:07:15] And so I also looked up, you know, did all of the relevant searches about marriage and man and woman and anyway, so, so. That is all that I can find. If anyone else finds anything else that’s relevant or pertinent, then let me know. So, so those are the cases of wives. They’re all in 132, and like I said, we’re going to get into that in depth later on. So that leaves us with wife, which we’ll look at. Wife is used 16 times in the doctrine and covenants, and 10 of those are in section 132, which I think is interesting and we will, we will also talk about. So 10 of the uses of wife are 32. Um, the other six are other places in the doctrine and covenants, and we’re going to look at those because I think the goal today, maybe I already said this, forgive me if I did, is to just look at the totality of the teachings of the doctrine and Covenants as a whole. So we have 132 and then we have the entire rest of the doctrine and covenants. So let’s look at the cases of wife and the doctrine and covenants, because I think that they are all important. So 19, section 19 verse 25, and again, And this is the savior talking. And again, I command thee that thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor seek thy neighbor’s life. So, OK, just a repetition of commandments that are given in the Bible, repeated in the Book of Mormon, repeated in the doctrine of covenants, and it’s relevant because it gives us the foundational understanding that our neighbor will have a wife, and that we shouldn’t cover covet our neighbor’s one wife. So it comes from Um, an assumption of monogamy, right? And then we have this one we have 4222, and from the Lord thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart and shalt cleave unto her and none else. I, I just don’t know what could be more clear than that. It goes on and I, I just, it’s so interesting because the Lord gives us these clear, clear commandments that we managed to miss and ignore or every time we read them, we go, oh yeah, except, but, right, except for when and we, we undermine these very clear things that the Lord is saying, again, repeated in the Bible, in the Book of Mormon, and in the doctrine and covenants. Very, very clear statement. Of God. So 4222 is, I think the encapsulation of the teachings of marriage in the doctrine of covenants. We’ll go on because there that’s only two. So the next one is 49 verses 16 and 17, and it says, wherefore it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation. And that it might be filled with the measure of man according to his creation before the world was made. So again, what we talked about in previous episodes again, an extremely clear commandment repeated in all of our books of scripture and again stating that the earth is capable,

[00:10:14] that man is capable of. Answering the end of its of his creation, the the the earth can fulfill its purpose in monogamy with man having one wife and the twain can become one flesh. It’s as clear as it could possibly be and that nothing else is needed for us to achieve everything we came to earth to achieve, to learn, to grow. So, so anyway, again, so 42, 22, 49, 16 and 17, really important scriptures that I think we should actually. Listen to. So then the next one is interesting, it’s section 74, which is one I haven’t studied very much or heard very much about, but um it’s talking about, it’s referring to 1 Corinthians 7. And um so it just says, for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Else were your children unclean, but now they are holy. So it’s an interesting section that goes on to talk about um circumcision. I actually think that the original version in 1 Corinthians 7. It is more clear. I like what it says. Verse 16, it says, For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband, or How knowest thou, old O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? So I just love that sentiment of bearing with one another, loving each other. Um, I know there’s been so much talk of Faith crises and you know over the past several years, and I love this council to love with love each other, bear with each other. The love between husband and wife is the important thing regardless of what either spouse may be struggling with or whatever journey they may be on. So, um, so anyway, that’s the other again though coming from the assumption of your wife, your wife can save your husband, your husband can save your wife coming from the assumption of monogamy. So then. There are 2 more that both are a little bit similar. So again, just to clarify, we’re talking about cases of wife, singular wife, the assumption of monogamy, and the teaching of monogamy, monogamy in the doctrine and covenants, which, um, you know, are the revelations of Joseph Smith given to us for this day. So, um, these are both Joseph. Regarding Emma, so this first one is 10968. It’s the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. It was in 1836, and this was Joseph said this was given by Revelation. So verse 68 says, O Lord, remember thy servant Joseph Smith Junior and all his afflictions and persecutions. How he has covenanted with Jehovah and vowed to thee, O mighty God of Jacob, and that and the commandment which thou hast given unto him. And that he hath sincerely striven to do thy will. Have mercy, O Lord, upon his wife and children, that they may be exalted in thy presence and preserved by thy fostering hand. He goes on from there to pray for all of their associates. Then he goes on to pray for the other leaders of the church and their wives and children and their associates, and then he just expands it from there to pray for pretty much everyone in the world, but He specifically prays for his wife and his children, his singular wife,

[00:13:23] and this was given by revelation. So I know we always have the line that, um, you know, that Joseph said one thing and did another, and it was sort of a smokescreen because he was facing persecutions. I think that’s at least how I’ve always heard it explained because as I have, as I have delved into this, and we will get into it more, but. Every single thing that Joseph himself ever said or wrote denied polygamy, denied that he participated in it and denied like that everything that he himself said, everything we have that’s contrary to that is second or third hand accounts usually decades later. So that’s interesting. So right here in this revelation he received, referring to his one wife. So, if this, you know, so we just have to decide how deep these lies go. Was Joseph Smith lying that this was a revelation or was it a revelation and God was lying? And saying you only had one wife or just withholding that information, which I always taught. I always was taught in my teaching and training by my parents and in the church that half truths are also lies. That’s what Satan told Eve in the garden, right? A half truth. So, so anyway, that’s something to consider is that Joseph, in a prayer received by Revelation, prayed for his one wife and their children. So then, This one is the one that just, ah, get you, get you in the heart. It’s, it’s from, it’s from Liberty Jail 1839, and it’s 122 verse 5 and um I just think it’s important to listen to his feelings for his wife. So will do 5 and 6 if thou art called to pass through tribulation, if thou art in perils among false brethren, if thou art in perils among robbers, if thou art in perils by land or sea, if thou art accused of all manner of false accusations, if thine enemies fall upon thee, if they, if they t thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters. And if with a drawn sword thine enemy’s tear the from the bosom of thy wife and thy offspring and thy elder son, although but 6 years of age, shall cling to thy garments and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? Oh my father, where are these men? What are these men going to do with you? And if then ye shall be thrust from and if then he I’ll be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison and thine enemies prowl around me like wolves for the blood of the lamb. So he’s, it’s saying all of these things will give you experience and work together for your good. I’m hoping I wrote that reference down because I was thinking maybe it was 121. So I’ll double check what I have written is 122 verse 5. But um the thing that I think is so Just touching there is that he was in jail, and these are the memories, his last memories of his family that are haunting him, and you know he’s torn from the bosom of his wife with a drawn sword and his son is thrown down with a sword and he, I just, he loved his family. He really, really loved his family and so it’s hard for me to make sense of these things being. Being received by revelation if it was all a smokescreen or if it was all a lie or how would it be to be one of his other wives and he’s only talking about this wife

[00:16:42] or how could he have that kind of anyway, we don’t, we don’t need to go into all of that now because people can have different opinions on it, um, but in any case, the doctrine and covenants all the way through, I think you can see, teaches commands, reveals and assumes um monogamy, excuse me. It definitely has the commandment and assumption of monogamy, including with Joseph Smith himself in regard to his wife Emma. And so, um, so those are all of the cases of wives and wife in the doctrine of Covenant. So I think you can see that. As a whole, the doctrinal covenants definitely leans very much to the teaching of monogamy, especially again in just 4222, thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart and shall cleave unto her and none else. It’s very clearly taught repeatedly. That monogamy is God’s establishment of marriage and God’s law that he expects his his states to live. So, OK, now we’re going to go into something that was one of those things that I learned that stunned me. I was amazed by this. So, and um it’s wonderful now. Another thing that I so appreciate that our church is doing is the Joseph Smith Papers Project. It’s been. It’s so great because if we are seeking truth, then we have so much more access. And yes, it’s, it’s in some ways nice to have this just kind of like I talked about with our scriptures, we just think it’s this clean little neat package that’s always been the way that we assume it is and um, you know, and, and digging into the history, we learned that things are way messier, way messier than they ever thought they were, so it can be challenging and there’s definitely some. Some growth that you have to experience going through that. Some things can be unsettling, but it’s also so gratifying because we just get to get closer and closer to truth, and we get to get closer and closer to the Lord and seek discernment so that we can really know truth for ourselves, which is what you know, I, I love the hymn Oh Say what is truth and we. We as a people should love truth. That was the whole purpose of the restoration. So, um, so we need to keep seeking truth. So, OK, so that, remember at the beginning I talked about the different editions of the Doctrine of Covenants, right? There was the 1835 edition, the 1844 edition, and then the 1876 edition. So, um sorry, I’ve got a hair on my face. OK. So in the 1835 edition. That was so a committee was chosen, right? It was Joseph Smith was the head of that committee as well as the president of the church and um in that edition there was section 101. So um section 101, let me explain so section 101. Added to the doctrine of Covenants in the 1835 edition. It was included in the 1835 edition overseen by Joseph Smith, and I’ll talk a little bit about the approval process for that. It was included again in the 1844 edition, again overseen by Joseph Smith. Then the.

[00:19:47] Oh, and, and neither of those included section 132. So then the um migration to Utah and then and I think oh I’ll have to get into it when it was 1852, I think that Brigham Young revealed that he had, um, that he had the revelation that became Section 132, which was not added into the doctrine of Covenants until 1876, right? So from 1835 until 1876. Section 101 was in the doctrine and covenants, which was then removed from the 1876. I feel like I’m making this so confusing. There was a section 101 in 1835 included again in 1844 removed in 1876, and all of the numbers were adjusted up. So there is a current 101, but it’s not the same one that it was. And then 132 was not in any of those earlier editions and was included, so they kind of did us a switch out in 1876. So I’m going to read 18 um Doctrine Covenants 101 is only 4 verses long and I’m, and it’s actually the. The churches like it teaches the church how marriage should work, right? How they should do marriage, and it’s actually beautiful to read. I’ll put up a link cause it’s, there are things I just love about it. So, um, I’m just gonna read part of part of verse 2 and then part of verse 4. So this is saying how a marriage should be performed by the high priest or, um, or whoever it is, and it’s verse 2. He shall say, calling each by their names. You both mutually agree to be each other’s companion, husband and wife, observing the legal rights belonging to this condition, that is, so listen to the covenant that they are given, that is keeping yourselves holy for each other and from all others during your lives. And when they have answered yes, he shall pronounce them husband and wife in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love that because it’s just this beautiful. Equality, the two of them together are put under the same covenant to obey God and to keep themselves holy for each other and from all others. I think that that is a beautiful. A beautiful marriage, um, covenant that they are given. So that’s in verse 2. Then in verse 4 it says, inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication and polygamy, we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife and one woman but one husband, except in case of death when either is at liberty to marry again. OK, so that was section 101 of the doctrine and Covenants. From 1835 to 1876. So our own teachings were. As absolutely clear as they could possibly be, they align with all of the teachings in the Book of Mormon and the teachings in the Bible, which we also are going to get into in the future. So that is interesting. I hope you will all go read Doctrine Covenants 101 from the 1835 and 1844 edition and um. I want, OK, so sometimes when you read, I, I’ll put some links, um, that will include some of the information, just a couple of resources you can look at for the evolution of the doctrine covenants. There are many sources you could look at, so you know, feel free to do your own searching.

[00:23:21] I’ll just put something to make it a little bit easier. But in the sources that are compiled by the church or that have been in the past, it usually. tries to undermine section 101 by saying, well, it just that they cite a source that says that 101 was written by Oliver Cowdery and not approved by Joseph Smith. So I looked into that. I had to buy the book that they cite so I could find it. So I found it just in a little footnote, and what it basically says is Joseph F. Smith’s journal contains an entry in 1869 where he quotes Brigham Young claiming that Oliver Cowdry wrote section 101 and included it over Joseph Smith’s objections. So included it in the Doctrine of the Covenants over Joseph Smith’s objections. OK, so that’s the sort of way out, right? We always need a way out when things are really clear. So the way out is that Brigham Young. said, well, that Joseph Smith said that Brigham Young said that. That Joseph F. Smith said that Brigham Young said that Joseph Smith said that he didn’t want it in, but Oliver Cowdrey put it in anyway. OK, so again, like we can play the gossip game there. That’s, that’s a great way to get information. But in any case, there are so many problems. So I dug dug in and did some research. So stick with me, OK, cause what I These these little facts and details are kind of important because there is absolutely nothing to support this claim by Brigham Young, and there is a lot to prove it false. So remember this committee was formed. The committee was Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sydney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. They were the ones put in charge of compiling and arranging the doctrine and covenants and getting it ready for publication, which happened 11 months later. So, um. Brigham Young was made an apostle in May of 1835, so the committee was formed in September of 1834. It wasn’t until May of 1835 that Brigham Young was made an apostle, and then he was immediately sent away on a mission to New England, New York and New England. So I don’t know how he would have been involved in this sort of. Elite council, it was the presidency of the church, right, that was working on this, and he became an apostle near the end of that and then was immediately then immediately left so he wasn’t in the know and then he and then he wasn’t even there. So um he was gone until after the doctrine covenants was published. So um let’s see, I want to. Go on. So anyway, so I just don’t know how he would have been in the know to say. Who wrote it that Oliver wrote it and to say that Joseph didn’t want it included, there there’s just no evidence for that. And, and I want to talk about what happened to get this um this version of the doctrine of Covenants approved. So first of all, remember that Joseph Smith was the head of the committee. Oliver Cowdry would have had no authority to write something on his own and certainly no authority to include it. Over the objections objections of Joseph Smith and in fact the entire church. So, um, OK, let’s see. So

[00:26:41] So I’ve talked about where everybody was, right? Brigham Young wasn’t an apostle until May and then was in New England and um Joseph Smith was head of the committee all the way back from September. Sorry, I’ve said that a couple of times. So um. When it was ready, when the doctrine covenants was ready to be published, a special general assembly of the church was called. It was held on August 17, 1835. Again, I will put in the notes a link to the Joseph Smith papers where you can read the, the entire, um, what am I trying to say, the entire minutes from this meeting. So the purpose of the meeting was quote to see whether the book would the book be approved or not by the authorities of the church that it may, if approved, become a law unto the church and a rule of faith and practice unto the same. So this meeting, Joseph Smith was presiding at the meeting, and again, Brigham Young and actually none of the 12 apostles were there because they were all, all um on serving missions. Brigham Young and several others were in New England. So, um, this is a quote from the minutes of the meeting. President O. Cowdery, so I’ll just say President Cowdery, then arose with the book of the with the book of doctrine and Covenants containing the faith articles and covenants of the Latter-day Saints, then proceeded to take the vote of the whole house commencing with the presidents of Zion. So Joseph Smith was the first. Joseph Smith and his presidency were the first ones allowed to vote in favor of accepting. The doctrine covenants as the law and the governing book of the church. President Phelps arose and spoke in high commendation of the book and aforementioned and said that he had examined it carefully, that it was well arranged and calculated to govern the church in righteousness. If followed, would bring the members to see eye to eye and further that he had received the testimony from God that the revelations and commandments contained therein are true. Wherefore, he knew assuredly for himself, having received witness from heaven and not from men. So it goes on and leader after leader after leader stands up and gives similar testimony of the truthfulness of these revelations of the goodness of the revelations and um what was the other word, the Uh, commandments included in it and um commends it to the church. So each governing body was allowed individually and well as each governing body was given the opportunity to accept, to affirm, to vote that they affirmed and accepted the book, so. Let’s see, I want to read what it was they affirmed to, what it was they voted on. President John Smith then called the vote of the presidency, so this is describing when Joseph Smith and his first presidency got to vote in favor, which was carried as follows that they would receive the book as the rule of their faith and practice and put themselves under the guidance of the same and also. So that they were satisfied with the committee that were chosen to compile it as having discharged their duty faithfully, so they were saying that so I just think it’s important to recognize that this was not a smoke smoke screen. This was the scriptures for the members of the church to know the commandments of God to them and to. Be the governing document for the church. So including one on one in this was no way to was was in no way to like confuse everyone else about what they were doing because they themselves were affirming yes we will live by this yes we agreed to it. Yes, we

[00:30:13] affirm that we believe that this is by revelation and the commandment and how we should live so. It it doesn’t make sense to say that it was just a smokescreen, and it does definitely not make sense to say that Joseph Smith, that Oliver Cowdery somehow got it done against Joseph Smith’s objections. I think, so this is something we’ll go into a little bit later, but putting ourselves in the shoes of the early church leaders, they had experienced so much persecution, right? So they came to Utah. And they’re in Utah and there’s no one looking over their shoulder, right? I know that. You know, it can be easy to kind of stretch the truth if there’s no one keeping you honest or to kind of say things that are self-protective. And um and I’m not saying this as a condemnation because I think all of us have a tendency to do that and And you know, Brigham Young said a lot of things about Emma Smith, about Oliver Cowdery, about William Law, about many of the others, people that were not there to defend themselves or tell their side or their perspective, and he, you know, he, he said a lot of things about a lot of people and um. And so, and I, I, you know, I, I’m trying to just say I can understand how that could happen, but I think it’s important to recognize that Brigham Young’s saying this about Oliver Cowdrey and Joseph Smith is not solid evidence when we have the minutes of the actual meeting where it was approved and received and where Joseph Smith. Was the head of the committee to put it together and also the head of the church. So, um, OK, then this is also important, um, President Phelps, this is a quote again from the minutes. President Phelps then arose and read the written testimony of the 12 apostles in favor of the book and the committee who compiled it. So that would have included Brigham Young. So even he, although the 12 were all away, a statement was read of them all affirming the truthfulness of it and accepting it. And then many more testimonies from leaders, um, and then each governing body voted unanimously in favor, and then this was when I wanted to read this part too. Brother Gates then took the book and expressed his satisfaction with it. And also called a vote of all the members present, both male and female, and they gave a decided vote in favor of it and also of the committee, there being a very large portion of the church present. All of the above testimonies and votes were voluntarily and unhesitatingly given with the utmost freedom of conscience on the part of the assembly. So the doctrine and covenants in 1835 was unanimously accepted. Um, by every leader and member of the church. And then I want to include this. This is, this is interesting because not only was it accepted, but the entire section 101 was read aloud at the meeting. That’s the section on marriage, right? that I just read a few parts from. Only one other section was read aloud at the meeting, which was, which was governing, a governing document of the church. So Here’s what it says. President Phelps then arose and read a chapter of rules for marriage among the saints, and the whole church voted to receive it. It is therefore attached to the book.

[00:33:34] So not only was the doctrine of covenants as a whole received, but even 101 on its own was was received as the governing document of the church and the rules and standards of the church. So. I just think that Brigham Young’s claim that Joseph Smith objected to Section 101 or that there was any controversy about it at all is verifiably false. There’s no truth to it. So, um, I think it’s important to know what the original Section 101 was that was included in the doctrine and covenants until it was removed. in 1876 when Section 132 was added. So, um, OK, now I know that this can be uncomfortable or tricky because we, we still haven’t talked about 132 and I don’t want it to seem like I’m picking and choosing scripture or sidestepping it. We are going to get there. It’s just such a big subject, so I’m trying to break it up the best way I can. But um, While we’re not going to go into 132, I, I just want to set the stage right now that I think that when we do go into 132, remember it has 10 of the cases of singular wife, and I think that you will see that even 132 itself, other than a few problematic verses, actually strongly and profoundly and deeply teaches monogamy. So we’re going to get into that. So. The, the reason I’m, I’m doing this with the entire, the entirety of the doctrine of Covenant is because I think it’s so important to see what all scriptures say, right? There’s always contradiction in scripture. We have Old Testament scriptures that talk about genocide and prostitution and Just, just all kinds of things that we in no way except just because they’re in our scriptures, right? So what we have to do always with all scripture is bring our reason and our logic to it and our gift of discernment. We have to bring the spirit to it and ask the Lord how we should weigh things, how we should prioritize things, and what we should take as our guiding, you know, what we should take as the truth that God wants us to know. And so, um. So that’s what I think we need to do with this principle and with the doctrine and covenant. So Eer Anderson gave a talk that I really liked a while ago called Trial of Your Faith, and he taught an important principle that I want to apply here. He basically said that true doctrine is not obscure or given in one place. It is taught frequently, repeated, repeatedly, and by many different leaders. Here’s here’s the quote. A few question their faith when they find a statement made by a church leader decades ago that seems incongruent with our doctrine. There is an important principle that governs the doctrine of the church. The doctrine is taught by all 15 members of the first presidency and quorum of the 12. It is not hidden in an obscure paragraph of one talk. True principles are taught frequently and by many. Our doctrine is not difficult to find. He again. He goes on, the leaders of the church are honest but imperfect men. Remember the words of Marona, quote, Condemn me not because of my imperfection, neither my father, but rather give thanks unto God that he hath been that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been. I love that he gave that talk and included that part, and I think that is the perfect counsel for us in regard to studying out polygamy. So first of all, He says that the doctrine is not obscure, right? It’s, it’s taught frequently in many places. So what doctrine is taught from the literal beginning of creation in all like taught in the Bible, taught profoundly in the Book of Mormon,

[00:37:16] taught profoundly in the doctrine and covenants, and taught by all of our leaders today as opposed to this one obscure doctrine that is only taught in a few verses of section 132. Which has a problematic past which completely contradicts one on one that was removed, right? And also it is obscure. It’s not something like our missionaries aren’t out talking to investigators about polygamy, right? Many people join the church and our members for a long time before they even learn about polygamy. It’s, it’s obscure. We almost intentionally keep it obscure because It’s not, you know, it doesn’t feel good to us and it doesn’t feel good to people learning about us and maybe our discernment is telling us something. So, so, you know, it’s, we don’t need to just like, just like he quoted Maron I, we don’t need to condemn previous leaders because of their imperfections, but we can give thanks unto God. That we can see the imperfections and the and the mistakes they made so that we can be more wise than they have been. That is such a blessing to us. And so, um, again, just going with this council, um, there are other doctrines that we keep really hidden and obscure. I, I shouldn’t say doctrines. Um, doctrines that Brigham Young taught that he seems to have been the originator of. There are others like that that we don’t espouse anymore, such as like, we’re not really proud of the priesthood band, right? The doctrine. That was claimed to talk about race and the priesthood. We’re not terribly proud of Adam God theory and and the ideas that Brigham had there and how that related to polygamy. We’re definitely not very proud of blood atonement and that doctrine that was taught. Those things are extremely obscure, only taught. By one or two leaders and then let go and tried to be buried. I think that, you know, I think that God uses each of us in the ways that he can. I think that Joseph Smith was so useful to the Lord for receiving revelation, for translation, for um establishing the church, right? He wasn’t necessarily especially useful to the Lord or I’m, you know, I, I, anyway, I, he wasn’t successful, shall we say, at running a bank or running a business or doing those kinds of things. The Lord used what all of the strengths of Joseph Smith and had to kind of bear with the weaknesses, right? And I think Brigham Young was incredibly useful to the Lord to bring a people across the entire wilderness, to bring them across the country and establish a new land in the desert, and, you know, that lion of the Lord energy that he apparently had and um. But I think that the Lord had to deal with some things that were not terribly useful. I don’t think that Brigham Young was very useful to the Lord in terms of doctrine. He himself claimed that he was a Yankee guesser, not a prophet in the same way of Joseph Smith. And so these were the doctrines that made sense to him in his mind that he taught from the pulpit

[00:40:24] and um that we are trying to sort out now, so. Anyway, so I think it’s good to take, to listen to Elder Anderson’s counsel and to look for truth in things that are repeated, that are Um, easy to find that are taught in many places by many different people and so, um, we’re going to leave it there for today. We, I know we still have to dig more and more into 132, so I hope that you are staying with me to this point. Um, I hope you will join me for our next episode, which will be looking at Abraham’s polygamy. So again, my name is Michelle Stone, and this is 132 Problems.