Academia, Religion

Marriages Made In Heaven? Stories Claim New Findings On The Marital Status of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith

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For those who love to follow the marriages of the rich and famous, this week was a real doozy. In a new book, researchers are claiming evidence that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had two sons. In the meantime, a new publication on the website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says that Church founder Joseph Smith had as many as 40 wives including one who was only 14 years old.

The findings in the new book “The Lost Gospel,” by Professor Barrie Wilson and writer Simcha Jacobovici seems like something out of “The Da Vinci Code.” It is based on the transcript of an ancient manuscript which tells the story of Jesus’s two sons and his marriage to Mary. The manuscript dates back to 570 AD and written in Syriac — a Middle Eastern literary language used between the 4th and 8th centuries and related to Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus. It was written on animal skin or vellum and has been siting in the archives of the British Library for about 20 years after being held since 1847 at the British Museum (which bought it from a dealer who said he had obtained it from the ancient St Macarius Monastery in Egypt). Jacobovici, an Israeli-Canadian film-maker, and Wilson, a professor of religious studies in Toronto, decided to reexamine the text and believe that it contains a missing fifth gospel and confirms not just the long debate marriage to Mary but progeny of Jesus.

The news on the plural marriages of Joseph Smith is remarkable not only for its disclosure but its source. The LDS Church has always been highly reluctant to discuss the status of Smith as a polygamous. However, it was the Church that released the detailed account this month. It is a refreshing openness from the LDS leadership on a subject that has always been a matter of discomfort. The research suggests that Smith took his first “plural wife,” Fanny Alger, in the mid-1830s. There was a distinction drawn between bonds for this life, which included full matrimonial relations, and partnerships that would exist only in eternity in such marriages.

The essay, “Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo,” notes that “[m]any details about the early practice of plural marriage are unknown. Plural marriage was introduced among the early Saints incrementally, and participants were asked to keep their actions confidential. They did not discuss their experiences publicly or in writing until after the Latter-day Saints had moved to Utah and church leaders had publicly acknowledged the practice.”

Researchers believe that most of those sealed for eternity to Smith were between ages 20 and 40. The wives included Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of Joseph’s close friends Heber C. and Vilate Murray Kimball, who was [14.]” It was lawful to marry girls at the age during that period.

As was raised in our Sister Wives litigation (which is now on appeal), the LDS changed its position on polygamy when Utah became a state. In 1890, President Wilford Woodruff, the faith’s fourth prophet-leader, issued the “Manifesto,” which led to the end of the practice. That led to a split and the continued division between the LDS and FLDS, a small group that believes that polygamy is an essential part of the religion. The LDS Church remains opposed to plural marriages.

Source: Salt Lake Tribune

211 thoughts on “Marriages Made In Heaven? Stories Claim New Findings On The Marital Status of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith”

  5. Well, for all you Packer fans, an Irish Poem!

    Green Bay Peckers???
    An Irish Poem by Squeeky Fromm

    A cheese-headed fan in Wisconsin
    Let a bleacher freeze onto his “johnson.”
    How he shrieked when he stood!
    The docs did what they could,
    After they thawed it out with a ronson.

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

    1. Squeeky – Ronsons are pretty old school. Not sure they are even in business any more.

  7. They are just good people. Their religion and beliefs are about as far from mine as you can get but I respect them for their integrity and steadfastness in this sinful old world.

    I’ve been praying that your heart would be softened toward Packer fans!

  8. They are just good people. Their religion and beliefs are about as far from mine as you can get but I respect them for their integrity and steadfastness in this sinful old world.

  9. trooper, I got to know Mormons when I moved to KC. Independence, Mo. has a huge congregation not far from the Truman Library. And, some Mormon missionaries in Colombia were very kind and gracious in the Bogota airport when I was flying solo w/ my adopted son. The woman volunteered to change his diaper! That’s love.

  11. Nick the Mormons are good people. They get along just great with the old school Italians. They are reputable people.

    The only one who are intolerant and pass remarks and act nasty are of course you ultra-liberal hipster types.

  15. Trooper, I can’t believe you have Mormons in Brooklyn, well @ least in your old Italian neighborhood. “Times they are a changin’.” How do you think an Islam version of the Book of Mormons would be received?

  18. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Pk49mVrUKD0/SU3UR8T6m6I/AAAAAAAABgk/XU3HPE0mzhQ/s1600-h/lombardi_wives.jpeg
    A passage from “Instant Replay-The Unedited Edition”
    Everyone always assumed that Coach Lombardi was Catholic. He went along with this because when he was with the New York Giants he had to fit in. Wellington Mara was a devout Catholic and he tried to curry favor with the Mara’s so he could get the head coaching job of the Giants which was the one thing he most coveted in his life. But it was not to be so he had to settle for a rinky dink town like Green Bay.

    One of the advantages was that he could finally be himself. You see he actually was a Mormon and had twenty two wives who all looked pretty much the same and all insisted that he buy them a mink stole every year. Strangely enough they were all named Marie except for the youngest who was named Margene.

    They lived happily ever after in Wisconsin which has long been home to many unusual lifestyle choices.
    (Instant Replay- The Unedited Edition, Jerry Kramer & Dick Schaap Random House 1968)

  19. Is plagiarising part of your religion?

    I don’t know if Pogo and I are the same religion but making fun of the humorless, clueless and self righteous is a good hobby to cultivate.

  20. [Michael Haz
    Teji – No, sorry. Not interested in playing into your game.]

    You started it. It is fine with me if you want to give up now. 🙂

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