26. Brigham Young has Zina live with him
September 10, 202424. The Majority of the Church was Clueless
September 12, 2024
In general conference, Brigham Young claimed that Emma tried to poison Joseph because she was so opposed to polygamy.
A1) In General Conference Brigham Young claimed Emma Smith tried to poison Joseph Smith.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
[Joseph] called his wife Emma into a secret council, and there he told her . . . of the time she undertook to poison him, and he told her that she was a child of hell, and literally the most wicked woman on this earth, that there was not one more wicked than she. He told her where she got the poison, and how she put it in a cup of coffee. . . . When it entered his stomach he went to the door and threw it off. –Brigham Young General Conference Address, 7 Oct. 1866
(Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 6, p.65, Brigham Young, conference address, 7 Oct. 1866, The Essential Brigham Young, p.188. also recorded in Joseph Smith’s diary by Willard Richards: ““Every symptom of poison,” Richards noted in Joseph’s diary. That night at the prayer meeting, Richards, wrote in code that Joseph and Emma did not dress in the usual special clothing, a sign they were too much at odds to participate. The next day, Richards wrote that Joseph was “busy with domestic concerns.”)
Issues these Facts Raise
Is this a fruit of polygamy?
Questions these Facts Raise
Again, this is a no win situation for me. Either:
1. Emma either did try to poison Joseph, showing the depths of agony polygamy drove her. Oh, and those lessons on how Joseph and Emma’s marriage was great is just not true (church perpetuating a lie). Although the turmoil of their marriage is obvious when reading the history of the church, especially polygamy.
2. Brigham Young lies (either knowingly or unknowingly). If knowingly, Brigham is a liar. If unknowingly, Brigham wasn’t led by the spirit very well that day in general conference. Is this the rotten fruit that polygamy grows?
