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Some as young as 14 and 15. This angers me that now young girls are still being put through the same thing that Joseph Smith Jr started.
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Actually, Joseph Smith did not start this sort of thing as it has been going on since the days of Adam. Mohammed took many wives and one was only 9, although he did not have sex with her until she reached puberty. The ages of the women in the Bible are generally unlcear but we can assume most were married around the age of 14 through 16. In traditional areas of the Middle East today it is still common to get married that young and often you get married to your cousin who is chosen through negotiations between the parents. As for marriage in small communities like the FLDS, it might be noted that MesoAmerican cultures usually had people marry close relatives to maintain racial purity and since Alma makes a big deal about being a descendant of Lehi, why make such a claim if all Nephites and Lamanites were from Lehi, we can probably assume the Nephites tried to keep the ruling classes racially pure through this practice just like the Incans and the Egyptians did.
If we go by Jewish folklore, Adam had many wives so polygamy it seems is the rule rather than the exception in human history.
Cut Joseph Smith some slack here. If anything he was living the same way the ancient prophets lives and unless people want to follow in the path of Sonia Johnson they should not be so critical of what they were doing.