Of course the general membership know very little about Joseph Smith's 'harem', the church white-washes it's history.
Article about John Johnson's family. (the part I want to highlight begins with the paragraph "Records aren't complete" which is more than half way through the article).
"...when we examine the lives of the Johnson family, they reflect both the glory and the tragedy of these early Church experiences."
Was Marinda's life an example of the 'glory' or 'tragedy' side of things?
Compare the LDS (Mormon) article with this one.
The LDS article mentions that Orson Hyde was sent far from home on many missions. It mentions the difficult circumstances that Marinda was left in with her young children. It also mentions that Joseph Smith provided better living conditions for Marinda and her family.
What it doesn't mention is that while Orson was away on mission Joseph Smith married Marinda. It also doesn't mention that Orson later married extra wives and that in 1870 he and Marinda divorced.
The LDS article ends with this lovely statement:
"Marinda’s death ended the earthly career of the original John Johnson family, a family who left a lasting impression on the Church and all those who knew them. Like Lehi’s family, their disobedience resulted in unhappiness and tragedy, and their faithfulness resulted in the blessings and happiness of the gospel."
Hold on... I'm confused. Who ended up happy? and who got the rough end of the stick? The whole mess looks pretty miserable to me.
It seems to me that critics of the Mormon church aren't the only ones who don't include all relevant information..... "The problem is, critics of the LDS Church use scriptures selectively, and not fully, in their arguments, therefore their interpretations are faulty of what LDS teachings really are." Michael Fordham.
Let's just say that transparency is not really one of Mormonism's strong points. Lies, deception, white-washing, cover-ups... it's all there.
