Did Joseph Smith Promise Salvation in Exchange for a 14-Year-Old Bride? Mormon Stories Claims

by Jack Mormon | Jul 21, 2025 | Joseph Smith

Bottom Line

Joseph Smith’s sealing to Helen Mar Kimball was difficult, doctrinal, and ethically uncomfortable — especially due to her age. But there is no record that she, or her parents, considered it forced, fraudulent, or abusive. If we accept their testimonies, we must grapple with a hard truth: this wasn’t trafficking — it was religious sacrifice, however foreign that looks today.

🔍 Core Findings

🧭 The Alleged “Bargain”: Marriage for Salvation

This accusation stems from a widely cited passage in Helen Mar Kimball’s later writings where she recalled Joseph promising:

“If you take this step, it will ensure your eternal salvation and exaltation and that of your father’s household and all of your kindred.”
— Helen Mar Kimball Whitney, Why We Practice Plural Marriage (1884)

Critics frame this as a quid pro quo: a teenage girl exchanged for heavenly reward. The language is uncomfortable, yes. But it’s essential to examine how Helen understood this offer — and whether she considered herself a victim.

📜 Did Helen Say She Was Forced or Tricked?

Helen Mar Kimball was 14 years old at the time of her sealing to Joseph. That age is deeply problematic by today’s standards. But she was not a random, uninformed girl. She was:

• The daughter of a top Church leader (Heber C. Kimball)
• Raised in a home familiar with intense religious sacrifice
• Offered the chance to seek her own spiritual witness

She later described spiritual difficulty and emotional struggle — but she never claimed to be physically forced or spiritually deceived.

“I would never have been sealed to Joseph had I known it was anything more than a ceremony. I was young, and they deceived me by saying the salvation of our whole family depended upon it.”
— Reported in Catherine Lewis, Narrative of Some of the Proceedings of the Mormons (1853)

This quote is often used as evidence of regret. But Helen also defended plural marriage in her adult life — and she never described herself as coerced. She accepted the sealing as a sacred principle once she matured in faith.

🤝 Was Her Father Manipulated?

Heber C. Kimball did arrange the sealing. Critics describe it as a “trade,” and Helen used the metaphor of being the “lamb laid on the altar.” But again, this reflects a deeply religious worldview — not a criminal transaction.

No historical record indicates that Heber felt “bribed” or “defrauded.” To him, sacrificing for the gospel — even with his family — was a sacred Abrahamic principle, not extortion.

“This principle was established by the Prophet Joseph Smith… for the purpose of raising a righteous seed.”
— Helen Mar Whitney, Plural Marriage as Taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith

⚖️ Ethical vs. Criminal

Let’s be clear: sealing a 14-year-old to a 37-year-old is ethically problematic by today’s standards. Even Brigham Young later discouraged similar age gaps. But to call it coercion or fraud collapses under historical scrutiny:

• Helen’s testimony reflects religious belief, not deceit.
• She later wrote of her sealing in terms of sacrifice and faith — not trauma or betrayal.
• Neither she nor her parents described the offer as a spiritual bribe.

“The promise of salvation in exchange for obedience to plural marriage was doctrinal, not transactional. All temple covenants include conditional promises. This does not constitute trafficking or fraud.”
— Mormoner.org – Helen Mar Kimball Case Study

📚 Sources

• Helen Mar Kimball, Why We Practice Plural Marriage (1884)
• Catherine Lewis, Narrative of Some of the Proceedings of the Mormons (1853)
• Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, Vol. 2, pp. 348–359
• Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, pp. 440–442
• JosephSmithsPolygamy.org – Helen Mar Kimball
• Mormoner.org – Helen Mar Kimball Case Study

Did Joseph Smith Engage in Human Trafficking? Mormon Stories Outrageous Claims Ep. 1794

by Jack Mormon | Jul 21, 2025 | Joseph Smith

Bottom Line:

Accusing Joseph Smith of sex trafficking is not just legally inaccurate — it’s historically reckless. His plural marriages were religious, not commercial. Women were not exchanged for money, nor held against their will. Even if modern audiences find 19th-century polygamy disturbing, it simply does not meet the criteria for sex trafficking under U.S. law. To equate the two trivializes real human trafficking — and erases the actual voices of the women involved.

🔍 Core Rebuttal

⚖️ What Is Legally Considered Sex Trafficking?

According to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), sex trafficking requires:

1. A commercial sex act;
2. Obtained through force, fraud, or coercion;
3. OR, if the person is under 18, any commercial sex act, regardless of coercion.

Critically, “commercial” means for monetary or financial benefit. Marriage — even with sex — does not qualify unless money, goods, or services are exchanged for the sexual activity (see DOJ TVPA Guidelines, 22 U.S.C. § 7102(11)).

“Though many modern scholars criticize polygamy on moral or ethical grounds, it does not meet the statutory definition of sex trafficking without clear evidence of commercial exchange or criminal coercion.”
— Mormoner.org

👨‍⚖️ What About “Spiritual Coercion”?

The panel claims that Joseph’s sealing proposals — especially promises of salvation — are equivalent to force or coercion under modern law. But this is a serious misapplication:

• Religious influence is not equivalent to legal force.
• The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly protected religious assent as voluntary, even when countercultural (Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990)).

Did Joseph Smith exert strong religious influence? Yes. But influence is not coercion unless backed by threat of violence or restraint — which no woman ever accused him of.

“He asked me to pray and get my own witness. I did, and I received a calm, sweet peace that never left me.”
— Lucy Walker, Affidavit, 1902 [source]

🔍 Were There Trafficking “Networks”?

The podcast suggests Joseph Smith orchestrated a trafficking operation through missionaries who “recruited” vulnerable European converts to Nauvoo under false pretenses. But that claim ignores several facts:

• Women traveled voluntarily as converts, not as sex slaves.
• The Nauvoo Expositor used trafficking rhetoric for political exposé, not legal accusation.
• There is no evidence that women were chained, sold, exchanged for money, or imprisoned — all required elements for trafficking cases.

Even critics like Todd Compton (In Sacred Loneliness) describe the relationships as emotionally and spiritually complex, not exploitative transactions.

🤝 What Did the Women Say?

The podcast repeatedly ignores the words of the women themselves:

• Zina Huntington described her sealing as divinely confirmed.
• Helen Mar Kimball later defended plural marriage as a revealed principle.
• Emily Partridge admitted to conjugal relations with Joseph, but never accused him of abuse.

Their full testimonies are preserved at JosephSmithsPolygamy.org and Mormoner.org.

📚 Sources

• U.S. Department of Justice: TVPA Definition
• 22 U.S. Code § 7102 (11)
• Hales, Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, Vols. 1–3
• Bushman, Rough Stone Rolling, pp. 437–452
• Mormoner.org – Trafficking Claims
• JosephSmithsPolygamy.org