There appear to be major inconsistencies between how Joseph Smith practiced polygamy and the modern LDS teachings of these principles.

  1. If sealing was so important, why did Joseph never get sealed to his parents or children during his lifetime?

  2. If sealing was so important, why was Emma sealed to him after so many others (at least 16 documented sealing dates [josephsmithspolygamy.org] before he was sealed to Emma)?

  3. If sealing was so important, why was he never sealed to Fanny Alger? What was the point of that “union”?

  4. Why did Joseph Smith get sealed to other righteous men’s wives? (Henry Jacobs, Orson Hyde)

  5. If Joseph was pressured into polygamy by an angel with a drawn sword, why did the angel not give sufficient instructions to ensure that polygamy and/or sealings were done “correctly”? Also, it seems like there were many more pressing points in the history of the Church where divine direction was warranted–why did this angel only intervene with polygamy?

  6. What justified Joseph’s sealing to a happily newlywed, pregnant mother from a theological standpoint?

  7. Why did Zina Huntington become Brigham Young’s wife after Joseph died and not Henry Jacob’s wife?

  8. What was the point of a union with 14 year old Helen Mar Kimball? If polyandrous unions were non-sexual, why couldn’t Heber C. Kimball and his family have been sealed to Joseph via a polyandrous sealing to Vilate?

  9. Why did Joseph command other leaders (e.g., Heber C. Kimball) to take plural wives secretly?

  10. Why did Joseph threaten other leaders that they would lose their apostleship if they didn’t take plural wives?

  11. After being sealed to Patty Sessions, Joseph Smith was later sealed to her daughter, Sylvia Sessions. Why did Joseph need to be sealed to the daughter if he was already sealed to the mother?

  12. What made it okay for Joseph Smith (and other early leaders) to repeatedly lie about their practice of polygamy (JS directly or implicitly denied practicing polygamy 5 times in his own words, and was responsible for 3 additional direct denials).

  13. Why was it okay for Joseph Smith to re-seal himself to the Partridge sisters in order to hide the first sealings from Emma? [Note: the re-sealing ceremony may have been a fabrication which the Partridge sisters were pressured into making, but that still leaves JS performing the initial sealings behind Emma’s back]