The Mormon church admits that Joseph Smith had 40 wives?

I saw the headline everywhere this week.  From the right (Fox News) and from the left (CNN), and everywhere in between.  For once all the headlines were the same.  Everyone was interested in the big "revelation."  The church has released several scholarly articles over the last year that detail polygamy in the early church, and the most recent articles discussed Joseph Smith's polygamy in detail, which is why these news outlets decided to release their articles (interestingly enough all on the same day for the most part.  It is also interesting to note that these articles came out well over 2 weeks after the church actually published the latest article).  I am sure that for many people this was a "revelation", but I hope to take a few minutes to debunk a couple of blatant lies located in the headlines and articles.  I will address the following two points:

This was NOT a new revelation or an "admission", we have known about this for over 150 years.

Referring to all of the women as "wives" does not mean what most people seem to think it means.

Please recognize that this is NOT an official church publication, and is nowhere near a comprehensive explanation on the subject.

Number one:  This was NOT a new revelation.  This was not an "admission" from the church about Joseph Smith's polygamy.  At worst, this was a clarification of issues that may have been muddy in people's minds in the past.  At best, it is a place for all people (church members and non-members alike) to come and find a well-documented essay with linked in sources that will allow people to do an intelligent study on the issues surrounding polygamy.  The church issued an official response detailing the reasons for their essays here:  http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-provides-context-gospel-topics-pages

I hate to break it to all of the people who saw this as an "admission" of some sort of "guilt" of the prophet Joseph Smith, but we have known that Joseph Smith was a polygamist since the revelation on plural marriage was released publicly to the church in 1843.  The journalists who are reporting this as a new revelation, or as an admission by the church are sadly uninformed and showed an incredible lack of journalistic effort.  It doesn't take too much research to find that LDS canon has been teaching this for over 150 years.  You can find the revelation here: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/132?lang=eng

It is apparent as you study this section that Joseph Smith didn't just receive the revelation, but was commanded to live the principle of plural marriage.  The fact that the Doctrine and Covenants was canonized in 1835 (http://history.lds.org/event/doctrine-and-covenants-canonized?lang=eng) and that this revelation was added to the canon of scripture clearly indicates that there has been no effort by the church to conceal Joseph Smith's polygamy.  The fact that church members are not only encouraged, but commanded to study these revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants is further proof of this (see DC 1:37-28 and https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1987/04/the-book-of-mormon-and-the-doctrine-and-covenants?lang=eng) If you are trying to hide something and don't want people to find out about it because it would make your prophet "guilty", I don't think that you put it in your scriptural canon and encourage members and non-members alike to make a careful study of it.

Do the new articles clarify information that many members were likely not aware of?  Absolutely!  Is there new information that was never available before?  Not really.  The essays are years of research filed down to one article.  The information isn't necessarily new, just placed in one convenient location.  This was absolutely, positively not a "new revelation" or an "admission."  It is simply clarification and convenience for church members to understand the doctrines and the history.  Calling it an "admission" infers that there was something wrong with it.  While I understand that prophets are also human and there could have been some mistakes made here and there within the practice, the doctrine of eternal marriage and plural marriage taken as a whole was not a mistake, and Joseph Smith living the doctrine was not a mistake either.

In addition, I might add that any "mistakes" made can be easily understood as you understand the process of spiritual learning.  We each learn spiritual truths step by step, and we may well understand one spiritual truth in one way at a point in our lives, and then find later on as we learn more that the way we understood that spiritual truth was not entirely accurate.  President Dieter F. Uchtdorf explained this in his last conference address:  "As an airline pilot, I flew numerous hours across continents and oceans during the darkness of night. Watching the night sky out of my cockpit window, especially the Milky Way, often made me marvel at the vastness and depth of God’s creations—what the scriptures describe as “worlds without number.”¹

It was less than a century ago that most astronomers assumed that our Milky Way galaxy was the only galaxy in the universe.² They supposed all that lay beyond our galaxy was an immense nothingness, an infinite void—empty, cold, and devoid of stars, light, and life.

As telescopes became more sophisticated—including telescopes that could be launched into space—astronomers began to grasp a spectacular, almost incomprehensible truth: the universe is mind-bogglingly bigger than anyone had previously believed, and the heavens are filled with numberless galaxies, unimaginably far away from us, each containing hundreds of billions of stars.³

In a very short period of time, our understanding of the universe changed forever.

Today we can see some of these distant galaxies.⁴

We know that they are there.

They have been there for a very long time.

But before mankind had instruments powerful enough to gather celestial light and bring these galaxies into visibility, we did not believe such a thing was possible.

The immensity of the universe didn’t suddenly change, but our ability to see and understand this truth changed dramatically. And with that greater light, mankind was introduced to glorious vistas we had never before imagined." https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/receiving-a-testimony-of-light-and-truth?lang=eng

I hope that you will see as you continue to read, that many of the complicated issues surrounding Joseph Smith's polygamy came because a spiritual truth was revealed, perhaps not understood in its entirety, but acted on with the best available current knowledge.  This issue will have much to do with our understanding of what these "wives" really were (I might also add here that 40 is definitely the most generous estimate on the number of "wives" Joseph had).

Joseph Smith had received a revelation regarding the sealing of husbands and wives and the sealing of families.  In essence, the sealing simply means that husbands and wives (and their families) are bound together in the eternities.  This is one of the most appealing doctrines to most church members and many who investigate the church.  Further explanation of our current understanding of sealings is located here: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/sealing

Because this was a new concept to early church members who primarily came from traditional Christian backgrounds, their ideas of what sealings were intended to do were based on their cultural context.  As a result, many people were being "sealed" to Joseph Smith because of how they thought sealings worked.  This is one of the possible reasons why Joseph Smith was sealed to so many "wives."  One of the important things to understand is that there were many of these "wives" that there was never even a sexual relationship with, which is important to understand because of how many detractors of the church accuse Joseph Smith of being a sexual predator.  The church's essay is extremely well written when it comes to this particular point, I will offer an excerpt here to explain in detail sealings and why Joseph was sealed to so many women:
"During the era in which plural marriage was practiced, Latter-day Saints distinguished between sealings for time and eternity and sealings for eternity only. Sealings for time and eternity included commitments and relationships during this life, generally including the possibility of sexual relations. Eternity-only sealings indicated relationships in the next life alone.
Evidence indicates that Joseph Smith participated in both types of sealings. The exact number of women to whom he was sealed in his lifetime is unknown because the evidence is fragmentary.²⁴ Some of the women who were sealed to Joseph Smith later testified that their marriages were for time and eternity, while others indicated that their relationships were for eternity alone.²⁵
Most of those sealed to Joseph Smith were between 20 and 40 years of age at the time of their sealing to him. The oldest, Fanny Young, was 56 years old. The youngest was Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of Joseph’s close friends Heber C. and Vilate Murray Kimball, who was sealed to Joseph several months before her 15th birthday. Marriage at such an age, inappropriate by today’s standards, was legal in that era, and some women married in their mid-teens.²⁶ Helen Mar Kimball spoke of her sealing to Joseph as being “for eternity alone,” suggesting that the relationship did not involve sexual relations.²⁷ After Joseph’s death, Helen remarried and became an articulate defender of him and of plural marriage.²⁸
Following his marriage to Louisa Beaman and before he married other single women, Joseph Smith was sealed to a number of women who were already married.²⁹ Neither these women nor Joseph explained much about these sealings, though several women said they were for eternity alone.³⁰ Other women left no records, making it unknown whether their sealings were for time and eternity or were for eternity alone.
There are several possible explanations for this practice. These sealings may have provided a way to create an eternal bond or link between Joseph’s family and other families within the Church.³¹ These ties extended both vertically, from parent to child, and horizontally, from one family to another. Today such eternal bonds are achieved through the temple marriages of individuals who are also sealed to their own birth families, in this way linking families together. Joseph Smith’s sealings to women already married may have been an early version of linking one family to another. In Nauvoo, most if not all of the first husbands seem to have continued living in the same household with their wives during Joseph’s lifetime, and complaints about these sealings with Joseph Smith are virtually absent from the documentary record.³²
These sealings may also be explained by Joseph’s reluctance to enter plural marriage because of the sorrow it would bring to his wife Emma. He may have believed that sealings to married women would comply with the Lord’s command without requiring him to have normal marriage relationships.³³ This could explain why, according to Lorenzo Snow, the angel reprimanded Joseph for having “demurred” on plural marriage even after he had entered into the practice.³⁴ After this rebuke, according to this interpretation, Joseph returned primarily to sealings with single women.
Another possibility is that, in an era when life spans were shorter than they are today, faithful women felt an urgency to be sealed by priesthood authority. Several of these women were married either to non-Mormons or former Mormons, and more than one of the women later expressed unhappiness in their present marriages. Living in a time when divorce was difficult to obtain, these women may have believed a sealing to Joseph Smith would give them blessings they might not otherwise receive in the next life.³⁵
The women who united with Joseph Smith in plural marriage risked reputation and self-respect in being associated with a principle so foreign to their culture and so easily misunderstood by others. “I made a greater sacrifice than to give my life,” said Zina Huntington Jacobs, “for I never anticipated again to be looked upon as an honorable woman.” Nevertheless, she wrote, “I searched the scripture & by humble prayer to my Heavenly Father I obtained a testimony for myself.”³⁶ After Joseph’s death, most of the women sealed to him moved to Utah with the Saints, remained faithful Church members, and defended both plural marriage and Joseph." https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng#25

Hopefully this clarifies and enlightens people on what this was really about.  I have to add my own personal thoughts on the issue.  Forgive my directness, but I think that is really the only way I know how to talk.  For those of you who may see Joseph as some sort of sick predator, I might ask you a few of the following questions to explore your line of reasoning:  Does a predator ask permission of a 14 year old girls parents?  Does a predator seal himself to other men's wives in hopes for intimate relationships while asking permission of her current husband prior to doing so?  Please think through the logic of your accusations.  The burden of historical evidence indicates that this practice was far from being a pursuit of physical gratification.  This was an effort by a man, imperfect though he was (he himself said, “I never told you I was perfect; but there is no error in the revelations.”), who was trying his best to live a principle as he currently understood it given to him by the Lord.  As Elder Neil L. Andersen testified in this last general conference, "

I give you my witness that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. He chose a holy man, a righteous man, to lead the Restoration of the fulness of His gospel. He chose Joseph Smith.

I testify that Joseph Smith was an honest and virtuous man, a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ."https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/joseph-smith?lang=eng

I add my witness to his.  I know that Joseph Smith was not perfect.  I never claim that, nor does any sane person.  The Lord Jesus Christ was the only perfect man to live out His mortal life on this planet.  However, Joseph Smith was indeed a righteous and virtuous man who was called by God to do His work in these days.  He is absolutely a man of God.  He is a prophet just as much as Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (who were also documented polygamists I might add).  I encourage people to make a careful study of the teachings that were restored through Joseph Smith, rather than searching through sketchy third-party historical records which might have SOME truths in them at best, and might be filled with outright lies at worst.  Jesus taught that "if any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (see John 7:17).

If you will make a careful study of LDS doctrine, you will find teachings that guide your life to become the kind of person that God wishes you to be.  You will find that the teachings are centered on Jesus Christ and His infinite sacrifice.  That through Him we can find forgiveness of sin and eternal life.   You will find Jesus' grace, that enabling power that helps us to become more than we could ever be on our own.  You will find the doctrine of eternal families, and how your family can find joy and peace in this life and the life to come.  You will find Christ.  I have found it and have found peace that has helped me through many trials and struggles, including depression, the loss of loved ones, feeling like I am not enough, etc.  "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." (see John 8:32)

For more detailed information on polygamy and related issues, please visit the church's official site and official essay:  https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints?lang=eng&query=polygamy