View source for Question: If the only purpose of polygamy was to "raise up seed," then why did Joseph not have children by his plural wives?

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|title=Question: If the only purpose of polygamy was to "raise up seed," then why did Joseph not have children by his plural wives?
|category=Polygamy
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==Question: If the only purpose of polygamy was to "raise up seed," then why did Joseph not have children by his plural wives?==
===Polygamy was not permitted ''only'' for the purpose of procreation===

If the ''only'' purpose of polygamy, at least in Joseph Smith's case, was to "raise up seed," then why did Joseph not have children by his plural wives? He was certainly capable of having children, as demonstrated by those that he had by Emma, many of whom died. Yet, there is no conclusive evidence to date of Joseph having had children by any of his plural wives, and DNA testing has ruled out most of those who were suspected of being such.

Joseph was commanded to restore the practice of polygamy as part of the "restoration of all things." It was obviously not intended that Joseph use the practice to produce progeny.

===Joseph was also sealed for eternity to some women who were already married, but these women continued to have children by their current husbands===

Among Joseph's plural marriages and/or sealings, between eight to eleven of them were to women who were already married. Of the eight well-documented cases, five of the husbands were Latter-day Saints, and the other three were either not active in or not associated with the Church. In all cases, these women continued to live with their husbands, most of them doing so until their husbands died. These eternal marriages appear to have had little effect upon the lives of the women involved, with the exception that they would be sealed to Joseph in the afterlife rather than to their earthly husbands. No children from these marriages have ever been identified. These were sealings which would only affect Joseph's association with these women in the afterlife.
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[[Category:Letter to a CES Director]]
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[[de:Frage: Joseph hat nicht Nachkommenschaft herangezogen. Warum also lebte er in Polygamie?]]
[[es:Pregunta: Si el único propósito de la poligamia era "dar descendencia", entonces ¿por qué José no tiene hijos con sus esposas plurales?]]
[[pt:Pergunta: Se o único propósito da poligamia era "levantar semente", por que então Joseph Smith não teve filhos com suas esposas de casamentos plurais?]]