Posted on 06/02/2015 1:04:29 PM PDT by Colofornian
In 2001, 1 in 7 Americans accepted polygamy as a "family" form (7%); by 2015, it's jumped to 1 in 6 Americans (16%).
Source: Shocker: Morality Goes Out the Window, Americans Embrace Social Liberalism
As of last week, three of the dozen "apostles" of the Mormon Church – 1 in 4 -- were well ahead of that cultural curve and indeed, per Mormon doctrine, were headed for eternal polygamy.
Allow me to explain:
Seven years ago this Spring, the Salt Lake Tribune published an article that mentioned how "Three of the church's current apostles, for example, were widowed and remarried. Each will have two wives in the eternities” (“Modern-day Mormons disavow polygamy,” Salt Lake City Tribune, April 20, 2008).
Bill McKeever of Mormonism Research Ministry, noting this sentence, elaborated on who these three Lds "apostles" were:
"The three Mormon Apostles referred to in this article are Dallin H. Oaks, L. Tom Perry, and Russell M. Nelson. All three men are widowers, and all three men have been 'sealed' to a second wife."
What is "celestial" polygamy?
This is all especially relevant news this week in light of Perry's death last weekend.
In fact, an exmormon.org member began a thread entitled, Mormon Polygamy Apostle L. Tom Perry dies, joins wife #1 In Heaven
The exmormon.org comment jumpstarting this thread was:
Beloved polygamist, prophet, seer, revelator, and apostle L.Tom reunited with his #1 wife Virginia Lee Perry, near the planet Kolob. It is unknown what wife #1 Virginia Lee said to L.Tom Perry about wife #2 Barbara Dayton Perry after their joyful reunion...Our thoughts and prayers go out to his families."
You see, the Mormon theology that you can become an eternal polygamist all has to do with the Mormon doctrine of "eternal marriage" – otherwise known as "celestial marriage." Lds theology distinguishes between marriages "for time" – and marriages "for eternity."
The official Lds church curricula – Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual – defines "celestial marriage" this way:
"The 'new and everlasting covenant' (D&C 132:4) is the covenant of celestial marriage, as President Spencer W. Kimball plainly stated: 'Though relatively few people in this world understand it, the new and everlasting covenant is the marriage in the holy temple by the properly constituted leaders who hold the genuine authoritative keys...' ('Temples and Eternal Marriage,' Ensign, Aug. 1974, p. 5) One can sense the importance of accepting this covenant by the emphasis the Lord puts in the following phrases: ...'If ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned' (vs. 4). 'No one can reject this covenant and...enter into my glory' (vs. 4)..."
(Doctrine & Covenants Student Manual, published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, p. 327, 1981, 2000)
By being married within a "temple," the Mormon church doesn't mean any ole' temple...only theirs.
By "properly constituted leaders who hold the genuine authoritative keys," the Mormon church doesn't mean any ole' church leaders...only theirs, as authorized by the General Authorities in Salt Lake City.
So, that means all non-Mormons, and Mormons who marry only "for time," are thereby "damned" and won't enter into "my glory" (D&C 132:4) as its founder Joseph Smith proclaimed. The Mormon caveat, to be fair, is that Smith redefined the word "damned" from meaning anathema – headed for hell – to mean "dammed up..." ... In other words, those people won't be eligible for "eternal progression" which (eventually) is supposed to lead to a "celestial" life – what the Mormons define as "exaltation," "eternal life" – a life where they alone are to garner Heavenly Father's glory.
Therefore, not just anybody will be married "for eternity" – for "eternal marriage is directly and intimately associated with the doctrine of exaltation. It is intimately connected with obtaining eternal life in the kingdom of God." (Lds "apostle" Bruce R. McConkie, April 20, 1960, "The New and Everlasting Covenant," BYU Speeches of the Year, p. 2)
IoW, Mormons reserve "eternal marriage" only with those to be exalted. And, as Lds "apostle" McConkie said, "With [Lds] temples men can be exalted; without them there is no exaltation" (The Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary, Vol. 1, p. 99).
Hence, only "temple"-recommended Mormons – and even then, only those of them who keep ALL of the covenants, laws, and ordinances of the church – can even hope for the highest degree of Mormon salvation, and those familial relationships that allegedly accrue with that.
So...back to those three Lds "apostles" who've been married to two different women -- supposedly to each "for eternity" – in Mormon temples.
Was #1 wife Virginia Lee Perry prepared to anticipate her recently-deceased husband, L. Tom Perry, becoming an eventual eternal polygamist?
It's a worthy question to discuss. And if fellow "apostle" Dallin Oaks' comments -- one also who is twice-married in the Mormon temple to two women "for eternity" are any gauge, perhaps we have a clue in these words he gave during a BYU speech 13 years ago:
"During a devotional address Mormon Apostle Dallin H. Oaks gave at Brigham Young University on January 29, 2002, he confirmed that he fully anticipates spending eternity with Kristen M. McMain, whom he was sealed to in the Salt Lake Temple on August 25, 2000. Oaks' first wife, June Dixon Oaks, was sealed to him in marriage on June 24, 1952. She died in 1998. In his BYU talk, Oaks said, 'When I was 66, my wife June died of cancer. Two years later I married Kristen McMain, the eternal companion who now stands at my side.'”
Source: Bill McKeever, Mormonism Research Ministry, What is "celestial" polygamy?
So...when your average grassroots Mormon neighbor says polygamy was only yesteryear; doncha believe it. The Mormon doctrine of "celestial marriage" doesn't allow it. And the Mormon "apostles" themselves are the trend-setters...just like Lds general authorities have always been in expanding "marriage" to multiple-partnership!
Once gay marriage is the law of the land, the Mormons need to demand their RIGHT to polygamy.
And the right to have child brides.
The pedophile Joseph Smith was way ahead of the curve on that one. Taking his cue from mohammad?
Yes they do, and I will support it.
>>And the right to have child brides.
One thing at a time!
I don’t support gay marriage, polygamy, or child brides. But, America is going to become a place where people will no longer feel the need to be a “cultural Christian” to fit in, so those who are not genuine followers of Christ can comfortably fall away. This may cost a lot of pastors their jobs as the churches shrink, but in the end we will be left with a clear line between the sheep and the goats. The sooner it happens, the better.
Go into the highways and byways and compel them to come in.
>>Go into the highways and byways and compel them to come in.
Why? Let them abandon their cultural Christianity in favor of the humanism they desire.
“But, America is going to become a place where people will no longer feel the need to be a “cultural Christian” to fit in,”
as it should be, in a land with Freedom of Religion.
>>as it should be, in a land with Freedom of Religion.
Freedom of Religion only applies to the government’s treatment of religion. The cultural Christian is the person who feels the need to tell his friend, “yeah, I know Jesus. But I’m spiritual and not religious so I don’t really do the bible and church thing. I find Jesus in nature more than anywhere else.”
Our society expects people to be nominally Christian if they aren’t something else. I want to free up these “spiritual” people with no Holy Spirit so they can freely commune with the trees and stop pretending to be Christian.
I don’t know that our society expects people to be Christian at all. I certainly don’t.
I’m not a religious person. I don’t assume anyone is a Christian or a Buddhist or Jewish or Muslim until they tell me they are. In my opinion, spirituality or lack of same is a private matter and really nobody’s business what I may or may not be.
>>I don’t know that our society expects people to be Christian at all.
80% of Americans feel the need to tell pollsters that they are Christian, yet only 20% attend church, read the bible, or pray regularly. These 60% feel a need (and that obviously does not include you) to profess to another human that they do follow a Jesus that they only know by name and possibly a few well-known stories. That need comes from a need to fit into what they perceive as a nominally Christian society.
One in seven does not equal 7%. 7% is more like one in fourteen.
lds have given up polygamy.
They just call it “celestial marriage”.
God: Don’t covet your neighbor’s wife
Jos. Smith: Marry everybody you can, even if they are already married.
HAVE NEVER GIVEN UP.....svcw watch the words
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(It’s good somebody knows his math ‘round here)
It's that pesky motto on our money that messes wit yer mind!
Good ol’ jimt!
We can ALWAYS count on you to add your little snippet of good sense!
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