I think you're on to something here.
It appears that on several occasions in the OT, God permitted, even commanded people to break his commandments. For example, God said, "Thou shalt not kill." (Exodus 20:13). Yet, He commanded King Saul through the prophet Samuel to kill every man, woman, and child among the Amalekites. (See Obedience is better than Sacrifice, from TorahBytes.org.)
Why would God ever allow "exceptions" to the rules, even for one individual or group of people? It doesn't seem logical to me that God would contradict himself.
Religious leaders of all stripes have used the idea of "exceptions to the rule" to justify myriad practices, which "normal" people find abhorrent.
Those leaders will be held accountable before God, and He will deal with them in his own way.
What baffles me is how religions manage to survive despite the sins committed by their leaders and practitioners from the past (and present). History is rife with examples of sexual exploitation of innocents, power struggles, deceipt, and other atrocities among the religious elite of all denominations, yet Catholicism, Protestantism, and Mormonism have all managed to survive.
One question might be, how do we reconcile the "good" done in the name of relgion, while acknowledging the "evil" that also occurs?
Another relevant question might be, should modern day adherents of a particular religion be held responsible for the past practices of their founders? To me, the answer is Yes, if they continue in those practices today. We have an example of that with the current situation in Texas. The FLDS continue to live in their past, while the mainstream faith has moved far beyond it.
Has God "changed his mind" about certain practices? Perhaps. Only He can answer that. Have religious leaders "changed with the times?" Absolutely. One only has to glimpse into many of today's liberal "Christian" churches, which preach environmentalism, feminism, almost anything but the fundamentals of Christ's gospel to see that. Not a single denomination exists today in the same form as it did in the 19th Century (well, maybe the Amish).
Are modern-day Jews to be vilified because some of their revered prophets from the past condoned mass murder? Probably not. Do some Jews believe they should take the same course of action today (with regards to their "enemies" in Gaza for example)? Perhaps. Does that mean God will support them if they annihilate their neighbors as their ancestors once did? I seriously doubt it.
So where does that leave us? Mormons need to deal with their past. Not an easy thing to do given the numerous problems in their history. Others need to deal with the Mormon's "present." I think that is just as hard to do.
“The FLDS continue to live in their past, while the mainstream faith has moved far beyond it. “
You must not be reading the same threads that I am, such as this one.
What is shocking most of us is to learn where their sympathies and loyalties lie.
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It appears that on several occasions in the OT, God permitted, even commanded people to break his commandments. For example, God said, “Thou shalt not kill.” (Exodus 20:13). Yet, He commanded King Saul through the prophet Samuel to kill every man, woman, and child among the Amalekites.”
God never commanded to not kill. The original Hebrew says “thou shalt not commit murder”.
There is no exception to that rule.
“Has God “changed his mind” about certain practices?”
This is a question that I have spent a lot of time contemplating, given that He appears to do that very thing at certain points in the Bible. It seems to me that when conteplating God’s relationship towards us, it helps to understand it by looking at our relationship with OUR children.
We set certain rules that we expect our children to obey. God sets certain rules He expects us to obey.
We have greater wisdom than our children, thus are more capable of determining the occassions in which exceptions are made, when we will allow them to disregard the normal rules. Once again, it is the same with God in making such determinations with us.
Unless we specifically tell our children that an exception can be made, we expect them to obey the normal rules. God does the same with us.
As our Children mature, our expectations from them change. Same with God and us.
As our children mature, we grant greater privledges, allowing them to do things we did not allow when they were younger. As our children mature, we also expect stricter adherence to certain standards of behavior. But once again, such decisions are not given to our children to make... we make the decisions as to the changes as they mature. God does the same with us.
To summarize, it seems likely to me that the explanation for why God allows exceptions at certain times, or seems to change the rules on occassion, is based upon His wisdom, and we are in no position to make the determinations ourselves, nor are we in a position to second guess his decisions in this regard.