Here’s what JS is purported to have originally rec’d as “revelation”; ["MARRIAGE. v. 4 "Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy; we declare that we believe that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in the case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again." 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, C1, p. 251 (1835)]
Yet in D&C 132, he receives different “revelation”. That plural marriage (polygamy) was “a new and everlasting covenant essential to exaltation to the highest glory in which men may become gods.”
So, is this “revelation” reinforced by others?
Brigham Young - "Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned." Journal of Discourses, vol. 3, p. 266 (1855)
Heber C. Kimball - ”Opponents of polygamy will be "cut off" by God.”Journal of Discourses, vol. 4, p. 108 (1856)
”If you are someone who objects to plural marriage, then I would challenge you to search within yourselves. There is no doubt in my mind that your attitude towards plural marriage will determine your place in eternity.”
President Brigham Young also warned:
"Now, where a man in this Church says, "I don't want but one wife, I will live my religion with one," he will perhaps be saved in the celestial kingdom; but when he gets there he will not find himself in possession of any wife at all. He has had a talent that he has hid up. He will come forward and say, "Here is that which thou gavest me, I have not wasted it, and here is the one talent," and he will not enjoy it, but it will be taken and given to those who have improved the talents they received, and he will find himself without any wife, and he will remain single for ever and ever. But if the woman is determined not to enter into a plural marriage, that woman when she comes forth will have the privilege of living in single blessedness through all eternity." (Journal of Discourses, Vol.16, p.166 - p.167)
Joseph F. Smith - "Plural marriage is not some sort of superfluity or non-essential to the salvation or exaltation of mankind. Marriage to only one woman is only partial compliance to the law of exaltation." Journal of Discourses, vol. 20, p. 28 (1878)
Now this one is just flat out blasphemy---
Orson Pratt - Jesus a polygamist, God the Father had a plurality of wives. "We have also proved that both God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ inherit their wives in eternity as well as in time." The Seer, p. 172 (1853)
Yet, in the name of “continuing revelation”, a 20th century apostle thinks a bit differently.
"Plural marriage is not essential to salvation or exaltation." Bruce R. McConkie Doctrine of plural marriage
What? But all those other apostles and prophets have said just the opposite. How does this affect all those other poor souls who followed those doctrines and revelations prior to this “revelation”? Is the mormon god so feckless and incompetent that he can’t get it right the first time?
But before we dismiss the references to the JoD’s as just “opinion”, as has been claimed in the past, let’s remember the words of Brigham…
"The Journal of Discourses is a vehicle of doctrine, counsel, and instruction to ALL people, but especially to the Saints. It follows then, then, [sic] that each successive volume is more and more valuable as the Church increases in numbers and importance in the earth." Journal of Discourses, vol. 11, p. iii (1867) " — Brigham Young
Oh, did he say it’s a “vehicle of doctrine” and that “each successive volume is more valuable”?