Polygamy [Everything you might want to possibly know about historical Mormon polygamy]

MormonThink.com ^ | 2008

[Colofornian]

• What most LDS have been taught in church and believe as truth
• Polygamy was illegal
• Polygamy contradicts 12th Article of Faith
• Were there more women than men?
• LDS scriptures condemn polygamy
• Polygamy was started by Joseph Smith not Brigham Young
• Joseph married other men's wives while they were still married to their husbands
• Did Joseph have sex with his wives?
• Joseph married girls as young as 14 years old
• Joseph lied about practicing polygamy
• The Church condemned polygamy when Joseph practiced it
• The Church continued to practice polygamy after 1890
• The Reed Smoot Hearings
• Quotes from the prophets
• Is polygamy a doctrine of the LDS Church?
• How many people in the Church practiced polygamy?
• Will polygamy be practiced in the next life?
• Is polygamy essential for salvation?
• Parley P. Pratt and polygamy
• Were the polygamous wives happy?
• What about the children?
• Circumstances surrounding Joseph's death
• Did Joseph say that polygamy was a mistake?
• What about the Fundamentalist Mormon Polygamists?/li>
• Does Heavenly Father practice polygamy also?
• Some Faithful LDS adopt a different view of polygamy
• Why didn't an angel come to Emma?
• Mitt Romney and Polygamy
• Polygamy stories
• Responses to these issues by the LDS church
• Ending summary by critics
• Our thoughts
• Links

[Elsie]

Just forget that they Baptize, celebrate Christmas and Easter etc, they repent their sins, they believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins, they use both the Old & New Testament and are generally peaceful productive people...

 

They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices.

Even while these people were worshiping the Lord, they were serving their idols.

To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.

 

 2 Kings 17:40-41 

[Elsie]

Making a habit of declaring someone who believes they are a Christian to not be a “True Christian” isn’t something you want started.

One WOULD kinda think that....

---

---

Questions put to Joseph Smith: "'Do you believe the Bible?' [Smith:]'If we do, we are the only people under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do'. When asked 'Will everybody be damned, but Mormons'? [Smith replied] 'Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119).

Joseph Smith: "for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible" (from Pearl of Great Price 1:12). "What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270).

 

 

 

Brigham Young stated this repeatedly: "When the light came to me I saw that all the so-called Christian world was grovelling in darkness" (Journal of Discourses 5:73); "The Christian world, so-called, are heathens as to the knowledge of the salvation of God" (Journal of Discourses 8:171); "With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world" (Journal of Discourses 8:199); "And who is there that acknowledges [God's] hand? ...You may wander east, west, north, and south, and you cannot find it in any church or government on the earth, except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.24); "Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity" (Journal of Discourses 10:230).

 

 

 

Orson Pratt proclaimed: "Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the 'whore of Babylon' whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. Any person who shall be so corrupt as to receive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent" (The Seer, p. 255).

 

 

 

Orson Pratt also said: "This great apostasy commenced about the close of the first century of the Christian era, and it has been waxing worse and worse from then until now" (Journal of Discourses

, vol.18, p.44) and: "But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for a great many centuries past, until the present century, the people have lost sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the Christian Church should be established, and they have denominated a great variety of people Christian Churches, because they profess to be ...But there has been a long apostasy, during which the nations have been cursed with apostate churches in great abundance" (Journal of Discourses , 18:172).

 

 

President John Taylor stated: "Christianity...is a perfect pack of nonsense...the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century." (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.167); "Where shall we look for the true order or authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom." (Journal of Discourses , 10:127).

 

 

 

James Talmage said: "A self-suggesting interpretation of history indicates that there has been a great departure from the way of salvation as laid down by the Savior, a universal apostasy from the Church of Christ". (A Study of the Articles of Faith, p.182).

 

 

 

President Joseph Fielding Smith said: "Doctrines were corrupted, authority lost, and a false order of religion took the place of the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it had been the case in former dispensations, and the people were left in spiritual darkness." (Doctrines of Salvation, p.266). "For hundreds of years the world was wrapped in a veil of spiritual darkness, until there was not one fundamental truth belonging to the place of salvation ...Joseph Smith declared that in the year 1820 the Lord revealed to him that all the 'Christian' churches were in error, teaching for commandments the doctrines of men" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, p.282).

 

 

 

More recent statements by apostle Bruce McConkie are also very clear: "Apostasy was universal...And this darkness still prevails except among those who have come to a knowledge of the restored gospel" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol 3, p.265); "Thus the signs of the times include the prevailing apostate darkness in the sects of Christendom and in the religious world in general" (The Millennial Messiah, p.403); "a perverted Christianity holds sway among the so-called Christians of apostate Christendom" (Mormon Doctrine, p.132); "virtually all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ whom they vainly suppose to be a spirit essence who is incorporeal uncreated, immaterial and three-in-one with the Father and Holy Spirit" (Mormon Doctrine, p.269); "Gnosticism is one of the great pagan philosophies which antedated Christ and the Christian Era and which was later commingled with pure Christianity to form the apostate religion that has prevailed in the world since the early days of that era." (Mormon Doctrine, p.316).

 

 

 

President George Q. Cannon said: "After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They all belong to Babylon" (Gospel Truth, p.324).

 

 

President Wilford Woodruff stated: "the Gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the Lord, and stops all communication with Him. I want nothing to do with such a Gospel, I would rather prefer the Gospel of the dark ages, so called" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 2, p.196).

[Elsie]

For those that post these silly polygamy threads, I notice you never post a polygamy thread about Islamic Polygamy, Why is that?

Simple; RC.

They don't claim to be CHRISTIANS.

[Elsie]

PROVE IT!

NOW!

Siwwy wabbit!

It worked on CAIN and it'll work on YOU!

--MormonDude(All we gotta do is ACCUSE and then you'll waste YOUR time trying to show how 'innocent' you are!)

[svcw]

That is brilliant. Mind if I use that?

[Colofornian]

I hope you get a Temple Recommend® this year!

I don't think she can (in good conscience).

Why? (She hangs around with us too much!)

[Colofornian]

Description of the much boasted of by mormons, "temple marriage"....a woman whos family was non-mormon so was not allowed to witness her wedding..."families are forever"...hogwash! "It was the worst experience of my life, not once did I look into my husband's eyes and made vows to him. Our names were not mentioned (because you don't use your real names), we were married in less than 3 minutes, by someone who we never met before, and in a room full of mostly strangers (other than my mom and sister). While our families and my father waited outside. He was the first to greet me when I came out and it broke my heart to see him there."

Exactly.

Elitist exclusivism in the name of integrating families forever!

[Colofornian]

You encourage 'ask a Mormon,' but you hit and run with blanket statements or broad 'facts' and don't answer questions. And you don't respond when people quote and hyperlink current LDS educational materials that dispute facts being presented.
Why?
Worship as you please. Just don't send me to lds.org and then go silent when I pull current LDS educational and doctrinal materials that dispute the current LDS 'party line.'
You realize, of course, just as one tiny fact, that while the LDS for the most part quit performing new polyandrous marriages after the second, 1904, "we really mean it this time," manifesto, the LDS Church did not require polyandrous families to split up. That would have been cruel. I agree with the LDS decision. Men with several wives were able to continue those marriages. There were polygamous families in the LDS - The Corporation of The President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - into the 1960s. The first First President of the Church who wasn't involved in polygamy was in 1945.
I can give you details, but I would really like to hear about this "well more than 100 years" stuff.

Good coverage of Mormon history...especially that Lds polygamous arrangements were still around into the 1960s...given that, indeed, plural arrangements were still being arranged "on the sly" in the early 1900s...

As for Saundra's hit & run tactics...rarely dialoguing...typical stuff.

Mormons make hollow claims all the time; when challenged, they fail to back it up. Especially on anything historical.

[SkyDancer]

Whenever someone challenges me on LDS theology and accuses me of going to websites that are anti-LDS I say I don’t go there. I simply quote their own writings to show where they’re wrong on just about everything.

[SkyDancer]

Right - that one line on that tablet where the personage tells JS that all Christianity is wrong.

[muawiyah]

“They” deleted the tale I referenced, but it was the next thing right after the Mormon polygamy story.

[boatbums]

When you post a thread saying Moses was a horrible person for having practiced polygamy then maybe I’ll start paying attention to these disgusting threads.

Didn't see anyone answer this yet...Why would someone post a thread saying Moses was a horrible person for having practiced polygamy? Well, first of all, he didn't. I thought this was a good answer:

Regarding one husband and one wife: how about Adam, and Eve, Noah took only one wife on the ark, it says his sons took their wives Gen 6:18 (take the plural to mean 3 sons 3 wives or 3 sons X number of wives, whatever, does not matter to make the point), Abraham and Sarah/Haggar, Isaac and Rebeka, Lot and his wife, Jacob and Leah/ Rachel/handmaidens, David and his wives, Solomon and his wives, and on and on. Point #2 - Maybe Moses took another wife, perhaps because his first might have died, the Bible does not say this, it is speculation, but they are speculating also. Point #3 -Perhaps the original Hebrew is more explanitory, but I do not read Hebrew or have the lexicons to check it out, but they did not mention this, they were just taking the translation version of the scripture which can sometimes be interpreted differently by different translators, hence the many translations available today. And lastly Point # 4 - Deut. 17:17 talks about the future king and that he should not have many wives as it will lead him astray. Deut. 21:15-17 talks about a man with 2 wives and how to divide up the estate and the problems that can arise. In most instances that I can think of men having more than one wife in the Bible there were problems and consequences that would not have been had the man been monogamous. I Cor. 7:2 talks about one wife and one husband. I Tim. 3 talks about leaders of the church being husbands of only one wife. This is the ideal, God though knows mans heart and knew that man would not follow this ideal, just as in Malachi 2:16 God says He hates divorce, yet Moses gives stipulations for divorce in the law, because it is inevitable, just as is gluttony, and lying and gossip.(http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=399361

[restornu]

news flash you are comparing apples and oranges anti propaganda is a vast different from the religious book stores!

[restornu]

BTW I am so full of Joy for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I have learn the different from the churches who are the Tradition of men vs The Church of Jesus Christ.

The followers of the Tradition of Men are acted upon whereas the those that choose to follow Jesus Christ and choose to keep Lord’s covenants act for themselves.

[Elsie]

That is brilliant.

Of course; most 'simple' things are.

Mind if I use that?Danged right I mind!..

How will I get ROYALTIES from the ANTI-mormon publishers if my works are plagerized and diluted?!

You known how hard it is to get our monthly check from Headquarters now!

I think Peggy keeps the phone lines in a mess on purpose!

But we put up with her because of the way she handles MORMONs; I guess.

[Elsie]

Elitist exclusivism in the name of integrating families forever!

Forever??

Romans 7

1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

Don't these foolish MORMONs have the above in their Bibles or Quad or JST?

[Elsie]

I simply quote their own writings to show where they’re wrong on just about everything.

You Hateful BIGOTs just don't GET it; do you?

Only we MORMONs can quote Scripture and have it mean anything, for WE have the Restored Priesthood®! that FULLy expands the words in the hears mind when WE say then - NOT when an ANTI tries to say them!

--MormonDupe(Get a CLUE!! --- Acts 19:14-16 KJV*)

Acts 19:14-16 King James Version (KJV)

14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

[Elsie]

The bible records that LOT took two more ‘wives’ after his first wife died.

We SEE how well THAT worked out!

[Elsie]

news flash you are comparing apples and oranges anti propaganda is a vast different from the religious book stores!

Poor Resty!

Never COULD get the point!

Saundra and restornu needs to quit with the personal attacks and address the questions in a logical manner.

[Elsie]

BTW I am so full of Joy for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Of COURSE you are!

But WHY do you NOT have a TR??