Yeah, when i was young i was thinking of becoming a Mormon, because of my ignorance i thought that Mormon men were required to have more than one wife, but after some time i realized this was not the case and in fact according to the book of Mormon men are actually forbidden to have more than one wife.
So the fact that many of our Christian founding fathers did have more than one wife amazed me, in other words why would the Christians who actually came from plural marriages ( the 12 tribes ) criticize others for wanting the same thing?
If the Mormons are involved in polygamy they are going against their own teaching which according to their accusers come from the book of Mormon which forbids polygamy.
So if other Christians do not believe in the book of Mormon why would they care if the Mormons do not adhere to it?
The marriages sealed in the temple are nothing but a form of religion and since every one seems to love religion i just can,t see it as being such a big deal, this it the kind of stuff that religion is made of.
Now, regarding early polygamous groups in the Americas, try naming just about any of them. We even found the grave sites of an early polygamous group in Southern Indiana where there'd been heavy Swiss settlement. They'd been polygamous in Switzerland. They continued the practice here. Somebody's ever so great grandfather was buried under a large stone and his dozen or so wives were buried under smaller stones surrounding his large stone.
Quite symbolic.
Otherwise my understanding is they were rather strict Lutherans.
Then there are the guys who took wagon trains West ~ Billy Blythe, Bill Clinton's 5X great grandfather was a good example ~ he left town names AND babies littered all across the West.
The Mormons in Utah had the misfortune of wanting statehood at a time in American history when there was a widespread crackdown against polygamy underway. Marriage laws were being revised to FORCE people into legally married states simply for having engaged in sexual congress.
Those old boys didn't have a chance. Currently we have the marriage pendulum swung all the way back to serial polygamy. Eventually that will change and the Mormons will once more seem to be mainstream.
THE BOOK OF JACOB
THE BROTHER OF NEPHICHAPTER 224 Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord.
25 Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph.
26 Wherefore, I the Lord God will not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old.
27 Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none;
28 For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.
29 Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or cursed be the land for their sakes.
30 For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.
31 For behold, I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people in the land of Jerusalem, yea, and in all the lands of my people, because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands.
32 And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem, shall come up unto me against the men of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts.
Or even HERE:
1 Timothy 3:2-3
2. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
3. not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.1 Timothy 3:12
A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well.Titus 1:6
An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.
THE
DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS
OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTSSECTION 13251–57, Emma Smith is counseled (commanded) to be faithful and true; 58–66, Laws governing the plurality of wives are set forth.51 Verily, I say unto you: A commandment I give unto mine handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have given unto you, that she stay herself and partake not of that which I commanded you to offer unto her; for I did it, saith the Lord, to aprove you all, as I did Abraham, and that I might require an offering at your hand, by covenant and sacrifice.52 And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, areceive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure, and have said they were pure, shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God.53 For I am the Lord thy God, and ye shall obey my voice; and I give unto my servant Joseph that he shall be made ruler over many things; for he hath been afaithful over a few things, and from henceforth I will strengthen him.55 But if she will not abide this commandment, then shall my servant Joseph do all things for her, even as he hath said; and I will bless him and multiply him and give unto him an ahundredfold in this world, of fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, wives and children, and crowns of beternal lives in the eternal worlds.
We don't 'care' other than it SHOWS how hypocritical they are.
You are subsituting CHRISTIAN for JEW it appears.
Note to all: These Book of Mormon verses forbidding men to have more than one wife were there in 1830...and NONE of these verses stopped THOUSANDS of Mormons from becoming polygamists, now did they?
In an era where one-man, one-woman marriage is under attack -- where monogamy is under attack by homosexuals -- Do you really have to ask why it's necessary to defend monogamy vs...
...anything-goes-"marriage"?
...homosexual inroads?
...no bag-limit-on-mail-order "brides?"
Are you telling us you favor current Islamic and current fundamentalist Mormon polygamy with this Q of yours? (Both rape girls...Islam as young as 10...fLds as young as 13-14...And 19th century Mormonism did the same thing...
As the statement goes...
..."As fLDS now are, LDS once were. As fLDS now are, LDS may become."
Mormons not only seal two live people as "married" in their temples...
...but can seal a live person to a dead person...
...or two dead people to each other -- as they did for a Roman Catholic priest and a nun (Father Damien, Hawaii)
If you think it's "just religion," it proves you are one of those "compartmentalizers" who think "religion" is boxed in a corner...
And the entire genealogical movement by Mormonism -- which creeps well beyond your "just religion" comment -- proves it never just remains in some controllable box in some tucked-away corner.