Mormon 'apostles' ahead-of-curve of culture embracing eventual polygamy (25% vs. 16%) [Vanity]

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.

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.

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!

Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Obsession.

Moses

Chapter 3

1 Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day I, God, ended my work, and all things which I had made; and I rested on the seventh day from all my work, and all things which I had made were finished, and I, God, saw that they were good;
3 And I, God, blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it I had rested from all my work which I, God, had created and made.
4 And now, behold, I say unto you, that these are the generations of the heaven and of the earth, when they were created, in the day that I, the Lord God, made the heaven and the earth,
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. For I, the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth. And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air;
6 But I, the Lord God, spake, and there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also; nevertheless, all things were before created; but spiritually were they created and made according to my word.
8 And I, the Lord God, planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there I put the man whom I had formed.
9 And out of the ground made I, the Lord God, to grow every tree, naturally, that is pleasant to the sight of man; and man could behold it. And it became also a living soul. For it was spiritual in the day that I created it; for it remaineth in the sphere in which I, God, created it, yea, even all things which I prepared for the use of man; and man saw that it was good for food. And I, the Lord God, planted the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and also the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10 And I, the Lord God, caused a river to go out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 And I, the Lord God, called the name of the first Pison, and it compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where I , the Lord God, created much gold;
12 And the gold of that land was good, and there was bdellium and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river was called Gihon; the same that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14 And the name of the third river was Hiddekel; that which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river was the Euphrates.
15 And I, the Lord God, took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it.
16 And I, the Lord God, commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
18 And I, the Lord God, said unto mine Only Begotten, that it was not good that the man should be alone; wherefore, I will make an help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground I, the Lord God, formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and commanded that they should come unto Adam, to see what he would call them; and they were also living souls; for I, God, breathed into them the breath of life, and commanded that whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that should be the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but as for Adam, there was not found an help meet for him.
21 And I, the Lord God, caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and he slept, and I took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in the stead thereof;
22 And the rib which I, the Lord God, had taken from man, made I a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said: This I know now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Another THREE MINUTES' HATE today, eh ?

Eerily familiar...

Party ownership of the print media
made it easy to manipulate public opinion,
and the film and radio carried the process further.

16. Ministry Of Truth

.......

The Ministry of Truth, Winston's place of work, contained, it was said, three thousand rooms above ground level, and corresponding ramifications below.

The Ministry of Truth concerned itself with Lies. Party ownership of the print media made it easy to manipulate public opinion, and the film and radio carried the process further.

The primary job of the Ministry of Truth was to supply the citizens of Oceania with newspapers, films, textbooks, telescreen programmes, plays, novels - with every conceivable kind of information, instruction, or entertainment, from a statue to a slogan, from a lyric poem to a biological treatise, and from a child's spelling-book to a Newspeak dictionary.

Winston worked in the RECORDS DEPARTMENT (a single branch of the Ministry of Truth) editing and writing for The Times. He dictated into a machine called a speakwrite. Winston would receive articles or news-items which for one reason or another it was thought necessary to alter, or, in Newspeak, rectify. If, for example, the Ministry of Plenty forecast a surplus, and in reality the result was grossly less, Winston's job was to change previous versions so the old version would agree with the new one. This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound-tracks, cartoons, photographs - to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance.

When his day's work started, Winston pulled the speakwrite towards him, blew the dust from its mouthpiece, and put on his spectacles. He dialed 'back numbers' on the telescreen and called for the appropriate issues of The Times, which slid out of the pneumatic tube after only a few minutes' delay. The messages he had received referred to articles or news-items which for one reason or another it was thought necessary to rectify.

In the walls of the cubicle there were three orifices. To the right of the speakwrite, a small pneumatic tube for written messages; to the left, a larger one for newspapers; and on the side wall, within easy reach of Winston's arm, a large oblong slit protected by a wire grating. This last was for the disposal of waste paper. Similar slits existed in thousands or tens of thousands throughout the building, not only in every room but at short intervals in every corridor. For some reason they were nicknamed memory holes. When one knew that any document was due for destruction, or even when one saw a scrap of waste paper lying about, it was an automatic action to lift the flap of the nearest memory hole and drop it in, whereupon it would be whirled away on a current of warm air to the enormous furnaces which were hidden somewhere in the recesses of the building.

As soon as Winston had dealt with each of the messages, he clipped his speakwritten corrections to the appropriate copy of The Times and pushed them into the pneumatic tube. Then, with a movement which was as nearly as possible unconscious, he crumpled up the original message and any notes that he himself had made, and dropped them into the memory hole to be devoured by the flames.

What happened in the unseen labyrinth to which the tubes led, he did not know in detail, but he did know in general terms. As soon as all the corrections which happened to be necessary in any particular number of The Times had been assembled and collated, that number would be reprinted, the original copy destroyed, and the corrected copy placed on the files in its stead.

In the cubicle next to him the little woman with sandy hair toiled day in day out, simply at tracking down and deleting from the Press the names of people who had been vaporized and were therefore considered never to have existed. And this hall, with its fifty workers or thereabouts, was only one-sub-section, a single cell, as it were, in the huge complexity of the Records Department. Beyond, above, below, were other swarms of workers engaged in an unimaginable multitude of jobs.

There were huge printing-shops and their sub editors, their typography experts, and their elaborately equipped studios for the faking of photographs. There was the tele-programmes section with its engineers, its producers and its teams of actors specially chosen for their skill in imitating voices; clerks whose job was simply to draw up lists of books and periodicals which were due for recall; vast repositories where the corrected documents were stored; and the hidden furnaces where the original copies were destroyed.

And somewhere or other, quite anonymous, there were the directing brains who co-ordinated the whole effort and laid down the lines of policy which made it necessary that this fragment of the past should be preserved, that one falsified, and the other rubbed out of existence.

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