Mormonism and Polygamy

By Dustin Dyer

I know this can be an issue that brings division among believers but I believe it to be an issue
that needs to be addressed. Please understand that I do not judge, condemn, or look down
upon anyone that has beliefs different than my own. I am no where near perfect and neither are
you, but I do believe this world is full of deception that should be exposed. These words
I offer as compassion and love.

The subject of this writing is Mormonism/LDS Church and Polygamy.

I know and have known several people who are Mormons, there was even a period of 3 to
4 weeks I invited Mormon Elders into my home a few times a week to study with them as
well as I have studied the faith on my own in great depth.
They are some of the most dedicated people I have ever seen and this is what saddens me.
Please understand I mean no disrespect toward anyone who is a member of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints but I cannot remain silent. If I follow God's greatest commandment
of Love, I have to express love toward everyone even if it means offending them.

There are several issues that the Mormon Faith and mainstream Christianity are not in
agreement on and there are several that they do agree. I will only be discussing the
issue of polygamy in this blog.

First lets understand what Polygamy is. If you google Polygamy these are just a couple of
answers that come up.

(macmillandictionary.com
the custom of having more than one husband or wife at the same time in societies where this is
legal)

(thinkexist.com
The having of a plurality of wives or husbands at the same time; usually, the marriage of a man
to more than one woman, or the practice of having several wives, at the same time;
-- opposed to monogamy)

Now as most people know the Mormon/LDS Church has a past history of practicing
polygamy. They have since disowned the practice, LDS President Gordon Hinckley made
this statement in 1998:  source-Mormon.org
“This Church has nothing whatever to do with those practicing polygamy. They are not members
of this Church. If any of our members are found to be practicing plural marriage, they are
excommunicated, the most serious penalty the Church can impose. Not only are those so
involved in direct violation of the civil law, they are in violation of the law of this Church.”

Than on the same page of Mormon.org, directly under this you find the following:

"At various times, the Lord has commanded His people to practice plural marriage. For example,
He gave this command to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and Solomon
(Doctrine and Covenants 132:1). At other times the Lord has given other instructions. In the
Book of Mormon, the Lord told the prophet Jacob “for there shall not any man among you
have save it be one wife: and concubines he shall have none... 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 (Jacob 2:27-30).
In this dispensation, the Lord commanded some of the early Saints to practice plural marriage.
The Prophet Joseph Smith and those closest to him, including Brigham Young and Heber C.
Kimball, were challenged by this command, but they obeyed it. Church leaders regulated the
practice. Those entering into it had to be authorized to do so, and the marriages had to be
performed through the sealing power of the priesthood. In 1890, President Wilford Woodruff
received a revelation that the leaders of the Church should cease teaching the practice of plural
marriage (Official Declaration 1).
The Lord’s law of marriage is monogamy unless he commands otherwise to help establish the
House of Israel (see Encyclopedia of Mormonism Vol. 3, pp. 1091-1095).

You can see where they did away with it but are trying to cover themselves by justifying it and
in the above statement they only refer to Mormon Doctrines and not the Bible.

So now we know basically where the LDS Church stands on the issue, lets look at what is
MOST IMPORTANT. What does the Bible, the true word of God say about this issue, not
what the Book of Mormon says or what Doctrine and Covenants say and not what any other
Mormon doctrine says.

As we look at the Bible, it is clear that polygamous relationships are presented in the Bible.
But, does that mean that they are acceptable in God’s eyes? We also see instances of lying,
murder, and rape in the Bible, but these are clearly not acceptable. Just because the events
are described does not mean they are condoned. There is no passage in the Bible that
condones polygamy.
As the Israelites were in the desert after the Exodus, God announces a prophecy through Moses.
The Israelites will eventually call for a king to be set over them (Deuteronomy 17:14). Following
that, God pronounces standards for the kings to come. In Deuteronomy 17:17 we see the
command that the king shall not “multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away.” God clearly
commands that the king should not practice polygamy. So, why would He condone its practice for
anyone else?
It is clear God intended marriage to be ONE MAN and ONE WOMAN.
"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they
shall become one flesh." Genesis 2:24
Jesus repeats this same verse in Matthew 19:5-6 and Mark 10:6-9.

"and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and
the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer TWO but one flesh. Therefore what
God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19-5-6)

Paul says this in Ephesians 5:31-33
 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two
will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.
However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect
her husband.
Notice Paul says "and the TWO shall become ONE flesh" not, and the 3 or 4 or 20 shall become
one flesh.
The First Epistle of Paul to Timothy says this:
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of ONE wife, temperate, sober–minded, of good
behavior, hospitable, able to teach (1 Timothy 2:13)
"The husband of one wife" a one-woman man. This says nothing about marriage or devorce. The
issue is not the elder's marital status but his moral and sexual purity. This qualification heads
the list, because it is in this area that leaders are most prone to to fail. Various interpretations
of this qualification have been offered. Some see it as a prohibition against polygamy-an
unnecessary injunction since polygamy was not common in Roman society during this time and
is clearly forbidden in scripture as seen in the verses above. A polygamist could not even have
been a church member, let alone a church leader. a one-woman man is one totally devoted to
his wife, maintaining singular devotion, affection and sexual purity in both thought and deed. To
violate this is to forfeit blamelessness and no longer be "above reproach"

Many Jewish leaders and patriarchs, including kings, were recorded to have polygamous
relationships. However, these relationships brought about judgment and hardship. David was
 punished for his relationship with Bathsheba; Abraham’s relationship with Hagar brought strife
into the family; and other examples would also bear out this point. Some may argue that Jacob’s
polygamous lifestyle was blessed by God, but just because God used a sinful relationship to fulfill
His plan does not mean that that action was right. Likewise, Jesus’s lineage can be traced back
to Bathsheba.

After all of this we could say, "Well, at least the Mormons no longer practice polygamy" But
ask yourself this, How strong of a foundation can they possibly have as a body of believers?
When they have practiced things in the past and then changed their ways to accommodate the
laws of of the land and to satisfy society, you have to consider these things.

The Mormon Church made following claim:

In September of 1890, then Mormon prophet Wilford Woodruff received a revelation of the Lord to
stop the practice of polygamy.The Lord explains His reasoning in Doctrine and Covenants 124:49,
 ” Verily, verily, I say unto you, that when I give a commandment to any of the sons of men to do
a work unto my name, and those sons of men go with all their might and with all they have to
perform that work, and cease not their diligence and their enemies come upon them and hinder
them from performing that work, behold, it behooveth me to require that work no more at the
hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offerings.”

The first Mormon Prophet and founder of the Mormon Faith Joseph Smith had 34 wives between
the ages of 14 and 58. Another high ranking and respected Mormon leader Brigham Young had
27 wives. These two and the other early Church leaders claimed the Lord commanded them to take
multiple wives. They claim that God restored his Church through Joseph Smith and the LDS Church
is the result of God's true restored Church on earth. If this is true, why would God allow his "true
restored Church" to become so filled with contradictions and have it's leadership change the
practices of the Church so often?? It seems as if they are making God look like he retracts and pulls back with uncertainty. God's word is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Please think about these things, do not be deceived by the enemy.. Don't follow so blindly
just because your family traditions have brought you up in this.

And this is only one issue.

I will leave you to draw your own opinions

I love all of you who read this and gain something and all of you who read this and gain
nothing.
DD

 "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea." (words of Jesus from Mark 9:24)

Sources:
mormon.org
whymormonism.org
answersingenesis.org
MacArthur Study Bible NKJV