LDS Doctrine & Covenants 132 Mandates Polygamy

[Shawn Stuart]

In this passage Joseph Smith mandates polygamy yet the LDS have abandoned the practice.

Doctrine and Covenants 132

61 And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood—if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else.

62 And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified.

63 But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be glorified.

 

[drstevej]

D&C 132:4 For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.

 

[Ironhold]

You miss the fact that this requirement has been laid aside so that the membership can comply with another requirement, the requirement to be good citizens.

 

[Shawn Stuart]

You miss the fact that this requirement has been laid aside so that the membership can comply with another requirement, the requirement to be good citizens.

So LDS weren’t required to be good citizens previously?

 

[Ironhold]

So they weren’t required to be good citizens previously?

The anti-polygamy laws passed in the United States were clearly and literally targeted at the church, which provided everyone with both moral and legal ground to seek appeal and redress... which is what happened.

The final round of legal challenges took place in the 1890s, at which point it became clear that the folks in Washington were more interested in looking good than in actually seeing justice served. When even SCOTUS turned a blind eye to what was on the verge of becoming a religious pogrom, it became clear that the issue was lost and the law wouldn't budge.

 

[Shawn Stuart]

The anti-polygamy laws passed in the United States were clearly and literally targeted at the church, which provided everyone with both moral and legal ground to seek appeal and redress... which is what happened.

The final round of legal challenges took place in the 1890s, at which point it became clear that the folks in Washington were more interested in looking good than in actually seeing justice served. When even SCOTUS turned a blind eye to what was on the verge of becoming a religious pogrom, it became clear that the issue was lost and the law wouldn't budge.

Wasn’t polygamy already illegal?

 

[drstevej]

You miss the fact that this requirement has been laid aside so that the membership can comply with another requirement, the requirement to be good citizens.

Reread your "inspired" D&C... no wiggle room in this statement.

an everlasting covenant
no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.

 

[Ironhold]

Wasn’t polygamy already illegal?

Not at the federal level, making it perfectly legal in any place where local or state laws didn't already ban it.

It was one of the "twin relics of barbarism" that Congress decided to stamp out in the period leading up to - and during - the Civil War.

 

[Ironhold]

Reread your "inspired" D&C... no wiggle room in this statement.

an everlasting covenant
no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.

Official Declaration #1 has the weight of canon and revelation.

 

[drstevej]

Ah, Ironhold, then Mormon revelation is contradictory:

• everlasting means until we change our minds "sorta-lasting"
• no one means no one but Wilford Woodruff

I move that, recognizing Wilford Woodruff as the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the only man on the earth at the present time who holds the keys of the sealing ordinances, we consider him fully authorized by virtue of his position to issue the Manifesto which has been read in our hearing, and which is dated September 1890, and that as a Church in General Conference assembled, we accept his declaration concerning plural marriages as authoritative and binding. -- LDS Church, Official Declaration 1, Doctrine and Covenants.

Looks like Wilford forfeits his right to enter into my glory. Or else The D&C are written on an etch a sketch.

 

[Shawn Stuart]

Not at the federal level, making it perfectly legal in any place where local or state laws didn't already ban it.

It was one of the "twin relics of barbarism" that Congress decided to stamp out in the period leading up to - and during - the Civil War.

Then why was Joseph Smith getting run out of town everywhere he went.

 

[Ironhold]

Then why was Joseph Smith getting run out of town everywhere he went.

There was *far* more to it than just plural marriage. If you've been led to believe otherwise, someone's given you some bad information.

The church left New York due to people spreading lies and half-truths, which led to people being whipped up into such a frenzy that the physical safety of the membership was in question.

Ohio was much the same, especially after a wildcat bank the church tried to operate failed in a financial crash that wiped out a whole host of other wildcat banks.

Missouri was basically a dry run for the Civil War. The native residents of the state were paranoid about the large numbers of members coming in, especially once it became clear that the members favored abolition (Missouri was a slave state) and were slowly becoming a dominant economic bloc. There was a significant fear about the prospect that the church would soon outnumber the locals, which in turn would have allowed the membership to effectively control any and all state elections... and thus force through abolition and other issues. This led to five years of violence, which ultimately led to the "Missouri Conflict", wherein armed mobs rampaged through Mormon settlements while the state and federal governments twiddled their thumbs. When a guy who'd deserted the Missouri state militia to join one of these mobs was killed in an effort to recover kidnap victims, his death was used to justify a religious pogrom against the church, which in turn led to a massacre when state militia blitzed through a Mormon settlement and shot the place up. This incident, the Haun's Mill Massacre, would be cited by some of the men behind the Mountain Meadows Massacre as being their motive in shooting up a wagon train full of people from Missouri.

Illinois was... pretty much more of the same. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were gunned down by a mob, and the mob made it clear that there would be more of the same.

 

[Shawn Stuart]

Illinois was... pretty much more of the same. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were gunned down by a mob, and the mob made it clear that there would be more of the same.

But don’t you think polygamy had something to do with Smith’s death? Not to mention the fact that he was a false prophet spreading a fairytale book and religion.

 

[Ironhold]

But don’t you think polygamy had something to do with Smith’s death? Not to mention the fact that he was a false prophet spreading a fairytale book and religion.

The issue of plural marriage was one of many things at work.

 

[John Bowen]

The same reason that had multiple wives in the Bible because men were killed off in battles same with the west hard times.Women had no means of support then so many had to become prostitutes thats why the had plural marriages .

 

[mmksparbud]

The same reason that had multiple wives in the Bible because men were killed off in battles same with the west hard times.Women had no means of support then so many had to become prostitutes thats why the had plural marriages .

God never demanded plural wives--He made Adam one woman. It was men who decided this, not God.
Gen_4:19 And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
God permitted it, and made rules for the treatment of them. Just as He made rules for the treatment of slaves--not that He agreed with it nor mandated it. The reason JS got a ruling "from God' literally commanding multiple wives, (his wife was under condemnation "from God" to comply or she would be destroyed by God!) was that JS had a wondering eye for other women. There were far more widows in bible times than in the 1800's in America. They were to be taken care of---not be made part of a harem.