Mormons & Polygamy

[GracetotheHumble]

When I was LDS I was told that polygamy would some day be practiced again. Currently there are many fundamentalist Latter-day Saint sects that practice polygamy. It is thought that Joseph Smith had as many as 40 wives & Brigham Young 55 wives.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/us/its-official-mormon-founder-had-up-to-40-wives.html?_r=0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Joseph_Smith's_wives

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brigham_Young's_wives

 

[GracetotheHumble]

Personally I kind of like the idea of having a few wives...but I'm not sure it's scriptural.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

The Bible is FILLED with polygamous marriages that aren't condemned or even negatively commented upon.
Jesus was strongly opposed to Jewish divorce practices, however, feeling that men shouldn't discard their wives like used consumer items and leave them to their fate.

 

[GracetotheHumble]

The Bible is FILLED with polygamous marriages that aren't condemned or even negatively commented upon.
Jesus was strongly opposed to Jewish divorce practices, however, feeling that men shouldn't discard their wives like used consumer items and leave them to their fate.

But in the beginning God created 1 man and 1 women. Most Christians agree that this is the model.

 

[Ironhold]

1. This makes how many threads you've started just in the last week?

2. Mind offering something that isn't shock value?

 

[drstevej]

Brigham was a tender husband, right?

"Sisters, do you wish to make yourselves happy? Then what is your duty? It is for you to bear children,...are you tormenting yourselves by thinking that your husbands do not love you? I would not care whether they loved a particle or not; but I would cry out, like one of old, in the joy of my heart, 'I have got a man from the Lord!" 'Hallelujah! I am a mother--..." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 9, p.37)

"I wish my own women to understand that what I am going to say is for them as well as others, and I want those who are here to tell their sisters, yes, all the women of this community, and then write it back to the States, and do as you please with it. I am going to give you from this time to the 6th day of October next, for reflection, that you may determine whether you wish to stay with your husbands or not, and then I am going to set every woman at liberty and say to them, Now go your way, my women with the rest, go your way. And my wives have got to do one of two things; either round up their shoulders to endure the afflictions of this world, and live their religion, or they may leave, for I will not have them about me. I will go into heaven alone, rather than have scratching and fighting around me. I will set all at liberty. 'What, first wife too?' Yes, I will liberate you all." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, 1856, pp. 55-57)

 

[smaneck]

Personally I kind of like the idea of having a few wives...but I'm not sure it's scriptural.

Here is Luther's opinion on the subject:

"I confess that I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the Scripture. If a man wishes to marry more than one wife he should be asked whether he is satisfied in his conscience that he may do so in accordance with the word of God. In such a case the civil authority has nothing to do in the matter." (De Wette II, 459, ibid., pp. 329-330.)

Martin Bucer and Philip Melanchthom both supported that position.

 

[GracetotheHumble]

Here is Luther's opinion on the subject:

"I confess that I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the Scripture. If a man wishes to marry more than one wife he should be asked whether he is satisfied in his conscience that he may do so in accordance with the word of God. In such a case the civil authority has nothing to do in the matter." (De Wette II, 459, ibid., pp. 329-330.)

Martin Bucer and Philip Melanchthom both supported that position.

Here's what I found on the matter:

The founder of the Protestant Reformation,Martin Luther wrote: "I confess that I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the Scripture. If a man wishes to marry more than one wife he should be asked whether he is satisfied in his conscience that he may do so in accordance with the word of God. In such a case the civil authority has nothing to do in the matter."

However, the context was a situation in which the sickness of a wife prevented matrimonial intercourse, and when asked for an opinion on polygamy in 1526, Luther wrote, "It is my earnest warning and counsel that Christians especially shall have no more than one wife, not only because it is a scandal, which a Christian should avoid most diligently, but also because there is no word of God here to show that God approves it in Christians.... I must oppose it, especially in Christians, unless there be need, as for instance if the wife be a leper, or be taken away from the husband in some other way."

 

[awitch]

However, the context was a situation in which the sickness of a wife prevented matrimonial intercourse, and when asked for an opinion on polygamy in 1526, Luther wrote, "It is my earnest warning and counsel that Christians especially shall have no more than one wife, not only because it is a scandal, which a Christian should avoid most diligently, but also because there is no word of God here to show that God approves it in Christians.... I must oppose it, especially in Christians, unless there be need, as for instance if the wife be a leper, or be taken away from the husband in some other way."

Wait, wait, wait, wait........wait.
If your wife is too sick for sex, then it's OK to just go get another wife? That's REALLY messed up!!! That is seriously not OK.

Family values, my feathered fanny.

 

[GracetotheHumble]

Wait, wait, wait, wait........wait.
If your wife is too sick for sex, then it's OK to just go get another wife? That's REALLY messed up!!! That is seriously not OK.

Family values, my feathered fanny.

I think the summation is that overall Luther did not approve.

 

[smaneck]

However, the context was a situation in which the sickness of a wife prevented matrimonial intercourse,

Uh, no. Philip of Hesse's wife was ugly and she drank too much. She may have been sickly but the only thing preventing intercourse was the fact Philip didn't like her.

and when asked for an opinion on polygamy in 1526, Luther wrote, "It is my earnest warning and counsel that Christians especially shall have no more than one wife, not only because it is a scandal, which a Christian should avoid most diligently, but also because there is no word of God here to show that God approves it in Christians.... I must oppose it, especially in Christians, unless there be need, as for instance if the wife be a leper, or be taken away from the husband in some other way."

That's what he said at first but then he changed his mind. He continued to insist that scandal be avoided, however, and wanted the second marriage to be kept secret.

 

[smaneck]

I think the summation is that overall Luther did not approve.

Overall Luther thought bigamy preferable to divorce or adultery. Not that this stopped Philip of Hesse. He continued to be adulterous.

 

[drstevej]

He only married Katie.

 

[GracetotheHumble]

He only married Katie.

Excellent point!

 

[smaneck]

He only married Katie.

True. Being as he was a monk and Katie a nun, that was enough of a scandal for the mores of the time.

 

[drstevej]

"I would not exchange Katie for France or for Venice because God has given her to me and other women have worse faults." -- Martin Luther

They lived in the former nunnery and shared it with students. Visited there in 1988...

 

[smaneck]

Besides that, Katie was Luther's match. My recollection is that she proposed to him. I don't think Luther ever planned to get married. But he sure enjoyed it when he did! Have you read his letter to Georg Spalatin congratulating him on his marriage?

"I would not exchange Katie for France or for Venice because God has given her to me and other women have worse faults." -- Martin Luther

They lived in the former nunnery and shared it with students. Visited there in 1988...

 

[drstevej]

Besides that, Katie was Luther's match. My recollection is that she proposed to him. I don't think Luther ever planned to get married. But he sure enjoyed it when he did! Have you read his letter to Georg Spalatin congratulating him on his marriage?

Haven't read it. She was exactly what he needed. Ditto for my wife.

 

[gord44]

Who would want more than one wife?! I love mine to pieces but one is enough for me.

 

[smaneck]

Haven't read it.

I'd post it here but like a lot of things Luther said, it isn't G-rated.