The LDS temples

[baker]

That is not exactly what I said. I said that the abomination was that Solomon and David took more wives that the Lord allowed (see page last). It is the abomination at issue here, not the initial taking of wives. The above site clearly addresses the abomination issue, which is what is at issue.

OK. Let's try it from a different angle. How many wives were David and Solomon allowed according to God or the site you refered us to above?

 

[Helaman]

OK. Let's try it from a different angle. How many wives were David and Solomon allowed according to God or the site you refered us to above?

More than one... but I know not the precise number thereafter.

 

[baker]

More than one... but I know not the precise number thereafter.

Well if you don't know, and god didn't tell them, how on earth were David and Solomon supposed to know?

 

[Tawhano]

Helaman said:
It's from the Bible... read it.

I did. You should practice what you preach.

Helaman said:
Hence, adding more than one wife is biblically acceptable (just as David did), whereas multiplying wives (just as Solomon did) is what was prohibited in Deuteronomy 17:14,17.

So David added and Solomon multiplied eh? David was okay adding but the abomination of Solomon was that he multiplied eh?

(Book of Mormon | Jacob 1:15)
15 And now it came to pass that the people of Nephi, under the reign of the second king, began to grow hard in their hearts, and indulge themselves somewhat in wicked practices, such as like unto David of old desiring many wives and concubines, and also Solomon, his son.

(Book of Mormon | Jacob 2:24)
24 Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord.

You are so confused Helaman that you are stepping all over yourself. Having more than one wife is an abomination to God. It’s from the BofM… read it.

 

[Helaman]

I did. You should practice what you preach.

So David added and Solomon multiplied eh? David was okay adding but the abomination of Solomon was that he multiplied eh?

(Book of Mormon | Jacob 1:15)
15 And now it came to pass that the people of Nephi, under the reign of the second king, began to grow hard in their hearts, and indulge themselves somewhat in wicked practices, such as like unto David of old desiring many wives and concubines, and also Solomon, his son.

(Book of Mormon | Jacob 2:24)
24 Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord.

You are so confused Helaman that you are stepping all over yourself. Having more than one wife is an abomination to God. It’s from the BofM… read it.

That is not what it says. I am reading it. It is the unauthorized number that is at issue, not the taking of more than one wife. (See D&C 132:28-39 @ http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/132/38-39#39 .)

 

[Tawhano]

Helaman,

You just don’t get it do you? You quoted that article as saying David was okay because he added instead of multiplying but in Jacob we read that he wasn’t okay. Whether adding or multiplying it was an abomination to God.

This is the same as you were doing with ‘Christians are those who strive to follow the teachings of Christ’ topic. When I showed that this would mean that Christians must be baptized you agreed but then you changed your tune when I brought it to your attention that according to LDS doctrine my baptism was considered unauthorized.

What gives Helaman?

 

[Helaman]

Helaman,

You just don’t get it do you? You quoted that article as saying David was okay because he added instead of multiplying but in Jacob we read that he wasn’t okay. Whether adding or multiplying it was an abomination to God.

This is the same as you were doing with ‘Christians are those who strive to follow the teachings of Christ’ topic. When I showed that this would mean that Christians must be baptized you agreed but then you changed your tune when I brought it to your attention that according to LDS doctrine my baptism was considered unauthorized.

What gives Helaman?

You twist the wording to your liking. Read the scripture I cited above, which answers your question, if you understand what it says.

 

[rnmomof7]

"1_Kings 11:3-4: Solomon multiplied wives (up to 1,000!) which was prohibited and prophesied that a king would do in Deuteronomy 17:17. But that passage in 1_Kings 11:3-4 says his father David's heart was "perfect". Indeed, as the previous verse of Deuteronomy 17:16 also prohibits a king from multiplying horses, no one would read that to think that it suggests that a king was somehow not able to have/add more than one horse! As such, there is a clear difference between multiplying and merely adding. And this can be seen as the difference between Solomon and his father David. Where Solomon had multiplied (i.e., stored-up, hoarded), David had only added his 18+ wives. (In Genesis 25:1, "Then AGAIN Abraham took a wife... Keturah". The word,"AGAIN", there translates to add --or "augment"-- in the Hebrew. And, indeed, Abraham was adding his third wife Keturah to himself.) So, Solomon's sin was multiplying wives (which turned his heart away from God) while his father David had simply added wives. Hence, adding more than one wife is biblically acceptable (just as David did), whereas multiplying wives (just as Solomon did) is what was prohibited in Deuteronomy 17:14,17." (www.biblicalpolygamy.com)

Some of the Laws that Joseph ignored .
He seemed to pick and choose those that he liked


Lev 18:18 Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex [her], to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life [time].

Lev 18:20 Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her.

The law about multiplying horses is not applicable to this subject , it is simply a favorite distraction of the Mormons . Reading the verse in context explains what it means

.Deu 17:16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

This was about using the horses to return to Egypt. In effect tempting the people to return via the horse.
This has zip to do with sexual practices


* * * 16. he shall not multiply horses to himself--The use of these animals was not absolutely prohibited, nor is there any reason to conclude that they might not be employed as part of the state equipage. But the multiplication of horses would inevitably lead to many evils, to increased intercourse with foreign nations, especially with Egypt, to the importation of an animal to which the character of the country was not suited, to the establishment of an Oriental military despotism, to proud and pompous parade in peace, to a dependence upon Egypt in time of war, and a consequent withdrawal of trust and confidence in God. ( 2Sa 8:4 1Ki 10:26 2Ch 1:16 9:28 Isa 31:3 ).


Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown

But the following verse is instructive.


Deu 17:17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.





There is no scripture where God sanction polygamy in Old Testament .To the contrary God forbid it and He punished it , even to the Kings . It was a written statute.

In spite of LDS teaching there is no record of Abraham being a Polygamist

While Sarah lived, he never married any other woman.

Abraham had an illegitimate son by Hagar. But that was an adulterous sin

Sarah was barren. For a wife in ancient times to go childless was a disgrace.
It was Sarah, Abraham's own wife, who brought him her handmaid, asking him to produce a child for her by this servant woman.

The custom was when the servant had a child at her mistress knee it was counted as her child.
Hagar may have been attractive, and the temptation, under these circumstances, at Sarah's request might have been great. Abraham may not have been opposed to doing as his wife requested because of that .
He was human.
God refused to approve the adulterous act of Abraham. He rejected the illegitimate son Ishmael, from the birthright.
As it did in the Mormon homes this produced jealousy between the women. It resulted in trouble, controversy, suffering.
We continue to se the result of that sin today

Genesis 21:8-21 is the record of Hagar's departure from Sarah and Abraham. God ordered Abraham to send away the concubine Hagar and her son, and Abraham obeyed .

There is not one word to indicate that there was an ongoing relationship between Hagar and Abraham. We never read she was treated as a wife or that they continued a sexual relationship.

The only Child that God would recognize would be the one with His wife .

After the death of Sarah's death Abraham married Keturah. This, of course, was a perfectly legal marriage. There was no polygamy or divorce


Isaac was not a polygamist

There is no mention whatever of any wife for Isaac other than Rebekah. There is no mention of any concubines, or of any act of adultery.



Isaac's wife, Rebekah, like Sarah, was barren. But Isaac did not take things into his own hands and have children by her handmaids, or by concubines. Rebekah did not do what Sarah did , and bring a servant girl to her husband to produce a son by "proxy

Jacob , that is always seen as a polygamist actually only had one wife after he was converted.


Laban, deceived Jacob and gave him Leah instead of Rachel, Leah was done by fraud.
According to the marriage laws Jacob could have put her away as soon as he discovered the deception.
He would never have been truly married to Leah by the law
God would not have bound them as one flesh.

Jacob was not yet converted, He had not yet met the God of Abraham personally . He looked to his own understanding. He did not seek wisdom from God in this . He did what seemed right to him, in his own selfish interest. So Jacob lived in polygamy with two wives, and also had children by their two personal maids.

We read of Jacob's conversion in Genesis 32. He put idolatry out of his household . God appeared to him, changed his name to Israel and restated the promises made to Abraham . Then God took Rachel, his second wife leaving only his wife, Leah.

So, following his conversion, Jacob had but his one original wife. Jacob had repented. He lived no more in polygamy after his conversion.



It is true that it was a worldly custom in the patriarchal times and in the days of the Kings of Israel. A harem was one of the worlds symbols of royalty.

But God forbid polygamy for the kings of Israel.

Here is God's LAW respecting polygamy by Israel's kings:


Israel's first king, Saul had plural wives. But he disobeyed God and followed the custom of the kings of the worldly nations around Israel. It was sin not Gods design . It was not approved by God.



David had several wives. But after his tremendous sin of taking Bathsheba and having her husband murdered, David repented, in real heart-rending repentance. And he never repeated the sin.
II Samuel 12:9-12. "Now therefore,the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife."
God said the act showed David despised him not only the Law , but God himself (we read Davids understanding of that in the psalms.)
The sinful sexual pleasure of David had a cost

"Thus saith the Eternal, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house ..." His own house included his wives and children.
God said the sword will now come upon his house his family. God told David ".... and I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun."

Notice this was done that very day .
"For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun."
So a neighbor or neighbors defiled David's wives publicly, in the light of day God said "I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbor." That is what He did.

David repented it is recorded that he confessed to Nathan, I have sinned against the Eternal"
We then read "And Nathan said unto David, The Eternal also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die."
But David was not free from the fruit of his sin .
David had a heavy punishment ,God took all his wives, leaving Bathsheba only. David's first and only legitimate wife, Michal, was most likely dead at this point dead .
God also had cleared the way for Bathsheba to become the legal wife of David. Apparently this was done, that she might be the mother of Solomon, a forefather of Jesus Christ and author of some OT books



David had truly repented. He no longer committed polygamy .
He was "a man after God's own heart," because his heart was right. He did repent. No matter the sin of his youth , he repented
His heart was turned to God .

His son, Solomon, started out as a righteous King , but "when Solomon was old," he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines - it must have been a record harem.
The result of that sin was that his wives turned away his heart from God, and to their idols.
God's Word says: "Solomon did EVIL in the sight of the Eternal"

There was polygamy in ancient Israel. It was sin , it was not God planned and God condemned it , He never condoned or sanctioned it.

Those that practiced it reaped what they sowed.

*



Jesus said, "Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female?" .Jesus went back to creation "And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?" Wife not wives , The two shall be one flesh.


Jesus thus put us straight on monogamous marriage.

God made only one wife for Adam not a harem! He started the human family, a family of one man and one wife!

God gave this absolute command regarding future kings of Israel , telling them they must not do as the pagan nations around them (whose kings had their harems): "Neither shall he multiply wives to himself Saul, Israel's first king, disobeyed Gods command .

God did not condone polygamy . He punished those who practised it! It was was sin in the OT and it was sin when Smith did it

Marriage is the biblical symbol of Gods relationship with the church .



*

 

[happyinhisgrace]

Some of the Laws that Joseph ignored .
He seemed to pick and choose those that he liked


Lev 18:18 Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex [her], to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life [time].

Lev 18:20 Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her.

The law about multiplying horses is not applicable to this subject , it is simply a favorite distraction of the Mormons . Reading the verse in context explains what it means

.Deu 17:16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

This was about using the horses to return to Egypt. In effect tempting the people to return via the horse.
This has zip to do with sexual practices


* * * 16. he shall not multiply horses to himself--The use of these animals was not absolutely prohibited, nor is there any reason to conclude that they might not be employed as part of the state equipage. But the multiplication of horses would inevitably lead to many evils, to increased intercourse with foreign nations, especially with Egypt, to the importation of an animal to which the character of the country was not suited, to the establishment of an Oriental military despotism, to proud and pompous parade in peace, to a dependence upon Egypt in time of war, and a consequent withdrawal of trust and confidence in God. ( 2Sa 8:4 1Ki 10:26 2Ch 1:16 9:28 Isa 31:3 ).


Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown

But the following verse is instructive.


Deu 17:17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.





There is no scripture where God sanction polygamy in Old Testament .To the contrary God forbid it and He punished it , even to the Kings . It was a written statute.

In spite of LDS teaching there is no record of Abraham being a Polygamist

While Sarah lived, he never married any other woman.

Abraham had an illegitimate son by Hagar. But that was an adulterous sin

Sarah was barren. For a wife in ancient times to go childless was a disgrace.
It was Sarah, Abraham's own wife, who brought him her handmaid, asking him to produce a child for her by this servant woman.

The custom was when the servant had a child at her mistress knee it was counted as her child.
Hagar may have been attractive, and the temptation, under these circumstances, at Sarah's request might have been great. Abraham may not have been opposed to doing as his wife requested because of that .
He was human.
God refused to approve the adulterous act of Abraham. He rejected the illegitimate son Ishmael, from the birthright.
As it did in the Mormon homes this produced jealousy between the women. It resulted in trouble, controversy, suffering.
We continue to se the result of that sin today

Genesis 21:8-21 is the record of Hagar's departure from Sarah and Abraham. God ordered Abraham to send away the concubine Hagar and her son, and Abraham obeyed .

There is not one word to indicate that there was an ongoing relationship between Hagar and Abraham. We never read she was treated as a wife or that they continued a sexual relationship.

The only Child that God would recognize would be the one with His wife .

After the death of Sarah's death Abraham married Keturah. This, of course, was a perfectly legal marriage. There was no polygamy or divorce


Isaac was not a polygamist

There is no mention whatever of any wife for Isaac other than Rebekah. There is no mention of any concubines, or of any act of adultery.



Isaac's wife, Rebekah, like Sarah, was barren. But Isaac did not take things into his own hands and have children by her handmaids, or by concubines. Rebekah did not do what Sarah did , and bring a servant girl to her husband to produce a son by "proxy

Jacob , that is always seen as a polygamist actually only had one wife after he was converted.


Laban, deceived Jacob and gave him Leah instead of Rachel, Leah was done by fraud.
According to the marriage laws Jacob could have put her away as soon as he discovered the deception.
He would never have been truly married to Leah by the law
God would not have bound them as one flesh.

Jacob was not yet converted, He had not yet met the God of Abraham personally . He looked to his own understanding. He did not seek wisdom from God in this . He did what seemed right to him, in his own selfish interest. So Jacob lived in polygamy with two wives, and also had children by their two personal maids.

We read of Jacob's conversion in Genesis 32. He put idolatry out of his household . God appeared to him, changed his name to Israel and restated the promises made to Abraham . Then God took Rachel, his second wife leaving only his wife, Leah.

So, following his conversion, Jacob had but his one original wife. Jacob had repented. He lived no more in polygamy after his conversion.



It is true that it was a worldly custom in the patriarchal times and in the days of the Kings of Israel. A harem was one of the worlds symbols of royalty.

But God forbid polygamy for the kings of Israel.

Here is God's LAW respecting polygamy by Israel's kings:


Israel's first king, Saul had plural wives. But he disobeyed God and followed the custom of the kings of the worldly nations around Israel. It was sin not Gods design . It was not approved by God.



David had several wives. But after his tremendous sin of taking Bathsheba and having her husband murdered, David repented, in real heart-rending repentance. And he never repeated the sin.
II Samuel 12:9-12. "Now therefore,the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife."
God said the act showed David despised him not only the Law , but God himself (we read Davids understanding of that in the psalms.)
The sinful sexual pleasure of David had a cost

"Thus saith the Eternal, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house ..." His own house included his wives and children.
God said the sword will now come upon his house his family. God told David ".... and I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun."

Notice this was done that very day .
"For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun."
So a neighbor or neighbors defiled David's wives publicly, in the light of day God said "I will take thy wives before thine eyes and give them unto thy neighbor." That is what He did.

David repented it is recorded that he confessed to Nathan, I have sinned against the Eternal"
We then read "And Nathan said unto David, The Eternal also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die."
But David was not free from the fruit of his sin .
David had a heavy punishment ,God took all his wives, leaving Bathsheba only. David's first and only legitimate wife, Michal, was most likely dead at this point dead .
God also had cleared the way for Bathsheba to become the legal wife of David. Apparently this was done, that she might be the mother of Solomon, a forefather of Jesus Christ and author of some OT books



David had truly repented. He no longer committed polygamy .
He was "a man after God's own heart," because his heart was right. He did repent. No matter the sin of his youth , he repented
His heart was turned to God .

His son, Solomon, started out as a righteous King , but "when Solomon was old," he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines - it must have been a record harem.
The result of that sin was that his wives turned away his heart from God, and to their idols.
God's Word says: "Solomon did EVIL in the sight of the Eternal"

There was polygamy in ancient Israel. It was sin , it was not God planned and God condemned it , He never condoned or sanctioned it.

Those that practiced it reaped what they sowed.

*



Jesus said, "Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female?" .Jesus went back to creation "And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?" Wife not wives , The two shall be one flesh.


Jesus thus put us straight on monogamous marriage.

God made only one wife for Adam not a harem! He started the human family, a family of one man and one wife!

God gave this absolute command regarding future kings of Israel , telling them they must not do as the pagan nations around them (whose kings had their harems): "Neither shall he multiply wives to himself Saul, Israel's first king, disobeyed Gods command .

God did not condone polygamy . He punished those who practised it! It was was sin in the OT and it was sin when Smith did it

Marriage is the biblical symbol of Gods relationship with the church .



*

Excellent points you make from God's word. I have not found anywhere in the Bible where God sanctions polygamy. what I have seen is that wherever polygamy was practiced, heartache followed.

God Bless,
Grace

 

[Big Bob Bull]

What are you talking about? Sources please.

J. Smith and B. Young regularly had sex with young teenage girls and tried to justify it by creating a "spiritual revelation' dealing with plural marriage. The fact is that they were both very sick men, and though B. Young did in fact marry and care for all of his many wives, both he and Joe did infact sleep with girls as young as 14-15 under false pretense. And I know that Joseph had sex with two sisters around that age promising the girls and their family that he would 'spiritually' marry them- yet he later dismissed them and did not follow through. This is not only against the law today it is actually quite sick and greatly immoral.)

 

[Big Bob Bull]

Skylark1,
I see you here also so I will go to another post.
Thanks for all you work in the Lord Skylark1

 

[Alma]

Excellent points you make from God's word. I have not found anywhere in the Bible where God sanctions polygamy. what I have seen is that wherever polygamy was practiced, heartache followed.

God Bless,

Grace

I'm not sure they're that excellent, and I know they aren't made from God's word. Briefly, Ishmael wasn’t an illegitimate son, because Hagar was one of Abraham’s wives: “And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.” Secondly, David continued to take additional wives until his death. Abishag the Shunammite was his last wife.



Alma

 

[Alma]

J. Smith and B. Young regularly had sex with young teenage girls and tried to justify it by creating a "spiritual revelation' dealing with plural marriage. The fact is that they were both very sick men, and though B. Young did in fact marry and care for all of his many wives, both he and Joe did infact sleep with girls as young as 14-15 under false pretense. And I know that Joseph had sex with two sisters around that age promising the girls and their family that he would 'spiritually' marry them- yet he later dismissed them and did not follow through. This is not only against the law today it is actually quite sick and greatly immoral.)

These are some remarkable accusations, Bull. I wonder how it is that you can speak with such certainty about these items. Could you give me the name and age of one of the 14-15 year old girls that Brigham Young slept with? I know that Joseph Smith was sealed to Helen Mar Kimball while she was 14, but I wasn't aware that there was any evidence that Joseph Smith slept with her. Where do you get your information?

Alma

 

[happyinhisgrace]

I'm not sure they're that excellent, and I know they aren't made from God's word. Briefly, Ishmael wasn’t an illegitimate son, because Hagar was one of Abraham’s wives: “And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.” Secondly, David continued to take additional wives until his death. Abishag the Shunammite was his last wife.



Alma

Please show me where in the Bible it says that Hagar was one of Abraham's wives. I know the Bible says that Sarai (not God but Sarai) gave Hagar to Abraham to lay with and make a child but where did you get the "to be his wife". Can you post the exact scripture to that please.

Also, important to note that the reason that Sarai gave Hagar to Abraham to "lay with" was because she didn't trust God to keep His word that HE would provide her a child of her own.

Grace

 

[Alma]

Please show me where in the Bible it says that Hagar was one of Abraham's wives. I know the Bible says that Sarai (not God but Sarai) gave Hagar to Abraham to lay with and make a child but where did you get the "to be his wife". Can you post the exact scripture to that please.

Genesis 16:3

Also, important to note that the reason that Sarai gave Hagar to Abraham to "lay with" was because she didn't trust God to keep His word that HE would provide her a child of her own.

That's an interesting supposition, but that's all it is. For all we know, Sara might have thought that this was the way in which God's promises would be fulfilled and she was acting in faith rather than faithlessness. I think it's unwise as well as unkind to attribute such motives to woman Peter referred to as "holy."

"For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham." (1 Peter 3:5-6)

Alma

 

[skylark1]

I asked this earlier:

I was under the impression that marriages and sealings were two separate things. I am aware that LDS can marry outside of an LDS temple and after a year wait be sealed at the temple. I guess that I am confused because of statements that LDS have made in the past. Is a sealing considered a marriage, or not?
​

I am reposting this in hope that someone will respond. It seems like a simple question.

Thanks.

 

[fatboys]

I asked this earlier:

I was under the impression that marriages and sealings were two separate things. I am aware that LDS can marry outside of an LDS temple and after a year wait be sealed at the temple. I guess that I am confused because of statements that LDS have made in the past. Is a sealing considered a marriage, or not?
​

I am reposting this in hope that someone will respond. It seems like a simple question.

Thanks.

Marriage is the the joining of a man and woman. A sealing is deeper. Marriage is part of the sealing. It is how we liken the lesser preisthood to the higher. Higher does not do away with the lesser but the lesser is part of the higher.

 

[skylark1]

Marriage is the the joining of a man and woman. A sealing is deeper. Marriage is part of the sealing. It is how we liken the lesser preisthood to the higher. Higher does not do away with the lesser but the lesser is part of the higher.

But parents are sealed to children. Men were sealed to men in the early days of the LDS Church under the law of adoption. So is marriage a part of sealing or are they separate?

 

[Alma]

I asked this earlier:

I was under the impression that marriages and sealings were two separate things. I am aware that LDS can marry outside of an LDS temple and after a year wait be sealed at the temple. I guess that I am confused because of statements that LDS have made in the past. Is a sealing considered a marriage, or not?




​

I am reposting this in hope that someone will respond. It seems like a simple question.



Thanks.

Sealing is kind of a subset of marriage. Someone may be married but not "sealed." Sealing refers to marriage for eternity while marriage generally carries the caveat, "till death do you part." Additionally, people may be sealed to their parents and vice-versa. If I were to adopt a son, I could then have him sealed to me as a child. So, sealing and marriage aren't interchangeable concepts.

Alma

 

[happyinhisgrace]

Genesis 16:3

Thank you for that, I was not aware that it said, "to be His wife".

That's an interesting supposition, but that's all it is. For all we know, Sara might have thought that this was the way in which God's promises would be fulfilled and she was acting in faith rather than faithlessness. I think it's unwise as well as unkind to attribute such motives to woman Peter referred to as "holy."

No, it is not unwise or unkind. Sarai was only human and she was prone to mistakes and the human flesh just like anyone else. What is unwise is to put her on some kind of pedistool of being "more than human" or without fault. She is the one who wanted Hagar to lie with Abraham, not God.

"For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham." (1 Peter 3:5-6)

Where does this passage say that Abraham told Sara to give him Hagar as his wife? I doesn't. It also doesn't even indicate that it was a commandment from God to do so. It is clear that Sarai did not trust God do fullfill his promise to provide her with her own son and that is why she wanted one through Hagar. YOu will also notice that heartache came from the "union" of Hagar and Abraham.

Genesis 16


Hagar and Ishmael

1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her."
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me."
6 "Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?"
"I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered.
9 Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." 10 The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."
11 The angel of the LORD also said to her:

"You are now with child
and you will have a son.
You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone's hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers."

13 She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me." 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi ; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Can you show me anywhere in scripture where God commanded polygamy as His holy institution and where He sanctions it as 'his law"?

Grace