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Polygamy, plural marriage — Section 20

Polygamy in the early church

Representative of a Christian church:

Judge, while we are on the topic of marriage, this would be an opportune time to discuss some ‘Mormon’ history.  In the past, THREE separate religions were founded on or based on sexual relationships.  First, we learn of the ‘Oneida Perfectionists’, who taught and believed that every woman was every man’s wife.  In other words, they formed a free love colony.  Second, we had Mother Ann Lee and her Shakers, who taught that Ann Lee was actually Jesus Christ being manifested as a woman.  Ann Lee had a very ‘checkered’ life.  And finally, we come to the Latter-day Saints, who taught and practiced polygamy, or the giving of many wives to one man.  In the book entitled “Twenty-seventh Wife”, some of the horrors that actually went on under these conditions were described by one of Brigham Young’s wives.  Let’s examine the practice of polygamy through a scriptural standpoint.  In Matthew 19:1-9 we learn that “…man shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh” and the Savior went on to point out that it was through “the hardness of their hearts” that divorces were given.  He then taught if a man were to marry another woman while his wife lived, it was adultery.  We then read from the Book of Mormon, in Jacob 2:24-29, that “…thus saith the Lord, this people begin to wax in iniquity, they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of the things which were written concerning David and Solomon, his son.  Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable to me, saith the Lord.”  Even your own Book of Mormon condemns polygamy.  The Lord, in the book of Jacob, in the Book of Mormon, went on to say that a man must cling to one woman, and have no concubines.  He said that whoredoms were an abomination before him, and the land would be cursed for their sakes by its practice.  Therefore, Judge, we have presented a case before you of a people who disobeyed God’s moral law and through a prophet’s command went against the writing of the Bible and the Book of Mormon to satisfy the lusts of the flesh.  What was it you said, Elders, that “…by their fruits ye shall know them?”

Representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Friends, I am thankful for the testimony I have of the truthfulness of the Gospel.  I maintain that polygamy is a principle of God when He thus commands it.  Paul said, “…to the pure, all things are pure…”.  I am surprised that you would actually mention the book “Twenty-seventh Wife”.  It is purely anti-Mormon, meant to defame and belittle, and largely untrue.  If you wanted to learn of the Savior, would you go to the Apostle John, or to Judas Iscariot?  I would recommend you use unbiased sources to gather information and facts.  The woman responsible for that book was a false witness, and there were 18 other wives willing to bear witness of the tender love of Brigham Young and of his affection for them and their children.  Incidentally, she was the 19th wife, not the 27th.  We disagree with your interpretation of Matthew 19:1-9.  The Pharisees were not talking about polygamy, but were talking about divorces.  Christ told them that a man and his wife were one flesh and that they were not to be put away for the cause of divorce.  Those practicing polygamy would not have figured into the explanation that the Savior gave about divorce.  Also, you committed a scriptural ‘rail split’ in your use of the scripture from Jacob in the Book of Mormon.  You stopped with verse 29, but you should have gone on to verse 30, which reads, “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.”  In essence the Lord told them to abide by verses 22-24 unless He commanded otherwise.

Representative of a Christian church:

The Lord said in those verses in the Book of Jacob in the Book of Mormon that those people were excusing their deeds because of what they read of David and Solomon and their doings.  The Lord said that their actions were abominable before him.  What is your response to that?

Representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

We must ask WHY it was abominable before the Lord.  Apparently David and Solomon did something to make their actions abominable before the Lord.  In 2 Samuel 12:8, Nathan the prophet, speaking in the name of the Lord, said, “Thus saith the Lord God [speaking to David], I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives”.  It was the God of Israel that gave David his wives.  A careful reading of the Old Testament reveals why, at times, the practice of polygamy has been abominable in the Lord’s eyes.  We read in 2 Samuel 12:9, “Wherefore hast thou [David] despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight.  Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.”  It is pointed out again in 1 Kings 15:5 that, “David did that which was right in the eyes of he Lord, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the  matter of Uriah the Hittite.”  That is why it was abominable.  David had left those wives that the Lord had given him, and committed adultery.  The reason polygamy became abominable with Solomon is explained in 1 Kings 11:1-11.  It points out that Solomon turned his heart from the God of Israel and loved strange women, of which the Lord had said, ‘Thou shalt not go in to them.’  That explains why, in the book of Jacob of the Book of Mormon, the Lord said that the practice had been abominable.  The Son of God came through this same polygamous lineage of David.  Yes indeed, by their fruits we know them, as we look at Jesus Christ, David, Abraham, and other great men.  God sanctioned polygamy in the past, gave wives to prophets, and called it righteous.  He made provision for its practice in the Book of Mormon, and we witness that it was a righteous commandment given to a prophet in our time.


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