This a request for your input regarding polygamy, especially in regards to its possible existence in the next life. In the LDS culture we don't talk about this much. So much of the time we tell ourselves or others that we don't need to know, that we can't know, and that we just need to live by faith and everything will work out. While I agree that we should live by faith and that everything will work out, I believe that we can and should learn about it. God has told us multiple times in the scriptures that if we ask, we can receive, and that we can know the mysteries of God. And if the family is so central to God's Plan of Happiness, shouldn't we understand its configuration in the next life? I also believe that if something is bothering us, there is probably a reason, and we need to find out more about it.
So here I would like your input. I want to start a discussion. I will not elaborate on my own thoughts, but I want to know your opinions, experiences, and feelings. I would like to know what you have been taught, what you believe, how those two things have affected you, and how you feel about it all. I would like to focus especially on the question of polygamy in the eternities.
Please comment below. Say as much as you like! If you are comfortable, please share this post with others, and please come back to read what others are saying. Feel free to reply to what others are saying. Feel free to disagree, just remember to be respectful.
Sincerely,
Penny
I think I am like most members of the Church, when it comes to polygamy. I don't completely understand the reasons why but I trust that God knows what he's doing. It does confuse me why it's okay in some instances, especially in the eternities. I mean, the law of chastity is a HUGE deal in the Church. So is family, marriage between husband and wife, etc. So why WILL polygamy exist in the eternities? I've read part of one of those articles that you posted. I'll try to continue to read them since I am interested in this as well. I haven't thought about it much but you are making me curious.
ReplyDelete(This is Beth, by the way. In case you didn't know who "Elizabeth" is. Haha. )
ReplyDeleteThank you, Beth. It really is strange the idea that polygamy will exist in the eternities. Call me a heretic, but I'm not entirely sure that it will.
ReplyDeleteI know that men are allowed to be sealed to more than one woman. This makes me believe it will exist in the eternities, but I doubt that everyone will participate. Mostly because there aren't that many more men than women, but we could speculate that more women will be worthy to go to the celestial kingdom, in which case, there probably will be.
ReplyDeleteI personally disagree with the idea that women are so much more righteous than men. And aside from that, I would not be surprised to find that God is capable of foreseeing enough and organizing just the right number of male and female spirits to allow for each to enjoy a monogamous relationship.
DeleteOh, and this is Mike's mission buddy. Not sure if you knew who I was.
ReplyDeleteYes, I know who you are :) Thank you for your input, Paul.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes me think that polygamy may not exist at all is that polygamous relationships would have to be perfectly equal to monogamous ones, otherwise both could not exist in a kingdom where each is to receive a fullness of joy. And then there is just a feminist problem. How can a man cleave completely to two different women?
ReplyDeleteAlso, there is something I have learned about called transferability of sealings. (The reason women who get divorced often remain sealed to their ex-husbands.)
DeleteIs there a limit on the length of a comment?
ReplyDeleteIt's not letting me publish my whole essay of thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry! I don't honestly know if their is a limit. If so, feel free to split it up and make as many comments as you need to.
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DeleteI have been taught like most that polygamy is inspired by God and yes, have even heard that it may be how it is in the eternities. My doubts though come from the fact that I was also taught that only a very small percentage of those in the early days of the restoration were asked to participate in polygamous marriages (less that 10% is what I was taught). The revelation received by Joseph Smith to begin the practice of polygamy came at a time when many men had died from the persecution of the saints. This left many women and children without anyone to care for them in a time when women rarely worked outside the home. Most of the polygamous marriages at the time were simply to provide someone to look after the needs of these widows and fatherless. I personally believe that it was put in place for this reason. I believe if it was meant to be the eternal way of marriage that more of the church would have been practicing it, rather than just the small percentage that did. I have my doubts about polygamy being an eternal practice, but am not entirely certain on the subject either.
ReplyDeleteActually, it seems that based on what I have read it is uncertain whether or not the women outnumbered the men in the early days of the Church. However, I do not doubt that the Lord had a reason for commanding polygamy. Thank you so much for your input!
DeleteLess than 3% of the men in the early days of the church were in polygamous marriages, and it was not a volunteer circumstance. It was a calling. Also, Brigham Young himself despised polygamy. He had many wives, and it was a calling assigned to him. He had to pray about it a great deal before he was willing to accept it.
DeleteThere is a quote from Joseph Smith in which he said the purpose behind polygamy was that the Lord wanted to have a "righteous progeny", as in the Lord wanted exceptional role models to be the fathers of the children of the early church's first generation of children (warning: run-on sentence).
In any case, I am of the belief that no marital arrangement will be allowed in the eternities in which any person involved feels like they are getting a second-rate deal.
i don't know of anyone who is sure about the eternities. i have read quite a bit about it and read books from children of polygamy. i do not hear any good reports. i tend towards the speech jacob gave about it (jacob chapt. 2) as it seems the most clear about it. verses 23-25 state it is an abomination and that is why they were taken from jerusalem. the way he talks about the feelings of the wives and children really touches my heart. it is so heartfelt and he speaks to them what God has told him, not just his own mortal feeling.
ReplyDeletehonestly, i simply trust that my premortal self knew the game plan and was ok with it and i trust me more than anyone except God himself. both sources are good with the plan so i am as well. i don't see polygamy being an eternal thing but either way, i trust God and myself.
Thank you, Maggie. I do like the thought that I knew the plan before I came to earth. I wonder if that is why I am overcome with a burning curiosity about it. I've known once before, I want to know again.
DeleteI seem to recall a passage in D&C where the Lord is talking to Emma Smith (by way of Joseph) where she is advised to accept the council but that, in order for Joseph to take another wife, SHE had to be okay with it. Unfortunately, I don't remember the verse, but it made more sense to me as to how polygamy would work. If that is the case, I don't think that falls under what is talked about in Jacob. There, the men were going after their own lusts (I think of it more like pornography in ancient times). Besides, polygamy was pretty common in the Old Testament (although that didn't always work out to well, either).
ReplyDeleteAbout the eternities, while it falls under the "like to know," I think we need to think of how loving Our Heavenly Father is. There are many women who simply didn't have the opportunity in this life to get married. They lived their lives in complete obedience to the laws of Heaven. Doesn't sound very fair to have a woman like that miss out on the highest level of the Celestial Kingdom just because some idiot man didn't see her worth and ask her to marry him. If there isn't a single man meeting the same requirements (even though there might not be more women than men, not every man is going to make it to the Celestial Kingdom), I could see he being given to a worthy man who is already married. And, while the possibility may exist in the eternities, I think we need to keep in mind that our mortal ideas of marriage are probably a little limited. "Cleaving to," and "becoming one flesh" might not be all that we think it is in the here after.
Now, my personal feelings on Polygamy: Sorry, one is MORE than enough! I don't think I could handle more than one wife! I can barely handle the one I got!!!
Thank you for your response! I always try to keep the goodness of our Heavenly Father in mind as I study this.
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