Lifting the Veil of Polygamy (Excerpt): Sandra Tanner's story

The story and testimony of Sandra Tanner, a descendant of Brigham Young and former LDS, and well-known researcher on Mormonism. For more information, visit http://www.mscbc.org/polygamy.htm

Category:

Education

Tags:

• polygamy
• polygamist
• mormon
• mormonism
• fundamentalist
• fundamentalism
• sandra
• tanner

[topbon2ndvalve]

Bravo Sandra, God be praised for the Grace and Mercy he's shown in your life, keep up the good work exposing the duplicity and political expediency of the LDS and their defenders (like my new best friend LDSLIFE)... :-)

[shieldandrefuge]

@101mythbuster : I would go back and read the accounts. Abraham's taking of Hagar was an act of faithlessness (not believing God's promise to give him an heir through Sarah). For Jacob, plural marriage was the source of enormous strife. But to say that all their actions are justified because God favors these men, that makes no sense. I'm assuming that you, like me, have not lived a perfect life; yet God still loves you and blesses you, doesn't he? God loves people, but does not justify sin.

[blutowpi]

@101mythbuster Brigham Young said you are damned if you deny polygamy.

"Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned," (Journal of Discourses, vol. 3, p. 266). Also, "The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy," (Journal of Discourses, vol. 11, p. 269). Sounds like we have dueling

" prophets " . Oh what a tangled web the mormongods " prophets " weave because their practice is to deceive

[101mythbuster]

@shieldandrefuge "Then Presidt Young spoke 58 Minuts. He said a Man may Embrace the Law of Celestial Marriage in his heart & not take the Second wife & be justified before the Lord" ( Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, entry dated 24 September 1871)

[101mythbuster]

@shieldandrefuge "I attended the school of the prophets. Brother John Holeman made a long speech upon the subject of Poligamy. He Contended that no person Could have a Celestial glory unless He had a plurality of wives. Speeches were made By L.E. Harrington O Pratt Erastus Snow, D Evans J. F. Smith Lorenzo Young. PRESIDENT YOUNG SAID there would be men saved in the Celestial Kingdom of God WITH ONE WIFE with MANY WIVES & with NO WIFE at all."(Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, entry dated 12 Feb. 1870)

[101mythbuster]

@shieldandrefuge To further add to my prior comment, I feel that it is exactly this unrealistic and unfair expectation that ex-Mormons have of early church leaders, which is the principal reason they end up leaving the church. I myself am not affraid to admit that even Apostles make mistakes.This fact doesn't make the church any less true, on the contrary, it is the very reason that the priesthood is organized into quorums which sit in council. Even the church is progressing towards perfection.

[101mythbuster]

@shieldandrefuge Yes, I know the text is referring to David, thank you very much."these prophets" was actually in referrence to your comment. Also, the text is very clear in that it was the Lord himself who gave Saul's wives unto David and was rebuking him, not for "amassing" wives, but for the death of Uriah. And so we read in verse 11 "I will take thy wives...and GIVE them unto thy neighbour" Was the Lord therefore an accomplice to sin? Or will you still continue to ignore the obvious answer?

[101mythbuster]

@shieldandrefuge To be perfectly honest, there are a number of statements which Brigham Young made which even his own conteporaries were not in full agreement with. However, there is a difference between the REVEALED WORD OF GOD through the prophets and the words of the prophets AS MEN. The prophets are not 24/7 revelation. As Nephi put it :"even did they err of old"1 Nep19:6. Brigham understood celestial marriage to be a requisite for godhood but didn't bother to differentiate it from polygamy.

[shieldandrefuge]

@101mythbuster: I know that the church currently doesn't require polygamy. But it was originally taught that polygamy was a requirement for the highest exaltation (i.e., godhood): "The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy.” (Brigham Young, JOD 11:269) I guess the question I have is, why this sea change in doctrine? Are no Mormons today to achieve godhood? Is this something that today's Mormons do not aspire to anymore?

[shieldandrefuge]

@101mythbuster : Read the text more carefully. This was in reference to David, NOT "these prophets." God was rebuking him for amassing a harem. But putting that aside, where do you get your "ranking" for sins, anyway? Sin is sin. Joseph Smith's greatest error wasn't adultery; it was claiming that his adultery was a command of God. As for Hagar, God sent her back to SARAH, not to Abraham (read the text). There's no evidence that Abraham's relations with her went beyond conceiving Ishmael.

[101mythbuster]

@shieldandrefuge To early church leaders, celestial marriage and plural marriage were interchangable terms. Both are part of the same everlasting covenant. There is no difference between the two aside from the number of spouses. In this sense, LDS today still live the same law, in fact, presently, if a man is sealed for eternity to a woman and after becomes a widow, he is free to be sealed again to another without annuling the first. The number of wives however, is irrelevant to exaltation.