Polygamy---Commanded by God in the Old Testament or Tolerated?

The upper-crust forum for scholarly, polite, and respectful discussions only. Heavily moderated. Rated G.
_Jersey Girl
_Emeritus
Posts: 34407
Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:16 am

Post by _Jersey Girl »

charity wrote:
truth dancer wrote:
Now the question really is... do you think it is possible that Joseph Smith got it wrong? The polygamy is NOT of God? That Monogamy is what is truly God's will?

~dancer~

\
No, I do not think it is possible that Joseph got it wrong. Polygamy is of God when He says it is. Otherwise, monogamy is God's will.


Why would God command polygamy?
_Inconceivable
_Emeritus
Posts: 3405
Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2006 5:44 am

Post by _Inconceivable »

charity wrote:
Inconceivable wrote:
I just tried a little experiment.

I began talking to the TV. No matter what channel I changed it to, it didn't seem to respond to anything I commented on. It was like it was oblivious to anything I said even though it made all this noise. Depending on the channel, some things appeared to reflect some sort of intelligence, but not particularly about the subject at hand.

Experiment, now over. I think I will turn it off.

Bye Charitv.

click.


So you bla bla bla bla bla. Your bla bla bla...

Mine bla bla bla.


The #$%@ thing is still making noise. Button must be broken.
_charity
_Emeritus
Posts: 2327
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 3:30 pm

Post by _charity »

Jersey Girl wrote:
charity wrote:
truth dancer wrote:
Now the question really is... do you think it is possible that Joseph Smith got it wrong? The polygamy is NOT of God? That Monogamy is what is truly God's will?

~dancer~

\
No, I do not think it is possible that Joseph got it wrong. Polygamy is of God when He says it is. Otherwise, monogamy is God's will.


Why would God command polygamy?


To raise up a righteous seed. To provide righteous husbands for women when there is lack of righteous men. Or maybe something else altogether that God hasn't told us.
_Jason Bourne
_Emeritus
Posts: 9207
Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:00 pm

Post by _Jason Bourne »

charity wrote:
Jason Bourne wrote:
Well much of what Brigham and other pro polygamists said is not from Joseph directly either. In fact we have very little if any from Joseph and most of what is directly from him he denies it, even publicly. Most of what we have from Nauvoo was written by William Clayton.


You are forgetting the official journal kept by Willard Richards.

Jason Bourne wrote: So why believe the SLC polygamists more the Marks? From what I have read about Marks, I like him and think he may have been accurate. Keep in mind Marks was President of the Nauvoo stake at the time. During this period that position was much more then what we view a stake pres as today. He was the SP over the central stake and even in live to succeed Joseph.


No he was not "in line to succeed." The Quorum of the Twelve as a body had the authority following the death of the prophet. Much of Marks feelings about Joseph Smith seemed to be tied in with his divided loyalty to Sidney Rigdon, who also had these ideas of personal succession.

Jason Bourne wrote:He has as much authority as BY did and in fact more for the central power issues related to the Church since the 12's authority was only in places where stakes were not organized. The 12 had no authority over Elders or High Priests but Marks did. The 12 had authority over 70's which one of the reasons after Joseph Smith was killed BY made hundreds of Elders and High Priests 70's.


You are forgetting the authority of the Quorum as a body. You keep talking about Brigham Young's authority as an individual. You are missing that vital piece.
Jason Bourne wrote:I think Marks may have be more accurate then you think. To bad we will never know.


I intend to know. Once I get on the other side, I will have all the answers. I will even know which Cumorah is the correct one. :)


Ah Charity you are buying into the idea that succession was cut and dry. Go read the D&C . THe 12s authority was limited to where a stake was not organized. Anyway, this is a discussion for another thread. But, you are wrong if you think it was all cut and dry for the 12 to take over. Far from it. BY knew the D&C was against him and never invoked it for leadership at all.
_Jersey Girl
_Emeritus
Posts: 34407
Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:16 am

Post by _Jersey Girl »

charity wrote:
Jersey Girl wrote:
charity wrote:
truth dancer wrote:
Now the question really is... do you think it is possible that Joseph Smith got it wrong? The polygamy is NOT of God? That Monogamy is what is truly God's will?

~dancer~

\
No, I do not think it is possible that Joseph got it wrong. Polygamy is of God when He says it is. Otherwise, monogamy is God's will.


Why would God command polygamy?


To raise up a righteous seed. To provide righteous husbands for women when there is lack of righteous men. Or maybe something else altogether that God hasn't told us.


But why the need for multiple partners?
_charity
_Emeritus
Posts: 2327
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 3:30 pm

Post by _charity »

Jason Bourne wrote:Ah Charity you are buying into the idea that succession was cut and dry. Go read the D&C . THe 12s authority was limited to where a stake was not organized. Anyway, this is a discussion for another thread. But, you are wrong if you think it was all cut and dry for the 12 to take over. Far from it. BY knew the D&C was against him and never invoked it for leadership at all.


Brigham Young only needed the sustaining hand of the Lord. When the Lord manifested to the Saints, that the mantle of the prophet had fallen on Brigham Young, the discussions was over. Those who were not content to obey the Lord weren't fit for leadership, anyway.

[quote="jersey girl"] But why the need for multiple partners?

One man can father many more children if he has more wives. This pesupposes that there are not enough righteous men to go around. And a woman is better off sharing a righteous man than to have an unrighteous man all to her self.
_charity
_Emeritus
Posts: 2327
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 3:30 pm

Post by _charity »

Jason Bourne wrote:Ah Charity you are buying into the idea that succession was cut and dry. Go read the D&C . THe 12s authority was limited to where a stake was not organized. Anyway, this is a discussion for another thread. But, you are wrong if you think it was all cut and dry for the 12 to take over. Far from it. BY knew the D&C was against him and never invoked it for leadership at all.


Brigham Young only needed the sustaining hand of the Lord. When the Lord manifested to the Saints, that the mantle of the prophet had fallen on Brigham Young, the discussions was over. Those who were not content to obey the Lord weren't fit for leadership, anyway.

jersey girl wrote: But why the need for multiple partners?


One man can father many more children if he has more wives. This pesupposes that there are not enough righteous men to go around. And a woman is better off sharing a righteous man than to have an unrighteous man all to her self.
_Jersey Girl
_Emeritus
Posts: 34407
Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:16 am

Post by _Jersey Girl »

jersey girl wrote: But why the need for multiple partners?


charity wrote:One man can father many more children if he has more wives. This pesupposes that there are not enough righteous men to go around. And a woman is better off sharing a righteous man than to have an unrighteous man all to her self.


I'll try to make my point in one post here, charity. I know me, I'll forget about this thread by tomorrow.

Why do you say "not enough righteous men to go around"? In the Celestial/Eternal context, what is the purpose of raising up righteous seed? Why isn't eternity long enough to do this without the need for multiple partners?

Your comments make it sound like an eternal contest.
_charity
_Emeritus
Posts: 2327
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 3:30 pm

Post by _charity »

Jersey Girl wrote:
jersey girl wrote: But why the need for multiple partners?


charity wrote:One man can father many more children if he has more wives. This pesupposes that there are not enough righteous men to go around. And a woman is better off sharing a righteous man than to have an unrighteous man all to her self.


I'll try to make my point in one post here, charity. I know me, I'll forget about this thread by tomorrow.

Why do you say "not enough righteous men to go around"? In the Celestial/Eternal context, what is the purpose of raising up righteous seed? Why isn't eternity long enough to do this without the need for multiple partners?

Your comments make it sound like an eternal contest.


I don't think the "righteous seed" condition applies except here on earth.

But for eternities, it is a matter of having a righteous husband. I really do not know the reason why this is so but, males are conceived at a higher rate than females. Male births out do female births. At every age, there are more females than there are males. In humans at least. Now, if every woman who wants a husband is going to have one, it sounds to me like there aren't enough men to go around. This means that if all women are going to have a huband that want one, some men are going to have more than one wife.

When you factor into the righteous part of it, if there really are many more righteous women (and that is just my personal experience, but in every ward I have been in, there are many more single women or married women whose husbands are not active in church), it does seem like every woman who wants a righteous husband may have to share.

No contest. Just facts of numbers.
_ludwigm
_Emeritus
Posts: 10158
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:07 am

Post by _ludwigm »

charity wrote:
Jersey Girl wrote:
jersey girl wrote: But why the need for multiple partners?
charity wrote:One man can father many more children if he has more wives. This pesupposes that there are not enough righteous men to go around. And a woman is better off sharing a righteous man than to have an unrighteous man all to her self.
Why do you say "not enough righteous men to go around"? In the Celestial/Eternal context, what is the purpose of raising up righteous seed? Why isn't eternity long enough to do this without the need for multiple partners?
...
I don't think the "righteous seed" condition applies except here on earth.
But for eternities, it is a matter of having a righteous husband. I really do not know the reason why this is so but, males are conceived at a higher rate than females. Male births out do female births. At every age, there are more females than there are males. In humans at least. Now, if every woman who wants a husband is going to have one, it sounds to me like there aren't enough men to go around. This means that if all women are going to have a huband that want one, some men are going to have more than one wife.
When you factor into the righteous part of it, if there really are many more righteous women (and that is just my personal experience, but in every ward I have been in, there are many more single women or married women whose husbands are not active in church), it does seem like every woman who wants a righteous husband may have to share.
No contest. Just facts of numbers.

"righteous"
- - I'd like to see the definition of righteous. Who did define it? Joseph Smith? BY? GBH? Did it You, Charity?

"At every age, there are more females than there are males."
- - I'd like to see the numbers. as far as I know, that are rates around 100/105 to 105/100. Maybe it always can be cured by >50 wives for the highest leaders.

"in every ward I have been in, there are many more single women or married women whose husbands are not active in church"
- - I confirm this, as an investigator for six years. Women are more gullible. (I am from Hungary, where the majority of the members are of 1st generation, they have converted as adult - or self-supporting youngs.)

"it does seem like every woman who wants a righteous husband may have to share. No contest. Just facts of numbers."
- - In that years mentioned above, members said I were a good Mormon (what I didn't become, fortunately). Please Charity, ask my wife if she would share me with the +20 single woman in her ward (if I were really "righteous" which I am not). Maybe my wife is not as true believer as You.
- Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message. - Umberto Eco
- To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin. - Cardinal Bellarmine at the trial of Galilei
Post Reply