Polygamy

If you were to take a poll and ask people the first word they think of when they think of "Mormons," the word that would appear near the top of that list would be POLYGAMY!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a great many differences that make us stand out from the other Christian churches.  Polygamy (according to LDS beliefs: one man and multiple wives) happens to be one of those differences.

In the LDS church today we do not have a practice of polygamy!

 It has been over 100 years since polygamy was practiced by the LDS Church.  The question many of our neighbors have is why did the LDS people practice polygamy to begin with? The answer is easy, because they were commanded to by God!

Many may say that this is heresy that God commanded the LDS to take multiple wives for their men, that God would never allow such a thing, or that it is a sin and adultery to have more than one wife at a time. I believe that the answer to these concerns can be found in the scriptures.

Let’s began with the fact that polygamy did happen in the scriptures. (Gen 4:23 Gen16:1-3 Gen 30:1-13 are just a few examples) The previous examples are of "holy" and "ungodly" (Lemech) men taking multiple wives. The question must be asked were these "holy" men of God just caught up in sin.  From the scriptural account of their lives we can see that they are not caught up in sin. Abraham and Jacob both lived in polygamous unions, the Lord continues to instruct them and bless them, and yet we never hear from the Lord that they must stop or forsake the “sinful” practice of polygamy! 

Now that we have taken a small sample to show that polygamy was practiced in the scriptures, (we could have listed many more) let’s see if we can find out how God viewed it.  Exodus 20:14 is one of Gods 10 commandments given to his backsliding people.  Here he says "thou shalt not commit adultery." This seems to be very straight forward as if the people he is speaking to understand perfectly what God means.

So the question I have is,

Does polygamy equal adultery?

 Not according to the scriptures!  In Ex 21:10- which is the Lords instruction to his people Israel about a man who takes "another wife"- He does not forbid his people saying it is a sin and like unto the heathen nations, instead he instructs that if a man have another wife that the first wife's "food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish". The Lord could have told the people that this is a thing most abominable before me, or if you do as other nations and have more than one wife you shall be cut off from my people. Instead the Lord teaches them how they are to treat their multiple wives in a polygamous relationship. Some critics at this point would bring up the fact that God allows things because of "the hardness of (mans’) heart", like in the case of divorce. (Matt 19:7-8) However, if God allows polygamy or even further makes an exception for it then it cannot be sin! Therefore polygamy when allowed or commanded by God cannot be a sin.

 Another point that is brought up by critics is the fact that in the beginning God made Adam and Eve so polygamy was never meant to be practiced by men. But if we use this kind of logic by saying that things in the beginning are the way God meant for man to live his life, then Gods ideal plan must be to have all of us live as nudists since that is the way God began. (Gen 2:25) Again some critics will say that Deut 17:17 says that "neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away". But this verse is clearly talking about kings of Israel (verse15-17) who have the ability to take many more wives including those whom the Lord did not approve! (1 Kings 11: 1-4).  Let us leave the critics and get back to what the Lord has said about multiple wives.

The most telling verse showing God’s approval for polygamy is given to King David. David was a man close to God, and yet we read of his taking many wives in marriage. Never did the Lord condemn any of these unions.  Yet in 2 Sam 11: 26-27 and 2 Sam 12:1-10 we read the story of king David committing adultery (sexual relations with another man’s wife) with the wife of Uriah. Here the prophet Nathan tells a parable of a man that was rich and had many flocks and yet he took the poor man's only "ewe lamb". (2 Sam 12:3) David is so angry that he swears the man who has done this will die. (2 Sam 12:5) Nathan informs him that he (David) is the man that has done this, and then gives the word of the Lord to David as follows, "I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom.....and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things" (2 Sam 12:8). There is no mistaking this verse, the Lord claims to have given David his wives.

Let’s look at a few more things in Deut 21:15-17.  The Lord gives the children of Israel a Law of Inheritance for those who "have two wives" (verse 15). In Lev 20: 10-21 the Lord lays out all the sexual perversions he commands the children of Israel to refrain from. He lists such sins as "adultery with another man's wife" (verse 10), men who "also lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman"(verse 13), a man or woman who "lie with a beast" (verse 15-16), and even "a man who shall lie with a woman having her sickness"(meaning menstruation verse 18).  The other verses focus on incestuous relationships or other family relations by marriages which are not approved.  Notice the Lord doesn't include polygamy as a banned practice among Israel.  As a matter of fact look closely at verse 14:  "If a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness." The only forbidding of polygamy that God does here is to say that a polygamous man shouldn't take mother and daughter together! Why didn't the Lord say "a man shall not take two wives", because despite what all the Christian world thinks about it, God did not disapprove of their polygamous relationship. (also look at Lev 18:2-24 for more examples.)

The New Testament doesn't offer us any other indication that polygamy should be done away with! In fact just the opposite is true. Romans 7: 2-3 tells us that a "woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth." (verse 2) It goes on to say that "if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress." (verse 3) Yet in Paul's reciting of the Law he doesn't seem to change the Law that a man ought now to only have one wife. They are still free to marry "two wives" according to Gods earlier command. Some critics of the church will use 1 Tim 3:2, 12 (that a bishop and deacons ought to be "the husband of one wife”) to show that polygamy is done away with in the New Testament. This raises a good question. Why doesn't Paul just say all the saints shall have only "one wife”?  The way in which 1 Tim 3:2, 12 reads, the instruction is only for the bishops and deacons to have one wife. One could easily infer that this then means all others of the saints could have more than one wife? 

The truth of the matter is that the only scriptural condemnation of polygamy is found in Book of Mormon.  In Jacob 2:23-30 the prophet Jacob rebukes God’s people for justifying themselves in having more than one wife because the prophets of old had more than one wife! (Verse 23) He then commands that the people only have one wife. (Verse 27) And he ends his rebuke with these words " For if I will (the Lord) raise up seed unto me, I will command my people: otherwise they shall hearken unto these things." The Lord makes it clear that those who think polygamy is a good idea, or it is for them, or that they must do it because it was done in the past are in the wrong. Unless the Lord commands that his people enter in to polygamy to "raise up seed unto me"(verse 30) they are "committing whoredoms"(verse 23).

During the early 1800s this is exactly what happened, God through a prophet allowed again His people to enter into polygamous relations.  Doctrine and Covenants (D&C) 132: 61-63 says " if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent,...and they have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else." (Verse 61) These polygamous relations were lived for several decades by the LDS people. The practice of polygamy was the cause of great persecution by many of the Christian communities towards the LDS people. It led to name callings, beatings, robbing, taking of lands, burning of property, rape, and murders. The Lord  removed the law of polygamy in 1890 and removed permission to practice polygamy in 1904. No longer were members of the LDS church allowed to enter into polygamy in any part of the world; and those who did were excommunicated from the church.

D&C 132:7-10 warns that polygamy can only be allowed by "the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power...and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and keys of this priesthood are conferred." The prophets of the LDS church have said that God revoked his power to allow polygamy so it is disingenuous for people to claim the right to live under polygamy by authority that came from the LDS church. There are many different groups of Christians, not just FLDS (Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints), that are claiming to live under a law of polygamy and all of those groups will have to be accountable to God for what they do in His name!