aceman67

Knew Arrianna would beat me too this thread...

Little history lesson about our church. Polygamy was instituted out of necessity because so many of the men in the early days of our church were killed off during persecutions, Governor Lilburn Boggs of Missouri in the 1830's issuing an extermination order (Thats right, a United States Governor issued an order that all Mormons in the state be killed, whats even more shocking that it remained law in the state till 1976 when Governor Christopher S. Bond recinded), which forced members out of the state in the dead of winter, where a great deal more men died because they opted to let their wives and children eat first, leading to them dying of starvation, exposure and malnutrition related illnesses, especially during the Martin Handcart company trek to Utah. This left he church with a congregation of widows and orphans. In order to support them, many men took on second or third wives along with their families to take care of them.
Once the church got to Utah and settled the salt lake valley, polygamy was abolished once there was no more need for it.

Course, this, along with issues pertaining to the order of succession to the leader of the church (The Prophet), lead to schisms and offshoots of the LDS church.

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Arrianna

Just wandered by at the right time I guess.

If you are going to get historical... It had started before that but was pretty limited until necessity changed it. For a little historical perspective not only was polygamy legal at the time something like 4% of the male citizens of the US practiced it (the percentage in the LDS church was half of that). It didn't become scandalous until after SLC was settled and old enemies spread rumors about the church back in DC. One of my favorite versions was the Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes story "A Study In Scarlet" which made me laugh very hard when I realized what it was supposed to be about. I understand that contemporary LDS members were not as amused as I was. Historically it is also necessary to understand that this was a time when single women could not travel safely alone without family. As a result single female converts often had to get married in order to travel safely to LDS lands.

Either way, polygamy has not been sanctioned in the LDS church since 1890 (over a century ago) so anyone who tells you otherwise is seriously behind the times or thinking of one of the schisms.

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Miroku4444

I didn't mean there was an actual one against it, but in my mind it kind of breaks the 7th one, Thou shall not commit adultery. Cause after the first wife, if you consummate the other marriages your cheating on your first wife.

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Joe Mage

Thnx Arrianna and Aceman67 for clearin' that up for evry1, I was raised in believin' in the docturines of the Church of Latter Day Saints and I can' count how many times that I've hadta explain ta people 'bout those schisms. People don' understand that most of them r jus' gossip, or even flat-out lies, that had been tagged upon Mormons many years ago. I had often had ta educate people 'bout the church and it's beliefs.

@Miroku4444- If u wanna get technical, then it doesn'. Think 'bout it, if a man is married ta more than one wife, that means that they r all his wives. Let's look at the definition of Adultry-

Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than his or her lawful spouse.

Polygamy, yes; adultry, not as much. Not that I'm condonin' polygamy, but if u think 'bout it, How can it truely b tied ta adultry?

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atomik_sprout

Good ol' Xerxes Ave, LOL. I remember when you used to invite them over like all the time. ^_^ I think Peach even made them cookies or some s*** like that once. LOL.

I remember one day, when we got into it, I left and the mormons had showed up as I was walkin' out the door, and I tried to chase them away, LOL.

Mormons--to me anyway--are kinda crazy. They listen to a "prophet" who supposedly has "keys to heaven" given to him by god, and he's supposed to lead these people to "eternal life with god". I personally think it's a bunch of whoooey. The last real prophet to exist was in biblical times. Jesus, Mohamed, Moses, Jonah... Those were prophets. Mormons could be following a psychopath for all they know.

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Arrianna

Not at all rather then "not as much". Not only is it not adultery if they are lawfully married, as Joe Mage pointed out, but the Israelites had laws pertaining to the treatment of multiple wives and their childrens inheritance. You can find it in Deuteronomy 21, one of the books of law.

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aceman67

I've met President Gordon B. Hinkley, not once, but twice. The first time when he announced that a Temple be built in Dartmouth Nova Scotia, and once again, at that temples dedication a couple years later. He is by far the most kind and gentle man I have ever met. He is the spiritual leader of Millions of people all around the world, and I think, deserves just a smidgen of respect.

The dictionary defines a "Prophet" as: someone who speaks by divine inspiration; someone who is an interpreter of the will of God.

I don't see why its so preposterous that a Prophet can't be around today. The faithful of the Roman Catholic church see the Pope as someone who Communes (meaning to Communicate, or Converse) with God, which by the definition that I gave above, he would be considered a Prophet.

President Gordon B. Hinkley is my spiritual leader, and I believe that he is a prophet, seer, and revelator.

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Lupas

RELIEGON(i know spelled it wrong),always a defleshing topic like the inquisision(again wrong)polygamy should only be practice when the speices needs it, but then humans tend to build reliegons around saving graces.i don't understand why we segment ourselves; black, white, muslim, catholic, we r all human, if we can't get off this rock soon we'll be hunting each other. actually we already are

atomik_sprout

Don't get me wrong, I'm not tryin' to disrespect. I, myself, don't choose a religion because I am on a more spiritual level. I believe there's a god and all, I just don't practice religion. But I digress from my point. Prophets--to me--are men chosen by God to speak on his behalf, yes that is true. But if I told you that I spoke to God myself, you'd call me crazy. If God doesn't speak to me or any of the massive amount of people I've met in my 27 years of life, I find it hard to believe that he'd pick just one person out of one religion to speak on his behalf. And does this prophet carry said "keys to heaven" with him? Can I see them? Then I'd have more influence to believe that prophets exist in this day in age. I'm a man of evidence and fact. If I can't hear god, if I can't see "keys to heaven", then I'm more inclined to believe that today's "prophets" are false or not fit in the head.

That's just my opinion...

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aceman67

The "Keys to Heaven" that you're referring too is the Priesthood, specifically, the authority to do things in God's name. Every Man in my church 12 years and older has the Priesthood (The Youth have the Aaronic priesthood and the Melchizedek priesthood is held by the older Adults.).

The President of my church is the only man who has all the keys, or the authority to do things in God's name, then these keys are then spread out over the membership of the church, with no one havening all of them, this is so that the priesthood can never be fully taken from the earth again (It was originally taken from the earth after Jesus' death and his apostles were killed off, or died. This is known as the Apostasy).

They aren't Literally the keys to heaven.

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atomik_sprout

Okay, now it makes some sense. The mormons who came to my house on occasion never really explained that part, and if they did, I must've left during said conversation--as I've done a few times. But I'm still wondering: How does one (anybody other than the person in question) know for sure that a person is a prophet? I mean, I can say I'm a prophet; how many will follow me? Ya catch my drift? What proof is there to being a prophet besides a certificate or key or whatever?

Do they just sit in church until one person gets up and says, "Yes god, I hear you loud and clear,"? I mean what real, hard, substantial proof/evidence is there to back that person up? You can't tell me that he's appointed by a council or group of people, because then that defeats the purpose. God is to choose a prophet correct? How does everyone else know that?

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