Polygamy has been in the news again recently. Inevitably it is associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because our church was instructed by God to practice polygamy until 1890.The recent events of convicted child abuser W. Jeffs has brought the spotlight on this practice back into the forefront. I can understand that it is confusing for people not of our faith to understand the history of the practice of polygamy 120 years ago among the Mormon people with what is going on now with a break off group of people (not Mormons) who are using religion as an excuse to abuse women and children.
Separating the two groups and the practice of polygamy can be confusing. I recently read an article in the
D News by a professor I know Valerie H.
"Hudson, a BYU political science professor, was not speaking on behalf of BYU or the LDS Church. Plural marriage, as Mormons refer to it, was practiced by some members of the LDS Church in the late 1800s, but the practice ended in 1890 after LDS Church President Wilford Woodruff received a revelation.
Drawing from language found in the second chapter of Jacob in the Book of Mormon, Hudson said that "when God commands men to marry, usually he commands them to marry monogamously. Sometimes, as Jacob notes, he will command them otherwise. But eventually he always rescinds polygamy and returns his followers to the established pattern of marriage: monogamy.
Plural marriage outside the command of the Lord is always a grievous sin, Hudson added. "The Lord speaks of severe punishment for those who practice polygamy without being commanded."
...Hudson believes verse 36 is there to remind Joseph Smith, founding prophet of the LDS Church, and others that polygamy is the exception to God's law of marriage, not the rule.
In the Lord's eyes, she said, monogamy is not a sacrifice, but a blessing. But polygamy is a sacrifice. … When God does command polygamy, he understands it is a sacrifice of the joy that would be there for his children if they could live the higher law … the Lord desires all of his children to have the natural joy that comes from living the law of marriage: monogamy.
Hudson said she believes that "in the eternities we will have the privilege of living under the law, not the exception to the law."
I think Hudson's analysis is excellent. It is clear in Jacob 2 that polygamy is an abomination that is forbidden by God unless it is "commanded." It is clear that the Church needed to grow and be populated during the 19th century. When the purpose for polygamy had been fulfilled, it was abolished and rightly so. It was a terrible burden and sacrifice which caused endless heartache to many.
A great gulf separates plural marriage as practiced by 3-6% of the LDS faithful during the 1800's, and polygamy as practiced by 100% of the FLDS today.
There were also serious political reasons why it ended. The church had done everything possible to live by this commandment at great sacrifice. When it became untenable, the President of the church pleaded with the Lord for guidance and was told that this burden was now lifted. I admit it requires faith to accept that it was instituted in the first place and then later recended. But, polygamy had fulfilled its purpose and was now abandoned for a higher law that would allow the church to go forward and not be destroyed by the U.S. Government.
Both my husband and I decend from those early polygamist unions over 100 years ago. The top picture shows my great-great grandfather (on my fathers side) and his two polygamists wives. The second picture shows my great-great grandfather standing on the left side of the man in the middle who is seated (George Q. C. who is my husband's GG grandfather!) Our ancestors knew each other and were imprisoned together for the practice of polygamy. Interesting!
What is being practiced now, in the name of the Lord by W. Jeffs and his followers, sickens me. I feel very sad for those innocent children who are brought up in this culture and who don't stand a chance of breaking out and making normal lives for themselves.
While kind of funny, I think this comic would be better if it said "We're getting out of here and taking our children and you can't stop us." I only wish there was more help available to those who want to break away and get out because they need all the help they can get.
Want to read a good book about a young woman and her children who did make it out? Read
Escape by Carolyn Jessop.
And it was so fun to share it with
