YouTube: Gov. Romney on Mormons w/ Leno

No they don’t. The religion has abandoned it and excommunicates anyone practicing it.

However Muslims have never abandoned it and still practice it. The only problem the Mormons have is it was recent (if you call 120 years ago recent).

BTW show me where polygamy was abandoned by in the Jewish religious texts. You like Moses? They guy God chose to lead his chosen people to the chosen land. One of the only men to have been in the direct presence of God here on earth. They Moses who parted the Red Sea and was so righteous that God entrusted him with the 10 commandments. Guess what? Yep he was one of those polygamists!! So was King Solomon and most of the major figures in the old testament.

So basically Christianity, Judaism, and many other world religions have a polygamist foundation. The New Testament’s disdain for polygamy is weak at best, and like slavery it appears to tolerate it.

My point is be careful throwing bricks if you live in a glass house. Learn your own religion’s history before you bash someone else’s.

Moses a polygamist? No sir, I don’t think so. You seem a little lacking in your knowledge of the Bible. Abraham and Jacob, yes, unfortunately. Solomon, also yes. But none of these is commended for such practice. Rather, it is said, such practice was tolerated by God because of the hardness of men’s heart at that time. And the terrible consequences of their actions are plainly noted in the text of the Bible. Maybe you should seek to learn a little more before you make such claims.

Yes, Mormons have abandoned polygamy. That is to say, that they have said, officially, that they refrain from practicing it for now because it is contrary to the laws of the United States, which is governed by the U.S. Constitution, a document the Mormon church holds to be inspired, or at least very nearly so. But the operative phrase is “for now.” I don’t see the section of Doctrine and Covenants pertinant to “plural marriage” being repudiated and deleted from anyone’s quad, do you?

Also, polygamy is relatively common in certain areas of the states of Utah and Arizona, southwestern Canada, and certain areas in northern Mexico. It is so because law enforcement in those areas knows that it doesn’t have the will of the people behind it to enforce the antipolygamy laws of the U.S. and its various states or of Canada or Mexico. In other words, for example, Colorado City, UT/Hilldale, AZ (Short Creek) continue to harbor large polygamist enclaves because the majority Mormon population of the area hasn’t the will to see to it that the practice is ended. Where do such sympathies come from if not from the church the still near deifies the serial adulterers Joseph Smith and Brigham Young?

I would hardly consider what yldstrk said to be “bashing” Mormonism. It is simply a statement of fact that plural marriage is a liability that Mormonism carries. The same can be said for the pre-1978 priesthood embargo against Africans. It is simply a statement of fact.

Yes, the Utah branch of the LDS church abandoned the practice of polygamy in 1890 in the face of the US Army’s threat to move the LDS church to Mexico.

Doctrine and Covenants 132:4, is still carried in every LDS’ Standard Works and commands every LDS to practice plural marriage as part of an “everlasting covenant.” The policy of Mormonism and the written text of Mormonism are in conflict.

In 1876 the LDS Church removed Section 101 of the Book of Commandments - the section that commanded singular marriage. This was done to make way for Section 132, which was written in the early 1840s to justify Joseph Smith’s polygamous marriages that extended back to the 1830s.

I am not aware of any commandment in the Old Testament or New Testament that command polygamy. Polygamy is in direct conflict with the NT. The idea that someone has to be righteous to have commune with God is an LDS doctirne, not a Bible-based doctrine. Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Saul/Paul, Peter, Matthew, etc. all had initmate communication with God, but all were desparately flawed men.

That is a huge difference between LDS teachings and Christian teachings. To say that Judaism, and Christianity have a polygamous foundation is a statement borne of historical ignorance or slander. It is patently false.

Mormonism HAS a rich polygamous foundation. That is an abundantly true statement. That is yldstrk’s point (IMHO).

Just because someone has a different religious foundation does not preclude them from having a very similar political foundation. Sharpton may be a Christian (I’ll assume he is), but he and I could not be more different when it comes to politics. I happen to like much of what Romney says. I like most of his politics. His religious background could not be more different that mine. He is NOT a Christian.

The early LDS prophets were very clear in drawing lines of distinction between Christianity and Mormonism. It wasn’t until the Donny and Marie era that the LDS Church began a different public relations tack and started cozying up to Christians.

Romney’s religion is irrelevant to his political positions. Unfortunately, the history of his religion is going to create some hurdles that he will have to clear in order to move into acceptance for many on the Conservative side of US politics.

That is just an unfortunate fact.

First things first.

Moses WAS a polygamist. He married:
1) Zipporah: Exodus 2:15-16,21 and Exodus 18:1-6
Then
2) Ethiopian woman: Numbers 12:1(-15)

Zipporah was not the “Ethiopian woman” herself. Zipporah was of the tribe of Midian. Genesis 25:1-3 shows that Midian was one of the six sons born unto Abraham by his third wife, Keturah. Thus, Zipporah was “Abrahamic”, who was “Shemitic” (i.e., descended of Noah’s son Shem, per Genesis 10:1; 11:11-27). But the “Ethiopian woman” (”Cushite woman” in the Hebrew) descended of Cush, who was “Hamitic” (i.e., descended of Noah’s son Ham, per Genesis 10:1,6). Indeed, Zipporah, being of Noah’s son, Shem, could not be the “Ethiopian woman” who was of Ham (Shem’s brother).

Secondly:

God did not permit polygamy because of, in your words, “the hardness of men’s hearts”. Your confused with Matt 19:7-8. They are talking about Divorce following adultery there, Not polygamy.

God obviously hated Divorce MORE than poligamy because he specifically said how much he hated Divorce. “For I hate divorce, says the LORD, the God of Israel” Malachi 2:16

Please give me a bible verse where god refers to the practice of polygamy as something he “Hated”. I’m waiting...

If you want specific verses that demonstrates how tolerable polygamy was refer to Deuteronomy 21:15-17. “If a man with two wives .... he is the first fruits of his manhood, and to him belong the rights of the first-born.” This verse spells out how inheritance will work, even under polygamy.

Or how about Exodus 21:10? “If he takes another wife, he shall not withhold her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.” You know Exodus, the chapter of the old testament the spells out God’s Law on Slavery; allowing it by the way.

There are many others but I’ve think I’ve proven my point.

Ok ok - this is Old Testament, and they were backward Jews; Jesus came and set it all straight right? Wrong. Read Matthew Chapter 25:1-13. Jesus is compared to a single bridegroom set to marry 10 women. 5 of which were unprepared and were locked out of their wedding. You have it right there, Jesus Christ being put in a polygamist parable by Matthew. It doesn’t get much clearer than that.

Polygamy was NOT a sin in the Old Testament or New Testament. God provided laws for practicing it and Jesus did not admonish it like what was done with divorce. Now unlike early Mormans 120 years ago, I wouldn’t go as far as to say God commanded polygamy, allowed it ... YES. But I see no biblical basis for calling it a sin. I believe polygamy should be against the law for many reasons, NONE of them religious.

The fact remains that polygamy was a part of early Christian and Jewish religions.

BTW Anyone who believes in the divinity of JESUS CHRIST and accepts him as their prophet sent to save their soul has the right to call themselves Christians. Even people who practice Christianity outside the mainstream, they may be radicalized, they may be cultist, they may be moderate or watered down; But they are still Christian. Who are you to cast the first stone and judge them otherwise?

Mitt Romney is a Christian like you and I. He just also happens to be a Mormon Christian. And like 99.9% of Mormans out there (LDS, RLDS ect) Romney finds polygamy a horrible thing.

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