Posted on 10/12/2009 4:46:30 PM PDT by Colofornian
More than a hundred years ago, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) outlawed the practice of polygamy. LDS records, however, indicate that early Mormon leaders, Joseph Smith Jr. and Brigham Young, have both been “sealed” (married) for eternity to hundreds of wives. Despite its current temporal ban on polygamy, the LDS Church promotes polygamy on a perpetual basis. Polygamous unions, mainly on behalf of the dead, using living Mormons as proxies, are routinely performed in LDS temples.
Mormon fundamentalists — representing the sects of Mormonism which embrace early Mormon teachings that made polygamy a central part of the Mormon faith — are among the deceased people whose multiple marriages are now recognized by the LDS Church. Many polygamists who became Mormon fundamentalists were excommunicated from the LDS Church because they supported polygamy. The LDS Church has disowned Mormon fundamentalists. In sharp contradiction, the LDS temple system systematically validates the plural marriages of dead ex-Mormon polygamists through its marriage sealing rituals.
An example of many such individuals is Rulon Clark Allred, who was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1940 for practicing polygamy. Allred was the leader of the Utah-based group of Mormon fundamentalists, known as the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB). A naturopath by profession, Allred was murdered in his office in Murray, Utah, on May 10, 1977, on the orders of Ervil LeBaron, the head of a rival polygamous group. At the time of his death, Allred was the husband of at least seven wives, the father of forty-eight children, and the spiritual leader of thousands of Mormon fundamentalists.
Mormon records show that Rulon Allred has been sealed by proxy to five of his wives: Katherine Lucy Handy, from whom he was divorced; Beatrice Marjorie Lloyd; Ethel Jessop; Mabel Finlayson; and Ruth Rachel Barlow. Allred was sealed to two of his wives, Ethel Jessop and Ruth Barlow, on December 16, 2008 in the Ogden Utah (LDS) Temple. Ethel Jessop became a plural wife of Rulon Allred in 1945 — five years after his excommunication from the LDS Church. Allred’s posthumous sealing to Jessop in 2008 was an LDS endorsement of Allred’s post-excommunication polygamy.
LDS proxy rituals for Rulon Allred appear to be ongoing. Allred was sealed to Mabel Finlayson on September 17, 2009 in the Panama City, Panama, (LDS) Temple. LDS files also indicate Allred is “Ready” to be sealed to Melba Finlayson, Mabel’s twin sister.
As though killers will share an eternal reward with their victims, Ervil Morrell LeBaron — the Mormon fundamentalist behind the death of Rulon Allred — was sealed by proxy in 2002 to Delfina Salido, from whom he was divorced. LeBaron is in the process of being sealed to several of his other wives. LDS records show that marriage sealings for LeBaron to Maria De La Luz (Mary Lou) Vega and Lorna Chynoweth are currently “In progress.” A marriage sealing for LeBaron to Yolanda (Lina) Rios is listed as “Ready.”
Tell us, BM, how much priesthood authority did Leah have? You actually have the gaul to tell us -- even from a Book of Jacob/Book of Mormon perspective which condemned polygamy & from a male-oriented priesthood authority perspective -- that you think Leah & a few other females from the Genesis period of history had the authority to establish an entire INSTITUTION of polygamy?
Really? (Are you serious?) Will I hear crickets from you on these questions -- just like I hear crickets to literally hundreds of questions I've asked Lds on these posts?
Note also that BM, in his post to you, cited v. 25: wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?...So, not only does BM want to...
...ignore & contradict the Book of Mormon (Book of Jacob)...
...elevate as a new marital institution something established by the personal implementation of three females in the Book of Genesis -- as if they had priesthood authority to do so...
...but then he cites v. 25 of a Genesis passage that the underlying moral reason for polygamy was the Labanite ethic of deception: ...wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?...
So, TN, we should both ask BM:
What? Are you saying that it was right for Joseph Smith to deceive 14-yo Helen Mar Kimball and others into "marrying" him because of the so-called "Biblical principle" of deception, beguiling and betrayal?
What are you going to tell us next, BM, are you going to cite the passage about David having sex with Bathsheba and the passage about David sending her husband to the front lines so that all military men in authority could do the same thing on military bases?
All of this is shameless, BM...and unless you openly repent in the presence of God and His people, as the Living God hears my words, you will recall this moment of your life when you stand before Him to give account -- because our words MEAN things -- and they influence others -- on which we each have to give account! Your own church condemns earthly polygamy for a reason; does your bishop know you're going around promoting it? Will you confess it at your next temple recommend interview?
General authorities within the Lds church have had many wives -- even contemporary ones...the ones in recent decades have just tended to marry those wives serially upon the death of another.
Tell us, BM, does your genealogical prowess tell us the death dates of Gideon's wives? And even if he had more than one wife at once, does that somehow "prove" the so-called "holiness" (Lds apostle McConkie's word to describe future Lds earthly polygamy) of polygamy?
If that's the case, I suppose you'll next tell us that God's approval of David means that adultery can be institutionalized as well, eh? Or since God elevated Solomon, you're next going to advise we all take 700 wives & 300 concubines? Really? If not, why not?
Or what about Hosea? He was told to marry a prostitute, Gomer. And Gomer carried on her trade post marital covenant. Are you now telling all Mormon and Christian males that they should seek out active prostitutes, marry them, and let them carry on their trades in their homes? All because God told Hosea to do it -- which means, in your eyes, that God sanctions prostitution as a Mormon cottage industry? Really? Is that part of your "restoration" plans? Did the Christian church remove "many plain and precious things" from the New Testament -- additional "homes" carrying on Hosea and Gomer's tradition? And you're "out" to restore all of these "alternative" sexual traditions? Really?
Mat 19:9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except [it be] for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
This is authortative revelation from the celestial realm BM. Jesus is consistent: if one divorces one's spouse without valid grounds, the marriage is not truly dissolved and subsequent marriage is ADULTEROUS. If polygamy was indeed and eternal law, then Jesus didn't know what He was talking about.
Rom 7:3 So then if, while [her] husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
So polyamory is also adultry - how about all those women smith married who were already had husbands BM? And no, it wasn't to protect them from antimormons either.
My, smith broke the law, wrote into church canon that mormons obeyed the law, lied about his practices, wrote into church canon (under the same inspiration of the same 'god' who inspired his polygamy) forbidding polygamy, and excommunicated those who followed smith's example in polygamy (but were not as 'privilaged' as him)
My admittedly logical, rather than spiritual, argument against being married in heaven is that the argument Jesus used saying we were not married or given in marriage in heaven clearly has a logical basis.
If a man’s wife dies, and he remarries as is his right and privilege under God’s law, who would he be married to in heaven, the 1st wife or the 2nd, of both? If both, we could hardly argue against having two wives, if not both, how could either be a better choice than the other?
No, it makes more sense that there is no marriage in heaven, since there would be no social need for a family, or need to perpetuate the species.
I would look upon Jesus' statement as authorative and not a logical arguement at all. The greater context overarching the marriage issue was that of the resurrection of the body itself - which the sadducees rejected. Marriage in heaven was just the vehicle the arguement used.
No, it makes more sense that there is no marriage in heaven, since there would be no social need for a family, or need to perpetuate the species.
Your conclusion is correct from a Biblical Christian viewpoint. However, mormonism teaches that when they become gods, they will crank out 'spirit children' to populate their 'world', hence the need for a harem and the women being in perpetual pregnancy. Therefore, your conclusion would not necessarly carry weight with them. That is why Jesus' statement is not an arguement, but authorative - this is what it is.
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