Posted on 10/09/2010 10:47:32 AM PDT by Colofornian
Visit the Salt Lake City Cemetery, and you’ll see headstone after headstone engraved with the Salt Lake temple, with an occasional depiction of some other LDS temple here and there. Unlike crosses adorning Catholic headstones or the Star of David on Jewish headstones, the LDS temple is not a symbol, a refined visual token of belief or belonging: instead, it’s a literal representation—announcing where the people in these graves were married.
It is impossible to understand the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints without understanding the role of marriage in the religion. Marriage is not merely a good idea in Mormonism, a source of companionship or a stable environment for raising happy children. Founder Joseph Smith did not agree with Paul’s advice in I Corinthians 7, that celibacy is superior to marriage, but that “it is better to marry than to burn.” Instead, Smith established a religion in which heterosexual marriage is not just a sacrament but a commandment, an absolutely necessary prerequisite for salvation and exaltation.
An 1843 “revelation” known as Section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants announces a form of marriage that is “a new and everlasting covenant,” one that allows couples to be married not merely until “death do us part” but for “time and all eternity,” provided the marriage is “sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed.” In such a marriage, the couple “shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths” (D&C 132:19).
This passage forms part of the basis for the doctrine of celestial or eternal marriage, the idea that marriages performed in an LDS temple will last beyond death and into eternity.
Faced with a decision that will endure for all eternity, many people would deliberate carefully and weigh many options before making a final choice. However, Mormons are encouraged to marry young, especially since sex outside marriage is strictly forbidden. Mormon men typically serve missions from age 19 to 21; during missionary service, they are forbidden to date or form romantic attachments. Upon returning home, they are encouraged to begin searching for a wife.
Mormon women are instructed from childhood that marriage and motherhood are their primary callings and should be their ultimate goals. A 2007 speech by Julie B. Beck, general president of the Relief Society (the women’s organization of the LDS church) stated that “all the education women attain will avail them nothing if they do not have the skill to make a home.”
The result is that marriages occur more often and between younger people in Mormon-dominated Utah than elsewhere in the country. The website Utah Marriage provides these statistics for the year 2000:
*Utah’s marriage rate is 10.6 per 1,000 populations, well above that of the United States, which stands at 8.7 *Median age at first marriage in Utah—Groom: 23 Bride: 21 *Median age at first marriage in United States—Groom: 26.8 Bride: 25.1
Marriages contracted so early face significant challenges, so it is good that the Mormon church does not forbid divorce, although the fact that Mormon couples often begin having children soon after marriage (and typically have larger families than the rest of the U.S.) does something to inhibit divorce. Even still, “Utah’s divorce rate is 4.3 per 1,000 populations, slightly higher than the United States divorce rate of 4.1.”
Of course, monogamy is not the only form of marriage discussed in the “new and everlasting covenant.” Although Smith’s first work of scripture, The Book of Mormon, expressly forbids polygamy (see Jacob 2:27), verses in D&C Section 132 lay out the doctrine of polygamy, also known as plural marriage, in very proprietary terms:
“if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and 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” (D&C 132: 61).
The issue of the first wife’s consent is undercut, however, three verses later:
“if any man have a wife, who holds the keys of this power, and he teaches unto her the law of my priesthood, as pertaining to these things, then shall she believe and administer unto him, or she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord your God; for I will destroy her” (D&C 132:64).
Although the LDS church officially disavowed the practice of polygamy in 1890 so that Utah could become a state, plural marriage remains an integral part of Mormon doctrine. For instance, a man who divorces or becomes a widower can be sealed to each and every one of his successive wives, with the expectation that he will be married to all of them at once in the next life. However, a woman can be sealed to one man and one man only, no matter what the circumstances, and must obtain permission from church leaders for a temple divorce even from a husband guilty of abuse—permission that is sometimes withheld.
The Eternal Companion
What do these texts, beliefs, and practices mean in the lives of real Mormons? Above all, they explain the Mormon obsession with marriage, with finding an “eternal companion” or “EC” in the parlance of Brigham Young University. Our society has many expectations for marriage; most people who marry do so expecting to find fulfillment, happiness, and growth. But informing young couples that marriage will provide them not only earthly joy but eternal salvation and exaltation puts even more strain on the institution of marriage. Certainly Mormons lucky enough to find themselves in loving, successful marriages often feel blessed and enriched by the expectation that they will be together for all eternity.
But there are also couples struggling to sustain for eternity marriages that others would not want to remain in for another week. Marriages in which one spouse remains devoted to the Church while the other loses his/her faith can be especially painful. This situation is so fraught that the 2010 Sunstone Salt Lake Symposium, a conference dedicated to the exploration of Mormonism, included a well-attended workshop on how to navigate such marriages. The description for the workshop noted:
From the true-believing spouse’s perspective, the unbelieving spouse has violated covenants and may no longer be worthy of the union (or the children, for that matter). From the unbelieving spouse’s perspective, the believing spouse has been brainwashed and is considered naive, ignorant, and unwilling to face “reality.” Can this chasm be bridged? Can (or should) the marriage be saved?
The psychic, social, and monetary costs of these types of marital failures can be enormous. Support groups designed to help people remain active in the Mormon church even after they’ve lost their faith, such as Stay LDS, can be found on the Web, as can forums for devout LDS whose spouses have rejected LDS belief, such as Faces East.
The Great Calling of Homemaking
Furthermore, these attitudes about marriage also explain the existence of Mormon feminist blogs like Exponent II, Zelophehad’s Daughters, or the more well-established Feminist Mormon Housewives, which receives in the neighborhood of a million hits a month. Given that young Mormon women are encouraged to get educations, get married, and start families, it’s no surprise that many intelligent, ambitious Mormon women end up as wives and mothers sooner than their secular counterparts. They find themselves with questions about the great calling of homemaking, especially when it fails to meet their expectations, and are equipped with analytical skills, the vocabulary, and the texts to critique the institutions and attitudes that shaped their choices.
Latter-day Saints must also come to terms with the importance of polygamy in Mormon belief, even when they don’t practice it. Thus, a question members are asked to respond to as part of the Mormon.org ad campaign is “Why did your church previously practice plural marriage (polygamy)?” Heather Olson Beal of Texas provides this answer in her profile:
“Honestly, I don’t know. It’s something that I used to really struggle to understand, but have decided not to worry about because it has no impact on the way I experience Mormonism in my life.”
Mormons frequently decide “not to worry about” many aspects of their doctrine, but homosexuality is currently one topic where ignoring the question is not an option. The LDS Church’s support for Proposition 8 in 2008, amending the California Constitution to make same-sex marriage illegal, has firmly linked the Mormon church to the issue of gay rights in the minds of people on both sides of the issues. As distressing as the LDS assertion that gay relationships are forbidden by God is to many outside the Church, it is often far more distressing to those inside it. For many years, the church taught that one cure for homosexuality was heterosexual marriage.
Even today, the internet hosts a large support community for Mormon MOMs, or “mixed-orientation marriages,” usually between gay men and straight women. Although some couples claim their marriages are successful, too many resemble the marriage of gay Mormon blogger Beck, who details his desire for “bromances,” freely admits to his sexual rejection of his wife for close to three decades, and even ends the story his twenty-ninth wedding anniversary to a woman he insists he loves by acknowledging that he can’t help but entertain a “vision of the same events celebrating the same day with the pronoun of ‘she’ changing to ‘he’ playing out the same play in [his] head.” Despite his ambivalence, Beck remains in the marriage because he believes it is God’s ordained path to eternal joy, and that anything else is unrighteous.
Keep these factors in mind when trying to understand any political position taken by the leaders of the Mormon Church. (Or, for that matter, Bella’s obsession with spending eternity married to Edward in Twilight, the vampire saga by Mormon writer Stephenie Meyer.)
Protecting what the LDS church sees as “traditional marriage” is not just a conservative approach to family and social relations, but an absolutely vital defense of cherished, sacred expectations and beliefs about eternal salvation and life beyond the grave. It is no surprise that people so invested in a social structure would want to make sure that it remain stable, familiar, and under their control.
Ah, being Halloween month...this one barely qualifies as the first of what we Inmans might call, "The Cemetery Series." (You know, there's the October World Series, and then, given the Inman sense of humor, there's the October Other-World Series :) )
So, where are witnesses to the crosses, the hope of salvation, in Mormon cemeteries? Instead the focus is on the Mormon temple, eh? And instead of the cross, what (or rather who) stands atop Mormon temples?
That's right. This ghost guy, Moroni.
You need to understand a few things Mormons believe about angels:
Who are angels according to Joseph Smith? And particularly who was Moroni?
Answer: "Moroni, who deposited the plates in a hill in Manchester, Ontario County, New York, being dead and raised again therefrom, appeared unto me, and told me where they were, and gave me directions how to obtain them." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 1938, p. 119)
So who was Moroni per Smith? Why, he was a deceased spirit. A ghost. A ghost was the jumpstarter of Mormonism!
(Now keep in mind who probably are the most common masqueradors of "ghosts" in today's contemporary culture...that's right...demons)
From the article: “Utah’s divorce rate is 4.3 per 1,000 populations, slightly higher than the United States divorce rate of 4.1.”
The author attributes this to more people who marry young...And, yes, many do marry young in Utah. But I also seem to recall stats from four years ago which actually indicate a higher-than-expected number of unmarried young adults in Utah. I mean, yes, as a state it has more than its share of keeping the marriage industry busy...but Utah also has many more young adults than most states.
From the article: Although the LDS church officially disavowed the practice of polygamy in 1890 so that Utah could become a state, plural marriage remains an integral part of Mormon doctrine. For instance, a man who divorces or becomes a widower can be sealed to each and every one of his successive wives, with the expectation that he will be married to all of them at once in the next life.
(BTW, a Mormon woman who is divorced cannot have multiple husbands in the "celestial world," but if she's a widower she supposedly can! Per permission of Mormon leaders! Think about the sleeping arrangements of that other-worldly "adventure"!!!)
Imagine that. Telling all the singles of the world that living with Heavenly Father eternally in heaven won't be a reality unless you get married. (Hmmm...how many bad marriage choices has that forced Mormons -- especially women -- into????)
From the article: In such a marriage, the couple “shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths” (D&C 132:19). This passage forms part of the basis for the doctrine of celestial or eternal marriage, the idea that marriages performed in an LDS temple will last beyond death and into eternity...What do these texts, beliefs, and practices mean in the lives of real Mormons? Above all, they explain the Mormon obsession with marriage, with finding an “eternal companion” or “EC” in the parlance of Brigham Young University. Our society has many expectations for marriage; most people who marry do so expecting to find fulfillment, happiness, and growth. But informing young couples that marriage will provide them not only earthly joy but eternal salvation and exaltation puts even more strain on the institution of marriage.
Good analysis. So true. Not usually pondered upon by those within this culture.
It seems that marriage belongs to this world. It would be interesting to hear the lds "explanation" of Lukes statement and similar verses found elsewhere.
***From the article: Visit the Salt Lake City Cemetery, and you’ll see headstone after headstone engraved with the Salt Lake temple,***
Military cemeteries have an oval with moroni and his trumpet superimposed over it. I posted such a photo last year on Fr. I can’t find it on my computer so it may have been deleted.
Undecided readers,
If you peruse the Free Republic religion forums you will notice a pattern. There’s an anti-Mormon group of people here that spends a great deal of their time attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They post regurgitated propaganda on an almost daily basis.
They have a misguided obsession. You can witness many different tactics employed that you might find quite interesting. The straw man argument is a big favorite and is frequently preceded by cherry-picking quotes or other material. After the “quotation” the attacker will misrepresent what has been said or what was meant and then attack their own interpretation. You’ll likely see perfect examples of just this shortly after I post.
Sometimes they cruise the headlines of the day seeking any story that might be twisted into making the Church look bad. Anything will do, just watch the progression of posts following it and see what I mean.
After reading their posts, I invite you to seek the truth about whatever “issue” they seem to be “revealing” or “exposing”. I promise that if you do so with honest intent, the “ahah” moments you will have will be many and frequent. You will start to recognize the tactics employed to cleverly twist and attack and will likely chuckle the more you see. In actuality, there’s nothing new here. It’s all been addressed many times before.
Here’s a few links to get your started from a different viewpoint. I have found that the vast majority of the “issues” brought up can be found and addressed at http://www.fairlds.org/ but here’s more:
http://scriptures.lds.org/
http://www.lds.org
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Main_Page
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/index.html
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
http://www.answeringantimormons.com/index.htm
http://promormon.blogspot.com/
Now you will likely notice the “you never address our points” posts pop up as usual. All after providing the answers just as you have here. Will you wear blinders too? Seek truth. Find out for yourself.
A better question would be to ask an LDS if he/she believes Jesus had tow or more wives, as per the assertions/teaching from LDS leadership:
>"Jesus was the bridegroom at the marriage of Cana of Galilee...We say it was Jesus Christ who was married, to be brought into relation whereby he could see his seed [children] before he was crucified (Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, p. 82).
>"There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and on a careful reading of that transaction, it will be discovered that non less a person that Jesus Christ was married on that occasion. If he was never married, his intimacy with Mary and Martha an the other Mary also whom Jesus loved, must have been highly unbecoming and improper to say the best of it." (Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, vol. 4, p. 259).
>"In the Church councils, it was spoken of: "Joseph F. Smith_ He spoke upon the marriage in Cana of Galilee. He thought Jesus was the bridegroom and Mary and Martha the brides."(Journal of Wilford Woodruff, July 22, 1883).
>"The grand reason of the burst of public sentiment in anathemas upon Christ and his disciples, causing his crucifixion, was evidently based upon polygamy, according to the testimony of the philosophers who rose in that age. A belief in doctrine of a plurality of wives caused the persecution of Jesus and his followers. We might almost think they were Mormons (Jedediah Grant, Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, p. 346).
>"One thing is certain, that there were several holy women that great loved Jesus, such as Mary and Martha her sister, and Mary Magdalene; and Jesus greatly loved them and associated with the much; and when he arose from the dead, instead of first showing himself to his chosen witnesses, the Apostles, He appeared first to these women, or at least to one of them--namely, Mary Magdalene. Now, it would be very natural for a husband in the resurrection to appear first to his own dear wives, and afterwards show himself to his other friends. If all the acts of Jesus were written, we no doubt should learn that these beloved women were his wives." (Orson Pratt, The Seer, p. 159).
LOL, that is the weirdest form of disagreement, non rebuttal/rebuttal, that I have ever seen, it’s effectiveness, is zero.
They express a weird belief system. I find the LDS interesting because of their multiple bizarre claims.
Colofornian,
As an expert on mormonism, can you tell me if what I heard
is true...
Is it true that all single mormon single women (never married or sealed to a husband on earth) are rounded up and distributed to the mormon men who “become gods” with their own planets to populate? In short, these single women become part of a celestial breeding program. Do you know any details about this?
Thanks,
ampu
“There’s an anti-Mormon group of people here that spends a great deal of their time attacking the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They post regurgitated propaganda on an almost daily basis...”
1. Did you write this while wearing the magic mormon underwear?
2. Do you personally hope to become a mormon god and breed in eternity?
As of December 31, 2009, there were 51,736 LDS missionaries serving in 344 church missions throughout the world. Their work, often in cooperation with local members, resulted in 280,106 convert baptisms in 2009.[12] Author David Stewart points out that the number of convert baptisms per missionary per year has fallen from a high of 8.03 in 1989 to just 4.67 in 2005.[13] He argues that the number of converts would increase if Mormon missionaries made greater efforts in meeting new people; he points out that the average companionship spends only four or five hours per week attempting to meet new people.[13]
How terrible it is that a handful of Christians post a handful of threads per week on FreeRepublic to counter the proselytizing efforts of the missionaries and public relations campaign of the mormon church. Don't you just feel SO sorry that the poor, persecuted mormons aren't able to have their message heard?
Notice also that lds teaching when you read from the official lds web site are contrary to Biblical Truth
Completely false. tsk tsk
Lookers in can decide for themselves, isn’t that the point PD.
Can I ask you what you think of Harry Reid? As a mormon or politician?
I’ve met a few anti-Mormons. Most who are called that are not actually anti-Mormon; they are against the Corporation but not the member.
I completely agree with PD that everyone should check into the church and get the facts.
Check into the history.
Check into the doctrine.
Compare with the Bible.
Compare the Book of Mormon with the D & C.
Compare the 1830 Book of Mormon with today’s version.
Compare the 1835 version of the Book of Commandments with today’s version.
Read the original version of the Journal of Discourses.
Read Palmer’s Mormon Origins.
Read Brodie’s No Man Knows My History.
Read The Changing World of Mormonism by Tanner.
Read Compton’s Sacred Loneliness.
And look up the word TELESTIAL in the dictionary.
See, the Mormon will tell you to study, and when you do, he will tell you not to study that stuff because it’s ‘anti’. As Boyd Packer said to a group of historians, Just because it’s true doesn’t mean it’s helpful.
I say take PD’s advice. Seek the truth. Find out for yourself.
I’ve done that investigation several times Paragon. I have to tell you that what I found was worse then I thought. You can keep defending the Mormon faith if you want to but you need to not use the Bible to do it.
----"We were begotten by our Father in Heaven; the person of our Father in Heaven was begotten on a previous heavenly world by His Father; and again, He was begotten by a still more ancient Father; and so on, from generation to generation, ... we wonder in our minds, how far back the genealogy extends, and how the first world was formed, and the first father was begotten" (Orson Pratt, The Seer, p.132).
----"Some people are troubled over the statements of the Prophet Joseph Smith.... The matter that seems such a mystery is the statement that our Father in heaven at one time passed through a life and death and is an exalted man. This is one of the mysteries.... The Prophet taught that our Father had a Father and so on. Is not this a reasonable thought, especially when we remember that the promises are made to us that we may become like him?" (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, pp.10, 12).
Some LDS leaders have not only taught that Jesus was married, but that He was a polygamist!
----"Jesus was the bridegroom at the marriage of Cana of Galilee...We say it was Jesus Christ who was married, to be brought into relation whereby he could see his seed [children] before he was crucified (Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, p. 82).
----"There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and on a careful reading of that transaction, it will be discovered that non less a person that Jesus Christ was married on that occasion. If he was never married, his intimacy with Mary and Martha an the other Mary also whom Jesus loved, must have been highly unbecoming and improper to say the best of it." (Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, vol. 4, p. 259).
----"In the Church councils, it was spoken of: "Joseph F. Smith_ He spoke upon the marriage in Cana of Galilee. He thought Jesus was the bridegroom and Mary and Martha the brides."(Journal of Wilford Woodruff, July 22, 1883).
----"The grand reason of the burst of public sentiment in anathemas upon Christ and his disciples, causing his crucifixion, was evidently based upon polygamy, according to the testimony of the philosophers who rose in that age. A belief in doctrine of a plurality of wives caused the persecution of Jesus and his followers. We might almost think they were Mormons (Jedediah Grant, Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, p. 346).
----"One thing is certain, that there were several holy women that great loved Jesus, such as Mary and Martha her sister, and Mary Magdalene; and Jesus greatly loved them and associated with the much; and when he arose from the dead, instead of first showing himself to his chosen witnesses, the Apostles, He appeared first to these women, or at least to one of them--namely, Mary Magdalene. Now, it would be very natural for a husband in the resurrection to appear first to his own dear wives, and afterwards show himself to his other friends. If all the acts of Jesus were written, we no doubt should learn that these beloved women were his wives." (Orson Pratt, The Seer, p. 159).
© Spotlight Ministries, Vincent McCann, 2003
www.spotlightministries.org.uk
The Mormon doctrine of eternal progression teaches that God the Father was once a man, who progressed to Godhood through obedience to certain laws and ordinances. Part of this obedience involved getting married to a woman ("The Heavenly Mother"), who gives birth to God’s spirit children, who are sent to earth to inhabit bodies of flesh and bone. These spirit children, if they are Mormons, remain obedient to the laws of the Mormon Church, and are married in the Mormon temple, have the potential to become gods themselves. They will produce spirit children and rule their own planet. This process is then repeated.
The logical implications of this are as follows:
----The present God the Father and Heavenly Mother would themselves have had a Heavenly Father and Mother in existence before them, and they a Heavenly Father and Mother before them, and so on and so fourth. Indeed, not only does this logically follow through in Mormon theology, but many LDS leaders have specifically taught that the present God and Father had a Father above Him, and He above Him, etc.
----God the Father would have had to worship and pray to His God and Father as we do to Him. If the present God and Father of this planet is worshipped and prayed to by His spirit children, and if Mormon males hope to become gods in the same way, their spirit children would likewise pray to and worship them! [At this point it is worth bearing in mind that the Bible says nothing about an infinite number of god’s past and god’s to come. On the contrary, Isaiah 43:10 is very clear when God states: "Before me no God was formed and neither will there be one after me." There was no god before God and there will certainly be no gods after Him. He is "the God of gods" (Deut. 10:17; Ps. 136:2; Dan. 2:4, 11:36).That is to say, although there are certainly so called "gods" in existence (1 Cor. 8:5), they are not true God by nature (Gal. 4:8). There is only one true God (John 17:3). ]
----If temple marriage is essential to becoming a god, as Mormons claim, then God the Father would likewise have been required to be married in a temple. Of course, there is nothing at all about this in the Bible.
----Jesus would have to have been married in a temple, otherwise He could not have been exalted and become a god (Christians believe He was always God, and not a god, but The God.). There is nothing at all in the Bible about Jesus being married in a temple, or even married outside a temple. Indeed, the Biblical temples were not even used for temple marriage, but for purification rites, and animal sacrifices.
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