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Daughter of polygamist writes of LDS women

Thank you. I'm interested in what she has to say.

I can't wait to read the new book! What an awesome young lady she is, for going through everything she did and still has a beautiful smile to tell everyone that no matter what Life brings you there is a rainbow !

However, it does not sound like the writer of the book delves enough into the ideas that cause polygamy. I've researched it for years and I also have past families that were ruined because of it. I would say that people that are good inside made it work because of their goodness. But, I also know that the bad of it overshadowed the good. This needs admitted by the church (any that did practice it or do practice it) so that they can know the mind-set that causes it. It is a popular belief that it was practiced because there were not enough men etc. This is not true (mostly). The reason for the "lost boys" today is an example of men in power controlling multiple women and then there ends up not being enough boys/men.
I'm glad that these realizations are coming out now, but I hope that people will start to realize that it was never good in the first place. There may have been/are some good people in polygamy, but polygamy, itself is not good.

Eliza Snow was writer. Some of her poems became Mormon hymn lyrics, however it was Emma Smith who is credited as the hymnal's compiler.

I am a decendent of pologamy. At that age and time, it might have made sense. I was not asked to live in that type of situation. I would not mind a second sister wife around here - there's a lot of work with the gaggle of kids we've got, and I could use the help! But, I am not willing to live that law right now, and thankfully, it has not been given to me to be a sister wife. I doubt my great great grandfather had 3 wifes just to have more sex. I think scrapping out the Utah desert for a living, and taking on 2 wives who's husbands had passed on during the hard journey to Utah, leaving them with children and no means of support - that might have been the reason. I think sex was the last thing on great great granddads mind. Taking care of families was more like it.

To E Johnson: I found this production very inspiring. "The sixth wife" It left me with a greater idea of what life was like for most American women in the 1800s.
"In this one-woman play, dramatist and historian Joan Oviatt portrays the inspiring story of Emmeline Blanche Woodward Harris Whitney Wells - fifth Relief Society General President of the LDS Church and one of the most influential women of the 19th century. Friend of suffragist Susan B. Anthony, the play shows Emmeline's triumph over solitude, depression, social ridicule, and religious persecution."

Polygamy has never been endorsed by God. In those rare instances in the Old Testament (which is the only place it is found in "real" canonized scripture), it is recognized as a SIN. God works with sinful people, but he does not command them to sin.

There is no New Testament basis for polygamy whatsoever.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the great patriarchs of Genesis all had more than one wife. Were they sinful men? You obviously don't know your Old Testament.

I alway find it amazing how many ethno-centric people there are in Utah and elsewhere who rail against polygamy and do not separate this cultural practice from "Plural Marriage" which was a distinctly religious practice.

A (virulently anti-Mormon) anthropology professor I had pointed out that in reality polygamy has been a cultural norm in nearly every society throughout history: Chinese, Japanese, Middle Easterners, Polynesians, American Indians, Pre-Roman Europeans, etc. Ironically monogamy & celibacy (Vestals, etc.)was actually the practice of the pagan Romans who imposed this ideology on the Roman Christian world; today's Catholics and Protestants have all clung to this pagan practice.

Early LDS leaders distinguished worldwide polygamy from Plural Marriage. Plural Marriage was a calling and a solemn responsibility only for those considered worthy to provide a Christian home and "to raise up a righteous generation" of God fearing youth.

As a 21st Century LDS, I do not endorse polygamy nor Plural Marriage, but have a sense of its historic roots. Throughout the Old Testament, not just with the Patriarchs such as Abraham, but in Chronicles and elsewhere it is easy to find reference to Plural Marriage. The Romanized New Testament has had these edited out.

What needs to be understood is that Jeffs and other "fundamentalists" would not exist were it not for Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, and the teaching (at the time) that polygamy was the means by which to attain the highest degree of heaven (and not merely temple marriage, as is presently taught by the Church today).

Though I am not a Bible scholar, I can say that though the Patriarchs of old were polygamists, I am yet to find any reference of:

A. God commanding it
B. God sanctioning it
C. Anything that mentions its rightness or wrongness

But I do know that the Book of Mormon forcefully condemns it (Jacob 2:23-35). The chapter summary says that the condemnation refers to "the unauthorized practice of plural marriage" but there is nothing in the chapter (or the entire Book of Mormon, for that matter) that supports the idea of "authorized" and "unauthorized" polygamy. It's a shame that the book Joseph Smith called "the most correct of any book on the earth" has not "spoken plainly so that [we] cannot err" (2 Nephi 25:20) on this subject that still divides the followers of Smith to this day.

To Anonymous - just because Abraham or any other old testament prophet slept with his servant doesn't mean she was his wife. If she bore a child, it would elevate her status in the household, but she was NOT on the same footing as a wife.

and to CHS isthe BEST - you are the stupid one. scarecrowfromoz is correct in quoting the Utah census records that the men did outnumber the women during the time of polygamy. And also, if the people were so worried about the widows.... one needn't marry them to care for them. Polygamy has never been a good thing! I'm just sorry the people were told they would be damned if they didn't do it.

The article states, "a breakaway sect of so-called Mormon Fundamentalists in Utah..." It's very disresepctful. That's like saying the LDS members are "so-called Christians."

'To Anonymous'
Yes, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the great patriarchs of Genesis were sinful men. Should we be shocked? God did not tell Abraham to take a second wife? Sarah did? and she did it because she did not believe she would have a child...and Abraham listened to her.
I believe what God intended in 'the beginning' when God said, "it was good." One man; one woman, that was the ratio. Jesus re-states that in the N.T.
Then sin came into the world...what happened? A prideful 'Lamech took two wives' Gen 4:23,24 Read how he talks to them and listen to his boost in killing. See anything righteous about the introduction of polygamy in the Bible? In fact, find me one incident in the O.T. where polygamy was a blessing...where there was no hate, anger, jealousy between wives and jealousy among the children. Acts of incest, desertion and favoritism of one wife over another. The whole practise of polygamy wreaked of sin.

If God considers polygamy to be sinful, why would he sanctify Jacob's polygamous family to become the origin of the House of Israel?

Polygamy in Old Testament times was so common that is was not considered to need an explanation, but is referred to often. Hannah, the mother of Samuel, was the second wife.

David, when anointed to be King of Israel, because of his righteousness and the fallen nature of King Saul, was given all the wives who belonged to Saul, by the prophet Nathan. Where was the sin in that?

It's alien to our culture, but it was not alien, or sinful, to theirs.

As a 17 year old girl, I joined the LDS Church even though the plural marriage thing really made me uncomfortable, and still does after 25 years. It is an issue that I have never been able to feel good about, and in fact I feel that the practice is and was evil. I am very active, have an active family, teach Relief Society, but no matter how hard I try to get rid of those negative feelings, they are still so strong, it is the only aspect of the Church that I have ever felt negatively about, and have been taught that this is how the Celestial Kingdom will be, dosen't seem like heaven to me.

I don't know how the men in a polygamist society function. I have one wife and five kids--I don't need 10 wives and 50 kids. Could you imagine having a "honey-do" list from 10 wives? Could you imagine 50 kids asking for the car keys? ;)

Adding to Rebecca Stone's comment.
See Doctrine & Covenants 25:11.

There were NOT a shortage of men in Utah. You simply need to read the Census reports for facts.

The first polygamist in the scripture is a murderer, Lamech. Abraham because polygamist only because he lacked faith that God would do as promised. And the list goes on and on. God didn't command polygamy, but tolerated it though sinful.

Brian Gardner
You are right, you are not a Bible Scholar, nor of the Book of Mormon. Verse 30 of the passages you sited gives what you are looking for. In that verse is the language that states when polygamy is authorized.
But when it all comes down to it, the question is whether you believe in modern day prophets and Joseph Smith as one of those prophets. All other argument are superfluous.