Why does polygamy have to exist if eternal marriage also exists?

[brotherofJared]

Can you start a new thread on this explaining out Marriage must include polygamy?
Please understand , I’m not saying polygamy is a sin. Yes, in Heaven men can be sealed to more than one wife.
What I’m saying is polygamy In the Church was not practiced as taught in the scriptures. It’s highly suspect. The Church was compelled to end it.

I would have to ask, How can men be sealed to more than one wife without polygamy? Since marriage has to occur here in order for it to be valid in Heaven, what is the correct way to practice polygamy? I'm not sure what you meant by "not practiced as taught in the scriptures". How was it "taught" there?

But to address the subject question, it creates a conundrum to have eternal marriage and make the statement that it is not good for man to be alone. If I enter into an eternal marriage and my wife die before I do, Am I to spend the rest of my mortal existence alone? What should we do about the second wife? Should we prevent her from enjoying an eternal marriage because I'm already married? Can I only pick from wives who are eternally sealed and a widow? Does that seem practical? Do I undo the sealing to the first wife in order to be sealed to a second wife? Eternal marriage creates that problem. It's so bad, that some women actually ask their husbands not to get married after they die because they don't want to share him with another woman. It's a selfish request but one that obviously exists only because the idea of eternal marriage exists. So, regardless of how you slice it, polygamy comes with eternal marriage.

When you use the term the practice as being "highly suspect" I have to assume you mean a few instances that are highly suspect. 1) Joseph Smith being sealed to other men's wives and two, Joseph Smith, and others, being married to teenagers (which isn't really suspect at all considering that Mary conceived as a teen). But, you are right, imperfect men implemented a perfect order imperfectly. The same thing happens today. Some missionaries baptize a member in order to have a baptism before they go home or they baptize someone who is willing to do that just for them, even though they have no interest in the church whatsoever. Some Bishops use their position to exert power over members of their ward that they have no business exerting, or use their position to influence business deals or in some cases, perpetrate the very thing they are supposed to judge against.

I don't believe Joseph Smith is guilty of any wrongdoing where polygamy is concerned. The marriage to the 14 year-old, Helen, was arranged by her father. There is no evidence of sexual relations. There is no evidence of sexual relations with any of the women he was sealed to who were already married. Strange as it may seem, the husbands and the wives he was sealed to should have been the ones to object. None who got sealed to him did. None of their husbands did. You might be upset that he approached most of these women when their husbands were away on missions. Frankly, I don't know if there was a way to do that without it being highly suspect. I don't believe the Lord told him to do that. He gave him a commandment and Joseph tried to fulfill it and I believe those sealings were a way to meet both his wife, Emma, and the Lord on some middle ground. If his sealings were for eternity only, how could Emma object. There would be no possibility of impropriety. It would be a marriage on paper only and I'm sure he felt that Emma would understand it better in the next life. The Lord did not reject Joseph's actions. Instead, God insisted that he marry women who were actually eligible to be married and to consummate that marriage. This was, of course, highly suspect in Emma's eyes, and keeping it secret from her was highly suspect in other people's eyes. But now we are pitting the will of man against the will of God. It had to be introduced because eternal marriage could not exist without it.

 

[Theo1689]

I would have to ask, How can men be sealed to more than one wife without polygamy?

I would then ask, why do men have to be sealed to more than one wife?

I would then ask, where do you find any teaching of "sealing" (in the context of marriage) in the Bible?

I would then ask, what do you do with the Biblical passages which teach that marriage ends at death?:

Rom. 7:1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

1Cor. 7:39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.


I would then ask, how are polygamists not adulterers?:

Matt. 5:32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Rom. 7:3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive.

Since marriage has to occur here in order for it to be valid in Heaven,

The only "marriage" in Heaven is between Christ and His bride, the church.

what is the correct way to practice polygamy?

The only "correct" way to practice the sin of polygamy is "not at all".

I'm not sure what you meant by "not practiced as taught in the scriptures". How was it "taught" there?

Exactly.
It was never taught in the Bible. Only condemned.

But to address the subject question, it creates a conundrum to have eternal marriage and make the statement that it is not good for man to be alone.

What do you do with these statements?:

1Cor. 7:39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. 40 Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.


1Cor. 7:32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 33 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband.

1Tim. 5:3 Honor widows who are truly widows. 4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God. 5 She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day,

If I enter into an eternal marriage and my wife die before I do, Am I to spend the rest of my mortal existence alone?

Why not?

What should we do about the second wife? Should we prevent her from enjoying an eternal marriage because I'm already married?

Last time I checked, there were approximately equal numbers of males and females born.

Indeed, one thing I've noticed from documentaries about polygamous Mormon sects, they have to get rid of large numbers of teenage boys, since there aren't enough females for them all to get married.

Can I only pick from wives who are eternally sealed and a widow? Does that seem practical?

Christians ask themselves, "Does this conform to Scripture?"

Mormons ask themselves, "Does this seem practical?"

Do I undo the sealing to the first wife in order to be sealed to a second wife? Eternal marriage creates that problem.

"Eternal marriage" isn't true.

When you use the term the practice as being "highly suspect" I have to assume you mean a few instances that are highly suspect. 1) Joseph Smith being sealed to other men's wives and two, Joseph Smith, and others, being married to teenagers (which isn't really suspect at all considering that Mary conceived as a teen).

It's nice that people have excuses for pedophilia, I guess...

I don't believe Joseph Smith is guilty of any wrongdoing where polygamy is concerned. The marriage to the 14 year-old, Helen, was arranged by her father. There is no evidence of sexual relations. There is no evidence of sexual relations with any of the women he was sealed to who were already married.

<Chuckle>

What kind of "evidence" would you expect? Video? (That's called, "porn").
Back in the day, people didn't shout their sexual escapades from the rooftops.

And last time I checked, marriage was consummated BY "sexual relations".

 

[Magdalena]

Many of Smith’s wives said they slept with him. He was caught in the act in a barn with Fannie Alger. Witnesses said he slept in the same bed with plural wives when he stayed at their house. His secret rendezvous, as long as they didn’t tell Emma. One wife said she didn’t know which of her husbands was the father of her child. Of course he slept with them.

Why did he need teenage wives? Why was he grooming younger girls to become his wives... 10, 12 years old.

Why did he prevent Helen Marr Kimball from associating with anyone else if his marriage to her was only for eternity? And by the way, it was Smith’s idea to take Helen, not her father’s.

Why did he need to threaten the eternal salvation of their families if they didn’t marry him? Why did he need to try to make himself seem a victim of God’s punishment if he didn’t marry a lot of females? Being threatened by angels with fiery swords. If it wasn’t so sick and depraved, someone could make a melodrama of it all.

And then he picked on people who don’t get married, telling them they would become eternal servants to the saints who were more worthy because they were married.

Why is polygamy necessary? It isn’t. It was instituted by human men. Not God. He never commanded anyone, including Abraham, to have more than one wife. That was Sarah’s idea because she didn’t have faith and thought it was the only way they could have children.

It was Adam and Eve in the garden, not Adam, Emily, Carol, Alice and Eve. Noah and his sons only took one wife each on the ark. If there ever were times for populating the earth, it was those times. But God’s way is monogamy.

Why the need to seal people for eternity? Who do you think is going to stand there in heaven separating you from people you love?

Smith, et al, were trying to build kingdoms for themselves on earth that would carry on afterwards. That’s sheer ego. Their lust for power and glory is what prompted mormon doctrine and practices. Become a Mormon and become a God, creating your own worlds and populating them with your own offspring with your many wives. Receiving power and glory forever.

Whose plan was it to take glory on himself? Clue: not Christ’s.

All glory for everything is God’s. And we should be eternally and humbly grateful to become eternal beings living with Him.

Say no to satan’s plan, and follow Christ.