5 Reasons Why the LDS Church Needs to Bring Back Polygamy
Polygamy is a much debated (yet often ignored) topic within Mormonism. People tend to have strong feelings about it one way or another, yet don’t like to bring it up much, because it tends to be divisive.
Let’s get divisive, shall we?
Plural marriage or polygyny (more commonly referred to generally as polygamy) is the practice of having multiple wives at the same time. It was practiced officially in the Brighamite LDS church from the 1840s until 1890, and unofficially until 1933 when Heber J Grant began excommunicating those still practicing it privately.
There are several smaller fundamentalist sects of Mormonism in both Utah and Missouri that still practice plural marriage, but are not affiliated with the main Utah branch of the LDS church.
In at least one sense, plural marriage is still actively practiced by the church.
Literally the day after a man’s wife dies, he is free to marry another woman, and, according to the temple sealing custom, will be married to both women in heaven for eternity.
It is also commonly understood and generally believed by the church membership that more women will make it to heaven than men, and all will need to be married to be there.
In this sense, it is not considered by the church to be an archaic practice, but one with important future ramifications that some will try to ignore, but cannot ignore forever.
But sweeping issues under the rug only delays the inevitable conflict, which usually builds up and causes bigger problems later on.
This is incredibly problematic because the whole polygamy issue becomes this unspoken phantom hanging over the church that probably causes more marital disputes than if the church were still actively practicing polygamy today, which in turn further encourages the sweeping-things-under-the-rug pattern of negative behavior.
So here’s 5 reasons why we not only need to start talking about polygamy, but actively practicing it again.
(Note: before anyone assumes that I’m just some guy trying to make this happen at the expense of my wife, she would be the first to tell you that she has been openly excited about the prospect of polygamy for years, even if it’s just only in heaven.)
- It’s Biblical
Let’s just forget about the whole modern history of the practice for a moment and get back to scripture. This should be pretty straight forward.
For starters, Adam and Eve were given a mandate from God to multiply and replenish/fill the earth. Never at any time has God withdrawn this mandate.
There are over 40 confirmed instances of polygamy in the Bible, several of whom were obviously great prophets and/or writers of inspired scripture, including Abraham (who was declared by God to be righteous in his day), Jacob/Israel, Moses, David, Solomon, Ezra, Hosea and Zedekiah.
Now, we know that this isn’t just the desires of man, because God specifically told David through the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 12 that his 7+ wives were given to him by God, and that, had he wanted more, God would have been happy to give him more, and he did end up having at least 18.
And then in 1 Kings 15 we are told that David was perfect before God in all his days with the one exception of the incident of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah.
Moreover, the Lord describes himself in polygamous terms in Ezekiel 3 and Jeremiah 23 when he describes Samaria/Israel and Jerusalem/Judah as his wives (in the same way that the church is described as the Jesus’ bride by Him in the New Testament).
In the New Testament, there are several implications that polygamy is still openly condoned and practiced: a man fornicates with his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5), a man whose wife has left him is commanded to take her back, no matter what, even if he has remarried (1 Corinthians 7), forbidding to marry will be a form of faith departure in the latter days (1 Timothy 4), and even Jesus when he describes himself as the bridegroom of the ten virgins (Matthew 25).
The historical writings of Josephus during the New Testament time period also further indicate a degree of common practice to polygamy/plural marriage at the time, reinforcing this as a historically correct view of the period.
Now, some Mormons will argue that Jacob preaches against polygamy in the Book of Mormon, but for context, first, he is speaking to a specific, relatively small group of people as their priest/pastor that it’s not for them, second, that section is more focused on condemning adultery specifically (which is obviously condemned in all scripture), and third, this section of the Book of Mormon is from the unabridged small plates of Nephi, not Mormon’s prophetic abridgment of the large plates later on, which latter part was specifically compiled for our day by revelation from God, so it can’t be said to apply to our day in the same way as from Mosiah onwards.
Moreover, Doctrine and Covenants 132 specifically reinforces that both David and Solomon were given wives by God, that David only sinned in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba, and that Solomon sinned in marrying foreign women of a different faith for whom he compromised his own faith and began worshipping and sacrificing to idols, etc., sanctioning plural marriage within the covenant.
In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established (2 Corinthians 13:1). You can’t pick a single verse in the Book of Mormon as your only doctrinal condemnation of polygamy.
Every other word of scripture supports it.
It may not necessarily be for every people in every time and place, sure, but if you are a faithful Christian trying to base your life on the established scriptural archetype, polygamy shouldn’t ever be “off the table”. It’s biblical.
2. It Was Removed Under False Pretences
In 1889, Wilford Woodruff received a Thus Saith The Lord revelation specifically about polygamy/plural marriage (full text here) in which the church leadership are instructed not to make any promises or pledges to the government, but that those defending them in court should speak only by the Spirit, and that the church should not abandon God’s established word and law regarding the practice, because God holds the courts in his hands and they will pay for whatever they do to Zion.
Well, that didn’t happen. The government claimed all the church’s property and the church had to do some serious butt-kissing and allow Eastern businessmen and bankers into the territory and its through-channels to the West Coast, almost as though the whole issue were never really about the marital practices of some rural farmers at all... Huh.
One year after his 1889 revelation, Wilford Woodruff releases the Manifesto, now canonized (without the common consent of the church) as Official Declaration 1, reassuring the government that the church is no longer practicing polygamy. He also gave at this time the now-famous quote trying to reassure the membership in the Semi-Annual General Conference that:
“The Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as President of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the programme. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that, the Lord would remove me out of my place”.
The big problem here is that neither this statement nor the Manifesto/OD1 were Thus Saith The Lord revelations.
Even more disconcerting is the fact that a deeper look into scriptural precedent and prophecy shows that this statement (that the Lord would remove him if he tried to lead them astray) is without scriptural backing.
Indeed, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel and the Doctrine and Covenants all prophesy some version of the Lord coming back and finding his chosen watchmen/prophets asleep on the job and his flock (his church, his people) scattered as a result, and the Lord condemns them for it and works a reformation or regathering with new prophets/shepherds, but the Lord doesn’t remove the prophet from their place. If anything, it’s up to the people to cast the false prophets out of their midst.
What is even more problematic is that Wilford Woodruff’s 1889 revelation appears to have been the final Thus Saith The Lord revelation received by the LDS church, indicating that the church has been in direct apostasy since at least that time.
Well, perhaps if we brought back the practice of polygamy, God might work a reformation among us and raise up some new prophets that better fulfil the biblical archetype, and are needed now more than ever?
3. It’s About Morality, Not Legality
No matter what I say, a lot of people will still probably respond, well, it doesn’t matter, because polygamy is illegal.
What is superior to God, that which is moral, or that which is legal?
If you answered legal, then you obviously don’t understand the spirit of the law concept so frequently taught by Jesus.
Let’s go through this point by point, then, shall we? If it was illegal to practice Christianity, would you still do it?
The scriptures paint a pretty clear on this one.
Daniel defies the law of the land to continue praying to God and is thrown to the lions. God rescues him.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego defy the law of the land commanding them to worshipping a golden statue and thrown into a furnace. God saves them.
In Revelation, we are told that many faithful Christians will be beheaded for refusing to take the mark of the beast. God doesn’t save them right then and there, but they will come forth in the first resurrection to rule and reign with Jesus on the earth for a thousand years while those who took the mark suffer in Hades.
Some people try to use Romans 13 as a means to suggest that all government is instituted by God and we need to submit to government in all things. This is an uneducated reading of scripture.
First of all, it specifies in that passage that it is the primary duty of manmade government to be the arbiter of justice/punishment/consequence for those that transgress the law, which is specifically limited in that chapter to consequences for those breaking the latter half of the ten commandments, stealing, killing, committing adultery, bearing false witness, etc.
This clearly places biblical law above government. Many pastors in the decades leading up to the American revolution used this chapter specifically to rally the people against Britain, as it was their biblical duty to overthrow an ungodly system of government and establish a more godly one.
Furthermore, without getting into complicated legalese, there is a difference between being a subject and being a citizen. We may agree to be subject to just and common laws, or to a specific constitution or system of government, but we still have inherent rights as living men and women. A citizen however has fealty to a corporate government from whom they receive benefits and privileges.
Both Romans 13 and the 12th Article of Faith speak of being subject to governments that uphold and honor the law, the implication here being that you shouldn’t subject yourself to governments that don’t.
The law here (again, Biblical law) is higher than government.
So, again, what is the higher law here; what is moral and approved in scripture, or what is currently legal?
Most Western countries have in recent decades legalized gay marriage. Does this make it right? Moral? Not a sin? Recognized before God?
Obviously not. It is against biblical law. It is against the law of nature. It bears zero fruit. Just because manmade institutions have permitted it does not make it right or good.
Likewise, just because manmade institutions have at times condemned the practice of polygamy does not make it immoral.
In fact, as polygamy is an extension of the God-given institution of marriage designed to better fulfil the first commandment to multiply and fill the earth, polygamy is infinitely more moral than unmarried couples who cohabitate.
Furthermore, the concept that marriage is a legal institution between you and the state is a very modern perversion of what was always an agreement between man, woman and God.
It is this very false idea that you need the government’s recognition or approval to be married that has caused many couples nowadays to choose to remain unmarried.
People inherently see the falsehood here and reject it, but in the process, God is removed from the picture. And only those trying to keep to both God and government happy attempt to uphold the institution in vain, because it obviously hasn’t worked.
The government has zero business in the institution of marriage in the first place. Nobody was government-approved married for thousands of years. Did God not accept those marriages because they hadn’t squared it with the government? Abraham even hid the fact that he was married from a potentially corrupt government.
But what’s more, the LDS church prepared itself ten years ago to remove its own ability to perform civil marriages at all, lest some homosexuals try to force them through the courts to marry them in their temples. It would just revert to a system like in other countries where you get married civilly and can get sealed at the temple afterwards.
You can easily take that one step farther and denounce the concept of civil marriage to a corrupt government institution and make all church doctrine and policy surrounding the concept of sealing, being what binds and marries you in the eyes of God, and not anything your government does or does not say.
Given the trouble the LDS church has gotten itself into by cucking to a corrupt government institution in the past, divorcing some of that perceived governmental authority in the eyes of the members would only be timely and helpful, especially in teaching the younger generations the difference between what’s legal and what’s actually moral.
Because it’s those who call out problems in what is and isn’t legal that are more likely to actually effect changes there.
4. The Church Is Facing A Crisis
According the April 2021 General Conference of the LDS church, for the first time in the church’s history, there are more single adult members than married ones.
While not much was particularly made of this public revelation at the time besides some words of comfort for those currently unmarried, divorced or widowed, and some new, expanded church calling opportunities, it is clear to anyone paying attention to bigger picture trends, that this admission bodes poorly for the church.
Unmarried adults are twice as likely to leave the church as married adults.
Unmarried adults are also far less likely to have children, as evidenced by the sharply declining birthrate within the church.
Furthermore, while some single members feel comforted and less lonely by this admission, it normalizes single status for the rest of the members, meaning that ordinary young adults are more likely to erroneously perceive a worldly approach to marriage (such as waiting until your 30s when 90% of your eggs are already gone) as acceptable before God.
(Note: Obviously, I’m not saying all cases of single women over 30 are unacceptable to God. It’s just clear that the Lord has set an ideal to reach for, that of getting married young and having as many children as you are able, and Satan is doing everything he can to destroy that.)
And here’s where things get really interesting. When we break down those adult single church members demographically, there are essentially 3x as many single women as men.
Statistically speaking, this means that there are literally millions of adult single women in the church who would likely choose to be married if there were a suitable man around, but most of the single guys left, if there even are any in their area, probably have some deep problems holding them back.
I wonder how many of those millions of single women in the church, if given the option, would by their own free will and choice choose to be a second or third wife to a good LDS man who can provide for them and give them children?
James Strang, who was one of the main contenders for the role of church President after Joseph’s death and took around 6000 early Mormons with him, endorsed a different version of polygamy than the Brighamite one, in which polygamy was a means of allowing all women access to a faithful husband, even if he was already married.
A man essentially had an obligation to marry any woman who chose him and would submit to him as the head of the household, after the biblical archetype outlined by Paul.
This approach, besides being much more common-sense, is obviously much more compatible with the more feminist tendencies of the modern church
Obviously, if the church could reinstate polygamy and double or triple its current birth-rate within 5 years, the current exodus from the church would cease threatening to topple it.
In a broader sense, with the waves of change and progress occurring throughout the world, many different voices are calling for a radical change in the LDS church, such as the 1978 announcement on blacks and the priesthood.
Some predict the approval of gay marriage within the LDS church. Others that women will be ordained to the priesthood (which will likely inevitably lead to gay marriage within a few decades anyway, as it has in every other Christian church that has ordained women contrary to Biblical principles).
As far as I can tell, the only path forward that will not destroy and dismantle the church, but make it far stronger, is the reintroduction of polygamy, and refocus on true marriage and family.
5. The World Is Facing A Crisis
There’s a more than decent chance we are living in the end-times.
Now, it could be 5 years until Jesus comes back. It could be 50 years. It could even be 500 years, or maybe more. But if I had to make a prediction, gun to my head, I’m going to say it’s in the next 50 years.
We may not know the day nor hour, but we sure as heck can know the season or the year. I’ve been studying this stuff in-depth for a while now and I’m seeing things lining up in the world to prepare for this complete Beast System one-world-government takeover.
Some people might view that as a reason to not have children, but frankly that’s cowardice. Jesus told us to have no fear, and that everyone would still be marrying and giving in marriage right up until the last trumpet.
Everyone knows deep down that when they are on their deathbed, they aren’t going to wish they’d just spent more time at the office. It always goes back to family. That is the biggest source of joy in this life.
Fertility rates in almost every Western country have fallen below recovery rates. The future belongs to those who have all the children.
What if it’s still 1000 years until Jesus comes?
What if you chose not to have children out of fear and then you found out after you died that you could have had ten kids and a hundred grandkids and that it wasn’t even really the end for another 1000 years?
Even worse, what if you chose not to have children out of fear, and then found out after you died that Jesus really was coming in 50 years and God had some important children lined up for you, who were supposed to complete certain missions for the Lord in the last days, but you broke the cycle out of fear?
Living your life in fear is no viable path on which to make life decisions, especially for a Christian.
One of the reasons the LDS church grew so rapidly during the 20th century was their emphasis on big families, which has dropped away significantly over the past 30–40 years.
If the church is really going to be a force to be reckoned with in the last days, it’s going to need to severely increase the current fertility rate. Again, the quickest solution to this problem is polygamy.
It’s more moral, more biblical, and more helpful to the LDS church’s trajectory than any other solution out there right now.
And if you have a bunch of personal problems with the idea of it, then perhaps God is trying to tell you where you need to grow next. Who knows, the future might require a lot of polygamy.
