I’ve been reading up on the Latter-day Saint (Mormon) doctrine of polygamy. Information on the church website (http://www.lds.org) says: "In this dispensation, the Lord commanded some of the early Saints to practice plural marriage. The Prophet Joseph Smith and those closest to him, including Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, were challenged by this command, but they obeyed it." Most LDS believe this practice was commanded by God and they defend it. Others are uncomfortable with this doctrine, and have voiced concern, particularly regarding Joseph Smith (church founder) marrying 14 year old girls and women who were already married (http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/26-HelenMarKimball.htm). I’ve hung out at some LDS forums, not unlike this one, to try and get a feel for the thoughts of the faithful and the concerned. Those who can’t accept this practice as being from God, may be shunned, barred from Mormon temples and have received the following typical responses from family, friends and leadership: “Neither you or I can exactly question why God has commanded this through his modern prophets.” “I just don’t feel qualified to question that myself...maybe you do” “We need to beware of the reasoning of the world, and follow our leaders” “Don’t let Satan take you down” “Set aside your concerns. There is much that we don’t know about this” “God has given us all the tools and resources we need for salvation, such as prayer, the Holy Spirit, the scriptures, and a living prophet" “Why are you feeling all this doubt? Doubt is the grey twilight of distrust, hesitation and indecisiveness.” “That’s putting a lot of trust in little old you” “You think about things way too much” “You know deep down what is true and right” “You are only indulging your own self pride and ego” “God has always required hard things from the his chosen people” “You are choosing not to seek the full light of truth for reasons that seem to be self-supporting-self-imposed illusions, or personal, unresolved emotional issues” “Sometimes it’s hard to accept the truth when it means we must be humble and make some changes in intellectual thinking that we’ve become satisfied with.” Suppose a friend of yours, who is a LDS member, has heard this from LDS friends, family and church leaders. Confused and looking for a neutral source outside their faith, they seek your advice (an active JW member). What would you say? What are your thoughts on the responses from their fellow LDS?
John Corrill
JoinedPosts by John Corrill
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What would you say to a Mormon dealing with this?
by John Corrill inive been reading up on the latter-day saint (mormon) doctrine of polygamy.
information on the church website (http://www.lds.org) says:
"in this dispensation, the lord commanded some of the early saints to practice plural marriage.
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A Mormon chimes in
by John Corrill injohn corrill here from the ex-mormon board.
i've found your forum interesting.
mormons and ex-mormons struggle with many of the same things jw's do.
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John Corrill
John Corrill here from the Ex-Mormon board
I've found your forum interesting. Mormons and Ex-Mormons struggle with many of the same things JW's do. The terminology is different, but the issues are the same: modified and hidden history, authoritarian control, unrational beliefs and doctrine, etc
I gotta tell you, JW's were our main source of competition and irritation in the proselyting arena. We could always tell when you beat us to a neighborhood. Wow, I'm glad those days are over.
As an outsider, I always found the JW practice of avoiding blood transfusion and not celebrating holidays and birthdays to be a bit strange. What did/do you find strange about Mormon beliefs/practices?
Nice chatting and best wishes to you all.