12/18/01

Mormon View of Polygamy

Magazines/Liahona/1980/Tambuli April 1980 /150 Years of Church History

1843 - July 12. A revelation on the “Eternity of the Marriage Covenant and Plural Marriage” (D&C 132) was recorded, giving fuller meaning to the “new and everlasting covenant” which had been mentioned as early as 1831. The Prophet had explained the doctrine to a few, and plural marriages had been performed in 1841.

THE DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS: SECTION 132: Articles 59-62

59 Verily, if a man be called of my Father, as was Aaron, by mine own voice, and by the voice of him that sent me, and I have endowed him with the keys of the power of this priesthood, if he do anything in my name, and according to my law and by my word, he will not commit sin, and I will justify him.

60 Let no one, therefore, set on my servant Joseph; for I will justify him; for he shall do the sacrifice which I require at his hands for his transgressions, saith the Lord your God.

61 And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood—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.

62 And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified.

Magazines/Ensign/1976/Ensign February 1976/Brigham Young

Brigham Young, born on June 1, 1801, at Whittingham, Vermont, was 43 years old when he was called to the leadership of the Church. For over 33 years he lead the Saints, guiding them through some of their heaviest persecution—the exodus from Nauvoo, the crossing of the plains, the colonizing of the desert, the polygamy trials—until his death on August 29, 1877.

Magazines/Liahona/1984/Tambuli March 1984/Moments With The Prophets: Epistles From Exile

Probably the one thing that characterized President John Taylor in running the affairs of the Church was his unlimited energy.

He became leader of the Church in 1877 as president of the Quorum of the Twelve after the death of Brigham Young, but wasn’t sustained as Church president until 1880. He directed the Church from exile for the last two years of his life because of heavy persecution by the United States government over the polygamy issue.

Magazines/Friend/1993/Friend February 1993/Interesting Facts about the Doctrine and Covenants

There are two Official Declarations in the Doctrine and Covenants. The first, received October 6, 1890, by Wilford Woodruff, ended the practice of polygamy, (till then it was legal in the Church).

Magazines/Ensign/1998/Ensign November 1998/What Are People Asking about Us?

Gordon B. Hinckley, “What Are People Asking about Us?” Ensign, Nov. 1998, 70
Question 4: What is the Church’s position on polygamy?

We are faced these days with many newspaper articles on this subject. This has arisen out of a case of alleged child abuse on the part of some of those practicing plural marriage.

I wish to state categorically that this Church has nothing whatever to do with those practicing polygamy. They are not members of this Church. Most of them have never been members. They are in violation of the civil law. They know they are in violation of the law. They are subject to its penalties. The Church, of course, has no jurisdiction whatever in this matter.

If any of our members are found to be practicing plural marriage, they are excommunicated, the most serious penalty the Church can impose. Not only are those so involved in direct violation of the civil law, they are in violation of the law of this Church. An article of our faith is binding upon us. It states, “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law” (A of F 1:12). One cannot obey the law and disobey the law at the same time.