Polygamy

Polygamy in Mormonism

In 1843, the principle of plural marriage was given by God through Joseph Smith. The Prophet and some of the leaders in the Mormon Church were commanded to enter into this practice. After President Brigham Young, the second president of the Church, led the saints to the Salt Lake Valley, plural marriage was taught and practiced until the year of 1890.

Mormon polygamy was practiced because the Lord commanded it. Sometimes, we do not know why God has asked us to do certain things, but we do it because of our faith in Him and our desire to be obedient. Why was Abraham asked to sacrifice his son Isaac? Abraham did not know, except that the Lord required it of him; the Lord required his obedience. Practicing plural marriage was a sort of Abrahamic sacrifice for the early members of the Mormon Church.  It increased the persecution against them, and was so foreign to their western, Victorian culture, that only the desire to be completely obedient to God’s will, and their great faith, could help them manage it.  The nature of Abrahamic sacrifice is that the command of the Lord seems to make no sense to the worldly mind, and following through with the command could cause a breach between the obedient soul and the world around him.

On September 24, 1890, President Wilford Woodruff, President of the Church at that time, having received a revelation from God, issued an Official Declaration, The Manifesto, stating that the Mormons should cease the practice of entering into plural marriage [Mormon Polygamy]. The Lord showed President Woodruff in a vision that ‘unless the practice of plural marriage was ended, the United States government would take over the temples, thus ending work for the living and the dead.’ In the vision, the prophet also saw that men would be taken from their families and be unable to care for their loved ones or serve the Church.  Since the Church has a lay clergy, this would be catastrophic.  The Lord has indicated that if others create conditions that make it impossible to fulfill His commandments, He removes the responsibility from the faithful follower.  Thus, the Lord both commanded and rescinded the Law of Polygamy for the benefit of the Saints.

On October 6, 1890, the declaration was put before the body of the Church and it was unanimously sustained to forego the practice of polygamy.

There are those who continue to this day to practice polygamy. However, they are not associated with the Church and are not members of the Mormon Church. Most have never been members of the Mormon Church, even though they call themselves Mormons.  “All who pretend or assume to engage in plural marriage in this day, when the one holding the keys has withdrawn the power by which they are performed, are guilty of gross wickedness.”

In an interview with Larry King in 1998, President Gordon B. Hinckley, now the President of the Mormon Church, stated the following: “We are faced these days with many newspaper articles on this subject [Mormon polygamy]… I wish to state categorically that this Church has nothing whatever to do with those practicing [Mormon] 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… 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…More than a century ago God clearly revealed unto His prophet Wilford Woodruff that the practice of plural marriage should be discontinued, which means that it is now against the law of God…the Church teaches that marriage must be monogamous and does not accept into its membership those practicing plural marriage.”