31. Post-Manifesto Plural Marriages took Place
September 5, 202429. Studies show Monogamous Marriages have more Children
September 7, 2024
Members of the Mormon hierarchy were encouraged to get as many wives as they could.
Table of contents
- Members of the Mormon hierarchy were encouraged to get as many wives as they could.
- A1) Joseph Encouraged Getting all You Can
- A2) Church taught Polygamy would Solve the World’s Moral Problems.
- A3) Brigham Young said he would have wives and children by the millions.
- A4) President Woodruff told Apostle Cannon to seal up to 999 women to him.
- A5) Heber C. Kimball Taught a Man Would Wither without More than One Wife.
- A6) Young taught that monogamy was introduced by the founders of the Roman Empire.
- A7) Anonymous Source published in Millenial Star that monogamy degenerates the human family.
- A8) Prophets taught that exaltation required plural marriage.
- A9) Men were told to enter polygamy or resign from church offices.
- Issues these Facts Raise
- Questions these Facts Raise
A1) Joseph Encouraged Getting all You Can
Supporting Sources and Quotes
William Clayton, secretary to Joseph Smith wrote on August 11, 1843 that with regard to marrying additional wives, Joseph told him, "You have a right to get all you can." (An Intimate Chronicle, p. 115)
A2) Church taught Polygamy would Solve the World’s Moral Problems.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
From the very first defense of plural marriage offered by Orson Pratt in 1852, a reason asserted for the establishment of polygamy was to help rid the world of the social ills of prostitution and licentiousness. Pratt asserted that by adopting plural marriage, “whoredom, adultery, and fornication” would “be entirely done away.”
- Orson Pratt, August 29, 1852, Journal of Discourses, 1:61–62. Quote from: https://josephsmithspolygamy.org/theology/explanation_for_mormon_polygamy/
“We would just remark that philosophy, morality, law, and Christianity, as now taught, have signally failed to stop this monstrous social and moral evil. The present state of the world proves their incompetency. The Lord’s way [polygamy], as practised by ancient men of God, the “Restitution:”—as lately revealed—we think will stop it among us.”
- [Franklin D. Richards, ed.], “Polygamy,” Millennial Star 17, no. 14 (Apr 7, 1855):213–14. Quote from: https://josephsmithspolygamy.org/theology/explanation_for_mormon_polygamy/
A3) Brigham Young said he would have wives and children by the millions.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
“Brother Cannon remarked that people wondered how many wives and children I had. He may inform them that I shall have wives and children by the million, and glory, and riches, and power, and dominion, and Kingdom after Kingdom, and reign triumphantly.”
- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 8, pp. 178-179
“Do you think that I am an old man? I could prove to this congregation that I am young; for I could find more girls who would choose me for a husband than can any of the young men.”
- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 5, p. 210
A4) President Woodruff told Apostle Cannon to seal up to 999 women to him.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
“THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1894... I met with the Quorum and Presidency in the temple... President Woodruff then spoke... ‘In searching out my genealogy I found about four hundred of my femal[e] kindred who were never married. I asked Pres. Young what I should do with them. He said for me to have them sealed to me unless there were more than 999 of them. The doctrine startled me, but I had it done.”
- Daily Journal of Abraham H. Cannon (Apostle), April 5, 1894, v. 18, pp. 66-67
A5) Heber C. Kimball Taught a Man Would Wither without More than One Wife.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
“I have noticed that a man who has but one wife, and is inclined to that doctrine, soon begins to wither and dry up, while a man who goes into plurality looks fresh, young, and sprightly. Why is this? Because God loves that man, and because he honors his word. Some of you may not believe this, but I not only believe it but I also know it. For a man of God to be confined to one woman is small business... I do not know what we should do if we had only one wife apiece.”
- Apostle Heber C. Kimball, Deseret News, April 22, 1857
A6) Young taught that monogamy was introduced by the founders of the Roman Empire.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
“Monogamy, or restrictions by law to one wife, is no part of the economy of heaven among men. Such a system was commenced by the founders of the Roman Empire... Rome became the mistress of the world, and introduced this order of monogamy wherever her sway was acknowledged. Thus this monogamic order of marriage, so esteemed by modern Christians as a hold sacrament and divine institution, is nothing but a system established by a set of robbers.”
- Prophet Brigham Young, Deseret News, August 6, 1862
A7) Anonymous Source published in Millenial Star that monogamy degenerates the human family.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
“I have come to the conclusion... the one-wife system not only degenerates the human family, both physically and intellectually, but it is entirely incompatible with philosophical notions of immortality; it is a lure to temptation, and has always proved a curse to people.”
A8) Prophets taught that exaltation required plural marriage.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
“Yes, sir, President Woodruff, President Young, and President John Taylor, taught me and all the rest of the ladies here in Salt Lake that a man in order to be exalted in the Celestial Kingdom must have more than one wife, that having more than one wife was a means of exaltation.”
A9) Men were told to enter polygamy or resign from church offices.
Supporting Sources and Quotes
“One man recalled a Stake Conference in Southern Utah where the brethren were bluntly told to marry in polygamy or ‘resign their church offices.'”
- Kimball Young, Isn't One Wife Enough?, 1954, p. 108
Issues these Facts Raise
The idea that Joseph Smith encouraged leaders to acquire as many wives as possible could be seen as treating women as commodities, which contradicts modern ethical and moral standards regarding relationships and gender equality.
Orson Pratt's defense of polygamy as a solution to societal problems like prostitution and adultery seems laughable today. This was supposed to genuinely be a divine directive instead of simply a practical (and flawed) human idea?
Brigham Young's statements about having wives and children "by the million" in the afterlife makes me wonder about the nature of relationships in the afterlife as taught by the church. What are the implications of polygamy being an eternal principle? Does this align with today’s values of marriage and family? But if not, then how are we to view heaven?
Kimball’s assertion that men with only one wife "wither and dry up" compared to those in polygamous relationships seems absurd. This idea of LDS leaders are supposed to be credible?
The pressure placed on church members to enter polygamy or resign their offices highlights the coercive elements surrounding the practice. This puts into question how free early church members were able to practice their faith or hold leadership positions without conforming to polygamy, raising concerns about agency and religious freedom.
Questions these Facts Raise
Where is the moral integrity of early LDS leaders? Am I to believe their teachings were divinely inspired? Does that seem more likely than these teachings just being self-serving?
What are we to do with the early teaching that exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom required plural marriage? Should this lead to anxiety about one’s eternal prospects?
Was polygamy truly commanded by God, or is it more likely that it was a cultural and historical practice that evolved out of human desires?
Why has the modern church never reconciled the views and teachings of past prophets, like Brigham Young and Joseph Smith, with contemporary moral standards and teachings?
