These verses of scripture are in the Mormon canon. They are something that I used to read quite frequently. These particular ones always made me feel weird, sad, scared, uncertain, and questioning why God would ever, ever, ever demand this of any woman. Why? I ignored all of these feelings for 30 years, telling myself that I wasn't righteous enough to "get" it and I needed to try harder.
61 And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood—if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse aanother, 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 aten 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.
63 But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to amultiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be bglorified.
64 And again, verily, verily, I say unto you, if any man have a wife, who holds the keys of this power, and he teaches unto her the law of my priesthood, as pertaining to these things, then shall she believe and administer unto him, or she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord your God; for I will destroy her; for I will magnify my name upon all those who receive and abide in my law.
Obviously, these were scriptures confirming the divine guidance of the doctrine and justification of Polygamy. Growing up Mormon, I was always asked (whenever I left Utah) "How many wives does your dad have?" I was always upset because that wasn't what my religion was about. AND Mormons don't practice polygamy anymore.
But they did.
My great grandparents were polygamists. My great grandfather married my great grandmother, then he married about five other ladies, left her to fend for herself with her 6 children and never took care of her. She was left alone, started making cheese, became successful and then he came back and took a lot of the money from the business she started to provide for herself. It's worse than that. It was worse than that for a lot of LDS women.
Nice roots, eh?
I still wonder and ask, occasionally, why God would ever, ever, ever demand this of any woman?
Answer: God wouldn't. Plain and simple.
7 comments:
Wow. I had no idea. Unlike you, I coasted through my LDS years oblivious to what it was all about. Just an overall unbeliever, I guess. ;) Where do you find these scriptures? I too have strong polygamy roots, on both sides. But I have to admit, “Big Love” – I love it!
This is interesting to read. I haven't known much about this issue until watching the show Sister Wives recently. As much as I laugh and make fun of them on the show, it kind of blows my mind. He kind of creeps me out but other then that I wonder about the things we don't see on the show. I wonder how he can possibly meet the needs of 4 wives and 16 children when I know most guys struggle with having to meet the needs of having one wife. I wonder about sharing the kind of intamacy between a husband and wife, with 4 people. What I've seen in watching the show is that the wives get their needs met through their friends and not really from him.
I've wondered where all of this comes from so thank you for sharing these verses. Like you it makes me wonder about God in all of this...how he would put this on women...and I think you are right, he wouldn't. XX
Andrea, it is D&C 132: 61-64. Freaking scary right. About what south is that vintage store?
Lori, I can't even refer to God as "he" right now, I am trying to change my vocabulary with that, just saying God because it bothers me how much the pronoun "he" is always just assumed. Anyway, one of my current hang ups. And yes, the guy on Sister Wives freaks me out too, and I see four women with VERY low self-esteems and that makes me sad.
Vine Street Antiques on 4854 S. State...
Amen, sister!
This is one of my biggest problems about he Church. I am NOT good at sharing. Period.
Kia ora Stella,
I think within the manifestos of any organized religion there could be found some pretty weird stuff. I went off being lutheran at about 15 when it could provide no answers to a real lifetime defining tragedy in my life.
I like your thinking of God being neither he or even she, though in my emerging love of nature I find myself using the feminine pronoun more and more to describe a connection. Kia kaha my friend.
Aroha,
Robb
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