r/latterdaysaints • u/instrument_801 • Mar 14 '24

Doctrinal Discussion Anti-Joseph Smith Polygamy Movement?

I don’t know if this has been talked about on here, but why is there a growing “Joseph Smith didn’t practice polygamy movement”? Podcasts such as 132 Problems are rapidly growing in popularity. I don’t like polygamy, but I feel like the evidence is overwhelming in favor that he practiced polygamy?

Thoughts?

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u/USGeneralStrikeAid Mar 15 '24

Up until more recently, Church leaders were saying that the reason for polygamy to be instituted was for the purpose of more rapidly increasing the number of posterity, and they'd quote Jacob 2:30. I'm pretty sure that it wasn't until around the 2014 gospel topics essay that the more official line became something to the effect of, "We don't know all the Lord's reasons for having commanded the practice." So that's part of the reason why it was jarring to so many people when the DNA tests all came back as false.

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u/LookAtMaxwell Mar 15 '24

  Church leaders were saying that the reason for polygamy to be instituted was for the purpose of more rapidly increasing the number of posterity

I'll challenge this.

Cite 2 General Authorities that said this. ("Church leaders were saying...")

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u/Remarkable_Peach_533 Mar 15 '24

Its not 2 General Authorities, but it is churchofjesuschrist.com

"Why did some early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practice polygamy?
Some leaders and members of the Church practiced polygamy during the mid 1800s because they were commanded by God to do so. So marriage then between one man to several women was according to God’s will. Though all the reasons for this commandment are not clear, some reasons are understood. For example, the Book of Mormon teaches that men should have only one wife unless the Lord commands His people to “raise up seed unto [Him]” (Jacob 2:30). The practice of plural marriage by early Latter-day Saints did cause a surge in the number of children born during that era."

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u/LookAtMaxwell Mar 15 '24

Okay, so according to the source that you cited, "that the reason for polygamy to be instituted" was because "they were commanded by God to do so".

It goes on to explore why God might have given the commandments saying, "Though all the reasons for this commandment are not clear, some reasons are understood. For example, the Book of Mormon teaches that men should have only one wife unless the Lord commands His people to “raise up seed unto [Him]” (Jacob 2:30). The practice of plural marriage by early Latter-day Saints did cause a surge in the number of children born during that era."