Polygamy is defined has having more than one wife. The reason why the Mormons practiced polygamy in the first place was because of a belief that Joseph Smith had about God. It is known that Joseph Smith had 34 wives. (1)
The Mormon Church has taught several things about God: 1
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Mormons teach that Jesus and Satan are brothers. This is based on their concept of God being the Father of all pre-existent spirits. Since Jesus is the son of the Father and all other spirits, including Satan, are of the Father, then all are brothers and sisters. Bruce R. McConkie, in Mormon Doctrine, on page 744, says; “This name-title of Satan (Son of the Morning), indicates he was one of the early born spirit children of the Father. Always used in association with the name Lucifer, son of the morning also apparently signifies son of light or son of prominence, meaning that Satan held a position of power and authority in pre-existence. (D. & C. 76:25-27; Isa. 14:12-20.)” (2)
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The Book of Mormon in Moses 3:5 says, “For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth…. And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them”.
- In the Mormon Journal of Discourse, Vol. 4, p. 218 it says,“We were first begotten as spirit babies in heaven and then born naturally on earth.” (3)
- In the Mormon History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 305 it says, ” God himself, was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!…it is necessary we should understand the character and being of God and how He came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God”.
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Joseph Smith taught that God had procreated millions of spirit children that would be sent to this earth as mortals. Thus God is part of an eternal chain of gods procreating spirit children for different worlds. (4)
So then we see that the Mormon God has created “spirits” or souls in the heavens and they take on human bodies on earth.
So what part of the heavens you ask?
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According to the Mormons, “God’s home planet orbits a star named “Kolob.” See Abraham 3:3 – Kolob is “the great governing star of our universe” and “the residence of God.” See Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith’s “Church History and Modern Revelation” Volume 3, Page 60. (5) So this must be where all the souls/spirits are.
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“Question: Is there a planet or star called Kolob that is closest to where god lives?
…………….Answer: Kolob, like the rest of Mormonism, is a hoax perpetrated by Joseph Smith. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Kolob was real, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist”. (6)
Where polygamy fits in:
At various times, people in the Bible have practiced plural marriages. And the Mormons have endorsed this teaching. For example, there was Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and Solomon (Doctrine and Covenants 132:1). But God does not approve polygamy.
Some examples of polygamy were King David who had six wives and numerous concubines; King Solomon who had 700 wives and 300 concubines; and King Solomon’s son Rehoboam who had 18 wives and 60 concubines.
Mormon women were taught that they should continue to have as many children as they possibly could, to fulfill the imperative to bring holy souls out of pre-existence into life, thus activities other than child bearing and child rearing were and are discouraged for fundamentalist Mormon women. (7)
But in 1890, the Prophet Wilford Woodruff issued a proclamation that officially stopped the practice of polygamy within the Mormon Church. Yet that does not negate the fact that the Mormons believe that God has created spirit babies in Kolob and they are waiting for a body on this planet earth.
Some problems with this teaching
First, it is hard to prove that Kolob as a planet even exists in the center of our galaxy. As it was stated many astronomers in the past decade would have been tracking it and they have found nothing.
Second, according to Colossians 1:16-17, Jesus (who the Mormons teach was a spirit child) really created all things whether they be angels like Satan or Lucifer, planets, galaxies, visible and invisible things, etc. and he even holds them together. It wasn’t the Mormon god in Kolob!
Third, all humans have sinned says Isaiah 53:5-6 and Romans 3:23; 5:12. Jesus was born of flesh through Mary (Matt. 2:11) so in his flesh there was no sin as Jesus was sinless – John 8:29.; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 John 3:4-5; Hebrews 4:15. He was God which is seen in John 1:1,14; 8:58 with Exodus 3:14; Isaiah 9:6; Titus 2:13; Revelation 1:17 and more.
The Bible teaches that God the Father has no sin – 1 John 1:5; 1 Samuel 6:20. To be holy , perfect, and without blame (1 Thes. 3:17), you would have to be sinless.
The Holy Spirit begot Jesus in Mary’s womb – Mat. 1:18; Luke1:35. The Holy Spirit is God – Acts 5:3-4 so He is sinless.
So it is possible the soul/spirit of a man carries the sin (8) and not the flesh. The flesh of men is connected to their soul and is corrupted by their soul/spirit. In Psalm 51:5 it says we are “born in sin”. Yet Jesus did not have the soul/spirit of a man but rather he was born with flesh through Mary (Gen. 2:23;Mat. 2:11), but his soul/spirit was of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20). So there is a difference between is “flesh” and his “spirit”. Both of them did not have sin when he was born. But when he was tempted in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11), his flesh had desires like the need to eat as he was fasting for 40 days.
When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, the result of their sin would be death (Gen. 3:3) but they didn’t die physically but rather their soul/spirit died and no longer had a relationship with God (Gen. 3:8). The sin had broken their fellowship with God (Isaiah 59:1-2; 1 John 1:6). They physically died later.
That being the case, the sin must be passed on through the soul/spirit when we are born and our sinful soul/spirit is linked to the flesh. It says in Genesis 1:1-19 that sin entered the world through Adam. It was through him that we receive our soul/spirit and our our flesh. When we are saved by Christ’s blood paying for our sin, we still have a struggle with our flesh but we are freed from sin as our old sinful nature is dead to sin (Gal. 5:16; Rom. 6:1-1; 8:1) and the spirit of God now dwells in us (Eph. 1:13). We should “walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).
Though there was polygamy in the Old Testament, monogamy is God’s plan for marriage. It is true that you will not find the word “monogamy” in the Bible. But that is also true for “polygamy”. Paul teaches in 1 Tim 3:2, the overseers should therefore be irreproachable, a husband of one wife; Titus 1:6 teaches the husband of one wife; Ephesians 5 talks of a wife, not wives; 1 Cor 7 talks of a wife not wives; and lastly 1 Cor 7:2 says “yet, because of prevalence of fornication, let each man have his own wife and each woman have her own husband.”
Conclusion
So if we were to assume that our soul/spirit was already created by the human Mormon God, which no one really knows the number of souls created, then it would be assumed that the souls are created sinful and come down to dwell in a fleshly body. So if these souls are sinful (Romans 3:23), that would mean that the Mormon God is sinful, as He created them…. which contradicts Scripture completely! And if the Mormon God is sinful, that opens up a whole other can of worms!
See: equip.org about Joseph Smith.
Sources:
- http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/
- http://bible-truth.org/jesusbro.htm
- http://www.letusreason.org/LDS24.htm
- http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/ldsleadersconceptofjesus.htm
- http://www.i4m.com/think/lists/mormon_science.htm
- http://yrif.org/2009/11/12/nasa-finally-accomplishes-something-worthwhile/
- http://sisterwivesblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/fundamentalist-mormon-beliefs-explained.html
- http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2081.htm
Websites:
FOR MORE:
The reason why the Mormons practiced polygamy in the first place was because of a belief that Joseph Smith had about God. It is known that Joseph Smith had 34 wives.
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“Joseph Smith“ | Equip.org site search results
The Apostle Paul and Joseph Smith’s Vision | reasonablefaith.org | December 23, 2024
Is Joseph Smith a prophet like the Apostle Paul? | By Robin Schumacher, Exclusive Columnist | ChristianPost |
Footnotes
- See: equip.org about Joseph Smith. and the Mormon Church.
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