Why Do Christians Still Practice Polygamy?

The topic that I want to talk about is polygamy in church history. With conversations that I have with people that are not of our faith, polygamy gets brought up the most. Many still think that our church still practices polygamy to this day, even though the people know me personally and my family, they still ask the question. Many people around the world believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints still practice polygamy. I am originally from South Korea, and I can remember when I was a child people asked if the church practiced polygamy. Also, there are many people that know that the church doesn’t practice polygamy but they did in the past. They always ask questions how the church can be true when they practiced something that is so abominable. I always tried to give explanations the reasons why the church practiced polygamy, but through this class now I know that these reasons I gave to the people weren’t the information that I should be giving. With this, I want to give a great explanation about this topic and address misconceptions that people have about our church. I served my mission in the Missouri, Independence mission. There I met many Community of Christ members. Those members always pulled out Jacob 2:27-29 to tell me that Brigham Young was wrong in his revelations, so therefore the LDS church was a true church of god. For some reason they always forget to mention Jacob 2:30 about how there will be times where the lord will allow it. Also another big misconception is that it was Joseph Smith who received the revelation on polygamy. And we have accounts of Joseph Smith practicing polygamy. One of the biggest reasons why people are so opposed to polygamy is because of our society and the way we were brought up. The idea of monogamy is so deeply rooted in our systems that we think anything else is just wrong or evil. That what people in 19th century, United States thought. When the pilgrims …show more content…
During the days where the church practiced polygamy, members had the choice of whether or not they would practice polygamy. A person could be in good standing with the church without practicing polygamy, as long as they don’t criticize the leaders for polygamy. There were many members of the church that really felt the spirit and knew that it was from god from practicing polygamy. In our class we read many accounts of women who really believed in polygamy and that it was truly from god. We can disagree with polygamy all we want, but we have no right to take away these beliefs and spiritual experiences that the early member of the church had through practicing polygamy. First and foremost because it really was from god and we can know by asking him directly. Plural marriage was a huge sacrifice that the early members of the church made and though the hardships and trials their faith and testimonies were strengthened. Those that believed in the revelation all had to get their own answers from god. They didn’t get their answers right away, they prayed and pleaded with the lord to receive an answer. Just because we don’t believe in something we can’t just discredit other’s faith and