Marriage

Polygamy

On July 12, 1843, Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, had a ‘revelation’ through which he established polygamy among Mormons. Here is what he said ‘in the name of the Lord’: ‘Abraham received concubines, and they bore him children; and it was accounted unto him for righteousness, because they were given unto him, and he abode in my law; as Isaac also and Jacob did none other things than that which they were commanded; and because they did none other things than that which they were commanded, they have entered into their exaltation, according to the promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not angels but are gods. …. And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood, if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, 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. And if he have ten 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.’ (Doctrine and Covenants, 132:37, 60-62). However, Mormons do not teach nor practice polygamy any longer. They discontinued polygamy in 1890. Some schismatic Mormon groups, however, still teach and practice polygamy.

Confutation

Even though the law of Moses allowed the Israelites to have more than one wife, it must be remembered that from the beginning it was not so, for at the beginning God made one woman and gave her to Adam, that is to say, God established monogamy. Here is what is written in the book of Genesis: “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:18-24). Note that God said that man ‘shall cleave unto his wife’ and not ‘shall cleave unto his wives.’ So an unmarried man is allowed to marry one woman.

Should a believer try to establish polygamy in your midst, therefore, I urge you not to give heed to him. Stop his mouth, and withdraw from him, for he lies against the truth and wants to deceive you.

You may ask me now, ‘What about those Christians who live in those nations where people are allowed to have more than one wife?’ Well, they also should marry only one wife, for this is the will of God for man. However, if a man married several women before his conversion, then he is allowed to keep all his wives. But he can’t become a bishop or a deacon, for those who desire the position of a bishop or the position of a deacon must be the husbands of one wife (cf. 1 Timothy 3:2,12).

As for the ‘revelation’ of Joseph Smith concerning polygamy, I would like to say also these things: first, the reason why Abraham and Jacob had concubines was not because God commanded them to take concubines; second, Isaac did not have more than one wife for he had only one wife, nor did he have any concubine; third, it was faith that was accounted to Abraham for righteousness and not the fact that Abraham took concubines and they bore him children. As you can see, this so called ‘revelation’ proves to be false in the light of the Scripture for these reasons also.

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