“Look out for the great sieve, for there will be a great sifting time, and many will fall; for I say unto you there is a test, a Test, a TEST coming, and who will be able to stand?”
-Heber C. Kimball

Kimball is of course referring to the marvelous work and a wonder, the one which will either deliver us over unto the captivity of the devil or convince us of eternal life. (1 Ne 14:7)

Polygamy will be part of this test. Because it was either true or it wasn’t. Kimball believed polygamy was part of life eternal, but what do you believe?

For me it was a struggle to figure out. I studied countless different perspectives, considered all the angles.

For a long time I blocked out my personal feelings on the matter. Polygamy just had to be true, or Joseph would have never started it.

The talk of Emma being destroyed in Section 132 turned my stomach into knots, but if the revelation came from God, who was I to criticize its language?

It was only until I came across a passage in the New Testament that changed everything for me:

Galatians 3:

22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.

23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.

…

28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of the promise.

This reminded me of Section 132. It spoke of both Ishmael (son of the bondmaid, Hagar) and Isaac (son of the freewoman, Sarah). So I looked up what it said:

Section 132:

34 God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife. And why did she do it? Because this was the law; and from Hagar sprang many people. This, therefore, was fulfilling, among other things, the promises.

I realized that the message of Section 132 was out of sync with what Paul was saying: Isaac was of the promise, while Ishmael wasn’t! Yet 132 claims that Ishmael was somehow fulfilling these promises made to Abraham.

Section 132 is also in-congruent with the Genesis account. There’s absolutely no evidence that God commanded Abraham to have a child through Hagar. I realized that Section 132 made claims that couldn’t be backed up by any other scriptures. It stood alone.

Since then, I’ve discovered literally dozens of more reasons to reject it. In this, I have not been alone. It’s become very apparent that there are many Saints now realizing how contradictory Section 132 truly is.

Here’s one such person: https://gregstocks.wordpress.com/2014/10/02/dc-section-132-is-an-other-gospel/

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After realizing that polygamy is not true, the question becomes: Why would God allow it to enter into his church?

The next major realization is discovering that God didn’t, because when polygamy entered the LDS church in 1842, it was no longer his church of saviors on Mount Zion. As warned in Section 124, it had been rejected of him. The fulness was never restored because the Saints chose not to live it.

In Section 38, the Saints were told that they needed the law of the gospel to protect them against the enemy. If they had lived the law of the gospel as contained in Section 42, they would have been protected from Satan.

But they didn’t live the law. The everlasting covenant was broken, and Zion could not be established.

This is why Joseph Smith lost the spirit, even telling the Saints he was no longer to be considered their prophet.

I went through a stage where it was all I could do to believe that Joseph was in fact innocent, that the whole polygamy thing was a plot of Brigham Young, but I have since outgrown that paradigm.

I believe that Brigham loved Joseph and would not have lied about him. In fact, I believe that Brigham really thought of himself as a righteous man who was following God.

Apparently, on BY’s death-bed, his last words were, “Joseph, Joseph…”

He loved Joseph far more than he could ever love a spouse. I think this is a common trait in many men: they care more for their gender, and look down on woman.

I believe most men worship themselves and each other.

Heber C. Kimball, for instance, upon request of the prophet, was willing to give up his wife to Joseph. Of course, he ended up pimping out his fourteen-year-old daughter, Helen, to him instead.

Kimball essentially sold out his integrity and got 40+ wives in return.

Willard Richards, to use another example, took two young teen-aged wives (16 and 14) in Nauvoo. His first wife, Jenetta Richards, died abruptly after those marriages. Willard and Jenetta’s son, Heber Richards, claimed that his mother had died of a broken heart.

I bring these up, not to point out how flawed these leaders were, but to illustrate the reality of the situation.

Willard Richards wrote his first wife, “If you will cling to me, and seek my happiness to the end I will bring you into the kingdom.”

Today, Mormon men do not commit the sin of polygamy, but I believe they are under the same condemnation.

I feel as though they would if they could.

They do not have a testimony of the eternal law of monogamy. They do not seek to be one with their spouse, to be equal. Like Willard, they believe their wives must seek their happiness and that they will bring them to the celestial kingdom.

The Mormon temple sealing encourages these beliefs. The women “give” themselves to the man, and the man “receives” them. Also, there’s no mention of the word “love” during the entire thing– even though the scriptures tell us that God is love and that we should pray with all energy of heart to have love…

I believe these sealing ordinances misrepresent the most important thing we are to accomplish during our time on earth.

Richard G. Scott was my favorite of all the general authorities that have been around during my lifetime. His wife passed away in 1995, but unlike nearly every other Mormon man (especially GA’s) he refused to remarry.

He had a testimony of Jesus’ teachings on marriage, not a testimony of the status quo.

According to the Lord, we are to never divorce nor remarry. Even if someone separates from their spouse, they will always be married to that person in the eyes of God. Thus any remarriage is adultery. This includes polygamy. No second marriages are valid in the eyes of God as part of the celestial law of monogamy.

The reason for this is because in our spiritual creation we were both male and female. In this life we are to find our counterpart and become one flesh. Section 42 commands men to LOVE their wife, and cleave unto her and NONE ELSE.

After rejecting Section 42’s law of the gospel, is it any wonder that the church ended up practicing polygamy and omitting the mention of love in their wedding ceremonies?

Women, unlike men, are born with the innate desire to love. Eve was told that her desire would be to her husband, and that she would be saved by child-bearing.

How amazing is that?

Men, on the other hand, would not be saved so easy. Only by becoming a new creature in Christ do they have the opportunity to receive eternal life. Only by embracing the gospel of Jesus Christ can they be true husbands and fathers.

Men are NOT born with the innate desire to their wife. Men are born with pride, and their desire is to themselves.

The only men that are pure in heart are the ones that recognize the holiness and sanctity of marriage. They lift up the glory of women and are forever faithful.

They live the teachings of Jesus Christ, even when prophets don’t.

-G.azelem