How the Lord’s Pattern in Dealing with His Prophets
Explains the Early Practice of Polygamy.
I’ve had an epiphany. Literally. But first, I want
to point out that I’m a Mormon. . .a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. A run of the mill, ordinary member, who has lots of opinions
but is not an official spokesman for the Church.
As Mormons, we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. We believe that he died for our sins on Calvary and that through His
grace, and becoming His true disciples, we can return to live with our Heavenly
Father.
We believe the Bible to be the word of God and we
also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. The Book of Mormon does
NOT replace the Bible to us. It is another witness, another Testament of Jesus
Christ. It is the record of peoples that fled Jerusalem in about 600 B.C. and
came to the Americas, established societies, and recorded the testimonies of
their prophets and righteous leaders. After the Resurrection of Jesus Christ in
Jerusalem, the Lord visited the people on the American continent and taught
them the same doctrines that are recorded in the New Testament. It was these
people he referred to when speaking to his Apostles when he said, “Other sheep
have I that are not of this fold. Them also must I bring.”
We believe that the New Testament church, the
fullness of the Gospel and priesthood authority was lost after the death of the
apostles and was restored again early in the 1800s. Yet, as the Book of Mormon
and the New Testament Gospel of Christ and Priesthood authority were restored
to the earth after almost two millennia of apostasy, there were practices and
doctrines taught that are controversial and cause much angst, especially among
women.
I have mused and considered over the strange
practice of polygamy in Mormon history. When I have prayed and asked our
Heavenly Father if Joseph Smith was a true prophet, I have received a clear and
resounding answer, “Yes!” He is the Joseph prophesied in the Book of Mormon. (2
Nephi 3:24) “And there shall rise up one mighty among them, who shall do much
good, both in word and in deed, being an instrument in the hands of God, with
exceeding faith, to work mighty wonders, and do that thing which is great in
the sight of God, unto the bringing to pass much restoration unto the house of
Israel, and unto the seed of thy brethren.”
But it’s tough to explain polygamy in that light
when it goes against all the knowledge I have of the value, love, support,
honor and covenants that our Loving Father in Heaven has toward his daughters.
I think I’ve figured it out. But we’ll have to take
a romp through history, back to the beginning.
Let me show you the pattern of prophets.
Adam and Eve did something that forced them to flee
to a less desirable place where they could grow and develop and learn to trust
their Heavenly Father. He gave them a choice that required an excruciatingly
difficult decision. Their transgression (their CHOICE) put them in a position
where they MUST develop their faith.
Enoch dreaded speaking to the people of his time
because he had something that was deeply embarrassing to him. He dreaded it so
much that he turned down the calling when it came. When the Lord assured him
that He would support him, he went forward, despite being a callow youth of 60
years and “slow of speech.” The people of Enoch were not attracted to him
because of his charisma, they were attracted to him through the development of
their own faith. The Lord values faith based on the word of a prophet above the
faith that develops from seeing miracles or meeting logical tests. He explains
this in the New Testament when speaking to Thomas when he says that more
blessed are they that have NOT seen but have believed on the testimony of
others.
He condemns sign-seekers as a wicked and adulterous
generation. Indeed, the demand for a demonstration of power disqualifies a
person from receiving it.
Noah was told to build a MAMMOTH ship where there
was no water. If you study the Biblical timeline, you’ll find that it took him
about a hundred years. All that time he was building a boat and preaching to
the people that they must repent. Imagine the mockery and frustration he must
have borne! Only those with enough faith and a willingness to listen to the
Spirit of the Lord were saved. Being willing to listen to a prophet and obey
the will of the Lord through his teaching is shown as the highest form of
faith.
Abraham was asked to do the very thing that was most
abhorrent to him. How could he kill the child of the covenant? How could he
kill the child of his and Sarah’s old age? Her only child!
The Lord explicitly
explains that it proved to Abraham that his faith in God superseded all
societal laws, traditions and even commandments. It established in ABRAHAM’S
mind that he would do WHATEVER the Lord asked. But those who knew about the
event would be sorely shaken, no doubt.
Moses had a criminal
background and a speech defect. How could he be the one to lead millions of
Israelites out of bondage when he could be arrested at any moment and he
couldn’t string a sentence together? Have you ever noticed that the Lord told
him that he COULD do it if he had sufficient faith? When Moses insisted that it
was impossible, the Lord instructed him to use Aaron as a spokesman? Feeling
incompetent (perhaps even BEING incompetent) seems to be a mark of a true
prophet. He wants prophets to know that they absolutely are not functioning
without the Lord’s help.
Isaiah was told to run
around naked for three years, (Isiaah
20: 2-4). Imagine what that would do to a man’s credibility! It went
against the Law of Moses, and people would have thought he was flat out crazy.
ONLY THOSE WITH GREAT FAITH AND THE ABILITY TO DISCERN THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD
WOULD PAY ANY ATTENTION TO A NUDIST.
Ezekiel was instructed
either to eat human dung or to bake his bread with it (for fuel?) Ezekiel
4:12-17. The Lord mercifully allowed him to use cow dung instead. (Whew! I’m so
glad we got that fixed!) But Ezekiel was strict in his adherence to the Law of
Moses. Here again, the Lord asked him to do that which was opposite in the
extreme to what he had been taught and what the social expectations were. Only
one willing to put extreme faith in personal revelation and a willingness to
accept the unpopular role of prophet would do the abhorrent thing that was
asked.
The poor, hardworking
apostles of the New Testament were asked to give up their livelihoods and “Come
follow Me.” John the Baptist put such complete faith in the Lord to provide
that he lived and taught in the wilderness, apparently never pursuing any
vocation beyond that of his spiritual calling. Who wants the reputation as a
mountain man or a wild man. How much heed would you pay to a hermit that
offered you spiritual guidance, but had never done anything to prove his
authority, sincerity or even his sanity?
Nephi of the Book of
Mormon was instructed to kill a man so that his own family would have the
scriptures. Have you ever noticed the irony in that instruction? Do you wonder
that Nephi spends so much space explaining why he believed he must do it? But
note the side effect of that action. It made him a wanted a man, a fugitive
from the law in Jerusalem, not only because he’d killed Laban, but also because
he’d stolen the brass plates that Laban had kept, (apparently by legal right.)
Lehi’s family could never return to Jerusalem after Nephi’s decisive action.
Abinadi (in the Book of
Mormon) gave his life in order to deliver the sermon or to restore the Gospel
to Alma who in turn restored it to many of the expatriate Nephites. But he was
ridiculed, threatened and lied about before he finished his message. The Lord could have given Abinadi a better
pulpit. He could have put him in a position of authority where the people had to listen. He could also have
miraculously rescued him after he gave his message. He didn’t. He forced them
to choose. Only with the exercise of great faith and sacrifice did anyone
respond to Abinadi’s message.
The list goes on and on
and on, all pointing to Jesus Christ who gave up everything to do the Father’s
will. He gave up everything, however
counter-intuitive it might have seemed, to do what the Father asked. He
could have come down from the cross. With a thought, he could have turned the
scourge in Pilate’s court into serpents that bit the entire group of wicked
Jews to death. But he did ALL that the Father commanded.
So if we are willing to
look at Joseph Smith in the light of the scriptural pattern of prophets, what
would God ask of an 1830’s man? What would he ask of an American whose
ancestors had fled religious oppression to set up a new society based on New
Testament principles?
The Mob violence he and
other members of Church experienced was not unique to them. The 1830-40’s were
singularly prone to mob violence.
Joseph would have
understood the ramifications. With his Puritan, Biblical upbringing, a member
of a large religious family whose approval he would naturally crave, the direct
prohibition against adultery in the ten commandments and all social trends in
the Northern United states, it would not be welcome instruction. Slavery was
not only still legal, but widely practiced in Northern states at the time The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized. Mob violence against
minorities, (blacks and Irish) was rampant. The idea of driving an
objectionable people from an area was an economic principle. It reduced the
competition for blue-collar jobs. It was especially bad in northern cities like
New York and Boston.
He wasn’t commanded to
build a giant ship in an inland area, he wasn’t a stutterer with a criminal
background instructed to lead a million people out of bondage. He wasn’t asked
to kill his long-awaited son and he wasn’t asked to run around naked for several
years to get people’s attention. He wasn’t asked to eat his own poop, nor was
he asked to relinquish his livelihood to become an unpaid preacher of truth. He
wasn’t asked to kill a man to get the scriptures.
He was asked to do
something that fit well with the pattern of decisive actions required of
prophets of God. He was asked to do something that would be repulsive to him
and to his family and especially to the creature he loved most on earth, his
wife Emma. It would cause an irreparable strain between them. He was already
apparently self-conscious about his lack of education and poverty. And
practicing something more repulsive to society would further strain his
credibility.
Polygamy and economic
and political competition became the major factors in the reason the Latter-day
Saints were mobbed and driven from state to state. Polygamy made the Church
repulsive to anyone who didn’t have the faith to ask God if it was true. It was
a major factor in driving the saints into the wilderness where they could recover
and begin to thrive: a place where the Lord’s promises could be fulfilled.
I think I understand it
now. In each prophetic case, the Lord could
have provided a much less objectionable way of preserving his people. He could
have provided a miracle, written prophecies in fire in the sky if He wanted to.
But he wants us to use
the Holy Spirit in learning to discern truth. He wants us to recognize that
sometimes we are surprised by what the Lord expects us and asks us to do or to
believe. Sometimes the “in-credible” is exactly true. He wants us to learn to
trust Him. He wants us to learn to ask Him. It takes a very humble person to believe a prophet whose
credibility is strained. He wants us to recognize in every generation and
dispensation that His word may go against our current tradition and social
expectations.
It is one way that he
attempts to overcome what is frequently referred to in scripture as “the vain
traditions of their fathers.”
Jesus sums up this
principle in Matthew 13:57 “And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto
them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own
house.”
The next verse explains
that he didn’t do “mighty works” among the people that knew him best “because
of their unbelief.”
Jesus identified the
public slander that would be given about him. (Matt 11:19) “The Son of man came
eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a
friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.”
So people can find
fault with anyone. Even the only perfect
person to ever live on earth was not accepted among his own people. They
misperceived his actions because it went against their expectations.
Belief
has to come first. Faith must precede the miracle.
So it isn’t that the
Lord wants men to go naked when they come to him. He doesn’t want us to forsake
employment to be full-time disciples. He is merely demonstrating that true
disciples are willing to sacrifice all that is precious to them, (even their own
dignity, credibility or most precious family relationships) to follow his
instructions.
We’re not left without
instruction in discerning when it is of God and when it is the product of
imagination. (James 1:5) “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that
giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” To
upbraid is to scold or criticize. So God promises NOT to scold or be angry with
us for asking questions. He is inviting us to bring our questions to Him, and he promises to give us answers.
I’ve tested this. I know it’s true. But
nobody receives any truth until they humble themselves and sincerely ask God.
Jesus taught that by
their fruit we know whether something or someone is good or bad.
In the Book of Mormon,
(Moroni 7:13) But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good
continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and
to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.”
How is
this relevant to us? What is the law of Sacrifice? What has the Lord asked of you? Will you do it? Will each of us
give our whole heart and trust in Him to keep the promises He has made to us if
we do?
He beckons us. (Matt 11:28-30) “Come unto me, all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you,
and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto
your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Turn to Him. Ask. Pray.
Exercise faith in Him. Study. Discern the fruit. Prepare to offer all of your
heart and mind to God and become a sturdy tool in His hands.
Wednesday’s post will
be written by Tami, Charlene’s Mom. She explains some of her feelings,
observations and experiences with her (then foster) daughter, Charlene almost
20 years ago. It gives some interesting insights. Friday will be by a young
mother who, with her brother, were adopted very young into a family with 4
biological children.