Taking quotes out of context and comments made a century or more apart under different circumstances by church leaders is one strategy of church critics to try and fabricate contradictions in church teachings to confuse uniformed people. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practiced polygamy in the early days of the church and changed that policy after some 70 years. It has not been practiced in since about 1905. Brigham Young and Gordon B Hinckley made statements that critics of the church like to use to sow seeds of misunderstanding regarding the subject. Brigham Young taught it as a doctrine and Gordon B. Hinckley said it was not taught as a doctrine.
People that view marriage and fidelity as an important part of a good life and living in a culture of monogamy will usually have a natural bias against the practice of polygamy under any circumstance. The idea of a man having more than one wife has been viewed in polite society for centuries as an immoral practice. This has occurred even while the sins of adultery and fornication have been prevalent in societies around the world.
When truth seekers hear about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the fact that at one time some men in the church had multiple wives, they may have some contempt toward the idea and therefore have a negative view of the church. Depending on where they get their information they may never learn the fact that Joseph Smith also had an aversion to it. When God revealed the doctrine to him he resisted the idea for some time. When he as the leader of the church began implementing the practice himself he proceeded with as little announcement as much as possible. Some critics use conjecture to allude that this was due to him being a promiscuous person and keeping any relationships secret from his wife.
He never wrote his personal feelings about it, but people around him wrote how he reacted when instructed by revelation to implement the principle. Many leaders of religious groups in his day and the modern-day have used their influence to encourage perversion of sexual devotion to a corrupt leader. From his own moral standpoint, Joseph Smith knew this. He had expressed in his personal history the first vision experience he received. He knew when God was instructing him, even commanding him to do something and he could not deny it. His claim to being a prophet was not a convenient one.
Because he proceeded to implement polygamy without public announcement, his critics took advantage of this fact and created their own false narratives to suit their purpose of labeling him a sex addict and a false prophet. He did love his wife and was committed to her. All of his writings and witnesses around him reflect this. He did not receive the practice of plural marriage with a willing heart. He never gathered his wives into a household as his Utah successors did, nor did he spend much time with them.
History shows that Joseph spent little time with his plural wives as he was busy with his own household and the business of the church. He clearly did not spend his time as a sex obsessed king with his harem as his critics would have their audiences believe. It is the versions of polygamy filled with conjecture demonizing the prophet, that have little truth to them that have been spread about in Christian communities around the world as the church has grown.
During Brigham Young's presidency as the church moved to an isolated place in the west, polygamy had been implemented and practiced publicly. It was considered a commandment to those to whom it was given by the Lord. At the time of President Hinckley some 160 years later, it was not allowed and had long since been commanded to stop the practice. The Book of Mormon and Bible do show that polygamy is the exception and monogamy is the rule.
Polygamy is something that God has commanded from time to time, but it always remains the exception. If someone disavows prophetic leadership, then accepting polygamy as a reasonable practice under certain circumstances is easy to condemn. When Brigham Young gave a talk calling it a requirement in his day, only a small percentage of the Church was practicing polygamy. He had said that failing to accept the commandment to those to whom it was given was to reject the will of the Lord at that time. He was not saying that 95% were going to hell if they didn't practice it. Context is crucial when examining statements by church leaders regarding sensitive subjects.
Brigham Young was not stating that polygamy is a requirement to enter into Heaven. Biased views against him and the Church twist his statement in order to reflect such. He is stating that the doctrine of polygamy was a commandment from the Lord, and if not practiced, it must at least be accepted as a commandment given to God's prophet on the Earth. Not accepting such would be denying the prophet and denying God's commandments. Denying prophetic leadership could be the cause of a problem when picking and choosing what to accept. While the acceptance of polygamy was not an easy thing for all members, at this time in the church's history the commandment of polygamy was very much in effect for the church.
Gordon B. Hinckley in his interview with Larry King in 1998 is stating that practicing polygamy in the modern-day and at the present would be a fast route to ex-communication. And he would be right. Polygamy was no longer the commandment. It was no longer in practice. The exception to the rule was removed and monogamy once again has become the rule of marriage. This is a biblical precedent. Neither contradicts the other. They were both following the commandments of God in the completely different eras that they lived in. This is how prophetic leadership guides the church.
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