He didn't hear that more women than men will make it to the CK?! GASP. He hasn't been paying attention to the lessons! The brethren don't talk about this much, lately, but the righteous priesthood holders will be required to take another woman so that every righteous woman will get to enter the CK.
He may not have a choice about giving up the second+ vagina in the hereafter because it is up to god, not him, to decide that.
[This is what I was taught but I don't have handy references to back up this tidbit of info.]
Required? Past prophets like Brigham Young have taught it is, but no recent ones, so who knows what the current "doctrine" is. TBM's will just say, he was "speaking as a man."
From my understanding from what I was taught, and it has been 10+ years since I was taught this, but if you do get into the CK without being married it will only be for you to be a servant of those who are Temple Married.
Polygamy is only necessary for exaltation, not to enter the CK. They're not necessarily the same thing. (not that either are actually real or anything)
However, you don't have to depend on D&C 132 or any of the journal of discourses or other church materials to prove that polygamy is necessary for exaltation.
You can depend 100% on logical deduction.
Since there is no official doctrine stating whether or not there are more females than males...:
1. We can only assume that elohim and his wives produced an equal ratio of males/females.
2. We know that 1/3 of these "spirit children" were cast out during the war in heaven, leaving 2/3 that were eligible for exaltation.
3. Since we don't know the ratio of males/females that were cast out, we can only continue to assume that it was equal.
4. We know that Lucifer was male and that he is no longer eligible for exaltation. This automatically creates an imbalance in the ratio. There are now more females eligible for exaltation than men.
5. Therefore, assuming that elohim and his wives created an equal ratio of males/females, we know for a fact that at least one male will have to practice polygamy in order to be a god, since the ratio of males to females was no longer equal after Lucifer was cast out.
You can take it a step further and deduce that the ratio was never equal and there were always more females than males, simply by virtue of the fact that prominent church figures had many wives.
If there were an equal ratio of females/males then Joseph Smith and Brigham Young would have stolen other men's ability to become gods simply because there wouldn't be enough women to go around. (thanks a lot joseph)
Either way you cut it, as long as celestial marriage is a requisite for exaltation, there must be polygamy.
THIS is the crux of the matter for a lot of us who have been approached by missionaries, or have had loved ones almost get, or actually get, roped into this mess.
"That's an old teaching and it no longer applies, and anyway only a chosen few ever did it" or "Only a few of the righteous will participate, and Heavenly Father decides who that will be. And he will tell us if we will still be doing this in Heaven, when it's time."
Meaning: We promise you'll find out all about it, after you're dead and gone. wink wink
WTH?
That is way worse than a Catholic priest who does not tell you about their church's old practice of selling indugences until you ask him point blank about it, or ask him to explain it once you've discovered it in a history book.
He will not say we do not know much about that, or I don't know that we teach that. Because today, he will in fact tell you all about it and also tell you that it is not permitted anymore, no way, no how, and furthermore, that it was wrong and misguided when it was done back then, in light of today's knowledge.
But in TSCC it seems, no one ever apologizes, as if the apology itself is the real sin---or that the seeker who discovers a secret is.
He that abideth not this law (ETERNAL MARRIAGE is the law - not polygamy which is CLEARLY made optional with repeated useage of the conditional "if")...".
Like I said earlier, the section speaks of BOTH polygamy (no longer practiced btw), AND eternal marriage. They are NOT the same thing.
My BYUI educated daughter and SIL think that they can choose whether or not to practice polygamy in the CK. I got the impression they were told this at school. They said they will choose not to when the time comes.
What is the doctrinal answer, within mainstream Mormon faith, of:
a) choosing polygamy in death
b) choosing not to participate in polygamy in death
Will the person who chooses answer A get to a higher level or place/rank/sphere of heaven, than the person who chooses B?
Will the person who chooses answer B be permitted to stay in the same Heaven with their eternal family--- if other members of their family happen to have chosen A?
Assuming the person who chooses A gets to choose at all (because at this point I am pretending that there is a Heaven, and that any of these things has a hope in Hell, oops, Dreamworld, of ever happening) exactly WHEN does the choosing occur?
IN Heaven? AFTER they've arrived? BEFORE they ever get there? And how much time are they given to make the choice? Is it Zap! One second? Or a lifetime. Which in CK-speak sounds like it's forever, and therefore it must not matter at all if or when you choose, because there always will be more time left to you...
And what happens if eternal hubby chooses A, and beloved wife chooses B? Or, they both choose the same but then one or the other, or both, changes their mind? They're Gods at that point, right? Presumaby they have the power to do that.
It's ridiculous, and a major cop-out, if the answer to all these questions is "We'll know when we get there, but right now you must swear and promise that you'll agree to whatever that might be."
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2011 03:13PM by bookratt.
He is right to a degree (pun intended). According to Brigham Young, in order to get to the HIGHEST degree of heaven, you have to enter into polygamy. Those that practice monogamy can go into the CK, but not the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, and therefore don't become Gods.
So The only people that become Gods are those that practice polygamy. Those that don't practice polygamy can enter the lower degrees of the celestial kingdom. Once again, this is according to Brigham Young.
"The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy, Others attain unto a glory and may even be permitted to come into the presence of the Father and the Son; but they cannot reign as kings in glory, because they had blessings offered unto them, and they refused to accept them." (Journal of Discourses, vol. 11, p. 269).