I learned about the church from the missionaries and from the people in whatever ward I was in. I also had the manuals. This is what I "knew" about polygamy and the lds church.

- It was practiced before 1890 and it stopped ever since.
- It was to protect women. Some were widows who needed a husband to take care of them financially. And also because women back in those days were frowned upon if they were single.
- JS was not a polygamous man, he was almost a Saint.
- BY started polygamy
- It was a limited practice
- The lds church has nothing to do with current polygamous groups, NOTHING. not in western Canada and not in the US.
- WE ARE NOT A POLYGAMOUS GROUP

So, like a parrot this is what I'd tell people who asked, especially my co-workers. Some years ago some groups in BC were in the news for their polygamous practices and were called mormons. My co-workers would ask me and my friends tease me about me being a polygamous wife. I repeated all the church told me, just like a parrot. I could see their faces of "whatever", you just don't want to tell us or you're just brainwashed. I probably looked like a fool.

I'm angry at myself for not investigatig further and at those who passed the misinformation to me. Those groups have everything to do with JS and therefore with the mormon faith. This is like trying to deny all muslims believe in the same Mohamed or that all Christians are different. They all go back to the same roots.

The LDS church lies and passes on the lies as if by so doing there would become a truth or a "fleck of history".

I am right with you on this one for sure. I was a convert in the 80's and what you listed was exactly what I was told.
Exactly ....
and I believed it.

damn it
Thank any God for the Internet, for then I saw and heard the truth.

This site was kick ass too!!

This has been a shocker for me too as I have been watching talk shows on YouTube of children of polygamist families. The whole time they called themselves Mormons.

Worse yet is that some actually attend LDS Inc, and they send their wives to different wards.

However, there is a thread on this board about how you can know any mormon on facebook by one or two hops in your friends list. Shows how small they really are!

I sure identify with you on this topic. I was also told that first wives could refuse to accept polygamy. What a joke ! I later found out that husbands and wives would be excommunicated if they refused to practice polygamy. I met a family in Utah who said that was the only reason they were not LDS.....their great grandparents had been ex-ed for refusing polygamy.

As a matter of note, I DID try to find out more about Mormonism as an investigator but it was before the internet and our local, small town library only had a BofM as a reference and nobody knew much at all about Mormons. I fell for the old line, "If you want to know about Mormonism, talk to a Mormon". Yeah, and get the generations of lies.

That list is exactly what i was told about polygamy, as well.
I learned much too late that all those widows that needed to be taken care of were Joseph Smith's widows!

According to Daniel Peterson you guys are just being whiney b!tche$.He says the information was there all along and you were all just to ignorant or lazy to educate and inform yourselves.He claims you have absolutely no right to criticize or complain against the one true church.

Of course, he was also recently fired by that very same entity. No wait, it wasn't the church it was a "totally independent" apologetic organization that was in no way officially affiliated with said one true church.

There you go, there's your'e answer. As with everything else, IT"S YOUR OWN FAULT.

About the only additional thing we grew up with (parents converted in 70s) is that God did tell Joseph to start polygamy but he loved Emma so much he could not do it, so it had to start with Brigham.

The church lies about everything. Even stuff they don't need to lie about. That should be a major red flag - why are there so many lies inside the church.

And don't get me started on polyandry, I didn't even know the word existed!

The truth is the lds church is a polygamous church, if not by current practice, it is by doctrinal teachings. I had women in my ward talk about polygamy being restored in the last days and how their husbands would take more wives in the CK. I always had a problem with the whole thing and how they said they had to be humble to accept it. Some would even say "it must be hard for the men too", yeah right!

The church has set up every member to go out and make a fool out of themselves. It doesn't seem to bother them a bit.

Even if members aren't looking at the internet, the rest of the world is.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2012 04:31PM by Mia.

Most mormons probably still believe them.

Don't forget that the reason the Church stopped practicing plural marriage was because they ALWAYS obey the laws of the land. Never mind the fact that they lost their appeal to the Supreme Court in 1878 and took 12 years to then actually comply. More importantly, never mind that Joseph Smith initiated the practice when bigamy was already against the law in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois (i.e. every state in the union). It is almost as if God was NOT speaking when he uttered D&C 58:21: "Let no man break the laws of the land, for he that keepeth the laws of God hath no need to break the laws of the land."

Oh I had forgotten about this. I was told that "God revealed to the prophet" that polygamy was to stop. Never did I hear at church anything about the US government involvement and all the troubles they had. Another fact conveniently hidden.

There was always a ShORTAGE of women in the Old West.

No woman had to settle for being taken in by a polygamist LOL unless they were completely brainwashed.

Or bullied, threatened, forced, tricked.

There was plenty of that going around.

Setting me up to look the fool, like Mia said.
Yup, that's how I feel.

and I WAS the fool for far too long

damn it

I was around 17 when I learned about polygamy.
Put it on my shelf and accepted the bs excuses (lies).
Another misconception I bought is that JS had lots of wives, but they were "spiritual" wives. He did not have sexual relations with them. Yeah.... sure.....

I was told that 3-5% of LDS practiced polygamy. They only count the men (I'm sure it's higher than 5%, I don't know the exact numbers). Factor in the women and it's like 25% or some thing. A lot higher than "3-5%"