Plural Marriage a Sister has Questions

Several weeks ago one of the sisters in the Branch who is a convert of 3 years mentioned that she had started to read the Doctrine and Covenants and that there were parts that she didn’t understand and it was affecting her testimony.  I suggested to her that she email me the sections and verses that she had questions on and I would do a little research and we could then come by and visit with her and attempt to answer her questions. The questions were all in the early part of the Doctrine and Covenants so I read the D&C student manual on those sections and also watched several BYUtv programs where professors from the Department of Religion discuss the Doctrine and Covenants section by section. So after all that, I thought I was pretty well versed in those sections where this sister had questions.

We arrive at her house and begin to talk to her about her questions and she says that, those were her little questions but she also had a big question that she didn’t dare ask. She said she didn’t want to talk to the young missionaries about it, because she didn’t want to say anything to discourage them. I said to her, why don’t you go ahead and ask your big question and we will attempt to answer it. She said well, I am having real difficulty with the whole issue of polygamy. She had read where Joseph Smith had 40 wives and apparently some other things.

We explained that there have been times in the history of the world when the Lord has allowed and or commanded that plural marriage be practiced. We explained that that Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all practiced plural marriage. We talked about how sometimes the Lord asks things of us that we don’t completely understand at the time. We shared the story of Abraham and Sarah and how they waited all those years to have a son and finally when Abraham was 99 and Sarah was 90 they were told that they would bear a son and they should name him Isaac. Then the Lord asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, I can’t imagine how difficult that would be, but we know that Abraham exercised his faith. When the Lord knew that Abraham would be completely obedient, he provided a ram for the sacrifice. Because of Abraham’s great faith he was given the opportunity to make covenants with the Lord and was promised great blessings if he kept those covenants. We are promised those same great blessings and may each be tested even as Abraham. D&C 101:4

4 Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son.

 We also explained to this sister that part of the answer was to raise up a righteous seed unto the Lord. I have several ancestors in my line that practiced plural marriage. I remember going to family reunions as a child where part of the conversation was which of the wives we descended from. Well we had a good visit and I committed to do a little more research and we would return the following week.

I was surprised and pleased to find so much information on plural marriage on the Church’s web site. It use to be that I would have to go to apologetic sites like FAIR Mormon http://www.fairmormon.org/  or FARMS  which is now the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship.   http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/  to find responses to such questions. Now all this information is on the Church’s website.

https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints?lang=eng

On Friday of that week we had a Zone Conference and during the conference training I made a note to share a point being taught with this sister having the questions. The point was “Every man is eventually backed up to the wall of faith and there he must make a stand. (A witness and a warning 4-5)” This is a quote in Preach My Gospel

To make a long story short we went back the following week and gave her essentially the same answer and shared this summary from the Church’s website:

Plural marriage was among the most challenging aspects of the Restoration. For many who practiced it, plural marriage was a trial of faith. It violated both cultural and legal norms, leading to persecution and revilement. Despite these hardships, plural marriage benefited the Church in innumerable ways. Through the lineage of these 19th-century Saints have come many Latter-day Saints who have been faithful to their gospel covenants as righteous mothers and fathers; loyal disciples of Jesus Christ; devoted Church members, leaders, and missionaries; and good citizens and prominent public officials. Modern Latter-day Saints honor and respect these faithful pioneers who gave so much for their faith, families, and community

 Then we explained that we will all have situations when our faith will be tested and it is supposed to be that way. We explained that whenever you have doubts, it helps to focus on those things you absolutely know to be true, such as the fact that the Book of Mormon came from God and the fact that God Loves us and will answer our prayers. As we were teaching this principle this good Sister broke in and said, “I am feeling goosebumps (her description, I believe it was the spirit) as you are telling me this, because it is exactly the same thing I concluded when thinking about this issue this past week.” She then made the statement “I really don’t have an issue with this principle anymore.” Even in those little things our prayers are answered.