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NAWAL -
What is the view of the church concerning poligamy ? my friend who was converted 3 years ego with her husband has concerns about the subject... is it true that during the millenium men would marry many women in addition to their wife ? and would that be so throughout eternity ? Why can a man be sealed to more than one woman and women can't do same ? if poligamy is no longer allowed in our days then why will it be practiced in the next life ?
JOEL -
First of all whether people like it or not the doctrine of plural marriage was one that was followed by the prophets of the Old Testament and then restored by the prophet Joseph Smith in our latter-days.
If what Abraham and the other O.T. prophets were doing was considered a righteous practice, why could not Joseph Smith or Brigham Young practice polygamy and still be righteous prophets of God?
It is uncertain whether plural marriage will again be reinstated during the Millennium. The opinion of some, including that of a few past general authorities, is that it will be reinstated, and claim support for this from the following scripture in Isaiah:
1. And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
2. In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. (Isaiah 4:1-2)
However, in the original Hebrew text, verse one in Isaiah 4 is actually placed at the end of Chapter three, as shown below:
25. Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.
26. And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground. ( Isaiah 3:25-26)
1. And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
If read in this context, rather than refering to plural marriage during the millennium, one could reason that the war that stripped Israel of her leadership and disgraced the daughters of Zion and killed off most of the men, as discussed in chapter 3, left a ratio of women to men at about seven to one. So these women, who once had lost sight of their divine role, were now desperate and have been humbled, and are willing to do anything to have the reproach of being childless removed, even to the point of sharing one husband among several of them. Therefore Isaiah 4:1 may not have meant to refer to activity during the Millennium. But regardless of how one interprets this, there really is no official church position on this matter; only opinion.
While it is true that more than one woman can be sealed to a man but not the reverse, we don't really understand what this will mean in the eternity.
We already know plural marriage (sealings) will have to exist in the Celestial kingdom because those women in the early days of the restored church (and Old Testament prophets) who were sealed to the same husband will still be sealed to him in the Celestial Kingdom. No new plural marriage covenants will be made once we get there, for that is an ordinance that must be performed while here on earth.
One thing that might help in understanding the existence of the doctrine is to consider the fact that, chances are the number of righteous women probably outnumbers the number of righteous men, even in the Celestial kingdom. If you think about it, what are the odds that there will be exactly the same number of righteous men as there are righteous women who can be sealed to each other and not have any left over? At the present time there are about 700,000 more women in the church than men.
In my purely speculative opinion, it means that if a man is limited to only one wife, some women will only have the choice of either marrying a non-member man or remaining unwed. If all men were eternally limited to only one wife each, some women who deserve it might never have the opportunity for exaltation. God knew this would be the case, so He uses plural marriage to remedy this problem by enabling every woman the opportunity to have a righteous husband and enjoy the blessings of eternal life. This is why it may be allowed in the next life.
It may be hard for us to understand it now because our minds and perspectives are limited to this mortal body we are living in. During the millennium and after, when we are resurrected and become immortal, we will probably be able to understand and accept it better. Of course, this is all speculation and there is nothing more that I know that has been revealed about it.
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