Much has been said about the recent arrest of a leader of the polygamy compound in B.C. and we await the trial and the court’s ruling. Some editorials caution the reason the police haven’t made arrests in these compounds before is because many were worried they would lose the court case and give the sect a legal president to continue and expand. Now, push has come to shove and the law is being tested in Canada.
Some say that the Crown should have laid charges of sexual exploitation not of polygamy as those would have been easier to prove and easier to enforce. The matter was taken to the US Supreme Court long ago when the original Mormon Church tested the law. The US Supreme Court concluded that a state could make a law banning polygamy. To my understanding it also left the door open for a State to allow polygamy as well. Nevertheless, the state said no polygamy and the Supreme Court upheld that law. As a result the original Mormon Church eventually stopped the practice.
Break aways exist in any religion. To claim that Warren Jeffs or Winston Blackmore are Mormons is like claiming Anglicans or Presbyterians are Catholics. Just because they broke away from the church does not mean they are still affiliated with it.
Nevertheless there are without question doctrinal similarities over polygamy. Mormons do believe in polygamy. That was clearly a biblical practice. Mormons defied the law to challenge it in court but lost. Since they believe in honoring and sustaining the law they stopped the practice but that doesn’t mean they stopped believing in the practice. Bruce R. McConkie states in Mormon Doctrine that when the Savior comes again there is no doubt that holy practice will be restored.
Now there are discrepancies on the definition of that holy practice. What Abraham and Jacob did was very different than the typical over 40 year old man marrying multiple child brides of 14 years of age. Why is it so many of these guys are obese? Jeff Warrens was an exception. He was scrawny but clearly had that deranged look about him which was evident in his dishonesty: http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/bustupinbountiful/
Even Winston Blackmore, despite his used car salesman eloquence, when you look at his face he has that deranged twist look. Not as bad as Warren Jeffs but it is certainly there. Even the Mormons teach "We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. Hence many are called but few are chosen."
When I look at Warren Jeffs or Winston Blackmore I don’t see the image of Christ in their countenance. It’s more obvious with Warren Jeffs but there is still something not quite right about Winston Blackmore. Gordon B. Hinkley, Thomas S. Monson, Ezra Taft Benson, I can see the image of Christ in their countenance. Those are good men. Not perfect but noble and good.
Mind you they aren’t polygamists either although they do believe in the doctrine. With all this talk of the Da Vinci code and the speculation that Christ was married, they didn’t even speculate on what if Christ was a polygamist. If he was, I’d have to say it would have been more like Abraham and Jacob not like Jeffs or Blackmore. Nevertheless, I still see it as very problematic and there does appear to be similarities between Winston Blackmore and Brigham Young.
Polygamists claim that polygamy is their religious right to which I reply no it is not. If I create a religion that believes in smoking crack, I cannot smoke crack as my religious right. I contend that Mormonism isn’t polygamy. I contend that Mormonism is Christianity, which is as Paul describes, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry clothing the naked. Polygamy may well be a doctrine of Mormonism but it does not define Mormonism. Mormonism is so much more than that. The book of Mormon clearly denounces the unauthorized practice of polygamy. Yet that in itself opens Pandora’s box.
Polygamy wasn’t practiced because there was a shortage of men. Not when you look at the census statistics. Polygamy wasn’t practiced just to raise more children. If there are the same number of men and woman, five men marrying five women can have just as many children as one man marrying five woman. Polygamy was practiced because it was a commandment of God, which creates two more dilemmas.
One is distinguishing between a false prophet and a true prophet. The other is what kind of God would command a man to marry some else’s wife? The same one that would command human sacrifice? That leads us to the ultimate dilemma, which we’ll deal with next.
Nevertheless, there are without question many men in the Mormon church who are secretly cheering on Blackmore. If he wins then that could very well hasten the millennial day for all Mormon men who are coveting the time when they too will be able to live the polygamy dream. Not.
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