Approaching Zion: Polygamy

What is the Celestial Law for Marriage?

If you thought living consecration was hard, how about celestial marriage!  

Consecration and marriage are related.  Consecration means we are equal with our brothers and sisters (D&C 82:17); celestial marriage means we are equal with our beloved (Gen. 2:24). 

In both instances, the object is to become "one."  The law of consecration and the Holy Order of Matrimony each reflect the heart of God our Father:

   That they may be one,
   even as we are one . . . 
   that they may be made
   PERFECT in one.

(John 17:22)

The intimacy (and primacy) we share with our spouse in marriage is a type and shadow of the celestial union we enjoy with God:

   Thou shalt love thy wife [God]
   with all they heart,
   and shalt cleave
   unto her [Him]
   and NONE ELSE.

(D&C 42:22)

The Savior in the Intercessory Prayer made clear that the law of Zion is the law of "perfection" ― that is to say, the law of "oneness."

There is no perfection found outside of this union with God and with each other.  No man on a deserted island ever became "perfect" because perfection is the fruit of sanctified relationships.

Thus we see the reason, in God's eyes, for why "inequality" is so evil: because it makes us not-one (whether it be in temporal blessings or in our marriages).

Apply the following words to marriage:

   And [ye] are not united
   according to the union
   required by the law
   of the celestial kingdom;

   And Zion cannot be built up
   unless it is by the principles
   of the law of the celestial
   kingdom.

(D&C 105:4-5)

If we thought the early Church's attempt to practice the law of consecration was a disaster, just wait until we see what they did with marriage.

(Apostle George Q. Cannon surrounded by his polygamous jailbirds at the Sugarhouse jail they called "Uncle Sam's Hotel")

Is Jesus Christ the author of concubinage?

I say "concubinage" because what is polygamy but a dressed-for-dinner, respectable-looking version of religious concubinage ― minding its P's and Q's, hoping we don't notice that it is, in fact, what the Most-Correct-Book-On-Earth calls "whoredoms" (Mosiah 11:2) and "abomination" (Jacob 2:28)?

And so we must ask, is the doctrine of concubinage compatible with the gospel of Jesus Christ?  (If not, what were our ancestors thinking?  How were they so thoroughly deceived?)

​The answer to this simple question will save us a lot of time.  Rather than reading this post, you could go hug your grandchildren, or watch a sunset while petting your puppy, or eat ice cream directly from the carton with an oversized serving spoon (don't deny it, we've all been there).

But if you're still here (you must be a glutton for punishment like me), let us reason together and see what we can learn about Zion and the principles of celestial marriage.

And then, as I said, we have more important things to attend to ― before the Cookies & Cream melts.

Felons of Faith

On July 25, 1887 the most powerful man in Utah lay ill upon his deathbed.  The irony is that the bed was not his own; his final hours were spent in the safehouse known as the "exile home" located a short distance outside of Salt Lake City.

The man was a wanted felon, who had gone into hiding eight months earlier to escape arrest by U.S. Marshals.

That night, a few of his fellow outlaws gathered quietly around his bedside; his friend Samuel Bateman had spent the day with him, watching for any signs of improvement.  When none appeared, Bateman smuggled in some of the man's loved ones for the final hours, to say their farewells.

And thus it was that John Taylor ― third President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ― died.

   *****
I've tried to steer clear of the polygamy debates until now.  I've not wished to take sides when I believe God transcends all sides.  But here we go (heaven help me).

My interest in polygamy has largely been academic and genealogical.  But the doctrinal underpinnings of plural marriage are deeply tangled with the roots of the Restoration, and must be addressed head-on.

The Church still practices polygamy, not only among Fundamentalist sects, but also among the eternal polygamists who are sealed to multiple wives whom they wish to be reunited with in the resurrection.

Recently the controversy has returned to whether Joseph Smith was a polygamist (or not).  Those who advocate for or against polygamy based on whether Joseph Smith did (or didn't) practice plural marriage are committing two mistakes:

   (1) They are making Joseph Smith ― and not Jesus Christ ― the arbiter of their faith; and

  (2) They are letting the past dictate the law of God, rather than inform it ― as if God were dead and did not speak today, letting history do the talking for Him.

We are not so unlike our Nephite cousins, to whom Jacob said as a special witness of Christ (2 Nephi 11:3):

   They seek to excuse themselves
   in committing whoredoms,
   because of the things
   which were written concerning
   David, and Solomon
   [and Joseph Smith
   and Brigham Young
​   et. al.].

(Jacob 2:23)

As I said in Part 7: A Faith Beyond:

"Our narratives are contingent; they are being recapitulated as we speak.  For each generation invariably reinterprets and wrestles with the historical record (which is something even religious professionals can't agree on).

"And with our eternal lives at stake, do we really want to tie faith down with the capricious cords of historiography?  So remember: the past is a memory, and has only the authority we grant it.  

"Faith will forever transcend yesteryear; she looks beyond what has been towards what may yet be."

I would prefer to leave polygamy alone.  But since "the Principle" is a perennial source of confusion for the Lord's people (Jacob 2:24), here we go.

"Excuse me, sir, you got my order wrong"

​The life of Father Abraham was complicated.  Chances are, life is complicated for you, too.  Mortality is messy; human relationships are messy.  Ask Hagar.

And if "that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there" (D&C 130:2) in heaven, I want to suggest the possibility that heaven is going to be a lot more interesting (read: exciting and diverse) than we expect.

A buttoned-up heaven of absolutes and razors' edges is the product of a fanciful imagination.  After all, until recently, Lucifer was a leading figure in the celestial realm, who exercised "authority in the presence of God" (D&C 76:25).  So you never know who you'll meet hanging around the throne (God is far more liberal in His views, and patience, than we give Him credit for).

Heaven is presided over by our Father who (spoiler alert) will not impose order on His children by fiat ― for all intelligence is ordered upon self-existent principles (D&C 93:29-31) and cannot be compelled.

   And the Gods watched
   those things which they
   had ordered
   until they obeyed.

(Abraham 4:18)

"Watched" is such a passive verb!  Why don't the Gods do more?  Why don't they jump in and get their elbows greasy?  (Some do; we call it "condescension.")

Isn't that what we want: Gods who will "set things in order" by knocking the bad guys around until they get in line?  Why would God allow polygamy to run rampant?  A knuckle-sandwich gets things done far quicker than persuasion and love unfeigned.

Well, families are not Legos; we cannot shape our posterity like modeling clay.  As God explained to Jeremiah, Israel is a muddy mess (Jer. 4:4) and He starts over with us again and again ― "a kingdom to pluck up, and to pull down" (Jer. 4:7) ― trying to get us to "turn from [our] evil" so He can organize us into Zion (which is itself represented as a marriage between the Bridegroom and Bride Zion).

The important thing to understand is that "order" is not a lifeless construct; it does not exist outside of us; it is not independent of its members.  Marriage was created for man, not man for marriage.

Also, there are multiple "orders" in heaven.  Yes, the highest and holiest is that of the Order of the Son of God (D&C 107:2); but don't think that is the only one.

   In my Father’s house
   are many mansions [orders];
   if it were not so,
   I would have told you.
   I go to prepare
   a place for you.

(John 14:2)

The disorganization and confusion we see among the human family is actually a feature of God's plan, not a bug.  In consequence of our disorganization we are able to reconstitute ourselves and reorder the House (Family) of God in novel ways that contribute to God's glory.

In other words, to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life, God allows us to self-organize (such as the family of Israel) ― but He also allows us to leave those families, sometimes for rebellion (Lucifer) and sometimes to start our own branch (Enoch).

No one is stuck.  The Tree of Life is alive; it is always growing and being pruned, worlds without end.

   For intelligence cleaveth
   unto intelligence; wisdom
   receiveth wisdom; truth
   embraceth truth; virtue
   loveth virtue; light
   cleaveth unto light; mercy
   hath compassion on mercy
   and claimeth her own.

(D&C 88:40)

Mortality is a turnstile by which we select the order ("family") we want to belong to.

God allows us to sort ourselves according to just and holy principles ― and chief among them is the self-governing principle of common consent.

Reynolds v. United States

In 1878 the First Presidency of the Church asked polygamist George Reynolds (former secretary to Brigham Young) to act as the guinea pig in a "test case" to challenge the constitutionality of the Morrill Act (the federal law that Abraham Lincoln passed in 1862 that made bigamy a felony).

When Congress passed the Morrill Act, Brigham Young stood up in a church meeting and preached (I love the energy he's channeling):

"Polygamy they are unconstitutionally striving to prevent; when they will accomplish their object is not for me to say.  How will they get rid of this awful evil in Utah?  They will have to expend about $300 millions of dollars for building a prison, for we must all go into prison.

"And after they have expended that amount for a prison, and roofed it over from the summit of the Rocky Mountains to the summit of the Sierra Nevada, we will dig out and go preaching to the world."  (Quoted in Richard D. Poll, "The Legislative Antipolygamy Campaign," BYU Studies 26, n. 4, 1986: 109).​

In Reynolds v. United States, the Church argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that the First Amendment explicitly protected the practice of polygamy under the Free Exercise Clause.  All nine Justices ruled unanimously against Reynolds on January 6, 1879.

The Court concluded that to allow polygamy would justify individuals to trample the laws of the land; for if polygamy was allowed on religious grounds, why not human sacrifice?

​Approximately 1,300 Mormon men were convicted and sent to prison for polygamy in the nineteenth century.

Many men, like Wilford Woodruff and John Taylor, went into hiding to avoid prosecution.  Thus was born the "Mormon Underground."​

Is Marriage Good?  Necessary?

The Matrimonial Order of heaven is a reflection, foremost, of God's faithfulness.  Celestial marriage is "living" because God is living; and, like all living things, marriages grow and reorder and renew.

God loves us, whether we are monogamous or polygamous.  We are all precious to God.  He loves seeing His children marry and has consecrated ("made holy") the joining of two persons in matrimony.

But why?  Why is marriage godly?  And most importantly, how does marriage relate to the Doctrine of Christ?

In the beginning God created Adam and Eve in His image, in His likeness ― that is, to bear His countenance in their visages, which image is that of a faithful love; for God is love, and is He not faithful?  Therefore, He hallows the joining of those wedded.

But heaven does not mirror a fallen world.  "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy" (Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5).

The Spirit of Christ does not play at sexual politics.  Marriage is a blessing from God and should be celebrated, not treated like a merit badge that must be earned to obtain the highest heaven (D&C 131:1-4).

For God has decreed that even eunuchs shall take hold of His everlasting covenant and enter into the kingdom of heaven (Isaiah 56:4-5).  Paul himself extolled the virtue of singleness (1 Cor. 7:25-40).  God's grace is strong enough to bless the differences and uniqueness of all His children, according to their faith and desires.

Paul said:

   Now concerning virgins
   I have no commandment
   of the Lord: 
   yet I give my judgment.

(1 Cor. 7:25)

And Paul goes on and gives his opinion, as he did on other matters.  So let's keep things in perspective.

But what about polygamy?  Does it belong in heaven?  Well, if you desire a theology for polygamy, you've only got to read the Journal of Discourses and shall be delighted.  But fair warning: the God of polygamy is a jealous God.

I admire the faith of our pioneer ancestors who struggled to strip themselves of "jealousies and fears" (D&C 67:10) and "covetous desires" (D&C 101:6) in a system that followed Babylon's creed of "more is better" (as in, more wives).

But careful: the first practitioner of polygamy we find in scripture was Lamech, who took two wives (Gen. 4:19).  The fact that Lamech was a Master Mahan (Moses 5:52) and followed in the tradition of Cain, should be treated as a red flag.

Gwendolyn Wyne wrote, "Polygamy is either important to God because it is celestial marriage, or it is important to Satan because it destroys celestial marriage.... If polygamy is of God, so be it. We should be able to find it within the doctrine of Christ.  But.  If polygamy is a tare, sowed by the enemy of all righteousness, then we [should] discover its true nature."  ("An Enemy Hath Done This: The Seed and Weeds of Polygamy," November 22, 2022.)

So are the principles of celestial marriage embodied in polygamy or not?

I Am a Son of Polygamy

I am a descendent of Arizona polygamist William Flake (who later became a member of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame).  William served a prison term in the Yuma Arizona Penitentiary for being a polygamist.

Great-great-great-grandfather Flake was so pleased with his prison suit that he took it home with him after his release and wore it in parades and at special celebrations around town.

William married his first wife, Lucy Hannah (my Great-great-great-grandmother) on December 30, 1858.  About a decade later he was instructed to take a plural wife.

When asked by Eliza R. Snow if she was willing to accept the Principle, Lucy replied, "I said [I] am quite willing to try."

In her late recollection / autobiography, Lucy wrote about the "test" she faced when William approached her to take a new wife:

​   *****
"Lucy dear, could you share your husband with another woman?"
  
I thought he was joking, and laughing answered, "Only if I could retain first place in your affection."

"Lucy, I have been counseled to take another wife, if you are willing."

Of course I was not willing; He was mine!  Mine by all the laws of men and God.

The baby cried in the cradle.  Duty was calling me.  It seemed duty was always calling.

William went to the field to work.

For days I went about my household tasks, outwardly calm, but within my soul was a battle raging.  How I prayed during those days that my duty might be made plain to me.

I went to mother and asked her what I should do.  "Daughter," she said gently, "that is something you and Heavenly Father have to decide; that is one thing I cannot advise you about."

I tried to picture in my mind what young lady had won a place in my husband's affections.

[One] night [after] supper . . . we walked out to the back of our lot and sat on a fallen log.

"Who is the young lady we are going to marry?" I asked.

"We?"

"Yes, we," I answered.  "We were made one a long time ago, you and I; who are we going to marry?"

[Later I wondered] was it possible for a man to love more than one wife?  [The thought came to me]: "Greater love hath no woman than this, that she would give her husband to another woman for wife."

(Lucy Hannah White Flake, To the Last Frontier, Chapter 14, "The Crucial Test," edited for brevity.)

You've Probably Never Heard of Keturah

Not long after his wife Sarah died, Abraham (who was really old at that point) married a woman named Keturah (Genesis 25:1).

For some reason no one talks about her much, but Keturah bore six children with Abraham (so this was not a celibate marriage) (Genesis 25:2).

Keturah's children did not inherit, though ― everything went to Isaac (although Keturah's posterity did receive some nice parting gifts, Gen. 25:5-6).

According to Jewish rabbis, the name "Keturah" means "binding" or "sealing."  Do you find that intriguing?

In the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord says we "must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham" (D&C 101:4).

As I've studied Abraham's life, spreading it all out on the table from beginning to end as if unraveling a scroll, I realized his life was a living chiasmus of chastisement; Abraham had great faith, although he was not perfect.

   *****
(A) Sacrifice.  The priests try to sacrifice Abraham upon the altar to the gods (Abr. 1).

(B) Exile.  Abraham leaves his family and hometown to go into an unknown land (Gen. 12:1).

(C) Bondage.  Sarah's abduction into Pharaoh's palace (Gen. 12:15).
 
(D) Deliverance.  Abraham's battle against "the four kings" in order to rescue his nephew Lot (Gen. 14).
 
(E) Covenant.  Abram was 99 years old when he received a new name.  The sign of covenant was circumcision (Gen. 17).  The first thing Abraham did was circumcise himself and Ishmael (who was thus covered by the promises, if not the inheritor of them).

Please don't forget Sarai, who received a new name, too: Sarah.  She was promised to become "a mother of nations."

You'd think at this point Abraham and Sarah would have "made it," right?  I mean, they've received a covenant (an order) and a new name; I would like to think Abraham and Sarah deserved their happy ending.  Well, not so fast.

(DD) Deliverance.  Abraham barters/pleads with the Lord to deliver Lot from Sodom, and so the Lord sends angels to spare Lot's family (Gen. 18-19).

(CC) Bondage.  Sarah's abduction into Abimelech's palace (Gen. 20:2).

(BB) Exile.  Abraham expels Hagar and Ishmael from his home (Gen. 21:9-14).

(AA) Sacrifice.  The binding and sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah (Gen. 22:1-19).

   *****
The same pattern, incidentally, was reflected in Moses's life.

Just when we think we've "made it," having climbed to the top of the mountain (ascent), we realize we've got to go back down (descent) the other side.

Such is the cycle of the redeemed.

"Do You Know That You Don't Know?"

Before he went into hiding, President John Taylor was called as a witness in the polygamist trial of Rudger Clawson, who was being tried for unlawful cohabitation in 1882 (and who would later be called as an apostle in 1898).

The Prosecuting Attorney, whose name was Dickson, put John Taylor on the witness stand because he wanted to know where the marriage records were kept to show Clawson's plural marriage (after all, the LDS are scrupulous record keepers).

President John Taylor feigned ignorance (the same as we saw from President Joseph F. Smith when testifying before Congress in the Reed Smoot hearings).

Under examination, Dickson asked President Taylor if he could find out who had the marriage records. 

Dickson: "Who is the custodian of the records?"

President Taylor: "I cannot tell you."

Dickson: "Did you ever know who the custodian of the records was?"

President Taylor: "I do not know that I ever did."

Dickson: "Do you know that you don’t know?"

President Taylor: "Yes, I know that I don’t."

Dickson: "You know that you have never known who the custodian was?  Have you ever inquired of anyone where the record was?"

President Taylor: "I could not say positively whether I have or not."

Dickson: "What is your best recollection?"

President Taylor: "I don’t know."

Dickson: "You don’t know as to whether you have inquired as to the custodian of the record?"

President Taylor: "I do not think I have."

(David S. Hoopes and Roy Hoopes, The Making of a Mormon Apostle, Lanham: Madison Books, 1990, 78.)

   *****
To understand the reason God allows so many things that fall outside of His celestial ideal, we need only ask Jesus His opinion on divorce.

Clearly divorce is not ideal.  And yet it was lawful under the Law of Moses.  Even today, in 2024, divorce is a part of our religious life, and we throw a blanket of charity over those affected by it.

Jesus explained:

   It was because your hearts
   were hard that Moses
   wrote you this law.

(Mark 10:5, NIV)

Much of what we call "the law" of God is actually not God's law at all ― not His celestial law.  Paul said:

   The law was added
   because of transgressions.

(Galatians 3:19)

It isn't easy discerning the celestial law amid the telestial ones we preach as if they were God's best and highest.  Often, because these lesser laws carry cultural credit and bear the weight of historical precedent, we don't even stop to question them.

Since I believe charity is the holiest gift of God undergirding oneness ("perfection" - D&C 88:125), I think the best way to view those who have fallen into the snare of polygamy is to have compassion on them and to succor them.  There's no need to judge or condemn them, for we too have fallen short of the glory of God.

Hope Renewed

To be clear, to my knowledge the Lord has never commanded anyone to practice plural marriage.  But due to the agency of His children, it has been permitted.

Our pioneer ancestors believed they showed their faith in Christ through obedience to the Principle, much as we now believe we show our faith in Christ through obedience to the precepts of men we are taught.

And thus we see the fulfilment of the prophecy:

   Because of pride,
   and wickedness,
   and abominations,
   and whoredoms,
   they have all gone astray
   save it be a few,
   who are the humble followers
   of Christ; nevertheless,
   they are led, that in many
   instances they do err
   because they are taught
   by the precepts of men.

(2 Nephi 28:14)

There is so much we have yet to learn; I wish we could gaze into heaven for five minutes and share what we see; our desire for greater light and truth is nowhere more pressing than in matters of the heart, and love, and family.

Christ said that His disciples would be known by their love (John 13:35), and our own has fallen short too many times.

I wish I could love like Christ.  I wish my heart could bleed like His, whose drops watered the parched lilies in Gethsemane so they might bloom beneath the safety of the canopy of His body, finally freed from fear and grief.

"Dear God, our Father and Refuge, we call upon you and cry: heal our brokenness; make our sinews to sing with redeeming love; let our marrow remember your lovingkindness.  Endow us with the music of the morning stars; encircle us in the arms of your everlasting love.  Forgive us the hardness of our hearts and take away our sins; remove from our loins and lineage the iniquity of past and present wrongs; pardon our ancestors and sow grace throughout the generations that have borne your name; seal thy name upon our brow so our mind may share your thoughts, and cut thy word into our bosom so we may be filled with your compassion.  We love you; we love because of you; help us to love like you.  We call you Blessed and Wonderful, Lover and Lord, now and forever.  Amen."

Desert Rose

Heat has fallen away;
   coolness has returned to the desert.
I am as a finch bathing in a desert spring
   ancient as the sea, dark as an owl
risen with the moon.
 
Look! the moon transforms the night
   into the garden of our Lord;
her face glistens with pleasure.
   Here the lesser-light is honored;
her renown spreads, spiraling
   outward from our refuge
to embrace the rushes and sawgrass,
   the sedges and pickerelweed.
  
The noonday glare is forgotten.
   The waters stir with song and lyre;
the evening stars sing,
   welcoming all to gather round
the well of Jehovah.
   The morrow will come
(as it ever will)
   but this night we take no thought
for the morrow.

None shall thirst again;
   wine flows as sweetly as spring
bringing warmth to mountain snow;
   my Lord's wine fills the dry places
where drought once etched its name
   and washes away the grief of day.
For none looked for floods
   where cactus water was precious,
where fire burned sand and sky:
   none but those who waited upon the Lord.
 
The smell of gladness like cinnamon
   fills the night; lilies and spikenard
make our hearts to rejoice―
   for He is here! here
His presence fills the garden
   as a rose
whose petals hold their perfume
   forever and ever.​