Polygamy

In Jacob 2, Jacob condemns the people for having multiple wives. This makes me think about polygamy. Why did the Lord ask the early Saints to obey the law of polygamy? I don’t think we will ever know and it is okay for us not to know everything.

I had a teacher tell me that in this dispensation, we will not be able to gain a testimony about polygamy. Why is this? Think about when you gained a testimony of prayer or of tithing… my guess is the Lord didn’t just give you a testimony, but He had you pray and He had you pay your tithing. Through action, we are able to gain a testimony. But the Lord has not asked us to enter into multiple marriages, so we have no way of acting on this law and receiving a testimony of polygamy. That doesn’t mean that polygamy was a bad thing… we can gain a testimony that polygamy was a divinely inspired law at the time. If we gain a testimony of Joseph Smith as a prophet by reading the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants, we can have a testimony that the law of polygamy came from a prophet of the Lord for that dispensation.

I personally know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Lord asked the early Saints to practice the law of polygamy. I don’t know what the reason was… it could be to help grow the population, it could be an Abrahamic test, it could be part of the restoration. We won’t know for sure, but I won’t let it shake my testimony. I will focus on the “plainness” of the gospel, the things that are unchanging and clear: Heavenly Father loves us so He sent His son Jesus Christ to atone for our sins. And sometimes that all you need to know.