Members freaking out at the thought of polygamy again

[_mms]

So, with this Gay marriage thing front and center, I have enjoyed raising the following with some member friends:

Me:

"So, maybe once this gay marriage thing catches on, people will see that the Church should not have been stopped from practicing its view of what marriage should be, and the FLDS should be able to practice their view, etc. and polygamy will become legal. Then, because it is still doctrine, the Church might bring it back. What do you think?"

Them:

"Why did you have to ruin my day like that? I am sick to my stomach. No, they can't do that. No, no way. It can't happen." and like comments.

Then I tell them to read the First Presidency Message for June about not picking and choosing doctrines we will or won't accept, but accepting all that comes from the prophet. More groans.

Somehow, members are able to ignore the reality of what IS OUR DOCTRINE while we are not required to practice it. If the doctrine was to be practiced, many think it would be a hell on earth. Possibly like Mitt Romney, who said he could not imagine anything more horrible (or something to that effect).

Shouldn't we long for the right to practice such a high and righteous form of marriage? Why the whining?

[_rcrocket]

I think a hypothetical attack which mocks the Church is no better than a straw man argument. Wouldn't you agree?

Why haven't you resigned from the Church?

[_Scottie]

I think a hypothetical attack which mocks the Church is no better than a straw man argument. Wouldn't you agree?

Why haven't you resigned from the Church?

Until gay marriage is approved, isn't it just as hypothetical? Yet it is attacked daily!

[_asbestosman]

The government had the right to make polygamy illegal back in the day and the church members have the right to vote to keep gay marriage illegal.

The church will not start practicing polygamy as it once did any time soon. The church does not do it in lands where it is legal.

[_Jason Bourne]

Not going to happen. The Church is not going to bring back polygamy even if it becomes legal. It would put the church too much outside the social norm and destroy the all American family values the Church preaches and teaches and has of years and years. Missionary work would grind to a halt for the most part and the Church would become more strange to people than some of you here think it already is to outsiders.

And if asked why since it is legal the Church does not restore polygamy the answer will be God commanded it then but he does not command it now. Till he does we do not do it.

[_Rollo Tomasi]

Why haven't you resigned from the Church?

Probably for the same reason you haven't: he/she chooses not to.

[_Jason Bourne]

I think a hypothetical attack which mocks the Church is no better than a straw man argument. Wouldn't you agree?

Why haven't you resigned from the Church?

How is this hypocritical. I have had discussions like this with LDS friends who brought up the issue. It comes up. we talk about lots of LDS things and sometime polygamy is one of those. Questions like "I wonder what the Church would do about polygamy if it become legal" is not strange to see brought up at all.

Recently in a HP meeting one brother asked why we do not hear more about Heavenly mother. One brother stated that it is because there is more than one Heavenly Mother and since we do not know which one is our mother we just don't talk about it. Two others chimed in and agreed and heavenly polygamy was then discussed at length. Given the Church teachings past and present on such things a discussion like this is not surprising at all.

[_asbestosman]

And if asked why since it is legal the Church does not restore polygamy the answer will be God commanded it then but he does not command it now. Till he does we do not do it.

That's the reason and not, not because it would stop missionary work or embarass the church's image of an all-american family.

[_TAK]

And if asked why since it is legal the Church does not restore polygamy the answer will be God commanded it then but he does not command it now. Till he does we do not do it.

That's the reason and not, not because it would stop missionary work or embarass the church's image of an all-american family.

So you think that if God re-instated polygamy it would not "stop missionary work or embarass the church's image of an all-american family" ??

[_asbestosman]

So you think that if God re-instated polygamy it would not "stop missionary work or embarass the church's image of an all-american family" ??

That's not what I said. I said that's not the reason the church won't reinstitute it. The reason the church won't reinstitute it is because God has commanded us not to do it.