TheTanakas

Utah Lighthouse Ministry remains online and offers digitized books. It has become a physical book store on steroids.

How do you understand Doctrine and Covenants 132:37? "God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife. And why did she do it? Because this was the law; and from Hagar sprang many people. This, therefore, was fulfilling, among other things, the promises". What is the purpose of many of God's servants (where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses are specifically named) having many wives and concubines like the opening verse in that section says?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the FLDS believe polygamy was instituted by God. If not, we are moving away from it being a big point of disagreement to landing on apostasy; by uttering a false revelation under the pretext of "Thus Saith the Lord".

If you have 9 wives, you could theoretically have 9 children in the first year, assuming one child per pregnancy. One wife, typically one child per pregnancy. So, more wives means "more seed". Throw in triplets and quadruplets and then you have "much seed".

He is right. The spiritual wife doctrine did not originate with him. Polygamy originated with that D&C 132 revelation the church believes came from God.

Maybe "more seed" is the appropriate term to use.

Thank you. It was a lot of material. The end stipulates it was written by a faithful sister member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But if she is right, then many LDS leaders are apostate based on what they have written about the history of polygamy. So she could not possibly sustain even the current leaders.

I had some questions on this section of the Come Follow Me manual. It deals with Jacob chapters 1 to 4. While there is a reference to "Jacob 2:22–35; 3:10–12 God delights in chastity", there is no mention of polygamy. This is unlike the 2020 version which includes a little blurb about it on page 91. There it states "Note that Jacob also addressed the practice of having more than one wife. What do you find in Jacob 2:23-30 that helps you understand why the Lord has, in limited situations, commanded His people to practice plural marriage? " The only answer to this question I could find from reading the eight verses is mentioned in verse 30 - "For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things". I find an example in Doctrine and Covenants 132:34-35 where God is said to have commanded someone to practice plural marriage - Abraham with Hagar. Verse 37 expands it further by saying Abraham received concubines and they bore him children. "God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife. And why did she do it? Because this was the law; and from Hagar sprang many people. This, therefore, was fulfilling, among other things, the promises". Doctrine and Covenants 132:1 even says Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses also had many wives and concubines. Verse 38 expands this further to include many others of God's servants from the beginning of creation until the time the revelation was given (1843). Apart from a few LDS leaders that entered into plural marriage (with wives), I can't find any mention of them taking many concubines. I don't recall seeing many descendants from LDS leaders who engaged with it either. Was it commanded to some Latter-day leaders for some other purpose than raising up much seed? How about for the early New Testament leaders? With all the wars mentioned in the Book of Mormon where the male soldiers were being killed, I couldn't find a better reason for the need to "raise up seed unto God" and yet no Book of Mormon character was commanded to have many wives and concubines. Why is that?

This analysis covers both aspects. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/the-hardening-of-pharoahs-heart/

In addition to what @Analytics posted here, I would speculate the church also has an undisclosed amount in gold and silver. Cash and stocks won't help much if there's a significant financial crisis. If the LDS investors are savvy, let's throw in some BTC and ETH too.

Utah’s law also exempts clergy from reporting information about abuse obtained through private confessions. They need to get rid of that too.

Mosiah 16:3 explains it well. "For they are carnal and devilish, and the devil has power over them; yea, even that old serpent that did beguile our first parents, which was the cause of their fall; which was the cause of all mankind becoming carnal, sensual, devilish, knowing evil from good, subjecting themselves to the devil".

In that case, non-temple-going Latter-day Saints would be viewed as the outsiders; who are forbidden these sacred/secret teachings.

Right. It would be depressing if people were to be placed in the group of the damned, with no hope of having eternal increase and living with Heavenly Father for eternity.

Why did the church make this significant removal from the "Introductory Pages of the Book of Mormon"? Does this mean the Book of Mormon is no longer the best book to understand the plan of salvation? This used to be in the 2020 version. The plan of salvation is Heavenly Father’s plan to help His children become exalted, as He is, and experience the joy He feels (see 2 Nephi 2:25–26). If you want to understand the plan of salvation, there’s no better book to read than the Book of Mormon. The 2024 version's pdf is here.

If we solely take that verse without considering Matthew 10:27, then we would never be preaching to Muslims.

Then we have this in Matthew 10:27. "What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops".

The Honesty chapter of Gospel Principles says "There are many other forms of lying. When we speak untruths, we are guilty of lying. We can also intentionally deceive others by a gesture or a look, by silence, or by telling only part of the truth. Whenever we lead people in any way to believe something that is not true, we are not being honest". As for the incident about Abraham deceiving the Egyptians, the Pearl of Great Price says it was actually God who initiated the deception when he told Abraham to convey to Sarah to lie to the Egyptians and say "I am his sister, not his wife" (Abraham 2:22-25).

I would offer that glass ball as a burnt offering to the Lord. If you can't generate enough heat to melt it, then a sledgehammer is another good option.

Yes. Maybe heavenly parents have children too without the physical intimacy.

Were spirit children, in the premortal existence, created in God's image even though they had spirit bodies, which is made up of pure matter? I know. I have heard of that infamous video. I figure if a sexual union is not involved, then there's no need to consider one of the parents as a heavenly mother. It all depends if one believes being created in the image of God means having all the same body parts like a head, arms, and legs, etc. or if being created in the image of God involves something else.

Would you consider it offensive if heavenly parents really procreated in the same fashion as humans (who are created in their image)? Or maybe humans who are resurrected into the highest division of the celestial kingdom will be stripped of certain body parts because they are not needed.

The spirit children of heavenly Mother and Father. I assume they were procreated with some involvement of a heavenly female in a marriage relationship with her spouse.

Eternal increase is one reason I can think of. I figure sex, attraction, and love go part and parcel with having children. Unless physical sex is taboo in the CK.