Jacob Chapter 2 and D&C Chapter 132

After her eleven year marriage ended in divorce, my Mother, LaJuana Cox, raised my two sisters, my brother and I as a single parent. Although barely nine years old when these struggles began, I was aware of the pressure my Mother was under raising four kids alone. There were no jobs beneath her (including bar-maid), she worked anywhere she could to support us. She eventually landed good pay in a profession few women were working and none were welcome. Her father was a heavy equipment operator, her mother drove bus in Salt Lake City, her brothers, sister, and former husband, all drove semi’s and heavy equipment. She picked up these skills as well and challenged the gender stereotype by proving herself in a man’s world. Mom worked decades wrangling huge equipment in hazardous conditions, eventually trading the big trucks for driving limousines in Las Vegas.

Every woman in my life, Grandmothers, Mother, Wife, Sisters, and Daughters have shaped the lenses through which I view the world. I am under the influence of strong women who carry more responsibilities than average women. I have always known I am not superior to them; oh sometimes they ask me to open a jar or lift something heavy, but my attributes are no greater than theirs, in fact, they possess innate attributes that I and most men struggle with (pure hearts, self-sacrificing, and deeply loving).

Unfortunately, women in this world are still suffering oppression from unrighteously dominating men. The Scriptures explain that God loves His Daughters and condemns unrighteous dominion, especially by men claiming to have God’s Authority (a/k/a Priesthood; ref. D&C 121: 34-46). Probably the most egregious manner some religious men have abused the Daughters of God is by convincing women that God is a polygamist. 

Consider what God said to the whoring Nephites in Jacob Chapter 2:

31 For behold, I, the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people in the land of Jerusalem, yea, and in all the lands of my people, because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands.

32 And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem, shall come up unto me against the men of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts.

33 For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit them with a sore curse, even unto destruction; for they shall not commit whoredoms, like unto them of old, saith the Lord of Hosts.

Then Jacob speaks:

34 And now behold, my brethren, ye know that these commandments were given to our father, Lehi; wherefore, ye have known them before; and ye have come unto great condemnation; for ye have done these things which ye ought not to have done.

35 Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds.

I was taught the justification for plural marriage in the early LDS church is based on two sources, Jacob 2: verse 30 and D&C Chapter 132. LDS lesson manuals teach the Lord commanded Joseph Smith to institute plural marriage apparently to “increase seed unto the Lord”;

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 now believe verse 30 is not interpreted correctly and has caused hundreds of thousands of women and children to be pierced with deep wounds. Read one of the best investigations of Jacob 2 I’ve found and see for yourself.

The following verse was standing doctrine on Marriage for the last seven years of Joseph Smith's life:

D&C 101: 4 ... Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again. 

According to an official essay by the LDS church, Joseph was secretly marrying women (some as young as 14) and having sex with most of them. If God commanded Joseph and others to live this "higher law", why was Joseph publishing and saying he wasn't doing this when he was? Why is this "higher law" surrounded by lying? Why did this "higher law" conflict with the laws of the land? Why, with the commandments and blessings of God, didn't the "Kingdom of God on the Earth" (a/k/a The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) secure sovereignty from the United States of America?

It took 32 years for Brigham Young to replace the original D&C Chapter 101 with Chapter 132. During the same time frame brother Brigham received only one canonized revelation of his own (D&C 136). What happened to "Thus saith the Lord" revelations since the beginning of Mormonism? Here's excellent research on the subject.

Even though scripture establishes "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established" (2 Corinthians 13: 1; also ref. 2 Nephi 11: 3), modern LDS church leaders would have us accept an 1874 Affidavit from William Clayton (sole witness) that Joseph Smith dictated to Clayton the purported "celestial marriage revelation" (canonized in 1876 as D&C Chapter 132). The other two witnesses (Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith) were deceased for 30 years when these words were put into their mouths by William Clayton; whom shall I believe?

Thankfully, I learned from scripture that truth is discerned through prayerful supplication. I've read many journals of pioneer men and women who testify their belief in plural marriage came by way of their parents and church leaders. It seems natural to trust that someone else is "right" rather than believe we will obtain truth internally, if we patiently trust in the Lord and not our own understanding (ref. Psalm 146: 3; Jeremiah 17: 5; 2 Nephi 4: 34-35).

William Clayton's famous hymn "Come, Come ye Saints" takes on a different meaning for me when his version of the words "... all is well ... all is well" is compared with the warning of 2 Nephi 28: 21.

Brother Clayton's hymn and Affidavit has effectively pacified generations of Latter-day Saints; as for me, thanks Brother Clayton, but no thanks.