Polygamy as practiced anciently
Topics
Summary: There is extensive, unequivocal evidence that polygamous relationships were condoned under various circumstances by biblical prophets, despite how uncomfortable this might make a modern Christian. Elder Orson Pratt was widely viewed as the victor in a three-day debate on this very point with Reverend John P. Newman, Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, in 1870.
Summary: A biblical prohibition under the Mosaic law prohibited polygamous marriages involving a mother and daughter: "Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time."
Leviticus 18꞉18. The law also prohibited one from marrying two sisters: "And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you."
Leviticus 20꞉14. Why, then, was Joseph Smith sealed to mothers, daughters and sisters? Did this not violate a biblical prohibition?
Summary: If polygamy was commanded of God to "raise seed," then why were Adam and Noah not commanded to practice polygamy?
