If I could ask them one question . . . Come Follow Me, Lesson 11

[annotatedbom]

For Come Follow Me, lesson 11, March 9-15, Jacob 1-4

If I wanted to encourage thought and try to understand devout believers better, I might ask:
"Polygamy, which way is it?"

Click here to see the Things to consider for this lesson.

Enjoy!
A-Bom

[Hagoth]

Your bullet points are excellent. This one is really tough to weasel your way around if you look at the facts. Everything I was taught about the reasons for polygamy was wrong, and even those that might have applied to Brigham Young would not have applied to Joseph Smith, who started the whole ball rolling.

The Gospel Topics essay just messes things up further by making it impossible to deny that Joseph was the author of the whole thing. The best option for a faithful person is to take the Snuffer route and deny Joseph's polygamy, but if you believe in the current Salt Lake leadership you are stuck with the admissions of the essay (assuming that you would ever read such anti-mormon literature).

[Corsair]

I prophesy that the overwhelming majority of Sunday School classes will avoid this point as much as possible. The few that do mention it immediately jump to 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.

That allows all of the 19th century plural marriage.

[annotatedbom]

This one is really tough to weasel your way around if you look at the facts. Everything I was taught about the reasons for polygamy was wrong, and even those that might have applied to Brigham Young would not have applied to Joseph Smith, who started the whole ball rolling.

Yeah, especially the Jacob 2:24 vs D&C 132:39 contradiction. If I had noticed that as a devout believer, I don't think I could have resolved it to my satisfaction. I think the cog dis would have sat heavily on my shelf. Might have brought it down a little sooner.

[Hagoth]

This one is really tough to weasel your way around if you look at the facts. Everything I was taught about the reasons for polygamy was wrong, and even those that might have applied to Brigham Young would not have applied to Joseph Smith, who started the whole ball rolling.

Yeah, especially the Jacob 2:24 vs D&C 132:39 contradiction. If I had noticed that as a devout believer, I don't think I could have resolved it to my satisfaction. I think the cog dis would have sat heavily on my shelf. Might have brought it down a little sooner.

Here's another "if I could ask them one question" question:

Question: What happened between Joseph Smith's 1829 BoM translation in which God renounced David and Solomon's polygamy as sinful and Joseph's 1843 revelation in which God sanctioned, even commanded, that same polygamy?

Answer: 40 wives!

[Hermey]

Answer: 40 wives!

Oooof!! Nailed it. Or maybe Joseph nailed it - again and again and again and again......