Did HE Really Say That?!?!

I bear my testimony that [polygamy] is a necessity, and that the Church of Christ in its fullness never existed without it. Where you have the eternity of marriage you are bound to have plural marriage; bound to; and it is one of the marks of the Church of Jesus Christ in its sealing ordinances. “Whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven.” We know how sensitive the Prophet Joseph was to introduce this principle. He knew the feeling that was against it. It had been taught from the days of heathen Rome down to the present time that a man should have but one wife, which has resulted in the prostitution of many of the fair daughters of Eve as mistresses. Here we have too much love for women to see them trampled in the dust. Here we have too much respect for unborn spirits to have them come into the world branded as bastards, illegitimate, in shame, without knowing their fathers. The children we have are legitimate. They are our own. We honor them and our wives. Our children are given unto us of God, for our wives are given to us of God. We never should have thought of practicing this principle [plural marriage] if God had not revealed it from the heavens and commanded it, and we must stand by it and by every principle that He has revealed.

Apostle George Teasdale (b.1831, d.1907), Journal of Discourses, v. 25, pp. 19-22

Okay, so let’s break this comment down and examine it, bit by bit.

I bear my testimony that [polygamy] is a necessity, and that the Church of Christ in its fullness never existed without it.

Please show me from Scripture and from history where polygamy was a common practice in the Christian church — after all, Teasdale said the Church never existed without it!

Where you have the eternity of marriage you are bound to have plural marriage; bound to; and it is one of the marks of the Church of Jesus Christ in its sealing ordinances.

First, no place in Scripture will you find any mention of eternal marriage, rather Jesus even stated that there will be no marriage in heaven (Matthew 22:30).  “Sealing” people in marriage is a Mormon ritual made up by Joseph Smith.

“Whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven.”

A typical abuse of Scripture by Mormon leadership.  This passage has to do with church discipline, not “sealing” people together for eternity. (Matthew 16:19; 18:18)

We know how sensitive the Prophet Joseph was to introduce this principle. He knew the feeling that was against it.

Yes, he was “sensitive,” about it because he was afraid this invention to cover his adulterous affairs wouldn’t fly with his wife.  The whole reason for LDS polygamy was the insatiable sexual appetite of Joseph Smith, and the other men he conned into it.

It had been taught from the days of heathen Rome down to the present time that a man should have but one wife, which has resulted in the prostitution of many of the fair daughters of Eve as mistresses. Here we have too much love for women to see them trampled in the dust.

This is one of the biggest lies of the whole defense of polygamy. Monogamy is not what caused prostitution; that is one of the most fallacious claims in this particular citation.  If they really loved the women, they wouldn’t subject them to such an institution. All one has to do is to read the many testimonies by women who have lived in a polygamous household. Normal women don’t want to share their men.  Another thing regarding abusing women — Joseph Smiths many wives included many who were already married to someone else!

Here we have too much respect for unborn spirits to have them come into the world branded as bastards, illegitimate, in shame, without knowing their fathers. The children we have are legitimate. They are our own. We honor them and our wives. Our children are given unto us of God, for our wives are given to us of God.

First, there are no such things as “unborn spirits.” This wasn’t even originally a part of Mormon doctrine! But supposing these spirits really did exist, why would they be born without knowing their fathers?  And since Smith took many other men’s wives for his own at the same time, how would any woman who became pregnant know for sure that the child’s father was from her husband or from Smith?

God did NOT give polygamy to the Mormons, nor anyone else.  God’s view of polygamy should be quite clear—it is unholy. To claim that God commanded polygamy is blasphemous.