Polygamy...Priesthood:
My ancestors were polygamists. Family legend states the beloved apostle kept one wife in favor and the other far away, barely visited.
I was exposed to a distaste and a disgust for polygamy early on. My mother defiantly stated she didn't care if God himself came down and told her to practice polygamy, she was not going to do it. I agreed. Why should I have to share my husband? As a Mormon woman, you spend your whole 20 years life looking for your Eternal Companion, and then you were expected to share? Not okay.
"Good thing we don't do that any more," I told my boyfriend B.
He paused. "You sure?"
I stared at him. "Of course. You'll get excommunicated if you do nowadays."
"But," he said slowly. "What about in Heaven? Can't a man be "sealed" to more than one wife? And a woman can't be "sealed" to more than one man? What would you call that?" He wondered.
I became upset. This was one of the final straws. A pin in a lock sliding into place.
What the hell was it?
Eternal polygamy? I railed against my Return Missionary friend. "What the hell? I've been tricked! How could I not have known? How could I not put the pieces together? Was I blind? Was I stupid? Explain it to me," I demanded. "Explain this bullshit to me."
He calmly quoted from Section 132.
"Really convenient," I spat. "Make Emma look like the bad one. The Evil Woman. Practice polygamy or be damned."
"Emily," RM said. "In the next life, we won't care. Why does it even matter? Why does it bother you? It's not that important."
"I care. It's important to me. This is bullshit (clearly my word of choice). I care now and I sure as hell would care then. I would never just "get over it." And to say, "Oh, no! We don't do that." Is a lie. It's a lie and you damn well know it."
Needless to say, this friend and I don't talk anymore. After I found out about Dusting the Feet, I attacked him. His missionary "Priesthood Power" was a symbol of everything wrong with the Church. Polygamy. Lies. Orwellian Ministry of Truth like historical revisions.
