this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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The Jehovah's Witnesses have this problem too. Their workaround is that "their [anonymous] governing body has had new revelations and insights" so now it works like this.
For a cult to survive the death of its founder, it needs to be picked up by a strong right-have man who can reform it into something that'll survive - but not in a way that will alienate all the followers.
I suspect the Mormans do something similar. Do they have a patriarch or use an elder counsel?
The mormons have a living prophet, who personally receives revelations with a 'direct line' to God somewhat like the catholic pope.
They also believe that these rules and their changes are necessary, as God sets the rules required to spread his faith. Polygamy is usually thought of (for lds) as a temporary act used to grow his re-created church via birth. Once it became a detriment, he saw it fit to disallow.
It's a powerful idea that makes it impossible for a person to see contradictions in a constantly changing religion. Any contradictions are simply God working in mysterious ways. He said what was needed, and now something new is required
I've never heard that argument. I've instead heard that there were more women than men, so plural marriage was a way to provide for those women since men were the primary breadwinners. The men who engaged in plural marriage were generally well off, and many didn't actually have children with all of their wives.
I've heard that too, though moreso from people giving explanations for articles, videos, and history/history adjacent books. Most of the time when talking to individuals in the church I've gotten the answer of growing the church. This mostly from missionaries and the local bishop.
I have family who're mormon and grew up in the church so what I've stated in regards to polygamy is anecdotal. Arguments or beliefs may vary defendant on location.
The real reason I'd argue is due to joseph smith wanting to bang other wemon. The revelation came in the form of God wanting him to take another specific woman as his wife, and that his current wife must accept it.
Missionaries are all 18-21-ish, and they get trained for like a month. There's no way that's an official answer in any way, they're just repeating whatever some other missionary told them. I guess it kinda makes sense with the "multiply and replenish the earth" line from Genesis 1:28, but that's probably as far as the thought process goes.
And yeah, the actual origins are probably somewhere between the more official "take care of women" line and "wanted to bang women" line. But the fact remains that many men didn't bang all of their wives (or so they claim), so it's probably a mix of both.
Anonymous governing body you say 🤬☠️👁️📿🙏🤣
Eh, while the issues are correct, I don't recall the governing body being that anonymous; they just didn't talk about it much in meetings. The body is listed on their website: https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/governing-body-jw-helpers/
No women of course, and not all had pictures so I can't be sure, but didn't see much people of color, though I do recall some in the past.
In my experience growing up in the cult, one of the things that sorta helped it not feel like one was the lack of deifying the founder and body. While they do teach their own history of it, it wasn't a large part of the worship. There's lots of other cult hints like isolationist and punishment by group shunning and stuff of course.