First, some pre-amble:
The LDS Church's section summary for Dandamp;C 35 begins with "Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon, at or near Fayette, New York, December 1830." (see the link below, which shows the summary when you click on it)
Dandamp;C 35:1 says: "Listen to the voice of the Lord your God, even Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, whose course is one eternal round, the same today as yesterday, and forever." (ref. http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/35/1#... emphasis in bold is mine).
So, what did 'the Lord' 'reveal' to his ancient American prophet Jacob "yesterday" (i.e., "Between 544 and 421 B.C."; ref. http://scriptures.lds.org/en/jacob/2), as per Jacob 2:24?
"Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord." (ref. http://scriptures.lds.org/en/jacob/2/...)
For lurking Latter-day Saints (hello!) and those newer to the wonderful world of rational post-Mormonism (plus the regulars, of course!), "The 1835 and 1844 versions of Doctrine and Covenants (Dandamp;C) prohibited polygamy and declared that monogamy was the only acceptable form of marriage:
"Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except in the case of death, when either is at liberty to marry again"'
(ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_m... also - see reference no. 7)
From another Wiki entry:
"...the 1835 edition of the 101st Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, written before the doctrine of plural marriage began to be practiced, publicly condemned polygamy. This scripture was used by John Taylor in 1850 to quash Mormon polygamy rumors in Liverpool, England." (ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy...).
According to the LDS Church's online genealogy record for John Taylor at FamilySearch.org, by 1850 he had seven wives back in the U.S., so he was lying as missionaries to potential converts! (Why am I not surprised?!)
When JS 'received' the 'revelation' that became section 35 of the Dandamp;C, he had only one wife: Emma.
Keep in mind what "the same today as yesterday, and forever" Lord God Almighty revealed to the ancient American prophet Jacob (according to the BoM) about David's and Solomon's practice of having "wives and concubines" being "abominable" as you read the polygamy 'revelation' that JS knew the "doctrines and principles" of and wrote down on July 12, 1843 that became Dandamp;C 132. Verse 1 says:
"Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines–" (emphasis in bold is mine)
Dictionary.com defines the verb, "justify" as "validate" and "excuse".
So, what changed between 1830, when the Book of Mormon was first published and the 'revelation' that became Dandamp;C 35 was written, to 1835 (the year in which JS secretly made servant girl Fanny Alger his first plural wife, as per LDS Church online genealogical data for her) to July 1843, when 'the Lord' seemingly does a 180/about-face-total-reversal on polygamy and informs JS that having "wives and concubines" was OK?
Joseph Smith became increasingly absorbed with his obsession about polygamy and made more and more women and younger and younger girls his plural wives to the point where his abusive, hurtful and humiliating behavior cost him his life.
Regarding liar John Taylor, who became the third president of the Mormon Church in 1880, an interesting historical fact that I didn't know until today was he reportedly received a 'revelation' in 1886 that polygamy would be permanent (despite the persecution of the church and polygamist Mormons by the US government) that was rejected by a subsequent First Presidency.
"For two and a half years, Taylor presided over the church from exile. During this time, he received the 1886 Revelation, which restated the permanence of the commandment to practice plural marriage; the validity of this revelation is rejected by the LDS Church but it is used by Mormon fundamentalists to justify the continued practice of polygamy.” (ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tay...)
Yet more historical truth that the chronically dishonest LDS Church keeps from members and potential converts.
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