Mormon Dilemmas 9
Mormon Dilemmas 9
While doing some research on a project for the ministry it dawned on me that the Mormon Church contradicted itself in the Articles of Faith; in particular #12. It says;
“We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.”
The LDS Church proudly cries out their “poor” prophets had to go underground while living in polygamous marriages in order to evade the feds on charges of co-habitation and violating the Edmund-Tucker Act of 1887. One example is Wilford Woodruff and his first wife Phoebe.
http://lifeafterministry.wordpress.com/2011/05/29/polygamy-and-mormon-church-leaders-3-2
Now we can call this a dilemma, but really the only dilemma there is in this kind of thing is trying to figure out how they justified the lies to the government while proclaiming they’re picked on and at the same time telling everyone they obey the laws of the land.
My, what a tangled web we weave…
First of all, the laws they were not obeying were not constitutional, and truly remain unconstitutional. This is the justification.
Second, many of them were being charged for acts that had occured before the law was passed; another violation of the constitution.
Third, the 12th article of faith is not a blind following of secular leaders, but an acceptance that such government is necessary, and that we uphold such a government as long as that government is not oppressive of tyrannical.
After all, the American Revolution seems to go contrary to the 12th article, and yet it is hailed in the church as a great cause of freedom in which God himself intervened on behalf of the Americans.
By giving a rigid understanding of this article you are misrepresenting the actual doctrine of the church.