Defense of Truth

Excuse me a little bold language here, without meaning to be harsh, but firm: I have serious doubts as to the qualifications of the historians cited in the PBS special "the Mormons". The same guy who claimed that there was no archeological evidence either for the story of the Exodus or for the Book of Mormon (topic I dealt with here ), made the fantastic claim that the 1830s in America were a time of crisis for the nuclear family. After an hour on various Google searches, I can find no evidence to substantiate that claim. Gold rushes around that time period DID cause a number of families in the East to be more or less temporarily broken, but I don't believe census records on the number of households containing nuclear families reduced so drastically as to support the idea that Joseph Smith's insistence on the sealing of families could be reasonably seen as a reaction to it. And the other female historian makes the nonsensical claim that the question of the celestial s...

Okay, we're going to have to hit this polygamy issue several times to really put it to rest. Again, I have NOT thought this one all the way through yet, but my preliminary hypothesis goes something like this: Whatever God says is right, therefore, if He commands it, polygamy must be not only acceptable, but true, right, and good as a principle of eternal happiness. However, my understanding of HOW it might make one happy in the sense of bringing a durable, eternal joy, is severely lacking. I can demonstrate to you how the principle of love, marriage, and having children can bring joy, but I'm at a loss as soon as another wife steps into the picture. It is a principle that I am not just relieved, but ecstatic to know is not currently a principle mortals need concern themselves with. I've seen my share of polygamous families in Africa, and to the extent that such families are even functional (providing all individuals involved with the love and support it takes to fulfill the...