Would You Accept Polyandry?

[clbent04]

What if the Lord revealed the practice of Polyandry to Joseph Smith rather than Polygamy?

To the men, would you embrace sharing one wife with your brother husbands?

To the women, would you embrace being married to more than one man?

Even if you and your wife didn't openly practice polyandry, would you stand behind a church that accepted the concept as an eternally true doctrine for those worthy and willing?

Just trying to put myself in the shoes of some of the very faithful women in the early days of the restored church.

Edited August 23, 2017 by clbent04

[The Folk Prophet]

I would accept anything the Lord commanded.

[Grunt]

If martians came to earth in Yugos, would marshmallows turn purple?

[Vort]

The question is roughly equivalent to saying, "If the Lord commanded homosexual marriage, would you accept it?" I mean, on the one hand, we must submit to anything and everything that the Lord sees fit to inflict upon us. And we know that obedience to the Lord always brings blessings, blessings which we can gain in no other way, such that the "inflicted" trials themselves become blessings, or at least gateways to blessings.

On the other hand, such a thing would be explicitly contrary to previous instruction, scripturally and through modern prophets. I realize that plural marriage was an enormous trial for the Saints in the early and mid-nineteenth century, and that more than a few of our most stalwart brethren and sisters (e.g. David Whitmer) apostatized over the practice. But at least those early Saints had ancient historical records of divine sanction of the practice to fall back on. There is no such record sanctioning polyandry (or homosexuality).

Bottom line: If the Lord commanded it through his prophet and I received a witness that I was to obey, I would obey -- or at least if I disobeyed, I would do so with the open acknowledgement that I was transgressing the Lord's will because of my own weakness and squeamishness.

[Vort]

2 minutes ago, Grunt said:

If martians came to earth in Yugos, would marshmallows turn purple?

I, too, am struck by the seeming "angels-dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin" nature of this question.

[Just_A_Guy]

For some ill-defined reason I'm abnormally willing to deal in hypotheticals on this issue:

I don't know how you make polyandry work theologically.  But assuming you could:  on both an emotional and a practical level, I'd be okay with it.  I'd certainly have fewer qualms about living in a polyandrous marriage than about living in a polygamous one.  My biggest concern about the Church practicing it would be whether, in such an arrangement, all four of my daughters would be able to find husbands.

Edited August 23, 2017 by Just_A_Guy

[clbent04]

1 minute ago, Just_A_Guy said:

For some ill-defined reason I'm abnormally willing to deal in hypotheticals on this issue:

Seems reasonable to me to flip the coin to consider the perspective of the sisters of the church

[Vort]

2 minutes ago, clbent04 said:

Seems reasonable to me to flip the coin to consider the perspective of the sisters of the church

It does seem reasonable, but frankly, it doesn't work that way. Men and women are different. Polyandry would be a disaster from many perspectives, not the least of which is establishing paternity, especially in a pre-modern society. Ironically, I expect men in general would have somewhat less of a problem with "sharing" a wife, as long as they each received sufficient, um, attention from the wife.

My previous bishop told us that when he had husbands who confessed to pornography use, the wives would invariably be emotionally shattered and devastated. But when he had wives confess to porn usage, as he did several times, the husbands were more like, "Oh, you shouldn't do that. Probably should stop." It seems that sex is simultaneously much more intimate to a man's psyche than a woman's yet much less demanding of exclusivity. Go figure.

[Grunt]

2 minutes ago, Vort said:

My previous bishop told us that when he had husbands who confessed to pornography use, the wives would invariably be emotionally shattered and devastated. But when he had wives confess to porn usage, as he did several times, the husbands were more like, "Oh, you shouldn't do that. Probably should stop." It seems that sex is simultaneously much more intimate to a man's psyche than a woman's yet much less demanding of exclusivity. Go figure.

 

Here I go with a tangent again.  I think men would NEVER share a wife.  At least not an alpha male.  Maybe a beta.  I believe the reason they don't care as much about porn is that most men I know just have a nonchalant attitude towards it.  I believe many men can separate sex from affection.  When they view porn they don't think of it as cheating because there is no emotion involved.  

[chasingthewind]

1 hour ago, clbent04 said:

What if the Lord revealed the practice of Polyandry to Joseph Smith rather than Polygamy?

I just thought I'd point out polyandry is a form of polygamy...

Also, it is my understanding that God commanded the practice of plural marriage primarily to 'raise up seed'.  This explains why He commanded the practice of polygyny instead of polyandry since you can't have more children with a plurality of husbands.  So polyandry just seems like a non-issue.  That being said, I would still do it if God commanded it.

Edited August 23, 2017 by chasingthewind

[Guest MormonGator]

@Vort is absolutely right, men and women are different when it comes to sex, for sure. If you enter a fraternity with an attractive women and say, "Who wants to sleep with her right now, in your room-no strings attached and you'll never see her again?" There will be a line at the door, 50 guys waiting. 

If you enter a sorority with an attractive guy and say the same thing "Ladies, who wants to sleep with him, right now, in your room-no strings attached and you'll never see him again?" Oh sure, you'll get some women to line up at the door, certainly-but most actually won't. That's why being "friends with benefits" only works for the guy. Most women (again, most, not every single female in the world) actually want some kind of commitment. 

Edited August 23, 2017 by MormonGator

[Snigmorder]

1 minute ago, chasingthewind said:

I just thought I'd point out polyandry is a form of polygamy...

Also, it is my understanding that God commanded the practice of plural marriage primarily to 'raise up seed'.  This explains why He commanded the practice of polygyny instead of polyandry since you can't have more children with a plurality of husbands.  So polyandry is just a non-issue.

For some reason polygamy and polygany are synonyms. 

[Vort]

1 minute ago, chasingthewind said:

This explains why He commanded the practice of polygyny instead of polyandry since you can't have more children with a plurality of husbands.

Actually, having a plurality of wives does not increase per-woman fertility, either. My best guess is that the father's dedication to the gospel, more than the mother's, tends to be reflected in the children's Church participation, and there tend to be fewer faithful men than women in the kingdom of God. So plural marriage might allow more children to be born to the faithful men, thus increasing the faithful seed. But as the southern Utah polygamous communities show, you'd darn well better have a good variety of men acting as stud stock, or you will doom your future generations to all sorts of genetic horror -- not from polygamy, but from inbreeding.

[Snigmorder]

I would certainly be confused. Much like homosexual marriage, polyandry makes no sense and has no function.

 

[clbent04]

1 hour ago, Vort said:

It does seem reasonable, but frankly, it doesn't work that way.

The media portrays women as always being affected by jealousy.  Men are portrayed as not being affected as much.  I don't see any reason why one sex would be more jealous than the other in situations that would cause jealously.  Point being, polyandry would be just as difficult for men to follow, if not more, considering men have a greater natural tendency to be in positions of leadership, to be the man of his own household. Psychologically, I think practicing polyandry would strip a man from part of his manhood

Edited August 24, 2017 by clbent04

[NeuroTypical]

39 minutes ago, Grunt said:

Here I go with a tangent again.  I think men would NEVER share a wife.  At least not an alpha male.  Maybe a beta.

Alpha males and beta males?  Are these like commonly understood and accepted terms now?  I've mainly encountered them in sarcastic memes making fun of dudes like this:

Edited August 24, 2017 by NeuroTypical

[Guest MormonGator]

2 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

Alpha males and beta males?  Are these like commonly understood and accepted terms now?  I've mainly encountered them in sarcastic memes making fun of dudes like this guy:

I'm surprised you let someone take a picture of you at that march @NeuroTypical

And I think @mirkwood wants his shirt back. 

Edited August 24, 2017 by MormonGator

[mirkwood]

24 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

I'm surprised you let someone take a picture of you at that march @NeuroTypical

And I think @mirkwood wants his shirt back. 

I don't any shirts that Gene Simmons has worn.

[SpiritDragon]

1 hour ago, mirkwood said:

I don't any shirts that Gene Simmons has worn.

Judging by the shirt I think you have Gene and Richard confused this time  That shirt has definitely been worn for sweating to the oldies.

[Jojo Bags]

3 hours ago, Grunt said:

If martians came to earth in Yugos, would marshmallows turn purple?

This explains why I feel like I don't belong on this planet!  I must be a Martian. I simply must be.  I owned a Yugo in the early 90's until it died of unnatural causes.

[Rob Osborn]

5 hours ago, clbent04 said:

What if the Lord revealed the practice of Polyandry to Joseph Smith rather than Polygamy?

To the men, would you embrace sharing one wife with your brother husbands?

To the women, would you embrace being married to more than one man?

Even if you and your wife didn't openly practice polyandry, would you stand behind a church that accepted the concept as an eternally true doctrine for those worthy and willing?

Just trying to put myself in the shoes of some of the very faithful women in the early days of the restored church.

Seeings how the number one reason for polygamy is to raise up seed unto the Lord, polyandry does the exact opposite. We might as well ask- "What if God was really the devil?"

Im sure there is jealousy with polygamy, but if one gets their mind in the right place then their shouldnt be any jealousy at all. Men and womens brains are wired differently. Not sure it could ever be compared as our emotions and drives are triggered by different factors.

[Guest]

16 hours ago, Grunt said:

If martians came to earth in Yugos, would marshmallows turn purple?

No, Yugos were yellow.  So, the Martians would turn everything teal.

[zil]

36 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

No, Yugos were yellow.  So, the Martians would turn everything teal.

Marshmallows are white (unless someone added color).  If Yugos were yellow, then yellow Yugos + white marshmallows would give us pastel yellow marshYugos.

[Guest]

Just now, zil said:

Marshmallows are white (unless someone added color).  If Yugos were yellow, then yellow Yugos + white marshmallows would give us pastel yellow marshYugos.

Oh, yeah???  Well, Han shot first.  So, the Martian marshmallow would be in the shape of a Christmas tree and flavored like rainbow ice cream from the mystic end of a unicorn.

[Grunt]

3 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Oh, yeah???  Well, Han shot first. 

Blasphemer