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Monday, June 20, 2011

"Sister Wives" Why choose Plural Marriage?

Photo: Dr. Rulon Clark Allred With His Wives and Children. Rulon Clark Allred is the Grandfather of both Christine Brown, Robyn's ex-husband David Preston Jessop, and he is also Kody Brown's 2nd Cousin once removed. Yes, the tree we're working on is gonna be good! I would assume Christine's grandmother and father are in the picture.


What Makes Women Want to Share the Same Husband?

The Brown family belongs to the Apostolic United Brethren Church, a Mormon fundamentalist church that believes in plural marriage. 

Being raised in a two parent home as well as having been married to one man, compels me to ask this question. Why would women want to share the same husband? Unless you have been raised in this belief, there probably won't be any rhyme or reason to this mentality. I have never entertained the idea of my husband "making the rounds" whenever he feels the need for a different woman. I find it pretty one-sided when a man feels that he can have any amount of wives, but a woman cannot have more than one husband. I really do not want more than one and can’t imagine living this way, or what the logical or moral reason is for doing so. It is disturbing to think that one man started this belief based on "messages" he received from stone reflections and an angel who visited him.

I do understand the fact that three of these wives were raised in polygamy and yet, all of them find it totally acceptable and normal. According to an essay from an anonymous plural wife excerpt from "Voices in Harmony: Contemporary Women Celebrate Plural Marriage", these are the religious reasons for a women to participate in polygamy.

She believes it is the non-option, high law of God that brings blessing upon her and her husband.
She believes that it is essential to live in a plural marriage in this life, not just in the future life, to obtain the promised rewards for doing so.
She believes that her plural marriage is the only kind of marriage that will continue on in eternity and that God and her sister wives require the same commitment.
She believes that a monogamous marriage falls short of the promised rewards and that God has granted her legitimate priesthood authority to practice plural marriage now.
She believes plural marriage is pure and holy, and that only persons with high moral standards can live it before God.
She believes plural marriage is one of the laws of God designed to help her achieve her full potential, including her rightful status as a goddess in conjunction with her husband as a god.
She believes that plural marriage is an eternal and necessary component of the religion established by the Prophet Joseph Smith and that it exists within a framework of personal covenants with God which bind individuals and families into a covenant people. Therefore, complying with the law of plural marriage will help prepare and qualify her to assist in the perpetuation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the establishment of God's Kingdom on the earth.
She believes that the rewards for living plural marriage within the above context are immense and worth the effort.
She believes that she is entitled to divine, personal direction throughout her life, and that such guidance is necessary to learn whether she is approved of God to live plural marriage and to help her select a husband. Each of these beliefs can be said to constitute the general operating foundation for most Fundamentalist Mormon women who embrace plural marriage.

The Fundamentalist Mormons consider plural procreation as sacred, not sinful, within marriage. Mutual affection and the desire for children are the focal points of intimacy. Each marriage is regarded as a separate, private relationship. Couple's intimacy is not to be shared in any way with other wives or with anyone else is considered inappropriate.

It is believed that if they practice enough loving devotion and obedience to all other laws of God, a plural family can become consistent, adaptable and nurturing environment that promotes fulfillment, security and growth. Because of this family environment, a plural marriage provides the best platform for development, enabling a woman to become the ultimate female: a wife, a mother, a queen, a priestess, a goddess, in every sense.

As the family learns to participate with God in the salvation of all His children, the wives are no longer mere recipients of blessings, but gradually become givers of blessings. To the Fundamentalist Mormon, the attainment of this type of faith is ultimate empowerment. It is interdependent patriarchy and matriarchy; one cannot exist without the other. It is a perfect union, a perfect balance of the eternal feminine and masculine.

Fundamentalist Mormons believe that the Prophet Joseph Smith's full religious intent was to establish a covenant society with plural marriages, but the modern Mormon church does not embrace this teaching and claim that the law was divinely repealed in 1890. The Mormon Church states there is no such thing as a "Mormon Fundamentalist."


Would you want to be in a plural marriage? Would you teach your daughters that is the only way to get into heaven? What do you think?

Photo and excerpts courtesy: http://www.squidoo.com/a-closer-look-at-sister-wives

23 comments:

  1. Can a woman truly make a free will choice to be a plural wife when her religion dictates that she must be a plural wife to enter the highest levels of heaven ? I don't think so. A fundamentalist Mormon woman must participate in polygamy or she is told that she will be damned. That is not a choice, that is blackmail.

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  2. I would not participate in polygamy. The women I have seen almost seemed brain washed. I don't think it's a healthy lifestyle for the wives or the children. The only one who benefits is the husband.

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  3. Hi! New to the blog. I love it.
    I read the other day of a blog of a young girl that got approached by a couple to go into Polygamy. She was 18, and it was well known in her CA community she was raped by her father. The couple made her an offer, she went to their priest, who said they look for "lost" girls like her. They don't take girls from a normal family. Her husband is good to her, but she has 3 other sister wives, and has had twins and a son in two years. They can wear what they want. She appears to be in the same type of church as the Browns. It's very sad. The girl thinks she's got the world, because she has a home. I hope they continue to take care of her.

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  4. Rulon Allred and his family at least look progressive considering the look of the Warren Jeffs group with the crazy hair and same dresses.

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  5. I am familiar with the blog you are discussing, Chantelle.
    It should be noted that "Megan" was exposed as a fraud in January 2010 by a group of individuals who noted that the ultrasound "Megan" posted of the "twin girls" that "Megan" was supposedly expecting was pilfered from the website of another couple expecting twins, and "Megan" could not even get her due dates straight. When "Megan" said the gynecologist told her the gender of both babies at 13 weeks based on an ultrasound image, "Megan" was exposed as a fraud. "Megan" has since redacted the incriminating ultrasound and other information from her blog, but she continues to blog on regarding the virtues of polygamy. No doubt the lovely "Megan" is simply an older predator looking to lure some young girl from a broken family in....

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  6. WoW! Megan just posted she had another baby at home. She's a fake? So they are using the blog to lure young girls that have a bad life? SaD SaD SaD.

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  7. Yes, "Megan"is a fake. I saved a screen shot of her phony ultrasound she pilfered from someone else's website somewhere...I've got to dig it up.
    She is not a member of the AUB, she is a member of the Christian Patriarchy / Quiverful Christian cult.

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  8. Does anyone actually believe "Megan's Polyblog" ?
    A girl from a broken home in Los Angeles turns 18 and responds to an ad written by some polygamists to join their family. Suddenly she develops an interest in and talent for taking care of chickens, scheduling a wedding to a man she does not even know, and agreeing not to practice birth control. Likely ? NOT

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  9. Another thing- Megan's blog- she "approves" your comments.

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  10. She has to "approve" the comments because those people who exposed her last year were posting their expose' of her blog for about 24 hrs before she deleted their comments. Her blog disappeared for about 3 - 4 days, then reappeared in a redacted format, with approval needed to post anything there. It is now run by someone different than the original Megan, or Megan is being supervised closely. The current Megan is a little smarter than the original airhead who wrote the blog.

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  11. No way would I want to be in a Polygamous marriage. Geez, taking care of one mate is enough- and morally, how can you sleep with more than one?

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  12. John, my husband agrees, but he grew up in the middle of 5 sisters. I grew up in a liberal church where we basically we told to go out and do good. We have 2 dominate faiths in my area. They are similar, but you can't tell them that. They have doctrines they interpret that tell people how to live and vote. Some of it's made up or embellished, IMHO, just to strike fear, and keep members coming back. Thus money coming in. I couldn't argue rationally with these members to save my life. It's set in to them, and it's part of who they are. I think it's the same with polygamy.

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  13. Why chose plural marriage ? The only reason they chose it is because they are brainwashed from birth that they will become a goddess ruling over a planet, served by monogamists in the afterlife if they live polygamy. That is the only reason why.

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  14. I wouldn't SHARE my hubby with anyone. I live in a small town, and all love him. Many of my friends come to him when they need help, that's fine, but share in bed, no way.

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    1. I would not want to share my husband- I wonder how well the 4 women get along.

      I feel kody is ugly-

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  15. Consider this direct quote from Zina Huntington, plural wife of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon faith, as she described "romance" in polygamy in an article published in New York World in 1869:

    "The successful polygamous wife must regard her husband with indifference, and with no other feeling but reverence, for love we regard as false sentiment; a feeling which should have no existence in polygamy."

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  16. Interesting statement....hopefully they have evolved in the past 100 years. I have found some pretty funny posts in the history of my county...heck they threw people out of the church that was seen after sundown, and still hung black innocent people in the 1950's...still, some theologies never change. Wonder if theirs has?

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  17. The picture looks so normal and American and happy. Yet Rulon Allred's second and seventh wives were both 15 at the time he married them. The second wife, Rose, had serious mental problems when he abandoned her because he was afraid of being arrested. Rose's oldest son sexually abused his sisters and got one pregnant. The sister that got pregnant told the family later but none of the wives would believe it.

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  18. NotBuyingThisForASecondJuly 14, 2011 at 7:32 AM

    This kind of double speak is my biggest issue with this religion. It's loathsome to me that they take the words and trappings of equality and use them to describe their beliefs.

    In their attempt to make it seem like they're not sexist ( which they are ) or that they don't demean women ( which they do ) they throw out random bits of chaff. They string together politically correct words that sound good but don't mean anything.

    You can't just *say* "attainment of this type of faith is ultimate empowerment" ... and then that makes it true. You can't just use empowerment in a sentence and then - WHAM! - all the lack of choice these women have just disappears. Oh I'm sorry did you think you were marginalized when your husband took on another wife the family couldn't afford? No, honey, you've got it wrong - you are EMPOWERED.. because we say so! If you don't agree well then you're doing it wrong! Better go work on that attitude!

    Consider this choice phrase: "interdependent patriarchy and matriarchy"

    What BS is that?? You can't have an interdependent patriarchy and matriarchy. That's just two words they threw together because they didn't want to be described a patriarchy ( which is exactly what they are ).

    These people would have you believe that you have to submit to be free. That's a load of crap. Trust me, when people to tell you that, they have an ulterior motive.

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  19. The above comment is so true. They use the word "lifestyle" and suddenly they are NOT a brain-washed cult.

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  20. To end up in hell for putting a false prophet ahead of the lord?

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  21. I just saw an episode of "sister wifes " and it made me gag!They are just a bunch of fame seeking weirdos. The woman seem brainwashed and the men are just a bunch of perverts. All that in the name of GOD..really!!!??I never saw that in the Bible. It's just sick...and where is the law??? I thought this was illegal.

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