Gramps,
The Mormon Doctrine is with filled with many contradictions. I believe the two major inconclusions are polygamy and the concept of the age of accountability.

For nearly 30 years, Mormons have practiced polygamy as a practice ordained by God. Yet Mormons today condemn polygamy. Why is it that now Mormons shun a practice which Joseph Smith had proclaimed was a decree from God? Does that disprove Joseph Smith as a “prophet” from God?

Another concept that is mind-boggling is the age of accountability. According to Mormon doctrine, children under the age of 8 will be exempt from their actions and saved. If this is so, why is it that ALL children are not killed before the age of 8? Why give them the chance to go to hell? Of course, your obvious response would be that of free will. But why allow people to go to hell when they can be guaranteed salvation? And, of course, there is the consideration of the infringement of the sixth commandment, thou shall not murder. But is not the withholding of guaranteed salvation a “greater” sin than murder?

John

Dear John,

I think that if you looked a little more deeply you would find complete consistency and conformity by the Mormon Church with the gospel of Jesus Christ in both of the issues that you bring up.

Polygamy– As you indicate, polygamy was a practice ordained by God. The God-given practice was authorized not only in the Mormon Church, but it was also a God-given commandment to many of the patriarchs and prophets in Old Testament times. When the practice was initiated in the Mormon Church it was not a general practice, but was restricted to only those persons authorized by the President of the Church. Probably less than 5% of the church membership ever entered into polygamous relations.

Your question, however, concerns the termination of the God-given commandment. When polygamy was instituted in the Mormon Church it was a perfectly legal practice according to the laws of the United States government. However, in order to have a forum to use in attempting to disenfranchise the Mormon Church, the anti-Mormon legislators in 1862 passed a law against the practice of polygamy. The response of the Mormon Church was that such a law was unconstitutional in that it sought to regulate the Latter-day Saints in the practice of their religion, and the law was appealed. Eventually a test case was tried by the Supreme Court, who, in 1879, upheld the anti-polygamy law passed in 1862.

At this point the practice of polygamy was terminated by the Mormon Church and on 24 September, 1890, a manifesto was issued under the signature of Wilford Woodruff, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, banning the further practice of polygamy. Your question would ask, why would a president of the Mormon Church repeal a God-given law simply because it was declared post-facto to be illegal? The answer is that there was another God-given law to which the Mormon Church subscribes, which is found in the declaration of a set of beliefs of the Mormon Church announced by the Prophet Joseph Smith, called The Articles of Faith. The 12^th of the 13 Articles of Faith reads as follows:

We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

When the constitutionality of the anti-polygamy law was established, the Lord gave a revelation to the President of the Mormon Church to curtail the practice of polygamy rather than to disobey the commandment to abide by the laws of the land. So the practice of polygamy in the Mormon Church was initiated by God by a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, as you state in your question, and was also terminated by God by a revelation to the Prophet Wilford Woodruff.

The age of accountability– Your question on the minimum age of accountability poses a very fundamental aspect of Satan’s opposition to God. Satan’s desire was to save every soul regardless of their behavior. In order for that to happen salvation would have to be independent of righteousness in that the wicked as well as the righteous would receive the same reward for their behavior. We read in the Book of Moses, found in the Mormon scripture, The Pearl of Great Price, the following:

And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying–Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. (Moses 4:1)

(Moses 4:1)

However, the response of the Beloved Son, who in mortality came to be called Jesus Christ, was as follows:

But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me–Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever. (Moses 4:2)

. (Moses 4:2)

The Father’s will was to give to man his free agency, to make him responsible for his own behavior, to promote righteousness and to put down iniquity, thus promoting the happiness of man, and guaranteeing that happiness to all those who obey the Father’s commandments. In the ensuing verse in the Book of Moses God says,

Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down. (Moses 4:3)

. (Moses 4:3)

Free agency, or the right and responsibility of choice, is perhaps the greatest gift of God to man. Now the Lord has established as the minimum age of accountability before Him as eight years of age. Thus any child who dies before the age of eight is saved in God’s celestial kingdom through the merits of the great atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it would be completely unjust, and following the will of the adversary of all mankind, so save anyone who was not worthy of salvation, and thus destroy the plan of the Father for promoting the welfare and happiness of his children.

Gramps