✍️ Trust but Verify: Wrestling with D&C 132
✍️ Trust but Verify: Wrestling with D&C 132
Family, let’s talk about one of the heaviest sections in the Doctrine and Covenants: Section 132. Yep, that’s the one tied up with polygamy, exaltation, and a whole lot of confusion. It’s also in the Come, Follow Me curriculum this year, which means a lot of Saints will be walking right into the thick of it.
Now, before anyone clutches their pearls, let me just say—Joseph Smith once taught:
“One of the grand fundamental principles of Mormonism is to receive truth, let it come from whence it may.”
That’s the spirit we need here. Not blind obedience. Not shrugging off hard questions. But truth.
🔍 Trust but Verify
President Ronald Reagan used to say, “Trust but verify.” That line fits like a glove with scripture study. If a doctrine is true, you’ll find multiple witnesses—in the Bible, in the Book of Mormon, and in Joseph’s own revelations.
But when you lay Section 132 side-by-side with the Book of Mormon? It doesn’t line up.
“For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none” (Jacob 2:27).
“For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women” (Jacob 2:28).
“Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things” (Jacob 2:30).
That last verse is often twisted into a loophole. But when read in context, Jacob is condemning polygamy, not excusing it.
📜 A Complicated Section
Even LDS historian Steven Harper admits it: Section 132 is extraordinarily complicated. It tangles up “the new and everlasting covenant” with plural marriage, when elsewhere in scripture that covenant is about covenanting with Christ—not collecting wives.
History makes it even messier. John Taylor’s 1886 revelation doubled down on polygamy as the “everlasting covenant,” and fundamentalist groups have clung to that ever since. Meanwhile, mainstream LDS have quietly set it on the shelf.
But the words are still printed in the canon. And if you read the “law” described? It demands first wives not only accept but facilitate plural marriages. That’s not light and truth—that’s a recipe for coercion and abuse.
⚖️ The Ethical Burden
The fruit of Section 132 has not been good. We’ve seen:
First wives pressured to give consent or lose their husband.
Justifications for child brides.
Polygamy sanctified in the name of God while women bore the wounds.
The Savior said: “By their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20). Well—look at the fruit.
The Nemenhah Records echo this same warning:
“Behold, the shepherds shall teach them that their obedience is mighty to save… but from what are they saved? Are they saved from sin? I cannot think so, for they shall sin as much as any man. … Behold, the effects of sin are that they do cause us to turn our faces from the Peacemaker” (Mohrhohnahyah 8:30–34).
In other words—obedience to men and their “laws” does not save. Only Christ does.
👶 Teaching the Next Generation
This year’s Come, Follow Me gently introduces polygamy to Primary kids. But it leaves out the hard parts: secret marriages, underage brides, and broken hearts. That’s not teaching history—that’s grooming acceptance.
Our children deserve the whole truth, not a whitewashed version.
✝️ Christ, Not Section 132
At the end of the day, here’s the question: does blindly believing and obeying Section 132 bring us closer to the Savior?
The Book of Mormon says no. The Nemenhah says no. And the Spirit bears witness: Christ is not the author of coercion. He is the author of peace, love, and covenant oneness with Him.
The Nemenhah Records declare:
“For the Lord has made man and woman to be equal… and it is not meet that one should rule over the other, but that they should walk together” (Tsihohnayah Ahkehkthihm 13:25).
That sounds like Christ. That sounds like Zion.
🙌 Hope and Healing
The good news? The Lord has rescinded false traditions before. The ban on priesthood. Blood atonement. Adam-God. All once preached from the pulpit, now abandoned.
Why not this too?
Truth is rising. Historical documents are now out in the open. And the Spirit is whispering to hearts: Follow the Savior, not the Section.
🌟 Closing Witness
My friends, Jacob said it plain:
“For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women” (Jacob 2:28).
That is the standard. That is the covenant. Not Section 132’s coercion. Not men wielding women like possessions.
The Nemenhah adds:
“They shall heap up unto themselves wives and concubines, and they shall call it holy… But the Lord will not hear them, for they do pollute His name” (Ayahtkuhyaht Nemenhah 7:42).
So let’s trust but verify. Let’s seek multiple witnesses. Let’s follow the Lamb of God, who gave Himself for His bride—the Church—not for a harem.
🕊️ May we walk in His light, free from the confusion of men, and planted firmly on the foundation of Christ.
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