How would you compare Polygamy to Gay Marriage?

[4Joshua8]

So-called "gay marriage" isn't comparable to plural marriage.

Plural marriage is only a positive when it's practiced upon righteous principles, in which case it would be a very happy form of marriage for all involved who so practice it. It's really hard to do that in Babylon. It's impossible to do that in a church that is hard-hearted and stiff-necked. If not practiced upon righteous principles, it's a scourge and a destroyer. It doesn't surprise me to see plural marriage not being allowed while "gay marriage" is allowed in the end times, since Lucifer reigns at present and since if we practiced it today we'd probably get the "scourge and destroyer" variety.

Can be said pretty much about everything and anything. Marriage, family, religion...

You mean the part about it being practiced upon righteous principles? Yeah, I'd agree with you there. It's true in plural marriage, and it's true in all the other stuff, too.

[tdj]

I'm not really a fan of either one, and thankfully I can't be forced into either type of marriage. Well, at least so far. But if I had to put a guess on it, just based on the scripture indicates, I'd say that gay marriage is considered to be MUCH worse then polygamy. People need to remember that the scriptures really don't have anything negative to say about polygamy. Way back in the old testament, and on into the new even, God seemed to either approve or not care one way or another about the practice of multiple wives, Nor does the BOM, or other books. It seems like it was a practice that was seen as better off abandoning since it was causing enormous grief to the saints because of the culture at the time. I dare say we wouldn't fare too much better today, though times have changed somewhat.
Scripture condemns divorce much more then it does polygamy, and how much of THAT is going on in the church today? And by people who bash polygamy, of all things.
Personally, though, I'd have to think long and hard before I'd consent to a multiple wife marriage, even if the church and the law DID approve. Usually, it's not just more then one wife, but a bunch of other kooky nonsense that would go along with it.

[Durzan]

Somebody involved government in the marriage business to make it "stronger" but consenting adults should have always been left alone to perform whatever religious ceremony they wish.

Marriage is a religious ceremony like baptism. Government should lack any say except as arbiter of adults contracting with each other.

Amen.

From a more non-religious standpoint, the ceremony itself only has significance because we give it such by attaching certain artificial benefits to those who have gone through it, and then require a lot of legal hoops to dissolve it. Objectively speaking, if you strip away the fluff and legal benefits, there's very little that separates a couple who is married and a couple who are living together but haven't been officially married. For a very long period of time, the consummation of the marriage was what really sealed the deal and made a marriage, well... marriage.

Therefore, I think that if two people sleep together (sexually that is), live together, are extremely close to each other, and raise a family together, they are in effect already married from a practical standpoint... whether its official or not. And its quite possible that God might view such a relationship as binding (at least for their time here on Earth).

[tdj]

I think before we get on our soap boxes condemning polygamy, or even homosexual marriage, perhaps we should get back to the basics and deal with the divorce rate among the church. Let's start condemning divorce again, and THEN we'll have a bit more to stand on when we complain about these other problems. Otherwise, we're just looking like foolish hypocrites.