Is the FLDS the traditional Mormon church and the LDS a copycat group?

Question

I noticed in the news they said that the FLDS is the original church that Prophet Joseph Smith and Brigham Young started where they have the polygamy and prophets. On the other hand the LDS church is more mainstream with closer to Christian attributes in that they have no polygamy, no child brides, and no marring your cousin. I read this on the LDS web site so I guess they are closer to Christians then the extreme Brigham Young cult.

If that is the case why is it that in Utah they have a university named after Brigham Young who sinned by having over 50 wives? They had polygamy in the old testament but then they also had stoning to death. With the FLDS they had polygamy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Why would they continue this womanizing archaic practice in modern times? Were they crazy or just insensitive? Both Smith and Young did this!

Answer 1

before 1890, there wre other Mormons who had more than one wife, but not a lot. Heber C. Kimball also had several wives, like Brigham Young. But, according to the writings of two of his daughters, Brigam Young was very good at keeping his family very happy (happiness in the Christian sense, not in the worldly sense).

However, some infomation.

Fewer than 5% of the men in the church back then had more than one wife, and most had only two, or at the most, three. Large numbers of wives were very much he exception. The FLDS do it in such a tasteless, vile manner, they are not EVEN close to following Joseph Smith or Bigham Young.

It is not womanizing. Most women who were plural wives were happy. Because they were wives according to the gospel, not according to man.

Answer 2

The FLDS church is a splinter group that started in the early 1900s. The LDS church is the original Church founded by Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Polygamy was a practice of the LDS church and is a practice of the FLDS church. It was also a practice of the patriarchs you read about in the Old Testament. If it is a sin, then Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon, etc. were sinning.

Answer 3

If a real LDS would practice polygamy, that person would be excommulgated right away! it is against the church's laws and US laws to have more than one wife (or husband).
Why don't people just face that polygamy is not practiced but the LDS members, uh?
BYU is named after Brigham Young because he started it, he purchased the first lands, by the way, I can't wait to be accepted there :)

Ah, I've read about some people that call themselves Mormons, but it is like another religion, they're not real Mormons and they do commit poligamy. But as I said before, those people are not real Mormons and they're not in the church's records.

Answer 4

The LDS church is the original. We got out authority throught he 12 apostles after Joseph Smith was martyred.

About polygamy, in the Book of Mormon it says that under normal circumstances polygamy is not to be practiced, but the Lord will command it if he needs to raise up "seed". In the early days of the church there were more women than men and the church needed to grow in order to survive. The Lord instituted polygamy for this purpose and when it was fulfilled the Lord ended the practice.

Answer 5

The FLDS group practices what the original church practiced prior to the 1890s. It can be argued that the larger denomination is actually a "Splinter Group" except they kept the same 'prophet' during the changeover.

Both groups rely of the incredibly lame and misguided Book of Mormon as it's core belief.

Answer 6

FLDS broke away from the LDS church, I believe because they wanted to still continue practicing polygamy.

Answer 7

Both of them are betraying their spiritual ancestors.

Polygamy was a belief Mormons fought for the right to, and it was given up SO THAT UTAH could become a state.

Can you imagine leaving home, traveling hundreds of miles by wagon train to a new country where you could be your religion in peace, after your Dad and some of your uncles were KILLED for having your beliefs, and then your church goes "I'm sorry, but it's no longer politically feasible to support your family and what your family died for, so we're changing the church."

Since Mormons believe families last forever, and a man whose wife died can be sealed to a new one, there is OBVIOUSLY no Mormon issue with polygamy AFTER DEATH, so to say it's viewed as a sin is inaccurate.

I could never be part of a church that betrayed huge numbers of its followers for POLITICAL reasons.

Answer 8

I'm not a mormon of any type, but I've heard them interviewed along with their wives. Most of the women are very happy and satisfied. They enjoy the lifestyle. Cultism is hard to explain because it is unreasonable, unwarranted devotion to one person or ideal.