I’m well aware that I haven’t shared an introduction yet, or a post about my journey into plural marriage. There’s been a lot of discussion lately over the proper use of the term “Mormon” in describing adherents to the religious tenets taught originally by Joseph Smith. As it’s been a topic of interest lately, I’ve decided to delay my introduction for another week and put in my two cents concerning this topic.
Shortly after we got married, Tami, Colton and I were working through all the changes and figuring out how we all fit together in this newly chosen lifestyle. We all knew that communication was needed to help us through our struggles. We still had to figure out how to do that, how to understand each other, since we all had different communication styles, as well as different personalities.
We chose this week to postpone Sophie’s follow-up post until next week due to the anniversary date of a significant event we’d like to share with you. Today is a somewhat special day in Mormon Fundamentalism. Today is 132 years since an event that is known among our fellow Fundamentalists as the 1886 revelation. I’ll include the text of it below. It was a revelation written, it seems, in the hand of John Taylor, the third president of the LDS church. To sum it up, God has made His will concerning the New and Everlasting Covenant known. It’s an eternal law. He’s made His will plain on the matter.
Well, its kinda hard to write about yourself, but here we go… Hi everyone, My name is Sophie Winder. I’m Colton’s second wife, and we have been married for just over a year. I work a full time job, and am a midwifery apprentice. In marrying Colton and Tami, I have become a third generation plural wife.
What a crazy week it has been. Life has a way of getting away from you. At least it seems to for me.I have always seemed to struggle with balancing all the different things of life. I would be a terrible juggler, but I digress. The real thing I wanted to talk about in today’s post is also the real reason you are reading this and that is to learn more about why I decided to live in a plural marriage.
The beginning of a journey… My name is Tami Winder and I am Colton’s first wife. Colton and I have been married for 8 years, we have one child together so far and are hoping for more soon. I work part time but the job I love most is being a mom. A few years ago we came to the decision that we should live plural marriage, and not long after that we met Sophie.
July has always been one of my favorite months. It’s the month that I was born in and the month Sadie was born in. It’s the month that we start getting monsoon rains in Southern Utah. It’s also the month that we celebrate two of my favorite holidays, Independence Day and Pioneer Day. On Independence Day, we celebrate the moment in which the leaders of our nation chose to sever their connection to an oppressive regime and to establish a land of freedom. That ideal wasn’t reached right away and in truth has still not been entirely reached. We’ve improved in the security of our God-given liberties by leaps
Why we are where we are. Why would anyone choose to live in a plural marriage in this day and age? How could any Mormon enter a plural marriage and feel that God approves of it? The summary of my belief is that plural marriage is an eternal doctrine that the Lord has only ever removed from his people because of wickedness. I gained this belief in studying the teachings of the early prophets and apostles, John Taylor’s 1886 revelation, and the events between the first and second manifestos. One of the most common arguments against my choice to live plural marriage that I’ve heard from members of the