This image of the Christus statue focusing on the temple was on the Church’s website a few years ago. Has the temple become an idol? Is polygamy an idol inside the temple?

Are Women Anointed in the Temple to be Eternal Plural Wives?

In 2019 I was looking forward to attending the temple endowment session. Changes had been made to the ceremony and I read that women were feeling less marginalized.

Near the beginning of the session, the wording I heard erased any hope of not feeling marginalized. Brethren were anointed to become kings and priests unto god, to rule and reign forever. I soon discovered that there was no ruling or reining for the sisters. Instead, sisters were anointed to become queens and priestesses, no longer to their husbands and not to god either. Instead they were anointed in the new and everlasting covenant.

Huh?

I had studied Doctrine and Covenants Section 132 enough to recognized that verbiage. While most women thought not being anointed to a man (their husband) was a step up, I believed being anointed in the new and everlasting covenant was even more troubling.

New and Everlasting Covenant

New and everlasting covenant—that combination of words (new + everlasting)—is only mentioned in three sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, in Sections 22; 131; 132. “New and everlasting” is not used together in any other scripture. And only in 131 & 132, that both have questionable beginnings, does it refer to marriage. (“A new and AN everlasting covenant” is used in Sections 22 and 132:4)

In Section 131:2, the “new and everlasting covenant of marriage” wording in parenthesis was mysteriously added in 1876, at the same time that Section 132 was placed in the Doctrine and Covenants. This allowed both sections to agree on the meaning of this phrase. (Although “a new and an everlasting covenant” in Section 22 seems to refer to baptism).

As I sat in the temple in 2019, I knew that Section 132 is about many wives and concubines. Also that the new and everlasting covenant of marriage refers to many-wives marriages (with some concubines thrown in, I guess). Section 132 does not refer to monogamous marriage and this post clarifies why.

In his post, Michael Matthews II says that Section 132 is a direct answer to a direct question about many wives and concubines, the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. Even the heading of Section 132 lets us know that this revelation is about the “new and everlasting covenant, including the eternity of the marriage covenant and the principle of plural marriage.” Using Section 132, he makes a solid case that:

The holy order of matrimony in the new and everlasting covenant is polygamy. The only scriptural description of the New and Everlasting Covenant is D&C 132 which describes it to be, you guessed it, polygamy.

More Polygamy-Affirming Temple Language

While phrasing towards the end of that 2019 endowment session sounded unfamiliar to me, I was reeling from the “new and everlasting covenant” reference so I disregarded the new wording in the Law of Chastity covenant. Formerly clear language was now ambiguous.

The previous wording referred to a single husband and a single wife. The 2019 version uses the plural word “those” in this covenant. In another post, Michael Matthews II explains why this new wording allows for multiple wives. He says:

“Those” displays built-in plurality. A man with one wife or a man with ten wives can meet the requirement of “those.”

The pre-2019 Law of Chastity wording also said “legally and lawfully wedded,” but now adds, “according to his law” at the end. So rather than the government, the 132-god (a false god, btw) determines what is legal and lawful.

“Legally and lawfully wedded according to his law” changes the definition of “legally and lawfully” from law-of-the-land to His law. We know in exquisite detail from D&C 132 that “His law” (god’s law) of marriage is the New and Everlasting Covenant, which is polygamy…

Women are anointed in the new and everlasting covenant or the law of many wives and concubines. As a bonus, the covenant of chastity allows them to become one of many wives.

If you want some profound insight into Section 132, the temple, and how this relates to the Church, read the first eight posts of the Section One Thirty-Two blog

Five Years Later

Visitors from Panama came to see me in July 2024. Almost 50 years ago, when I was a missionary in Central America, I taught two women and watched them get baptized. They came to visit with some of their family members.

The temple was at the top of their list of things to do. Yet I had resolved five years ago that I wasn’t going back. After some agonizing, I decided to go with them to the temple rather than try to explain all of my concerns in my lousy Spanish. Besides, I couldn’t face disappointing them. I adore these people.

During my temple interviews I shared some of my frustrations, but I still walked away with a recommend.

My temple experience was meaningful because of the people I was with. At the same time, my eyes had been opened…figuratively. I observed that the problem wording was still there. To make it even clearer I not only heard, but read the words as captions on a large screen.

While there were slight changes in the wording between 2019 and 2023, these areas of concern remained. From my 2024 visit, I observed that sisters are still anointed in the new and everlasting covenant (the law of many wives and concubines). The Law of Chastity still includes being chaste with those (allowing the multiple wives option) to whom you are wedded under god’s law (not U.S. or other government laws, but the 132-god’s law, which is the new and everlasting covenant, or the law of many wives and concubines).

Hoodwinked Again

Not long ago, I listened to T.B.H. (Fanny) Stenhouse’s book, Tell it All: The Story of a Life’s Experience in Mormonism, which was published in 1874. I highly recommend this entertaining book.

This Englishwoman talks about being Mormon, going to Utah with her husband and family, and learning about plural marriage teachings. Eventually, her prominent husband is convinced to take another wife. Fanny, of course, was not consulted. (Spoiler alert: they both leave the church and he, sadly, I suppose, abandons his other family).

If you listen to 132 Problems or do any study on this subject, you know Fanny’s situation wasn’t unique. Many women joined the church or came out west only to learn later that they would become plural wives. This inevitable fate was not disclosed to them until they had little or no choice.

My 2019 and 2024 temple experiences felt like a similar deception.

Informed Consent

One of the changes I noticed in this last temple visit is that the covenants that will be made during the session are now summarized toward the beginning of the session. It wasn’t always this way. They apparently want temple patrons to know what they’ll agree to.

Why This Matters

I no longer believe that god is a polygamist nor that my fate, or the fate of any woman, is to be an eternal, plural wife. In my mind, it isn’t true, and what happens in the temple isn’t binding. But the majority of the women who enter the temple believe god endorses everything that happens there. Shouldn’t they be informed that, according to their beliefs, they are signing up for eternal polygamy?

These temple changes make it clear to me that those running this church still want to prepare the way for polygamy. This is part of their beliefs. But is it fair that from my convert baptism as a teenager to my temple attendance as an adult, there has been a deliberate effort to keep me and others in the dark about this crucial part of our doctrine?

I would think honesty and full disclosure would be the best policy.

Following Additional Changes

Less than a month after I attended with my friends, I heard there were changes, once again, to the temple endowment. These changes reportedly removed the redundancy and streamlined the session. My curiosity got the better of me, and I went through a session by myself on August 22.

Of course, I was hyper-focused on the two areas that I covered in this post, and both portions of the endowment still point to polygamy.

Sisters are anointed in the new and everlasting covenant, which is the law of many wives and concubines. The Law of Chastity includes being chaste with “those”, who could be many wives and concubines, to whom you are wedded under the god of Section 132. That 132-god’s law is the law of many wives and concubines.

Whatever was cut from the endowment, plural wives remain.

Am I Wrong?

Please let me know your thoughts, especially if you think this is not the correct interpretation of what is happening in the temple today. I’ve endured years of gaslighting over plural marriage. Perhaps I can’t think straight.

Polygamy in the Temple Today