your statement shows how much you know about the history of the church. if theyre going to hell for 'adultry' ( the word youre looking for is polygamy, the having of more than one spouse) then i guess theyre going to be there with the patriarchs of ancient times like abraham issac jacob and melkhezidek, all of whom had multiple wives. some early mormon leaders did have plural wives, but they were married to em. so, sorry, but no adultry there.
and before you all get bent out of shape over this little issue of semantics, let me point out a few things about the church and polygamy.
i already noted that it was a common practice among the prophets of the old testament, so anyone who is getting ready to cast it aside as demonry should think long and hard over that one.
second, you have to know a bit about the context in which plural marrige was practiced. the whole thing was only ever practiced by select people, the most notorious of which, obviously was brigham young in the utah territory. at the time that this was at its height, the majority of the mormons had just come across the praries from illonois and missouri, where they were being killed on a regular basis. if you want a quick look into their life on the plains, look up the martin and willy handcart companies. insodoing, you would undoubtedly read about conditions not dissimilar from the donner party, only taking place on the plains of wyoming. many of the men died on the plains, forefitting food and warm clothing that their families would survive. this left a good deal husbandless women and fatherless children in the salt lake valley in the 1840's and 50's.
polygamy in a way acted as a type of social welfare program for these people. im sure that most people think of some crazy orgies with all 34 or however many wives at once and all that. now, im not a scholar on the subject, but i highly doubt that that ever happened.
next, you have to understand the theological basis for the thing. the church claims to be a restoration of the enitre gosepel, as it has always existed. in order for this to go forward, all facets of that religion that was practiced by everyone from adam on down to moses down to christ had to be restored. just as there was polygamy and sacrifice in judea as part of gods religion, these things, in theory had to be restored as well. and just as there came a time when those things were done away with as offical doctrine (in the meridian of time) such was the case in the 1890's when the law of the country demanded it. another basic tennent of the mormon ideal is to obey the law of the land.
so at any rate, hopefully that illustrates the nature of the whole polygamy thing a little bit. and in denoument, i would reiderate that this has nothing to do with adultery, which we do think is sinnful. and basically retarded. you shouldnt have to be religious to see that one.
Mercy's eyes are blue
When she places them in front of you
Nothing holds a roman candle to
The solemn warmth you feel inside
