Question for Mormons about Splinter Groups

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sojo

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I mean this to be a respectful question, but if it is out of order here, perhaps someone can direct me to another website. I have tried to google the answer and I’m getting nowhere.

From what I can tell, most of our Mormon brothers and sisters here are LDS - the mainstream church. I understand a bit about the sacred importance of the Temple endowment and sealings, and that this can only be done, of course in an LDS Temple. Temple rituals seem a bit complex, like those of the Catholic Church, and it takes a big religious hierarchy and structure to hold all that together.

My question is about the splinter groups, most or all of which, I assume are polygamous in make-up (accepting of polygamy, not necessarily all requiring polygamy). Many of these groups are pretty small. So how do such folks get their Temple endowments, their garments, their secret names and handclasp?

I understand that some big sects, like Warren Jeffs’ group have built their own temple. But what about smaller groups like the ones that the SIster Wives program family - Kody Brown - belong to.

If this question is too private, I apologize and ask the Moderator to remove it. Its just one of those weird questions one gets in one’s head and it just keeps bugging me and bugging me.
 
sojo said:
I mean this to be a respectful question, but if it is out of order here, perhaps someone can direct me to another website. I have tried to google the answer and I’m getting nowhere.

From what I can tell, most of our Mormon brothers and sisters here are LDS - the mainstream church. I understand a bit about the sacred importance of the Temple endowment and sealings, and that this can only be done, of course in an LDS Temple. Temple rituals seem a bit complex, like those of the Catholic Church, and it takes a big religious hierarchy and structure to hold all that together.

My question is about the splinter groups, most or all of which, I assume are polygamous in make-up (accepting of polygamy, not necessarily all requiring polygamy). Many of these groups are pretty small. So how do such folks get their Temple endowments, their garments, their secret names and handclasp?

I understand that some big sects, like Warren Jeffs’ group have built their own temple. But what about smaller groups like the ones that the SIster Wives program family - Kody Brown - belong to.

If this question is too private, I apologize and ask the Moderator to remove it. Its just one of those weird questions one gets in one’s head and it just keeps bugging me and bugging me.
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This is a fascinating topic within the Mormon movement. One thing to remember is that there really are two main branches of this movement: those who followed Brigham Young and/or the main Mormon church or formerly, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and those who stayed behind who eventually followed Smith’s son, Joseph Smith III. There were various other groups who stayed behind, but all of them except for a small group in Wisconsin, the Strangites. I don’t think that any of those who stayed behind practiced polygamy. Those groups that later splintered from the main Mormon church seem to all practice polygamy.

Almost all of them continued to keep some form of a prophet leader and apostles. This is one of the things I find interesting about the movement and humanity in general; men will actually claim to be an apostle of God and others will follow them.

Those who stayed behind eventually abandoned any form of temple ritual. Those who went west kept certain forms, but much of it is unknown. They do continue to marry for eternity. I have never read of any of them practicing baptism for the dead or any form of saving ordinances for the dead. I did read that one splinter group in Manti, Utah would pose as regular Mormons, enter the Manti temple, and then practice their own form of ordinances. A little creepy to me and very strange.

I am sorry, but I am ignorant of whether any of them continued a full form of temple service. Very few of them build temples so if they do anything it is done elsewhere. The Community of Christ, the main group of followers of Smith III, builds temples but they are only buildings of worship having nothing in common with the Mormon group. I hope this helps a little.
 
sojo said:
I mean this to be a respectful question, but if it is out of order here, perhaps someone can direct me to another website. I have tried to google the answer and I’m getting nowhere.

From what I can tell, most of our Mormon brothers and sisters here are LDS - the mainstream church. I understand a bit about the sacred importance of the Temple endowment and sealings, and that this can only be done, of course in an LDS Temple. Temple rituals seem a bit complex, like those of the Catholic Church, and it takes a big religious hierarchy and structure to hold all that together.

My question is about the splinter groups, most or all of which, I assume are polygamous in make-up (accepting of polygamy, not necessarily all requiring polygamy). Many of these groups are pretty small. So how do such folks get their Temple endowments, their garments, their secret names and handclasp?

I understand that some big sects, like Warren Jeffs’ group have built their own temple. But what about smaller groups like the ones that the SIster Wives program family - Kody Brown - belong to.

If this question is too private, I apologize and ask the Moderator to remove it. Its just one of those weird questions one gets in one’s head and it just keeps bugging me and bugging me.
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The main splinter group, the one that broke off shortly after the death of Joseph Smith, and became known as the RLDS Church (now called Community of Christ), doesn’t practice polygamy at all, and it even denies that Joseph Smith ever taught it.

The ones that practice polygamy are the ones that splintered in protest after the church had disavowed polygamy during the leadership of Wilford Woodruff, when the government had declared the practice illegal. But what their practices are, and whether they have temple-like rituals of their own I wouldn’t know. Most of them are too small to be able to build temples, and too obscure for their practices to be widely known.
 
The main splinter group, the one that broke off shortly after the death of Joseph Smith, and became known as the RLDS Church (now called Community of Christ), doesn’t practice polygamy at all, and it even denies that Joseph Smith ever taught it.
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The Community of Christ, and their splinters, are fairly normal for Restorationist Churches. They no longer even have any doctrine about the BoM. cofchrist.org/

I think one reason for the split was that it was abolitionist. Ezdra has more information. Remember that they did not develop in isolation under a dictator. Just the fact that they don’t come here is an indication of their tolerance of the beliefs of others. Their culture is developed from a more mature, sophisticated reading of the BoM.
 
Jerusha said:
The Community of Christ, and their splinters, are fairly normal for Restorationist Churches. They no longer even have any doctrine about the BoM. cofchrist.org/

I think one reason for the split was that it was abolitionist. Ezdra has more information. Remember that they did not develop in isolation under a dictator. Just the fact that they don’t come here is an indication of their tolerance of the beliefs of others. Their culture is developed from a more mature, sophisticated reading of the BoM.
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My aunt and uncle are members of the CofC. There are only about 250,000 members worldwide. They had a major loss of membership after they began to ordain women to the priesthood and unofficially ordaining openly gay men. This last issue continues to be a problem for them. My aunt and uncle are wonderful Christian people, but they themselves would probably say that the reason no members come here is because there are so few of them; it is not an issue of tolerance, which brings up the question to only intolerant members of other churches come here?

Their belief in the scripture, as quoted on their website, is as follows: “Affirmation Nine
With other Christians, we affirm the Bible as the foundational scripture for the church. In addition, the Community of Christ uses the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants as scripture. We do not use these sacred writings to replace the witness of the Bible or improve upon it, but because they confirm its message that Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God (Preface of the Book of Mormon; Doctrine and Covenants 76: 3g). We have heard Christ speak in all three books of scripture, and bear witness that he is ‘alive forever and ever’”

One thing that is pretty unique among the this movement is that the CofC affirms belief in the Trinity.
 
Thank you for offering more information on yourself, and your unique attitude.

a. Some members of other churches come here to communicate. b. Others come here to tell us that we are wrong. Some only offer criticism, thinking perhaps that we do not have consciences, or that we do not confront each other in kindness.

I would suggest that Parker, for example, is a reasonably rational combination of a and b. How would you judge yourself?
 
Jerusha said:
Thank you for offering more information on yourself, and your unique attitude.

a. Some members of other churches come here to communicate. b. Others come here to tell us that we are wrong. Some only offer criticism, thinking perhaps that we do not have consciences, or that we do not confront each other in kindness.

I would suggest that Parker, for example, is a reasonably rational combination of a and b. How would you judge yourself?
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Are you assuming that I am outside the Church?

Regardless, I can be ruthless with fellows brothers and sisters of the Church. We should be the guiding light for all others and too often on this forum we fall far short of such a standard. I often position my comments as devil’s advocate in an effort to help others weaknesses in arguments or how we use different standards for our own beliefs and for those of others.

Too often I feel I am lost, but the his most holy Blood washes my sins away. In brief, I am a sinner. There is no other way to spin it. I strive to treat others in the same manner I would wish to be treated; particularly those of other faiths.

I hope this answered your question,
 
zerinus said:
The main splinter group, the one that broke off shortly after the death of Joseph Smith, and became known as the RLDS Church (now called Community of Christ), doesn’t practice polygamy at all, and it even denies that Joseph Smith ever taught it.

The ones that practice polygamy are the ones that splintered in protest after the church had disavowed polygamy during the leadership of Wilford Woodruff, when the government had declared the practice illegal. But what their practices are, and whether they have temple-like rituals of their own I wouldn’t know. Most of them are too small to be able to build temples, and too obscure for their practices to be widely known.
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Are these the ones that get reported in the news whenever a polygamist gets attention? I recall that there was a someone on the run because of polygamy, would he then be a member of one of these (breakaway?) groups?
 
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pablope:
Are these the ones that get reported in the news whenever a polygamist gets attention? I recall that there was a someone on the run because of polygamy, would he then be a member of one of these (breakaway?) groups?

The main Utah based LDS Church does not practice polygamy, so whoever gets “reported” cannot be them. It must be one of these splinter groups.
 
Technically, you could say that the SLC group are a “splinter”. The ones who continued on in their polygamus practices were the originals. The SLC people wanted statehood and could not get it until they dropped polygamy - per the US government. So they did. Since JS taught the polygamus doctrine, that makes the SLCs the splinters.
 
catsrus said:
Technically, you could say that the SLC group are a “splinter”. The ones who continued on in their polygamus practices were the originals. The SLC people wanted statehood and could not get it until they dropped polygamy - per the US government. So they did. Since JS taught the polygamus doctrine, that makes the SLCs the splinters.
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in all honesty, i would have to agree with this assesment. peace 🙂
 
Well, thank you for all these responses. I guess it is still a question mark - except that maybe some of these small groups have entirely ditched the whole temple endowment thing.

I did see on TV a man from one of the polygamist groups who said he was shunned by his church. His mom and dad drove him out to the highway and left him with a few dollars and “2 pairs of clean temple garment” (the sacred underwear). So apparently that group DID have the tradition, but since they were not LDS and couldn’t have access to their temples, I just started wondering again - how did they get access to this temple stuff?

I had hoped that Sister Wives (that awful TV show) might shed some light on their religious beliefs and practices, but it seems mostly to do with sister jealousies and general family stuff.

I will study more about the early Mormon church - it is quite fascinating!
 
I will study more about the early Mormon church - it is quite fascinating!
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There is plenty available in the public domain. I highly recommend the books by Mr. and Mrs. Stenhouse. As a tell-all, they are honest, and I don’t think they either exaggerate or downplay the abuses. Do a search at Google books, things published in the 1800’s. Downlaod, and read to your heart’s content.
 
Thank you Jerusha!

I do love comparative religion, and beyond the summarizing texts, it becomes overwhelming in where to begin.
 
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