Marriage is being redefined in a few countries across the world. In fact on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States of America will hear arguments on whether or not the states of that nation have the constitutional right to define marriage solely as a union between one man and one woman. Many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints find themselves asking or answering some tough questions about redefining marriage and polygamy.

I have heard many people complain that the Church has no right to defend the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman simply because in the early days of the Church some prophets, apostles, and common Church members practiced polygamy. They suffered great persecutions because of it. Shouldn’t the LDS Church be more sympathetic to other types of unions?

To answer the question about the polygamous marriages of Joseph Smith and others and how that should affect the Church’s position on gay marriage, one must consider that while the polygamous marriages of the early Saints were definitely unconventional marriages, they still had the same definition as a relationship between one man and one woman. That is, even in a polygamous family, each marriage is between the husband and one of his wives—not among the group of them.

Two wives never made vows to each other, only to the man. So yes, the number of marriages an individual could enter changed, but the definition stayed the same.

If we read all the Church’s public statements on the topic, we’ll notice that they are carefully worded to keep it clear that polygamist marriages are consistent with the definition of marriage.

To understand why the Church would be accepting and promoting the notion of polygamy at one time, but never accepting of gay marriage, we must look to scriptures.

The revelation to Joseph Smith (Doctrine and Covenants 132) wasn’t a new revelation, but a restoration of something old. Joseph Smith asked about the polygamous marriages he found in the Bible, and the Lord answered:

“inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives.” (Doctrine and Covenants 132:1)

The fact that this isn’t new is also found in The Book of Mormon.

Jacob 2:30 reads, “For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things.”

Polygamy has been practiced among the prophets since Old Testament times when the Lord instructed.

Homosexuality also shows up in the scriptures, but not among the prophets. Instead, the Lord in scriptures speaks plainly about homosexuality being a sin and an abomination. Leviticus 20:13 and 18:22 which condemn homosexuality, were given by the Lord to Moses the prophet, while Moses was married to multiple women (Numbers 12). The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by the Lord for homosexuality in a day when the prophet Abraham, who lived near those cities, had polygamous marriages as commanded. (Genesis 16:3, Genesis 19 , and Jude 1:7) In the New Testament in reference to active homosexuals, Paul states that because of their wickedness the Lord gave them over to a reprobate mind. (Romans 1:26-28)

Both polygamy and homosexuality show up in the scriptures, but they show up very differently. One is universally condemned as an abomination. The times and conditions under which polygamy was practiced were clearly laid out by the Lord.

The Lord has accepted and commanded polygamous marriages at times when He needed to produce seed unto himself, as Jacob 2:30 states. Otherwise polygamy has been a sin like it is today. (Official Declaration 1) Polygamy is not a change from the traditional definition of marriage. Marriage from the beginning has been defined by God as the sacred union between a man and a woman. In Doctrine and Covenants 132, we learn that this definition of marriage can continue for eternity when the proper covenants and ordinances are faithfully made and kept.

In an interview on Feb 3, 2015, Elder D. Todd Christofferson declared:

“Our doctrine—not just belief, but doctrine—that sexual relations are only appropriate and lawful in the Lord’s eyes between man and woman legally and lawfully married is unchanged and will never change.”

Dallin H. Oaks has affirmed the same thing: