You can go to places like Cardston and rural areas, and people have far less aversion to such things. Maybe it is the proximity to the land and God's natural order of things. Of this I cannot be sure - just that there are two clear camps in thinking. I can barely handle one set of logistics (in the practical world), but I sure am a proponent on paper of the practice - or of the thinking that it definitely comes of God. History bears it out. You can shoot down BY and JS and any other mortal, but taking a pot-shot at the Savior over it; definitely dangerous ground. Better; spiritually fatal ground.
Here are some quotes from mere mortals that are better than any current mortals (at any level in the Church or society), on the matter. I always weigh people in the balance compared with those who would detract or point the finger at them - and then roll with those who come out smelling roses.
I would stick with Orson Pratt or P. P. Pratt any day over most any modern contemporary (including Denver Snuffer, etc):
Orson Pratt The Seer p 172
“... it will be seen that the great Messiah who was the founder of the Christian religion was a polygamist... the Messiah chose... by marrying many honorable wives himself, to show to all future generations that he approbated the plurality of wives under the Christian dispensation in which His polygamist ancestors lived.
“We have clearly shown that God the Father had a plurality of wives, one or more being in eternity, by whom He begat our spirits as well as the spirit of Jesus His First Born, and another being upon the earth by whom He begat the tabernacle of Jesus, as his only begotten in this world. We have also proved most clearly that the Son followed the example of his Father, and became the great Bridegroom to whom Kings’ daughters and many honorable wives were to be married. We have also proved that both God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ inherit their wives in eternity as well as in time... And then it would be so shocking to the modesty of the very pious ladies of Christendom to see Abraham and his wives, Jacob and his wives, Jesus and his honorable wives, all eating occasionally at the same table, and visiting one another, and conversing about their numerous children and their kingdoms. Oh, ye delicate ladies of Christendom, how can you endure such a scene as this?... If you do not want your morals corrupted, and your delicate ears shocked, and your pious modesty put to the blush by the society of Polygamists and their wives, do not venture near the New Earth; for polygamists will be honored there, and will be among the chief rules in that Kingdom.”
Erastus Snow, Journal of Discourses, vol. 23, p. 300
To this I reply, that neither Christ nor his Apostles ever uttered one word in condemnation of that system of marriage that was in vogue in their days, and that had been recognized and acknowledged in the house of Israel from the days of Abraham until Christ. In fact Christ Himself was the fruit of polygamy, so far as the flesh was concerned. And nowhere is there to be found one word in condemnation of this system, or anything intimating that he intended to change the then existing relations of the sexes; but while he, as well as his Apostles and the ancient Prophets and Patriarchs denounced adultery and fornication they recognized and sustained honorable marriage whether single or plural; and every form of illicit intercourse with the sexes was condemned by the primitive Christians, as well as by the Prophets and Patriarchs of old.
"I discover that some of the Eastern papers represent me as a great blasphemer, because I said, in my lecture on Marriage, at our last Conference, that Jesus Christ was married at Cana of Galilee, that Mary, Martha, and others were his wives, and that he begat children.
All that I have to say in reply to that charge is this—they worship a Savior that is too pure and holy to fulfil the commands of his Father. I worship one that is just pure and holy enough "to fulfil all righteousness;" not only the righteous law of baptism, but the still more righteous and important law "to multiply and replenish the earth." Startle not at this! for even the Father himself honored that law by coming down to Mary, without a natural body, and begetting a son; and if Jesus begat children, he only "did that which he had seen his Father do." Orson Hyde
Thank you for the quotes; they are much more helpful than insults. I read up on some of these quotes and I think fairmormon has a good article on the topic (http://en.fairmormon.org/Jesus_Christ/Was_Jesus_married/Was_Jesus_a_polygamist). You might want to note that the book "The Seer" by Orson Pratt (from which you took your first quote) was officially disavowed by the First Presidency and the Twelve in 1865 (http://en.fairmormon.org/The_Seer). The First Presidency referred to Mr. Orson Pratt by saying "he has indulged in hypotheses and theories, he has launched forth on an endless sea of speculation to which there is no horizon". They also cautioned that "any man who so far forgets the order instituted by the Lord as to write and publish what may be termed new doctrines, without consulting with the First Presidency of the Church respecting them, places himself in a false position, and exposes himself to the power of darkness by violating his Priesthood." That might be something to keep in mind.
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