Public Service Announcement from Arnold Page:
My cousin has worked for years between his other jobs with another collaborator on a musical called The Principal wife playing at the Covey Center until July 31st.
https://theprinciplewife.com/home-1
I wish I had mentioned this before, but this is about a married man who takes on, eventually two other wives and the dynamic complexity that has some comedy to it as well. The music is good. This is the premier showing and it takes quite a bit of money to run it for the time. I hope it can continue on. I think cous plans on taking it to other locations.
I would be interested to see this play. It is complex, this marriage thing. Many struggle with it; just the basics of it (thus the high divorce rate, which is tied to our ability to live the Gospel and cherish chastity before and after marriage, as well as with our spouse and before a marriage partner hoves into view). And sometimes there is greater struggle in the more complex and challenging role of caretaker where there are physical or emotional or mental injuries that need to be overcome.
My youngest daughter commented the other day after mediating a spat between my wife and I, that given what she has seen (the worst of our relationship), she wonders that she would ever choose marriage if it were not a commandment. That was a fair thing to say. I would agree with her - but I pointed out what I always point out to the polygamy/Brigham haters out there; that this life is not supposed to be a conflict or trouble-free existence and is exactly the purpose of marriage/plural marriage and life in general. To challenge the very best of us with extremely challenging challenges.
Absolutely guaranteed that AFTER you have passed through seventy years of life with another person, that you will know EXACTLY what you are made of. Try it as a man with one wife and you have your work cut out for you (man and woman). Try it as a man with more than one wife, or as a woman who has to share responsibilities of rearing children, daily house chores, etc with another woman and you will be a perfected being when it is all over. Or you will be a murderous being....lol.
If we just sat around and strummed a harp all day and floated on a cloud with no effort expended and no challenges to overcome, our mortal probation would be a wasted one. This life is the Great Sieve of Heaven just as the Pre-mortal realm was the great sieve of who would qualify for a body and advancement to this portion of the test.
I do not favor the polygamy thing out of a need for more sex or more complications in my life. I am at full pool in those departments - but I favor it because the coolest people I am aware of (Jesus, Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, etc) all were partakers. If they were, and they passed on to become Gods or are higher ranking in the human family because of this common factor, then I have to have a healthy curiosity for their modes of success. I believe that this was one of them. Probably the greatest factor.
I powered out of Engineering school with a four year degree. Going to advanced Phd level stuff was just not for me. I am not ashamed of it. I did okay with what God endowed me with and for what I had strived for since I was in middle school and became self aware. Some people thrive and move along with ease. That is their lot and their heritage. Where much is given, much is required. I would never poo-poo their efforts or throw them or those with a Phd in Engineering under the bus, just because I was not capable of it. How petty. How small. I would just confess my limitations and move on. I know someone who is a child molester (self-confessed and at least hopefully was only into diddlin the kiddlin when he was drunk) who confesses that he knows the WoW and the rest of the Gospel Plan is inspired and of God, but he simply is too weak to participate due to Chastity and WoW issues. I have alot more respect for him than for the person who throws the whole program out because they cannot confess their limitations and accept that they cannot rise to the occasion on one or more, or even all principles in the value set.
For those who choose to throw Brigham Young and others under the bus, or reject the notion that Jesus was married, let alone plurally - first of all, get some help for your psychological shortcomings. Maybe some sex therapy with a qualified professional. Rejecting the notion that Jesus could have had children in the "usual way" because that would make Him somehow less or dirty or gross just means your filter is seriously darkened and your view askew. Seriously; get some help. Seriously, do not wait like my mother until she got to the other side and then suddenly saw the big picture when her Victorian notions were shattered/deconstructed. A little logic in this life would have helped her to recognize that her husband was likely going to last a decade or two more and that he would end upbeing a linear polygamist, let alone a co-linear poly boy.
It is okay to say: "I don't understand all things, so I will accept with faith and hold on until the answers come." Is it okay to question and not swallow everything hook, line and sinker? Sure it is! But you will never grow in advancement of knowledge if you summarily turn a concept off. I think the more exact term is damnation... We damn ourselves when we reject truth. If you feel yourself doing the opposite of being "enlarged of soul", then you probably have it wrong. I know because I went into diminutive mode when I rejected the "safe and effective" BS (rhetoric) that was being spewed in order to render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's, while still running the kingdom and "hearing Him". As I became critical of the Lord's anointed, my mind became darkened and I lost the Spirit. Very simple and it is a tested pattern.
It is okay to say, "I am too weak to handle this concept now, but I will trust in a God who is good and who will bring me to an understanding in His time and in His way."
