Salvation by Sex

         

          

"Saved by Sex": A Critical Look at Polygamy, Exaltation, and Salvation in Mormon Theology

"Saved by Sex" was a blunt, memorable expression often used by Thelma "Granny" Geer, an elderly Latter-day Saint woman, to describe her Mormon heritage. Raised in the faith, she later became a vocal critic after becoming a Christian. The phrase captured the church's heavy emphasis on polygamy as essential to the highest form of salvation—exaltation.

Exaltation and the Requirement of Eternal Marriage

According to the LDS Church's Gospel Principles manual (page 275), "Exaltation is eternal life, the kind of life God lives." It involves becoming like God, possessing all knowledge, power, and glory, and continuing to create and have spirit children in the eternities.

Page 278 stresses that "we must be married for eternity" to achieve this. A temple sealing (celestial marriage) is required for the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom. Without it, individuals can still be saved but will remain "ministering angels" without eternal increase or godhood.

This teaching stems directly from Doctrine and Covenants Section 132, a revelation Joseph Smith recorded in 1843.

Doctrine and Covenants 132: The New and Everlasting Covenant

Section 132 opens by addressing "the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines," referencing biblical patriarchs like Abraham.

Key verses make strong claims:

• Verse 4: Rejecting this covenant leads to damnation. "For no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory."
• Verse 6: "He that receiveth a fulness thereof must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned."
• Verses 15–20: Only those sealed by the priesthood in the "new and everlasting covenant" can have their marriage endure beyond death and receive exaltation with eternal posterity.

The revelation explicitly commands polygamy under certain conditions. In verse 54, it warns Joseph Smith's wife Emma: "But if she will not abide this commandment, she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord..."

This was a false prophecy: Joseph Smith was killed in 1844, while Emma Smith rejected polygamy, lived until 1879, and died of natural causes at age 74.

Early Leaders' Teachings on Polygamy

Early LDS leaders taught polygamy as an eternal practice.

Bruce R. McConkie, an apostle, wrote in Mormon Doctrine (page 578, under "Plural Marriage"): "...the holy practice will commence again after the Second Coming of the Son of Man and the ushering in of the millennium."

Heber C. Kimball, a member of the First Presidency under Brigham Young, spoke vividly in the Journal of Discourses (4:209):

"In the spirit world there is an increase of males and females, there are millions of them, and if I am faithful all the time, and continue right along with brother Brigham, we will go to brother Joseph and say, 'Here we are brother Joseph...' 'Where are your wives?' 'They are back yonder; they would not follow us.' 'Never mind,' says Joseph, 'here are thousands, have all you want.'"

This reflects a common 19th-century Mormon view: faithful men could receive multiple wives in the afterlife if their earthly ones refused to follow.

Modern LDS Position vs. Scriptural Continuity

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially discontinued the practice of polygamy in 1890 (Official Declaration 1) and reinforced this in 1904. It is grounds for excommunication today.

However, Doctrine and Covenants 132 remains LDS scripture. The church still teaches celestial marriage as essential for exaltation. Many members view polygamy as an eternal principle that was commanded for a time, suspended, and may return in the future.

If polygamy was an "everlasting covenant" whose rejection brought damnation, why was it suspended? And why was it a requirement for godhood?

A Biblical Contrast: Grace vs. Works

The text contrasts this with the New Testament's teaching on salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 states:

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."

This ends with a period. Christianity emphasizes salvation as a free gift received by faith alone, not dependent on specific marriage practices, temple rituals, or ongoing ordinances required for the highest heaven.

Tying exaltation so tightly to polygamy (or even monogamous celestial marriage) shifts the focus from Christ's finished work on the cross to human performance and priesthood rituals.

Summary

The phrase "Saved by Sex" was Granny Geer's way of highlighting what she saw as a works-based system centered on marriage and procreation. In classic Mormon theology, eternal marriage—and historically, its plural form—was presented as non-negotiable for full exaltation and becoming like God. D&C 132 frames this as an everlasting law and promises damnation for rejection.

While the modern LDS Church no longer practices polygamy, the underlying scriptures and teachings about celestial marriage remain foundational. For Thelma Geer, this emphasis was a departure from the simple gospel of grace found in the Bible. For Mormons, it represents restored truths about eternal families and divine potential.

This perspective represents a different gospel.

Prophet of 1,000 wives!

Heber C Kimball believed that many wives would be available in the spirit world.  In the Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, page 209 we can read his Salt Lake City Tabernacle message.
      "Supposing that I have a wife or a dozen of them, and she should say, "You cannot be exalted without me," and suppose they all should say so, what of that?...Suppose that I lose the whole of them before I go into the spirit world, but that I have been a good, faithful man all the days of my life, and lived my religion, and had favour with God, and was kind to them, do you think I will be destitute there.  No, the Lord says there are more there than there are here. They have been increasing there; they increase there a great deal faster than we do here,...
      In the spirit world there is an increase of males and females, there are millions of them, and if I am faithful all the time, and continue right along with brother Brigham, we will go to brother Joseph and say, 'Here we are brother Joseph; we are here ourselves are we not, with none of the property we possessed in our probationary state, not even the rings on our fingers: 'He will say to us, 'come along, my boys, we will give you a good suit of clothes.  Where are your wives?' 'They are back yonder; they would not follow us.'  'Never mind,' says Joseph, 'Here are thousands, have all you want.'"
     Brigham Young walked this back some by limiting a man to 999 wives.
      "I met with the Quorum and Presidency in the temple....President Woodruff then spoke '...In searching out my genealogy I found about four hundred of my female kindred who were never married.  I asked Pres. Young what I should do with them.  He said for me to have them sealed to me unless there were more that 999 of them.'  The doctrine startled me, but I had it done,..."  Daily Journal of Abraham H. Cannon, April 5, 1894, Vol. 18, pp 66-67
      Brigham Young stated, "We are complained of for having more wives than one.  I don't begin to have a many as I shall have by and by, nor you either, if you are faithful."  (Journal of discourses, vol. 8, page 222)
      George Q. Cannon "...remarked that people wondered how many wives and children I had.  He may inform them, that I shall have wives and children by the million, and glory, and riches and power and dominion, and kingdom after kingdom, and reign triumphantly."  (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 8, page 178)

      The great prophet Moses gave a commandment about kings, "Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away;..." (Deuteronomy 17:17)
      King Solomon had a thousand women!  Although he was the wisest man on earth, 1 Kings 11:3-4 tells us, "And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.  For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father."  Because of this God promised to take the Israelite kingdom away from him and give it to one of his servants. (1 Kings 11:11)
      The Old Testament has a number of stories of disaster and heartache resulting from polygamy.  Let us go back to the beginning.  After God made Eve and presented her to Adam, he said, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." (Genesis 2:24)  He didn't say a thousand flesh but rather one flesh.
     

The Angry Apostle

     The apostle Paul was very angry when he wrote the book of Galatians.  The theme of the book is salvation through God's grace alone.  He wrote in very strong words that no one should add law and works to the gospel he preached.  In the first chapter he cursed those that would change the pure gospel message.  "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8&9).  Paul said that even if you are an "ANGEL from HEAVEN" and you teach another gospel, curses on you!  That is strong language.
     In Galatians chapter 3 he calls them fools for turning away from the simple gospel:  "Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?......Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:1&3)  The apostle Paul said it was as though they were put under a spell.
     Agitators were saying that the law and circumcision were necessary for salvation.  Paul said, "I would they were even cut off which trouble you." (Galatians 5:12)  The NIV version says, "As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!"  The Apostle Paul is definitely irate in the Book of Galatians.  He thought his work with the people in Galatia may have been in vain.  He wrote in Galatians 5 1-2, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.  Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing."
     In the book Gospel Principles it is said that "Our exaltation depends on marriage." (pg. 241 Eternal Marriage)   Celestial marriage is supposed to open the gate to the Celestial Kingdom.  On the contrary, the Apostle Paul said that it is better if a man remains single. (I Corinthians 7:25-38)  He said that a single person can be more devoted to God than a married person.  He never said that heavenly marriage could save us into the Celestial Kingdom where God dwells.  Neither the Bible nor the Book of Mormon teach us that Celestial Marriage is necessary for attaining Celestial Salvation.  The celestial marriage teaching is not the gospel that the apostle Paul preached.  It is another gospel.  I think the apostle Paul would be very angry with this addition to the simple, pure gospel he preached.