Posted on 07/01/2009 7:56:53 AM PDT by Bushwacker777
Jesus cleared things up for us in Matthew 19.
“3) Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
4) “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5) and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6) So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” “
7) “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8) Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9) I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
Any man that WANTS two wives is either crazy or a fool.
However, I am not one to interfere with anyone’s craziness or foolishness.
Nonamybidness.
Which one? The “Barbarian”, or the (alleged) “Comedian”?
Actually, he’s right. The Bible is quite clear that there is nothing morally wrong about polygyny - in fact, the practice is approvingly spoken of at least six times. God himself told David “I gave you your wives, and if these were insufficient, I will give you more.” Surely, it is foolish to accuse God of immorality for giving David his multiple wives. Rather, David’s condemnation was for taking another man’s wife and for having the husband killed.
The biblical description of women is vastly different than that of modern western society. Women were property - first of their fathers, then of their husbands. Furthermore, the biblical society’s hierarchy allowed men the right to not just have multiple wives, but also concubines and slaves. Neither was there any penalty for men to have sex with prostitutes. It was a purely patriarchal society - what a man does with his property is his own business.
I frequently observe the tendency of many to distort the Bible’s plain teachings to conform with their own theological assumptions. I would be ashamed to interject myself and dogmatically declare something that is easily disproven when it only shows one’s ignorance.
Many women wind up single and childless due to not finding a good man of character. It is true, all the good men are married or gay (a secular saying by many women but...).
That’s another thing, there are many more male homosexuals than there are lesbians. This may seem stisistically insignificant but if 3.5% of males are gay and only 1.5% of women are lesbians then there will be millions more single women than men. So here is what a single woman has to contend with:
1) Many single males going gay.
2) Most high quality males are married
3) More males want to stay single than women.
4) Females tend to want kids more than males do
So let’s say a couple million American women might be open to sharing a man. That helps reduce competition for the other single women as well as helping these more unconventional (and I would argue women with high IQs) women to marry and reproduce in higher numbers.
This is where the Bible and Darwin intersect.
After all, I only got sink full of dirty dishes.
HAW HAW HAW.
While coming out of surgery, my wife asked me about all the women I had. I answered, “you, my daughter and my dog. That’s enough. Also I don’t have any more closet space.
“Where did Jesus condemn the “fundamentalist” Jews of his day who practice polygamy?”
He spoke against polygamy when he spoke against divorce, citing the marriage of Adam (one man) and Even (one woman) as being the standard for marriage.
“Also, elders in the church were directed to have a wife (as were bishops) and the “one” issue has also been interpreted to mean that he never had been divorced.”
Well, I interpret it as he can only have one wife. Because that is what it says.
“Also, if Nathan specifically said that God “blessed” David with 6 wives that kind of says God had a hand in giving them to him, does it not? Or was Nathan not being honest?”
I don’t see a verse that says that. I do see in 2 Sam 12:8, God says he gave David “your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah.” This does not mean David married Saul’s wives. It means he took care of them. It is not recorded the David married any of Saul’s wives.
I know David married more than one woman, but I see no where that God ordered him to do it or blessed him for it. David did a lot of sinful things. Just because something is recorded doesn’t mean it is ok. All kinds of sinful behavior is recorded in Scripture.
Biblical gymnastics to defend a position that was not a part of Christianity until it had been absorbed by the Roman elite’s power apperatus.
It is no wonder that Jews, who made up the bulk of converts to Christianity in the first couple hundred years, stopped converting once this happened.
Jesus said divorce was wrong — not polygamy. So if a man or woman leaves their partner for “I just fell out of love” or “We grew apart” or whatever that person is commiting adultery once they remarry. If a man marries two women, at least according to the Bible, he is not commiting adultery.
Apparently, he did, whereas you cut his entirely correct quote in half to make it seem false. God punished David for his actions in obtaining another man's wife, not for having several of his own.
Regardless of what we think of polygamy now, clearly the Almighty was down with it in ancient times.
One thing most polygamous societies have in common: women are chattel. The writer should consider that. I don’t think women will give up their rights to have chance at being in Donald Trump’s harem.
Don’t forget that David and especially Solomon may have had additional wives for diplomatic reasons.
If that were true it would have nothing to do with the polygamy itself. If some societies that allow polygamy see women as property then I would venture to say that the women who live there (who are their husband’s only wife) are also seen as property.
“Regardless of what we think of polygamy now, clearly the Almighty was down with it in ancient times.”
A good way to look at it. I wonder how many people have lost their faith in God becaue they have been told that things like polygamy are evil, then they read the OT itself, and then cannot reconcile the cognitive dissonance of the prophets practicing something their preacher says is an abomination. Some learn to play mental gymnastics with the issue to maintain their faith and others abandon it. Sad.
I don’t think so. I think the the two are intimately connected. Where women are property, it is a status symbol to have lots of them. Ditto for societies where wives represent labor. The individuals who are monogamous in those societies probably lack the resources for multiple wives or have been influenced by other cultures that respect women.
I suspect that most women would not choose a polygamous society.
The Bible does not provide for marriage to two women.
Even in the directions about marriage in scripture:
“Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each each man have his own wife; and let each woman have her own husband.” (1 Cor 7:2)
One man, one woman.
“But he who is married cares about the things of this world - how he may please his wife.”
One man, one woman.
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” (Eph 5:31)
One man, one woman.
“Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” (Eph 5:33)
One man, one woman.
“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded. . .” (1 Tim 3:2)
One man, one woman.
“Let deacons be the husband of one wife. . .”(1st Tim 3:12)
One man, one woman.
By creation ordinance (one Adam, one Eve) by reference, and by explicit instruction, it’s one man, one woman. That’s what marriage is. The fact that Solomon had countless wives, or Lot abused his daughters, or sodomites did it, whatever, that doesn’t change the fact that marriage is between one man and one woman. Lots of sins are recorded. That doesn’t mean they are endorsed.
“If a man marries two women, at least according to the Bible, he is not committing adultery.”
I agree with you, there. That is not biblically defined adultery.
Isn’t it bordering on blasphemy to compare polygamy, which was allowed in Mosaic Law and even mandated at times, a lifestyle that Abraham, Jacob and others lived, with incest and sodomy?
Okay, some common ground! I wish I knew how to do a smily face here.
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