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Does God condone polygamy? Bible scholar says 'no,' Old Testament shows it only creates turmoil
Christian Post ^ | 12/16/2019 | Brandon Showalter

Posted on 12/16/2019 8:08:32 AM PST by SeekAndFind

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To: fproy2222

RE: Adam, the first man in the flesh, left his father and mother in heaven to cleave to his wife.

Who were Adam’s parents?


21 posted on 12/16/2019 9:16:21 AM PST by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

and extra mothers in law. :(


22 posted on 12/16/2019 9:20:19 AM PST by ronniesgal (so I wonder what his FR handle is????)
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To: SeekAndFind

Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother.

Unless you think that teaching from God did not apply to the only human male at the time it was spoken.

Genesis 2:
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,


23 posted on 12/16/2019 9:27:46 AM PST by fproy2222
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To: SeekAndFind
RE: “a fellow would have to be pretty much insane to actually try it!” What is the corollary to this when it comes to his prophet, Mohammad?

Touche. I suppose this fellow won't be going home anytime soon, lest he be stoned to death.


24 posted on 12/16/2019 9:29:06 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie; Fai Mao; SeekAndFind

Regardless of what century, nation or culture -— and assuming that sex selection abortion is not being practiced-— the natural ratio of male to female births is 1.05, meaning slightly more males than females are born. Thereafter the ratio typically flips because of males having *slightly* higher infant and childhood mortality rates. However there are still roughly equal numbers of males and females through young adulthood.

That means that, while it is possible for a few men to have multiple wives, it is NOT possible for *most* men to have multiple wives. If the top 10% of men (in terms of money, power or prestige) have four wives apiece, it necessarily means that the bottom 40% of men will have *NO* chance of ever marrying and establishing a family.

This creates extreme social instability, in that having large numbers of young men with zero marital prospects and zero investment in the future, means that you have mobs of unattached males becoming detached from any sense of social responsibility. You get criminal gangs or passive dropouts: predators or parasites.

Obviously that is not God’s glorious plan for Israel, let alone the whole human race.

If all have a right to seek a suitable marital partner, and most men form stable marriages and families as a societal norm, that means one husband, one wife, that’s it. That is what God wants for our well-being; there is no other way.


25 posted on 12/16/2019 9:30:44 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Actually.)
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To: GingisK

Yup.

Many guys are finding out they don’t even want one.


26 posted on 12/16/2019 9:35:00 AM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: fproy2222
How novel-- and how mistaken.

The passage is about leaving the parental, earthly household to establish one's own. It is manifestly not about leaving a "father and mother in heaven." Awk.

27 posted on 12/16/2019 9:36:19 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Actually.)
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To: SeekAndFind

They were Kings. Not the everyday guy living in a mud hut next to another shmuck.

You cant compare them to the average guy. Cmon use the gray matter a bit.


28 posted on 12/16/2019 9:36:20 AM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: fproy2222

RE: Unless you think that teaching from God did not apply to the only human male at the time it was spoken.

I believe that Genesis was written LOOONG after the fall, so of course the writer of Genesis was using Adam’s relationship with Eve as an example for others to follow.

But come to think of it, I don’t think Adam “left” God even after God made Eve to be his companion.

Genesis 3v8:

“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the Garden.” (Note, this was AFTER they ate the forbidden fruit ).

Their sin has ruined their PREVIOUS relationship with God. Their unbelief in taking the fruit has ruined the relationship of faith and love they had with God BEFORE the fall. That relationship seems to have been one of God “walking” in the Garden with Adam and Eve.

This would seem to indicate that they saw regular theophanies of God, and related to him like that. Either way, the sense of “walking and talking” with him is certainly true... at least it seems to me that’s the sort of relationship this phrase is intended to convey.


29 posted on 12/16/2019 9:37:54 AM PST by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
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To: Secret Agent Man

RE: They were Kings. Not the everyday guy living in a mud hut next to another shmuck.

So, are you saying that Kings were allowed in the OT to have more than one wife but not non-royalty?


30 posted on 12/16/2019 9:39:39 AM PST by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

“. It is manifestly not about leaving a “father and mother in heaven.” Awk”

Adam was commanded to leave his farher and mother.

You name them.


31 posted on 12/16/2019 9:40:00 AM PST by fproy2222
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To: fproy2222
Since Genesis, as far as we know, was a "book of Moses," this dictum about leaving the parental household was evidently written down many generations after Adam and Eve's time.

You don't think it was "spoken" to Adam and Eve that they had to leave their parents' household, do you?

And who would their mother be? Pachamama?

32 posted on 12/16/2019 9:41:07 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Actually.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Can you read? I weote exactly what i wanted to say.

Can you actually read stuff without assuming it says something it doesn’t say?


33 posted on 12/16/2019 9:41:24 AM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Good wiggle around. I don’t believe you, but it sounds good.


34 posted on 12/16/2019 9:45:09 AM PST by fproy2222
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To: SeekAndFind
"One wife? One God, that I can understand - but one wife! That is not civilized. It is not--generous." - Sheik Ilderim, Ben Hur
35 posted on 12/16/2019 9:47:58 AM PST by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
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To: fproy2222
Nope. Your interpretation of the verse is nonsense. It does not apply to "leaving" God the Father and whomever you imagine to be the corresponding Mother.

Scripture does not mention Adam and Even "leaving" God the Father on account of their marriage. Their relationship of faith and trust was disrupted by their disobedience, so they were deprived of their intimacy with God--- but God, being omnipresent, was still "there."

Moreover, many married persons in the OT ALL still had a relationship with God the Father. All the married were not for that reason separated from God.

Moreover, there is no Mothergoddess mentioned in Scripture as God's spirit-consort or whatever.

Are you perchance a polytheist?

36 posted on 12/16/2019 9:52:36 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o ("This is the Great Mystery: I am speaking of Christ and the Church." - Eph. 5:32)
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To: SeekAndFind
The Old Testament simply accepts polygamy as a characteristic form of marriage in the societies of its time. In tribal societies with constant feuding, endemic banditry, nonstop raiding and frequent warfare between the clan in valley A against the clan in valley B, and between all the valley clans and the highland clans … well, the mortality of young males is extremely high. Absent polygamy, there would be large numbers of young women with no prospect of a decent place in society and an honorable sex life. In addition -- moral and psychological issues aside -- such societies needed those young women to bear sons to feed the unending rounds of tribal warfare.

It's the same reason the Spartans, for example, tolerated and implicitly encouraged infidelity on the part of their women. Anything to make more warriors.

Arranged marriages would have mitigated many of the potential negative effects. The fathers' goal would be to get their daughters married off to suitable partners. I'm willing to guess that if the male-female ratio was reasonably balanced, fathers would angle for an unmarried man or a widower, to whom his daughter could be the first, the primary and perhaps the only wife. But if the last couple of wars had gone badly and three quarters of the tribe's or village's young men had been killed, a polygamous marriage might be the best honorable solution, the alternatives being concubinage, prostitution or beggary.

37 posted on 12/16/2019 9:53:53 AM PST by sphinx
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To: fproy2222

We’re done. Bye!


38 posted on 12/16/2019 9:54:25 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o ("This is the Great Mystery: I am speaking of Christ and the Church." - Eph. 5:32)
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To: SeekAndFind

“That relationship seems to have been one of God “walking” in the Garden with Adam and Eve.”

Most parents get along well with thier offspring s after they are married.

Please remember that I am not saying that Adam was “begotten” like Jesus.

Also, remember that we believe that we were spirit children before Father created the world for us. So yes, Adam left his parents in heaven to come to this life.


39 posted on 12/16/2019 9:55:23 AM PST by fproy2222
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To: SeekAndFind

Polygamy creates a male absent, weak household.

Sons are soon banished seeking women outside in greater society.
Uncles are banished because few women exist.

Otherwise the sons & uncles must turn homosexual.
The multiple brides also turn homosexual.

What good are sons who are turned gay? They are value less.

It only succeeded in old Mormon country where a single male controlled a lot of land.

Polygamy is family abuse of its weak, brain washed members.


40 posted on 12/16/2019 9:58:22 AM PST by TheNext (LeGaBiT)
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