About Marriage
A lot of verses in the bible talk about marriage (Heb 13:4, Psa 128:3, Pro 5:15-23, 1 Co 7:2-3), and they are very wonderful verses, stressing the beauty and responsibility of a lifelong commitment made before God and the beauty of people caring for each other in a godly fashion. God protects marriage indeed, it is a godly bond that secures the dominion covenant.
But the conclusion that theses quoted verses prove polygamy to be sinful, adulterous and whoremongery is wrong - here, presuppositions shape theology, and not the other way around. Polygamy, according to the presupposition, is not marriage, so the verses about marriage cannot apply to one man and many wives, but have to apply to one man one wife only. This presupposition is not a biblical, but a romantic concept.
Polygamy, viewed from a biblical perspective, is simply "marriage". If you look up the word "marriage" and its verb in the Old and New Testament, you will find that the word is related to:
- a contract - "to marry: to give yourself in marriage, to take a wife, to get married" (H2992, G1060),
- a possession - "to possess, to rule over" (H1166),
- conjugal rights, literally, the flesh (H5772b), and
- a ceremony (G1062).
Nowhere is there mentioning of "star-crossed lovers", a "soul mate", or the "prince on the white horse", so to read romantic notions of marriage, to read exclusivity between one man and one women into biblical marriage is to insert a secular, romanticized concept into the bible that is simply not there.
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About Marriage... 6 years
About Marriage...
6 years ago I began a trek which ultimately provided me with both an understanding of plural marriage and and complete rethinking of marriage and sexuality. What I knew was there were major wholes in what was being taught in US churches. I started from scratch and did a 2 year study on what the scriptures say separate from hundreds of years of interpretation.
Bottom line, marriage they way we have been teaching it is broken. Plural marriage is just one aspect. Divorce is out of control. Men and women live in bondage and the teachings which bring this destruction continue to flow from the pulpits.
I would hope that all women who are called to marriage would be loved by a good and godly men. I believe plural marriage is part of what the Father may use to make this a reality.
Michael, Where, I wonder,
Michael,
Where, I wonder, was it very clear, particularly in the Old Testament that you are mentioning, that "only one wife would be take by a husband and only one husband to a wife" ? I guess Leah, Rachel, Bilah and Zilpah would heartily disagree, but if it was like you indicate, then also poor Ruben would have been cursed for nothing when his father held him responsible for sleeping with one of his wives. You say "it was very clear" - what exactly was very clear, and to whom - you just said people were polygynous in the OT, then where is the clear indication that is was not to be like that ?
Anyway, as long as you cannot back your statements with Scripture, yours is just another secular opinion. Please continue to rant and rave about the current state of affairs in general, you are probably right and we actually hope that you are because if it is indeed as bad as we think it is and is going to get, we can hope that the end of days has finally arrived :D
And what is prophesied about this time in the context of polygamy ? What is said about the "branch of the LORD" that will rebuild the Kingdom after everything was burned up by God's wrath ? Read Isa 4 (and Isa 3 if you want a description of how things are getting bad and worse) and think again. Oh, and just incidentally: Thanks for calling me horny and greedy - I wrote this (series of) articles, and not my husband.
Grace and Peace,
Talitha
Well Michael, at first glance
Well Michael, at first glance your response seems to be chock full of assumptions, and I would imagine that a quick glance is all you ever gave to the issue of Biblical Plural Marriage, ie. your opinions are uninformed. Would you care to share your Scriptural proofs, or are you content with just making gospel out of your own ideas?
I can't believe you are
I can't believe you are trying to tell people that polygamy is ok according to the Bible. We know polygamy occurred in the old testament as people procreated. However, it was very clear that only one wife would be take by a husband and only one husband to a wife.
For the record, it also states marriage is between a man and a woman and for man not to lay with another man or woman with another woman. But I suppose you can find a bunch of gay people to rewrite the Bible for their benefit and claim it is Godly.
What is this world coming to? Killing unborn babies, babies with a heartbeat, eyes, ears, hands and feet. Gays demanding we change our tradition and the traditions used to build this great country. And now, some horny, greedy person wants us to believe the Bible ok's polygomy!
We are letting people remove God from places He should be prominent. We are letting the wishes of a few unbelievers dictate the lives of many believers. We now have a president elect that is a socialist and non Christian, going against the Bible on many things!
If you are over 45, we've seen the best years this country will ever have if we keep on this course!