Christian Polygamy

Recent articles and discussions about Christian polygamists in the news and the blogosphere have prompted me to finish the article that is in progress concerning the motivations for Christian polygamy.  It should be posted after the Sabbath.  This particular site is only a few weeks old, so please consider visiting our other sites which are listed in Joshuah’s House Network.

I have been actively involved in the christian plural marriage “movement” for a number of years now…since around 1998. I have heard the same arguments over and over again, and have been successful in defending the concept (it’s marriage!) from a scriptural perspective, without exception. It is this pool of experience that I draw from, and share with you the following.

One of the most interesting comments that has been made- and it has been made by numerous individuals, both male and female- is that while they come to realize that polygamy is not, contrary to popular opinion, condemned by the bible, and that at times it may even be commanded (think levirate marriage) they still insist that it’s “not for me.”

I would agree completely, that it is not something that just anyone should undertake, but the next part that inevitably follows is something to the effect that “I can’t understand why anyone would want more than one wife”, and is often accompanied by something akin to “I can’t even handle the one wife I already have!” This comes from the males of course.

I too have wondered why it is that some men (and women!) seem so hell bent on having a plurality of wives. I have a few ideas, but the most salient idea is as simple as…yep, you guessed it: Sex.

Often times, when you stumble across a christian family that is looking for a plural wife, what you find is a couple who is looking to add another wife to the family in order to increase the “love” for all parties involved. This is done under the banner of a rather liberal variant of christianity. They engage in intense bible studies that, interestingly enough, convince them that their initial impulses are actually biblically valid, that lesbianism is in fact not even treated within the pages of scripture, and  ultimately come to the conclusion that it is entirely acceptable for a christian family.

Afterwards this spiritual bolstering is complete, they end up searching high and low for any female who is willing to accept a plural marriage arrangement, and will, more often than not, compromise in any number of ways in order to make the situation work. And why not compromise? They have compromised already. Who knows, perhaps they will even begin a “ministry” to bisexual women, in order to help them in some fashion. Well, this motivation for plural marriage quite obviously includes bisexuality, and is forbidden in Yahweh’s law. You don’t need to look very hard in scripture to find prohibition against such iniquity, if you’re interested in knowing.

I say this with a certain degree of hesitation, because it is the #1 reason I hear from just about every opponent of plural marriage, (that it’s all about sex!) and although I resist the notion that it is true in every case, I think that, to a large degree, it is an accurate statement. How sad.

Another reason that tends to motivate couples to seek another wife is of an economic nature. They are looking for another income, a built-in babysitter, or perhaps another pair of hands to help chop the wood, plow the field, or milk the cows. Honestly, it has been my experience that these couples are lead by a man who has suffered some form of injury, and is either unable to work at all, or has significantly diminished income potential.  Hmmmmm…

Well, these are not good reasons in my opinion to engage in plural marriage.

So there you have it, in a nutshell: Sex and Money. Imagine that! These two things cause more trouble in a common marriage than anything else, and can only be compounded to disastrous levels within a plural arrangement that has, as its primary motivating force, sex or money.

Really, I wanted to get around to discussing our motivations for polygamy, but am running out of time, so I ask you to come back tomorrow for part II, which I will entitle “Kingdom Building.”

christian polygamy, plural marriage, polygyny

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 7:05 pm and is filed under christian polygamy, plural marriage, polygyny. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.